Website Exposes Kerry's 1971 Antiwar Book, Activities (FRN)

(Talon News) -- A conservative activist group has created a website that features excerpts from a book written by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in 1971 when he was a leader in the Vietnam antiwar movement. The Free Republic Network (FRN) has posted photographs and transcripts of Kerry's testimony before Congress on the site, www.wintersoldier.com.

The cover of the book "The New Soldier" is displayed on the site which shows members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) imitating the famous photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima. In this pose, the American flag is carried upside-down, a symbol of disrespect according to the rules of flag etiquette.

The name of the site comes from the Winter Soldier Investigation, an event staged in Detroit by VVAW that was intended to expose atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam, but doubts about the claims made and the military history of those making the charges undermined its credibility. Scott Swett, a Director of FRN told Talon News his reason for creating the site was to "bring to light that the Winter Soldier Investigation was a fraud and a show trial that was financed by Jane Fonda and the other members of the hard left."

Swett declined to comment on Kerry's military service beyond saying, "To the best of my knowledge he served honorably."

The website talks about Kerry's much-publicized act of defiance where the future senator gained national attention for throwing his medals over a fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. Years later he admitted that he threw someone else's medals during the protest march after a reporter spotted Kerry's medals in his Senate office.

The website also tells how the apparently "spontaneous" speech Kerry delivered that day was actually written by a speechwriter for Robert Kennedy named Adam Walinsky.

John Kerry and the VVAW signed the "People's Peace Treaty" in 1971 and sent a delegation to Hanoi. The document was a summary of the North Vietnamese bargaining points, including the key concession that the United States must agree to withdraw all troops before any negotiations could take place for the return of American prisoners.

A portion of the book is devoted to Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during which he said of his fellow soldiers, "They told the stories [that] at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones 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."

Five days before his testimony before the Senate, Kerry appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" where he said, "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 caliber machine guns... I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages."

Last week, Kerry was asked about reports that he had accused "American troops of war crimes," during his testimony by CNN anchor Judy Woodruff. The Massachusetts senator denied the statements that were recorded by the Congressional Record as well as his own book.

"No, I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops," Kerry said. "And if you read what I said, it is very clearly an indictment of leadership."

Jane Fonda appeared on CNN two weeks ago to explain that she and Kerry might not have even "shaken hands" at a Valley Forge, PA rally where the two were photographed together. But flyers distributed by VVAW for the Operation RAW (Rapid American Withdrawal) list Kerry and Fonda as speakers as well as sponsors.

Kerry recently charged that discussion of his war record and his antiwar past was equal to questioning his patriotism. Yet the Democratic Party has continued to blast President Bush about his service in the Texas Air National Guard, from which he was honorably discharged. DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said that the Bush may have been AWOL, a statement he has refused to retract.

On Sunday, Kerry sent a letter to President Bush saying, "As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation's history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain. But, that is what you have chosen to do."

But it is Kerry who campaigns with his "band of brothers" and has established his image with the media as "John Kerry, war hero," while the Bush campaign has been focusing on the senator's voting record on defense and intelligence issues.

I haven't seen this anywhere yet.. for what it is worth I got this is an email:

I know nothing about "Swift Boat" tactics so I can't judge the veracity of this letter. Maybe a more knowledgeable classmate can shine some light on this. It was forwarded to me by a high school classmate, USNA grad ('59) and Rear Admiral (Ret.)

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

Walt Plaue To: undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:17 PM
Subject: John Kerry...You decide

Sent to me by an old shipmate....

I was in the Delta shortly after he left. I know that area well. I know the operations he was involved in well. I know the tactics and the doctrine used. I know the equipment. Although I was attached to CTF-116 (PBRs) I spent a fair amount of time with CTF-115 (swift boats), Kerry's command.
Here are my problems and suspicions:

(1) Kerry was in-country less than four months and collected, a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three purple hearts. I never heard of anybody with any outfit I worked with (including SEAL One, the Sea Wolves, Riverines and the River Patrol Force) collecting that much hardware so fast, and for such pedestrian actions. The Swifts did a commendable job. But that duty wasn't the worst you could draw. They operated only along the coast and in the major rivers (Bassac and Mekong). The rough stuff in the hot areas was mainly handled by the smaller, faster PBRs. (2) Three Purple Hearts but no limp. All injuries so minor that no time lost from duty. Amazing luck. Or he was putting himself in for medals every time he bumped his head on the wheel house hatch? Combat on the boats was almost always at close range. You didn't have minor wounds. At least not often. Not three times in a row. Then he used the three purple hearts to request a trip home eight months before the end of his tour. Fishy. (3) The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 was fired at the boat and missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner knocks him down with the twin .50, Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off, shoots Charlie, and retreives the launcher. If true, he did everything wrong.

(a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your stern to the action and go balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic integrity of a frisbie after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's.

(b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was no danger to you just flopping around in the dust during his last few seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring do in your after-action report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that, too.

(c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area. EVER! The reason was simple. If you had somebody on the beach your boat was defenseless. It coudn't run and it couldn' t return fire. It was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat during or after a firefight.

Something is fishy. Here we have a JFK wannabe (the guy Halsey wanted to court martial for carelessly losing his boat and getting a couple people killed by running across the bow of a Jap destroyer) who is hardly in Vietnam long enough to get good tan, collects medals faster than Audie Murphy in a job where lots of medals weren't common, gets sent home eight months early, requests separation from active duty a few months after that so he can run for Congress, finds out war heros don't sell well in Massachsetts in 1970 so reinvents himself as Jane Fonda, throws his ribbons in the dirt with the cameras running to jump start his political career, gets Stillborn Pell to invite him to address Congress and Bobby Kennedy's speechwriter to do the heavy lifting, winds up in the Senate himself a few years later, votes against every major defense bill, says the CIA is irrelevant after the Wall came down, votes against the Gulf War, a big mistake since that turned out well, decides not to make the same mistake twice so votes for invading Iraq, but oops, that didn't turn out so well

so he now says he really didn't mean for Bush to go to war when he voted to allow him to go to war.

I'm real glad you or I never had this guy covering out flanks in Vietnam. I sure don't want him as Commander in Chief. I hope that somebody from CTF-115 shows up with some facts challenging Kerry's Vietnam record. I know in my gut it's wildy inflated. And fishy.

Keep smiling,
Mike (usma1959-forum) Posted By: LEO Thomas W Jr 1959 22681 K2 < thomasleo@mindspring.com >

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