A 'filthy, obscene memory' or a heroic one? - battle over war crimes charges

..........And Kerry's testimony portrayed soldiers serving in Vietnam as either helpless victims, conscientious foes of the war, or potential psychopaths.

“The country doesn't know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped,” he said.

He predicted in that testimony that the American role in the war would be seen in 30 years as "a filthy, obscene memory" unless he and other vets could “search out and destroy the last vestige of this barbarous war” and help Americans “conquer the hate and the fear that have driven this country these last 10 years.”

He said, "We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service."

But “memories of that service” are precisely what is at stake in the furor over the Swift Boat Veterans book and ads.

Kerry built much of his campaign persona on the image of being a Vietnam combat veteran. The Democratic convention in Boston last month was a celebration of Kerry’s four months in Vietnam.

"We fought for this nation because we loved it,” he declared in accepting the nomination. “I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president."

But Kerry never gave equal time — or any time at all in his ads — to his other identity as an anti-war crusader who said Americans had "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads..."

***.....Consider military issues in the world. China is consumed with reunifying Taiwan to the mainland. Beijing desires the economic advantages of Taiwan and certainly does not appreciate an immovable aircraft carrier next to the mainland. The U.S. government’s approach has been that of strategic ambiguity. Through this arrangement, the U.S. can pronounce its one-China policy and likewise continue selling arms to Taiwan. Our ambiguous approach has left Beijing unable to predict our reaction to an assault on Taiwan. Sun Tzu’s canonical Art of War, studied in Chinese military colleges, warns officers to “Know your enemy” before starting a conflict. The fact is, Beijing does not know how George W. Bush would react to an invasion of Taiwan.

The same is true in Iran and North Korea. Iranian and North Korean officials probably know their nuclear aspirations are dead if Bush gets reelected. They will toe the U.N. line just long enough to hear the election results of the only country in the world brave enough to lead a preemptive war to stop them. If we elect John Kerry in November, Tehran and Pyongyang will not feel the threat of military retaliations, and international pressure without that threat is unlikely to deter their nuclear buildup. Consider this response from C. Kenneth Quinones, a former United States diplomat who was in Pyongyang earlier this month for a Korean studies conference. He was quoted in The New York Times:

"The North Koreans made it very clear, politely, that they want Mr. Kerry to win the election. Nobody wants to move. North Koreans are going to play wait and see." Not to mention that John Kerry has proposed withdrawing some troops from Iraq within the first six months of his election. Some insurgents may now begin to also “wait and see.” .....***Avert Disaster; Elect a Cowboy _______________________________________________________ NOW read LINK in Post #1: "Kerry's World: Father Knows Best"

On Meet the Press back in March or April, when shown tape of his 1971 testimony, and asked by Russert about it, he gave a strange little chortle and said, "Well Tim, what I'd like to know is, where'd all that thick brown hair go?" Chortle Chortle...you are now entering the Twilight Zone.....

He then said he might have been a little over the top (or the edge?) but re-affirmed that he stands behind his statements of the time and will not disavow them or apologize.

Tell me this: WHEN did Kerry alledgedly get shrapnel in his LEG (as constantly mentioned by his defenders).

Ah, that would be P.H. #2.

Unfit for Command Pg 77 -78 [Excerpt] Kerry claims to have been wounded on February 20, 1969, on the Dam Doi Canal, a canal running north from the Song Bo De River. In other reports, Kerry seems to place the location of th incident on the Cua Lon to the west. The operating report prepared by Kerry reflects "intense rocket and rife fire." In his biography, Kerry describes "blood running down the deck":

........Kerry felt a piece of hot shrapnel bore into his left leg. With blood running down the deck,......

The office of the accompanying boat, Rocky Hildreth, states that John Kerry's operating report (which Hildreth did not see until 2004) is false, and that the intense rockt and rife fire reported by Kerry never happened. It seems very unlikely that Kerry's boat could have experienced the heavy fire he reported without the accompanying boat hearing it. Hildreth also reports that there was no "blood on the deck," as Kerry claimed. Moreover, there was no damage to any boat from "the intense rifle and rocket fire" reported by Kerry. Van Odell, a sailor on PCF 93, recounts that when Kerry's crew came back that day, he heard them say that Kerry had faked a Purple Heart from his own M-79 wound. In addition, one of Kerry's crewmen, in a 2002 e-mail that he disowned after meeting with Kerry, questioned this Purple Heart and indicated that it was for a negligently self-inflicted M-79 grenade round like the one occuring at Cam Ranh Bay. [End Excerpt]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.