Ron Kovic Calls for Pullout From Gulf : Rally: Anti-war activist reads an open letter to Bush warning of Vietnam parallels. He is cheered by 100 supporters, but others call him a traitor.

In an open letter to President Bush, Ron Kovic--the highly decorated Vietnam War veteran turned disabled anti-war hero--called Wednesday for an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops sent overseas to counter Iraqi aggressors.

Kovic, whose autobiography was the basis for the movie “Born on the Fourth of July,” was met by several counterdemonstrators who burned an Iraqi flag, picketed the rally and called the former Marine sergeant a traitor to his country.

With the protesters outside, Kovic read aloud his long, impassioned plea to a crowd of about 100 activists who gathered in the Parish Church of St. Augustine by-the-Sea in Santa Monica to cheer him on.

Kovic said the scenario of the United States threatening to go to war with a faraway aggressor evoked for him a terrifying and Angst -provoking sense of deja vu .

“Sometimes I feel like Alice, staring into the looking glass, seeing that same horror and nightmare about to repeat itself,” Kovic said. “It is pure folly, Mr. President.”

Kovic, 44, of Redondo Beach, was shot and paralyzed from the chest down while in Vietnam in 1968. The prominent anti-war activist maintained a low profile in recent years. He considered running for Congress earlier this year, but chose to eschew politics in favor of continuing his writing career.

But Kovic said he felt obligated to speak out now because “very few voices have dared to speak in opposition,” even as the brinkmanship between the United States and Iraq continues. “I hope and pray, Mr. President, that you have heard me today,” Kovic said, “because I truly feel that I represent the conscience and hearts of millions of our people who have not yet chosen to speak.”

Speaking before a bank of television cameras and a score of reporters, Kovic implored the President to remember the lessons of Vietnam. “My life,” he said, looking down at his wheelchair, “is a living example of the devastation and loss that can result from a miscalculated, deceptive and secret foreign policy.”

Several others, including clergy members and radio personality Casey Kasem, also urged Bush to withdraw U.S. troops.

Kasem said that he never took action to protest the Vietnam War but that he plans to speak out almost daily against the current troop deployment, “to make up for what I didn’t do then.”

In a private interview, Kasem, whose parents are from Lebanon, said many of the 300,000 Arab-Americans in Los Angeles share his opposition to the troop deployments. “They are concerned,” Kasem said. “They don’t want to see American boys die for oil.”

Arab-Americans also do not understand why the United States went to the aid of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after it stood by when Israeli troops invaded Lebanon in 1982, he said.

Kasem scolded Hollywood for stereotyping Arab-Americans with “an image that an Arab is less than human, that he is a billionaire, a bomber, a belly dancer, someone not to be trusted. That kind of mind-set allows us to send our (American) boys to protect oil in the (Persian) Gulf and not be concerned with the human factor.”

Outside the rally, Robert Zirgulis, a West Los Angeles business consultant, was among the handful of flag-waving and sign-carrying demonstrators.

Zirgulis, who said he was from the International Human Rights Watch group, said he has been angry at Kovic since he saw him speak at UCLA in 1971. “We consider Ron Kovic a self-pitying crybaby. He doesn’t care about American soldiers,” Zirgulis said.

Another counterdemonstrator, Michael Wallin, said: “I think Ron Kovic is a traitor. He is using his popularity to capitalize on his political beliefs. Just like Jane Fonda.”

Kovic said he will travel to the White House to hand-deliver the letter to Bush if a faxed copy sent Wednesday does not elicit a response. “I speak out not because I am disloyal, but because I love this country,” he said.