Posted on 02/14/2004 7:00:13 AM PST by tvn
WHO IS JOHN KERRY, WAR HERO?
Everyday the media tiptoes around John Kerry as if he is an icon of service to the Nation. But why is his service to the nation in war not balanced against his return to longhaired freakdom to march against his fellow veterans still in the war, including myself? I was especially incensed when my communist captors quoted him in propaganda.
I had a discussion with Senator Kerry in Bangkok, Thailand. He made some surprising statements during that exchange. He stated emphatically that I should provide him with any information I had on missing Americans. This he stated he would take to Hanoi to discuss with the Communists. He didn't seem to understand the Communists knew where the POWs were and needed no help from him to "find them." Expert on war? Hardly! He then stated that no matter what I had there would be no military operation to rescue them. In other words, Senator Kerry felt that Americans were worth talking about, but not worth fighting for.
Kerry brought up his service on patrol boats in Vietnam in a very defensive way with me, "you weren't the only one in that war, I was on those patrol boats?" My answerer "surely you are not attempting to compare anything you did in that war to my contribution to that endeavor!" I did not say that to belittle the Senator, but to only give him a reality check. He said he had an important appointment. The insinuation was it dealt with the MIAs. Then a small child came up to us and said, "my Mom said it is time to go." Kerry sheepishly moved away. "All show and no go," just another paper thin ego.
I was invited to lunch by his staffer Francis. She stated in an adoring manner that John Kerry would some day be the President of the United States. My answer was short and succinct," Based on what?" She said, "He's a war hero." I said, "but he then marched in a filthy uniform and threw his medals over the White House fence." She then told me the medals were someone else's. I merely stated it showed disrespect to honors received on the battlefield by "Someone." End of discussion on that.
Someone in the Asian customs stated a rumor that Senator Kerry purchased a tiger skin in Vietnam and officials were told to ignore it. Somehow Vietnam Veterans got the story and as far as I know, there has never been a denial from the great "environmentalist" John Kerry. But true or not it gives a good look at how Kerry operates. Take the "war hero" the next. Take the "Champion of MIAs" one day and the "we aren't going to war for them" the next day and you have John Kerry.
Senator Kerry threatened to order me before his committee unless I gave him intelligence to carry to Hanoi. My answer? "you do not have to order me before your committee, I'll be there." I waited but, when I called Francis and said I was in America and ready to put the record straight on the rumor about Ross Perot being spread by committee staff, she said." I'm sorry Mark we have run out of money to bring you here." I said; "I have miles to burn and will pay my own way." She said she would discuss it with Kerry and get back to me. I never heard from her or the "War Hero" again. Vietnam Veterans beware. The best way to describe John Kerry's attempts to be all things to all people is, "Heinz 57."
There has been much sniping at President Bush for being a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard. Liberals who seem to believe September Eleventh was somehow our fault and most surely the President's, laugh at his flying to an aircraft carrier to welcome home U.S. Troops. They said he looked silly dressed as a pilot. No candidate for President had more right to dress like that, than George Bush; he is a fighter pilot. Where were these people, when the draft dodging Clinton wore a "Tanker Jacket" when visiting the troops? A part of a uniform he evaded wearing in time of war. I hope Kerry does not show up to see the troops, if elected, in the ragged field jacket and head ban, he wore in the peace marches. When time to honor a battlefield hero, I hope he does not have a "flashback" and throw our Nation's highest award over the White House fence. After all, he does think throwing other people's medals over that fence is all right.
Lastly, as Guard and Reserve Troops fight and die for our freedom, I don't want any Commander In Chief who would think their service a joke. Further, if the big time Vietnam Veteran Kerry knew a thing about the Vietnam War, other than how deep the river was, he would know Guard and Reserve Pilots regularly flew combat missions in Vietnam. I for one appreciated the support.
"War Hero?" O.K., he received the Silver Star. But, "Expert" on war? No John, but those of us who are, will take the honest leadership of President Bush anytime over you. You have not changed a bit from the time of the Vietnam War. Your wet finger is still in the air checking the political winds, before making any decision or changing one already made. We are at war and I know war. Your brand of equivocation on every issue costs lives in a war and I don't want more dead and wounded here and abroad. You went to war and then marched against it and those of us who still fought. I know you as "Springtime Patriot" and then as a "Winter Soldier." People should look up what you said during your "Winter Soldier" days. You voted for the present war and now you condemn it. You may be an Ivy League graduate, but, your war record is minor league and your leadership is straight out of the "Waffle House." If being President is going to be based on medals earned in battle, there are a whole lot of us in front of you, John Kerry. There is one last thing that places all of your fellow veterans ahead of you in the honor department, with the exception of a few of your fellow "Winter Solders." We had too much respect for our fellow warriors, who fell on the field of battle, to throw even our lowest award over the White House fence. If you keep running on the "warrior ticket," you will lose sailor! For on that ticket, you are who you have always been.......NOBODY.
Mark A. Smith - DSC Major, USA, Retired Member, The Legion of Valor Returned Prisoner of War 2723 West 179th Street Torrance, CA 90504
PravdABDNC and the rest of the leftist shills are trying to paint President George Bush into a liar. They are selling the American people 24/7 that there is not or ever was WMD in Iraq. We were sitting on their doorstep for six months and can speculate that he razed his weapon’s program or he was bluffing the world. Either way, it was not for President Bush to decide which it was or he would have been AWOL of his duties to ignore it like they did. After 9/11 the make nice with the terrorist mode of the TerroRat Party was no longer an option and still isn’t.
Now we have the nattering neighbobs clamoring that he did the wrong thing and lied to the country??? The big lie is that they can pretend that they even care about this country let alone the military or the CIA. These people have destroyed the morale and efficiency of the CIA and military over the past 20 years and now it is W’s fault that there are problems? Nobody, even PravdABC or Saddamn knows if those weapons were or were not there. Course the lackeys in PravdABDNC can choose which side to believe and push, 4th estate; try 4th axis of evil!
All of this continues to undermine the honor of our military, which is their real end goal. The left was at it’s apex when we crawled out of Viet Nam. This was when Jane Fonda, Abby Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and John Kerry were able to spit on the flag and had a real chance of moving this country to the Communist paradise they believe in. They with their Viet Vets Against the War and assorted Soviet funded anti-war anti-America protests brought this country down and made us leave Viet Nam early. Never mind the 10-20 million SE Asians that were immediately slaughtered because we went AWOL on South Viet Nam which should have become a South Korea, but Jerry Rubin Kerry had bigger fish to fry....US!
Now Jerry Rubin Kerry wants to do to Iraq what he did to Viet Nam. Rather than celebrating and parading our soldiers freeing of 25 million people from a brutal Communist Dictator he needs our troops coming home in shame. The WMD is nothing more than a convenient way to club the military’s accomplishments without upsetting the American electorate. If the electorate realized that this was the usual blame America first crowd attacking America they would be hammered come election time. However, if they hide behind the fact that WMD was not located then they have free reign to say and do what they like, just like in Viet Nam and those phony Civil War charges.
This country has done something very special in world history. Out of nothing more than wanting peace in the world and ridding it of a terrorist country it has freed millions of oppressed people. This country has an opportunity with the talent and hard working folks of this baby boomer generation of making this world a safer and better place. Unfortunately, my generation has a large group of interlopers like Witch Clinton and Jerry Rubin Kerry who fail to realize that Communism is fundamentally flawed by power thirsty people and that they were wrong about Viet Nam. They hate the military and the CIA and will never change their minds. They will do anything they can to destroy this country and will attack her in any way they can. They are now turning an event that should be celebrated, and for their own political thirst are attempting to make our boys feel like those Viet Nam Vets. Heck, we may even end up with a scar memorial if Jerry Rubin Kerry has his way?? Unfortunately, when my generation dies that will finally be the dead end of Communism, because too many of us cannot admit we were wrong back then and are still wrong. My generation had a chance to be something special, but we have a cancer in it that will not go away. If you want to see the tumor just listen to Jerry Rubin Kerry. God Bless and God Bless America!
Pray for W and Our Troops
That's wonderful!
BTW, it is R. Emmet Tyrell who coined -- and who often uses -- the phrase The Moron Vote.
I have yet to hear a more perfect description of Democratic voters.
Plus, I think the phrase could be effective with some voters who wouldn't want to be associated with it.
I hope it becomes a common phrase.
They would be HIS band of brothers - no?
Portion of John Kerry remarks on NBC's "Meet the Press" May 6, 2001:MR. RUSSERT: You mentioned you're a military guy. There's been a lot of discussion about Bob Kerrey, your former Democratic colleague in the Senate, about his talking about his anguish about what happened in Vietnam. You were on this program 30 years ago as a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. And we went back and have an audiotape of that and some still photos. And your comments are particularly timely in this overall discussion of Bob Kerrey. And I'd like for you to listen to those with our audience and then try to put that war into some context:
(Audiotape, April 18, 1971):
MR. CROSBY NOYES (Washington Evening Star): Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a Naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?
KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.
(End audiotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Thirty years later, you stand by that?
SEN. KERRY: I don't stand by the genocide. I think those were the words of an angry young man. We did not try to do that. But I do stand by the description-I don't even believe there is a purpose served in the word "war criminal." I really don't. But I stand by the rest of what happened over there, Tim.
I mean, you know, we-it was-I mean, we've got to put this war in its right perspective and time helps us do that. I believe very deeply that it was a noble effort to begin with. I signed up. I volunteered. I wanted to go over there and I wanted to win. It was a noble effort to try to make a country democratic; to try to carry our principles and values to another part of the world. But we misjudged history. We misjudged our own country. We misjudged our strategy. And we fell into a dark place. All of us. And I think we learned that over time. And I hope the contribution that some of us made as veterans was to come back and help people understand that.
I think our soldiers served as nobly, on the whole, as in any war, and people need to understand that. There were great sacrifices, great contributions. And they came back to a country that didn't thank the veteran, that didn't-I mean, everything that the veteran gained in the ensuing years, Agent Orange recognition, post-Vietnam stress syndrome recognition, the extension of the G.I. Bill, you know, improvement of the V.A. hospitals, all came from Vietnam veterans themselves fighting for it. Indeed, even the memorial in Washington came from that.
MR. RUSSERT: By your own comments, Bob Kerrey was not alone in doing the things that he did.
SEN. KERRY: Oh, of course, not. And not only that, we, the government of our country, ran an assassination program. I mean, Bill Colby has acknowledged it. We had the Phoenix Program, where they actually went into villages to eliminate the civilian infrastructure of the Vietcong. Now, you couldn't tell the difference in many cases who they were. And countless veterans testified 30 years ago to that reality. And I think-look, there's no excusing shooting children in cold blood, or women, and killing them in cold blood. There isn't, under any circumstances. But we're not asking, you know, nor is Bob Kerrey saying, "Excuse us for what we did." We're asking people to try to understand the context and forgiveness. And I think the nation needs to understand what the nation put its young in a position to do, and move on and take those lessons and apply them to the future.
MR. RUSSERT: The folks who oversaw the war, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, you do not now 30 years later consider them war criminals?
SEN. KERRY: No, I think we did things that were tantamount that certainly violated the laws of war, but I think it was the natural consequence of the Cold War itself. People made decisions based on their perceptions of the world at that time. They were in error. They were judgments of error. But I think no purpose is served now by going down that road. I think, you know, the rhetoric of youth and of anger can be redeemed by the acts that we put in place after time to try to move us beyond that. And I think there are great lessons to learn from it. But we would serve no purpose with that now. But we have to be honest about the mistakes we made. We don't have legitimacy in the world, Tim, if we go to other countries, in Bosnia or China or anywhere else, and not say, "You know, we made some terrible mistakes."
And that honesty, that lack of a sense of honesty is part of what is driving people's anger toward the United States today. That's why we have the vote in the U.N. That's why people-our allies, too-are disturbed by this defense posture. You can't abrogate the ABM treaty and move forward on your own to build this defense in a way that threatens the perceptions of security people have. And if you build a defense system, Tim, that can do what they say at the outside, which is change mutual assured destruction, you have invited a potential adversary to build, build, build, to find a way around it. The lesson of the Cold War is, you do not make this planet safer by moving unilaterally into a place of new weapons. Every single advance in weaponry through the Cold War was matched by one side or the other, and that's why we put the ABM treaty in place, and that's why we need to proceed very cautiously and very thoughtfully.
MR. RUSSERT: John Kerry, we thank you for your views.
SEN. KERRY: Thank you.
Did Kerry lie when he spoke before Congress (the quote above was not from his Congressional tesimony), did he deliberately tell falsehoods and exagerations so as to end the war quicker (by providing aid and comfort to the enemy) or did he participate in warcrimes?
The answer to both of those questions is more important than nagging DNC questions about if George W. Bush was AWOL despite evidence he wasn't. These questions are also more important than questions about John Kerry sexually harassing an aide and the DNC knows it; they'd rather talk about sex than Kerry's Vietnam past.
[snip]
James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis, crewmen two years earlier under then-Lieutenant Kerry on his Navy Swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum craft that patrolled the waters of the Mekong Delta, were bitter and angry when they first saw television coverage of his testimony.
"Absolutely upset," said Wasser, who recalled no such atrocities. "I felt betrayed."
Said Zaladonis: "I didn't like the idea. I certainly didn't believe that all Vietnam veterans were baby-killing women rapers. Most people I know agree with me - they didn't see it."
Today, Wasser and Zaladonis are no longer in agreement about their old skipper's postwar actions.
Wasser is a strong Kerry supporter, often appearing on behalf of the senator at political events. His hawkish views on Vietnam have evolved, and he now backs Kerry's involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the organization for which Kerry served as spokesman at the height of his antiwar activities.
"As I look back over the years, I feel he did the right thing," said Wasser, an electrician from Illinois.
Zaladonis has mixed feelings.
"I thought he was a damn good officer," Zaladonis said. "I think I would very much like to see him as president." But he is uncertain about whether he will vote for Kerry, partly because ofpolitical issues and partly because of Kerry's work with antiwar protesters. "The more I hear about [the protests], 'Did John say that? Did he do that?'" said Zaladonis, a retired telephone technician in Florida. "I'm still studying it."
[snip]
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