[jmstein7]

The war record is not the oft misquoted "Kerrey" "Kerry" mix-up; the crimes belong to John Kerry.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Sources for the Kerry war record? It had better be 100% true, not just someone's interpretation of his actions, before anyone starts repeating charges like that. They sound too much like the Left accusing Bush of going AWOL from the National Guard.

[VaBthang4]

Thank you.

[VaBthang4]

ping

[McGruff]

I feel this Botox issue will hurt him more than he knows. Here's why.

1: There are audio records of him denying using it.

2: Independent doctors say it sure looks like he's using it.

3: So, he has already lied to the american people about something and he's not even the candidate yet.

4: RNC ad should point out "If he lied about Botox, do you want him in the Oval Office."

[Poohbah]

My post on The Many Faces of John Kerry is germane here...

Under military law, what was the duty of an officer -- Kerry, for example -- if he possessed such information?

It is the affirmative duty, under both the UCMJ and under the basic strictures of human decency, of any service member--commissioned, warrant, or noncommissioned officer AND non-rate enlisted person alike--to report any such action to higher authority if he witnesses any such action, or has reasonable cause to believe that such an action was committed.

If Kerry had real reason to believe this, then he is guilty of several serious felonies under the UCMJ, and can conceivably be recalled to active duty to stand court-martial.

"Following his investigation of the My Lai massacre for the Army, Lieutenant General William R. Peers and his investigative team made highly unusual and largely unprecedented recommendations. The Peers Commission proposed that charges also be preferred against a number of American staff officers, including the division chief of staff, the brigade operations officer, the task force operations and intelligence officers, and the division chaplain...

"One of the conclusions Peers drew following his My Lai investigation was that there was widespread failure to report suspected war crimes and civilian casualties, despite numerous directives and standing operating procedures (SOPs) requiring such reports. Even more damning was the conclusion that individuals within the task force headquarters took affirmative steps to conceal the massacre, including falsifying logs by changing the locations where civilians were reportedly killed. A staff officer involved in concealing a war crime may be prosecuted as an accessory after the fact in violation of Article 78, for misprison of a serious offense in violation of Article 134, or for dereliction of duty in violation of Article 92."

From "Staff Officer Responsibility for War Crimes,", LTC Michael J. Davidson, USA, published in the Mar/April 2001 issue of Military Review, the professional journal of the US Army Command & General Staff College. The full article is available at this link to the Military Review Website.

Do we really want to elect a President who could be readily indicted and convicted of war crimes by the very same International Criminal Court he would order the State Department to operate under?

[Cicero]

Are you referring to the story that Kerry or Kerrey executed a bunch of Vietnamese women and children in a hut during a reconnaisance mission? I recall the story but I confess to the usual confusion as to which Kerr(e)y was responsible.

It would be helpful if someone could resurrect and post the original stories, which appeared here a year or two ago, I think.

[Plutarch]

In Kerry's personal life, other rich veins of opposition research will be mined. He abandoned his wife and children (we never see them, do we?), and married a relatively geriatric heiress, who made him sign a pre-nup.

If his own wife can't trust him without a legal restriction, why should we?

[Ciexyz]

How many innocent Vietnamese men, women, children, and elderly does John Kerry claim to have slaughtered during his Vietnam service?

[DestroytheDemocrats]

Being a war hero is not the be all and end all of getting the presidency. Bob Dole was a real war hero and it did not help him to defeat Clinton.

[Salvation]

More applicable information in this thread:

What You Don't Know about John Kerry

More pictures, too!

[Salvation]

As to his Catholicity -- here are some threads that bring it into question. Also character non-building??

The Deadly Dozen

Blood On Their Hands: Exposing Pro-abortion Catholic Politicians

Kerry [Catholic} says he'll filibuster Supreme Court nominees who do not support abortion rights

PETITION TO EX-COMMUNICATE PRO-ABORTION CATHOLIC ELECTED OFFICIALS

Catholics Kerry and Kennedy have a 100% Pro-homosexual Record with the Human Rights Campaign! Page 10,11

Kerry says he alone hasn't 'played games' on abortion

AS KERRY EMERGES, SO DOES CONCERN THAT AS PRESIDENT HE MAY BE DENIED COMMUNION

[arasina]

From a June 17, 2003 Boston Globe article entitled John F. Kerry, Candidate in The Making:

Again and again, the question was asked: Did Kerry commit atrocities or see them committed by others? Kerry stuck to his script.

"I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that," Kerry said. "However, I did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground. And all of these acts, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions and to the laws of warfare. So in that sense, anybody who took part in those, if you carry out the application of the Nuremberg Principles, is in fact guilty. But we are not trying to find war criminals. That is not our purpose. It never has been."

O'Neill for years has declined to talk about the experience, partly because he says he became disillusioned with politics and government after the fall of Saigon in 1975.

But in a telephone interview from Texas, where he is a trial attorney, O'Neill made it clear he still harbors resentment at the way Kerry accused veterans of atrocities.

"The primary reason I got involved was I thought the charges of war crimes were irresponsible and wrong," O'Neill said. "I thought they did a real disservice to all the people that were there. I thought they were immoral."

The bitterness remains. Asked whether he agrees with the view of some observers that Kerry was forever altered by the war, O'Neill responded: "The war didn't change [Kerry]. I think he was a guy driven tremendously by ambition. I think he was that way before he went and is that way today."

[arasina]

Along the same lines as my previous post, from a Oct-Dec 1996 issue of U.S. Veteran Dispatch:

Almost forgotten in that famous speech were Kerry's controversial assertions that Vietnam veterans had "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephone to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

To some veterans, including some of those who served alongside Kerry, this was too much. They thought they had served honorably, and they had seen Kerry as a gung-ho skipper who led the charge and didn't voice such opposition on the battlefield.

"I would go up a river with that man anytime. He was a great American fighting man," said Michael Bernique, a highly decorated veteran who served as a swift boat skipper alongside Kerry. But Bernique remains upset with Kerry's assertion that atrocities were committed, an assertion that Kerry has not backed away from. "I think there was a point in time when John was making it up fast and quick. I think he was saying whatever he needed to say."

BUT EVEN MORE INTERESTING TO ME, is this from the same article:

Kerry gained national attention in April 1971, when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then chaired by Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-AR), who led opposition in the Congress against U.S. participation in the war. During the course of his testimony, Kerry stated that the United States had a definite obligation to make extensive economic reparations to the people of Vietnam.

Kerry's testimony, it should be noted, occurred while some of his fellow Vietnam veterans were known by the world to be enduring terrible suffering as prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prisons. Kerry was a supporter of the "People's Peace Treaty," a supposed "people's" declaration to end the war, reportedly drawn up in communist East Germany. It included nine points, all of which were taken from Viet Cong peace proposals at the Paris peace talks as conditions for ending the war.

One of the provisions stated: "The Vietnamese pledge that as soon as the U.S. government publicly sets a date for total withdrawal [from Vietnam], they will enter discussion to secure the release of all American prisoners, including pilots captured while bombing North Vietnam." In other words, Kerry and his VVAW advocated the communist line to withdraw all U.S. troops from Vietnam first and then negotiate with Hanoi over the release of prisoners. Had the nine points of the "People's Peace Treaty" favored by Kerry been accepted by American negotiators, the United States would have totally lost all leverage to get the communists to release any POWs captured during the war years.

I just had to include a photo.

In Lowell, Mass., the veteran and onetime antiwar activist, watches as President Nixon announces a Vietnam cease-fire in January 1973.

[hershey]

Kerry is a user, a hypocrite, and a liar. Let's hope the American people see through Botox Boy and Lovie and keep both out of the White House. Lovie's ego is bigger than Kerry's. She's as bad as Hitlery, and I couldn't stand another four years of that.

[aodell]

Anyone who thinks the character issue is going to hurt Kerry has a short memory---especially if his lying about Botox is in question. Doesn't anyone remember the "I did not have sex with that woman!" thing? It didn't even matter. The guy is still adored by his followers.

[arasina]

By the way, I was so busy researching I forgot to mention that your article is nicely written. However, I don't think I would consider the "facts" about recklessly slaughtering to be undisputed.

[PISANO]

Character and the Democrat party of today do NOT mix. IMHO neither can stand to be in the same room together.

Hence...the following: Electibility in the democrat party is INVERSELY proportional to CHARACTER of the candidate.

[dwd1]

I guess it is true. Throw dirt at the front runner.... I am not saying that Kerry is an angel but please don't tell me Bush is honest. The best that you can tell me is that he gets others to do his dirty work for him.

He delegates and gains deniability....

I think he has done a decent job on the war on terror but he does have some problems...

And he is not liked by everyone...

[JohnBDay]

For years John Kerry has tried to have it both ways. Proud of his record in Vietnam but equally proud of protesting being there in the first place.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Statement: " The Character Issue Will Hurt Kerry - BADLY"

Response: This is not a true statement. In America 2004 A.D. Bad character guarantees election, millions in personal income and elder statesman status upon retirement.