Vetting the Vet Record (More exposure of Kerry's lies)

National Review Online ^ | 1/27/04 | Mackubin Thomas Owens

[Elkiejg]

Ran a search for this article, but didn't see one posted. Interestingly, I received it in an email from a retired military guy who told me it's being circulated around active and retired military!!

[MEG33]

Kerry info...FYI

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[mystery-ak]

The Fox News panel discussed this after Kerry's primary win...they all agreed that this will not be an issue for vet Dems...the only issue is to beat Bush....I was heartsick.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

You forgot to mention that Nixon, Kerry and Fonda all worked hand in hand.
All 3 turned their backs on the silent majority.
Nixon killed as many as Johnson did.
All followed Eisnenhowers lead in getting us involved in Viet Nam.
I am sick of hearing about Viet Nam.
I served over there under Johnson and Nixon.
There was no difference.
Both wanted to get out.
And Kerry and Fonda etc couldn't agree more.
Pox on them all!

[hotpotato]

In fact, the entire Winter Soldiers Investigation was a lie.

Wonder if this is what Hannity has been discussing as the big unknown negative about Kerry which will be exposed in his book due out soon?

wow.... the only decent candidate the democrats have is Leiberman and they've almost completely dismissed him.

Wait 'til Dean hears about this :-) (not to mention the Vietnam Vets supporting Kerry)

[hotpotato]

Give it time.... I think this story has legs.

[Nix 2]

Is John Kerry the New Democrat Golden Boy?
By Barbara Stock
January 26, 2004

The good citizens of Iowa handed Richard Gephardt a shocking loss and they put the oft-times raging Howard Dean into a nearly hysterical state. Iowa also presented Senator John Kerry with a huge surprise win. Kerry left Iowa for New Hampshire as the odds-on favorite to win the Democrat nomination.

Senator Kerry often speaks of his war record and his military service during the Vietnam war. No one doubts that he served and by most accounts, served well. Kerry was also awarded the distinctive honor of a Silver Star. But some questions linger.

The Silver Star is awarded to those who have exhibited ''gallantry in action'' while in combat with an enemy of the United States.

It's true that Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry was in combat. Indeed, his boat had been fired upon by the enemy. Kerry beached his boat and an enemy soldier broke and ran. Tom Belodeau, one of the boat's gunners, admitted this enemy soldier was wounded in the attack. Lt. Kerry then chased the wounded man behind a ''hootch'' where he ''finished him off.'' It was for this action that he was awarded the prestigious Silver Star.

There were some who felt this act was not deserving of such an honor. Dan Carr, a Marine who served 14 months in Vietnam, questioned whether such an honor should have been bestowed on a man who killed a retreating and wounded enemy soldier.

When young Kerry returned to the States, he began protesting against the Vietnam War. On April 23, 1971, Kerry testified before Congress about atrocities he had allegedly seen and heard about. He testified that American soldiers ''raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, [had] blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam.'' He stated there never was a communist threat in Vietnam.

He joined a group called ''Vietnam Vets against the War.'' This group eventually abandoned him because the members realized that he was using their cause as a platform for his own personal gain. He was making it appear as though American soldiers were out-of-control animals, rampaging across Vietnam torturing and killing for sport. This was not their message. They were protesting the war. They weren't accusing their fellow soldiers of being murderers and rapists. They had not seen any of the behavior Kerry stated he witnessed. One member remarked that Kerry seemed to be making it up to give people what they wanted to hear.

Recently, Senator Kerry gave a speech at a Vietnam War Memorial, and many of the veterans turned their backs to him and walked away. They saw him as the man who called them war criminals in his testimony before Congress. The man who received the Silver Star for killing a wounded, retreating enemy soldier, had accused them of hideous war crimes.

Michael Benge, a Viet Nam POW from 1968 to 1973, wants Americans to know that it was Kerry who blocked ''The Vietnam Human Rights Act.'' (HR-2833) Benge believes that action gave Hanoi the green light to ignore violations of human rights with the blessing of the United States.

Senator Kerry can often be heard making the statement that the Bush Administration is controlled solely by ''special interests.'' Of course, he is untouched by this disease that he says permeates the Republican Party.

The senator was the head of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in 1992. He pushed vigorously to normalize relations with Vietnam. He visited Vietnam and praised them for being open and reported he was convinced they were not holding American POWs. Many families didn't believe him then and don't believe him now. But why would he be so anxious to normalize relations with the former enemy?

The answer is special interests and money. Collier's International, based in Boston, was immediately awarded the exclusive contract to rebuild Vietnam's infrastructure by the Vietnamese government. They made tens of millions of dollars from the contract. The chief executive officer of Collier's International was a man named C. Stewart Forbes. Interestingly, Senator Kerry's middle name is Forbes. There is a reason for that. C. Stewart Forbes is John Kerry's cousin.

The New Yorker Magazine touted Kerry as the senator who defeated the ''mendacious POW lobby.'' Yes, Kerry helped defeat those tenacious family members who wanted to know what happened to their missing loved ones. His strange bedfellow in this battle against POW families was none other than fellow Senator and former POW John McCain.

This committee's final report in 1993 was chilling. It determined that American POWs were left alive in Viet Nam after the war but felt none were still alive. It makes no attempt to identify those left behind, how they died, who killed them, and where their remains are located. They were abandoned in life and death.

Is Senator Kerry in full support of our intelligence gathering capabilities? His voting record indicates he is not.

In 1994/95, Kerry proposed a bill to gut $1.5 billion from intelligence and freeze spending for two major intelligence programs--the National Foreign Intelligence Program and Tactical Intelligence Program. (S. 1826) That bill did not make it to a vote, but the language was retooled, the amount dropped to $1 billion, and it was finally defeated as S. Amendment 1452 to H.R. 3759. (S. 1826, Introduced 2/3/94)

He voted to cut 80 million from the FBI budget. (HR-2076)

In 1997, Kerry felt there that were no threats to the United States. This prompted him to place this statement in the Congressional Record: ''Now that the [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?'' (Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891)

Twelve days after 9/11, Senator Kerry had the nerve to make this statement: ''And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. ...we are weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So it's going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this properly.'' (CBS's ''Face the Nation,'' 9/23/01)

After spending years trying to lay waste to our intelligence capabilities, succeeding at times, and failing at times, he now preaches about how our intelligence community was negligent.

In ''Golden Boy--Part Two,'' his abysmal record on supporting the military will be covered.

---

[hotpotato]

At least, I think it has legs with regards to independents such as myself. Kerry has been touting his Vietnam connections too loud for too long for this not to end up like egg on his face. It's disgraceful. It might not make a difference with regard to democratic primaries and of course, republicans aren't going to be voting for Kerry, but there are a lot of independents that will sit up and take note.

[4everontheRight]

"Another acquaintance who talked to Kerry about his political ambitions called him a 'very charismatic fellow looking for a good issue.'"

Very charistatic? John Kerry? This John Kerry??? The one running for President? Did I miss something?

[hotpotato]

You should post this on its on thread. I did a search on FR and did not find it. Do you still have the link to the article? I think this should get a LOT more coverage.

[xsysmgr]

Ran a search for this article, but didn't see one posted...

Posted here "Vetting the Vet Record. Is Kerry a proud war hero or angry antiwar protester?" yesterday. It is interesting that you received it in an email being circulated around active and retired military.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I think this will have legs too!

Bookmarked!!

If he becomes the candidate, you can bet I'll be MAILING this to the headquarters of every VET Organization there is!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Bumping post 8!

[Dolphy]

While left-wing anti-war critics of U.S. policy in Vietnam were always quick to invoke Auschwitz and the Nazis in discussing alleged American atrocities, they were silent about Hue City, where a month and a half before My Lai, the North Vietnamese and VC systematically murdered 3,000 people. They were also willing to excuse Pol Pot's mass murderer of upwards of a million Cambodians.

How familiar does this sound? Today it's Bush is a Nazi despite the years of atrocities in Iraq. How perfect, Kerry is a man of old, tired ideas, looking for traction by lying and misrepresenting the truth.

[MEG33]

I share your wonderment at"charismatic.Have you seen his "Bring it on" chant and the following"Don't let the door hit you on the way out"?

It sounds like a pre school teacher carefully teaching the children the ABC song.Too slow,too somber and no "zing".He's should have Teddy,the swimmer, do his campaign speeches!LOL

[backhoe]

Cross-linked:

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

[BenLurkin]

[AlbionGirl]

I received it in an email from a retired military guy who told me it's being circulated around active and retired military!

Very good; because the only people that can take him on concerning this issue are former Vets. Those who never served might as well keep quiet on this one, because without having walked the walk they appear inferior, facile chickenhawks.

Clinton wasn't done in by dodging the draft, that POT, and Kerry sure as hell won't be done in for his post war activities unless those who sweated blood, like him, do him in.

My hope is that they do, because he did try to lift himself up by slandering our boys, so as far as I'm concerned he deserves whatever they serve him.