In God We Trust…..Semper Fi!
Posted on 09/08/2004 4:57:32 PM PDT by tgslTakoma
Welcome! My name is Larry Bailey, and I am a retired Navy SEAL Captain. I was in Vietnam in 1967 and participated in the Dominican Republic invasion in 1965. I also commanded the SEAL school in Coronado, CA.
I am the President of an organization named Vietnam Vets for the Truth, LLC. Please note the similarity in names with a group much in the news, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; I wish to emphasize that we are completely different and separate groups that were organized independent of one another. We do, however, support them completely.
We are an incorporated 527 PAC composed of Vietnam veterans opposed to John Kerry.
We will hold a rally we call “Kerry Lied . . . While Good Men Died” on Sunday, September 12, at 2 PM just north of the US Capitol building in the Upper Senate Park. Ten speakers will tell some of the true stories about the virtues of Vietnam veterans and contrast them with the lies told by John Kerry. We will identify those speakers in a few moments.
Much has been said by the news media about the Swiftees being a front for the Bush campaign. We know those guys, and we know that is not true. More importantly from our perspective, we have no connection whatever to the Bush administration or the Bush campaign. In fact, we never even TALK to anyone connected with either the Republican Party or the Bush/Cheny campaign. And regarding fundraising, the most any single donor has contributed is $1000.00, while the least is $2.50. We have raised about just a bit over $70,000, with the average contribution being just under $100.00.
I know this is hard for many reporters to understand or believe, but this is not a matter of politics. We would be doing this same thing if John Kerry were a Republican. And as much as we respect the office of the Presidency, if the President himself called and asked us to cease and desist, we could not do so. This is a matter of honor--a matter of Kerry’s betrayal, a matter of concern for our country. And it is also deeply personal.
The Swiftee officers knew Kerry in Vietnam; they ate with him, slept in the same quarters with him, and watched him on patrol. We will leave to them the comments about his actions in Vietnam, because they observed him there; we did not. Our quarrel with John Kerry is based solely on his actions when he returned from Vietnam. I want to summarize two of those things for you very briefly.
NUMBER 1 - John Kerry joined—no, he FORMED—VVAW, part of the radical left wing of the anti-war movement, and the things he said and did make him responsible, more than any other individual, for the false image of Vietnam veterans as babykillers or violent misfits prone to drug abuse.
John Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971; he told America and the world; and most despicably, he told our wives, our parents, and our children that we were rapists, torturers and murderers. And he told other outrageous lies, as well.
He said America’s actions in Vietnam were criminal.
He said most troops in Vietnam were on drugs.
He said the Vietnamese people didn’t care whether their government was democratic or Communist.
He said America “murdered” over 200,000 Vietnamese every year.
He said he was ashamed of his service, which must have been a lie, because he now says he is proud of it.
These and other things Kerry said were a smear on the laudable service of a generation of young Americans in Vietnam. We have carried the stain of his lies for decades, but the smear on our dead brothers, whose names are carved on a black granite wall, is far worse.
NUMBER 2 - The insult to us and to our dead comrades is not the worst part of John Kerry’s action. The worst part is that he gave aid and comfort to our enemy while America’s sons were still dying. All the false things he said about us encouraged our enemy to be patient, even when their losses were devastating. We believe there are thousands of names on that black granite wall because of John Kerry and others like him.
Kerry went to Paris in 1970 to meet with our enemy’s representative, Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, in violation of US law, while hostilities were ongoing and while he was still a commissioned officer in the US Naval Reserve. Kerry returned to the US and publicly advocated the enemy’s position and decried our own.
Our POWs heard the words of John Kerry from their interrogators as they were pressured and threatened to confess to committing non-existent war crimes.
This is a story of betrayal. John Kerry betrayed us, he betrayed his country, and, because of his status as a Naval officer, we believe his betrayal was far worse than Jane Fonda’s.
But we have never forgiven, we have never forgotten, and America needs to face these facts before the November election.
My fellow Vietnam veteran, Terry Garlock, who first proposed the idea of the “Kerry Lied” Rally, will now share his observations. He will be followed by another “winner” of the Purple Heart, Attorney Dexter Lehtinen of Miami and by VVT’s volunteer Media Affairs Director, Jeff Epstein, who is NOT a veteran. But I’ll let him address that issue.
Terry…
Posting the article is a service to all of us. How would we stay informed...
I would appreciate you passing my remarks on to Capt Bailey.
Tonk, your words, Captain Bailey's words, and all of the statements by our honorable veterans will go down in the history of our country to expose JFraudKerry for the traitor that he was then and continues to be today. By his silence and refusal to release his military records, he is admitting guilt to every claim he has made, every position he has taken over the last 40+ years, and his real lack of character. He is a liar. He has been a liar since he was trained to be a liar, working for Teddy Kennedy beginning in 1962.
There are many things we will never forget.
Thanks for the ping.
John Kerry reopened a very old and painful wound, and the Vietnam vets (and their survivors) have about had enough of his BS, it seems.
In God We Trust…..Semper Fi!
Dan Rather and CNN will do all they can between now and Nov 2nd.
We wanted to attend. We simply cannot. So, I'll use this post to first of all thank you two and the others who FReep & organize with you. I respect you tremendously. I have read your posts & exploits over the past 4 years. As someone who was there in the 60s, you are all way more effective than anyone Alinsky ever trained. You act honestly and ethically. They never did.
First, I have to clarify... we are not involved in the organizing of this rally. The credit for that hard work goes entirely to the Vietnam Vets for the Truth. We are just doing what we can to spread the word about their most worthy event, and of course to attend.
And thank you for your very kind words. I do what I can to make sure that no other American soldier will ever feel that he is hated by his own countrymen.
Someday I hope we have the chance to meet in person, reformedliberal. If you are ever in the area, give us a shout and we'll arrange a get-together to welcome you to town.
Thanks for the ping Tonk. I showed hubby the flier for this rally. I've been putting it up on the bulletin board at our local diner just about every day. (Somebody keeps taking it down.) Hubby's still tired most of the time since the bypass, and I know how much he hates crowds, so I didn't even consider the possibility of us going. A couple days ago he suggested we should go. I expected by now he would have realized he really didn't want to go, but he fooled me. He has our transportation all worked out. We're going!
The only thing I need to know now is who will be televising it? I need to set the timer on the VCR.
I can't help but wonder when the CBS presentation of "the other side" is scheduled for airing. The media makes me so sick. Thank God for sites like Free Republic. Without them the truth almost would never be told. My sincere thanks to all who work so hard to tell the truth.
Pass this on.
Thanks for the ping!
Much has been said by the news media about the Swiftees being a front for the Bush campaign. We know those guys, and we know that is not true.
Say they do(just for the sake of argument) have a connection with the Bush campaign. What does that have to do with what they are saying? I may of missed it but I've not heard any one refute their arguments as to why Kerry is unfit for command.
This book and their ads come out and Kerry
1 stops talking to the press
2 watches his campaign implode
3 rearranges his campaign staff...again
Connect the dots.
And little johnnys boat hits yet one more mine.
BUMP!!!
To all: Please bump this.
Thank you.
BUMP
(See? It's easy.)
A BIG BUMP!
Many are the Veterans, O God, who have longed for the day when lies would be buried in truth, when deception would give way to decency and honor and respect. Thousands upon thousands of America's mothers and fathers shed tears as they bid farewell to sons and daughters as they left the warmth of home ... many to return to the cold earth of their beloved country ... most to the scorn from those who believed a lie.
The tears have continued, O God ... mostly in silence, but they are there. Open up our hearts as our beloved Veterans gather on Sunday ... cause us to pour out our tears upon them, for we weep at the withholding of honor that is their portion. They gather to refute the lies ... they gather in homage to fallen comrades ... they gather for their children's children ... they gather because they are Americans who love their country.
Merciful Father, may Your Spirit enter the home of every beloved warrior on Sunday ... bring peace to each household ... bring assurance that You have seen each sorrow, You have noted every tear, You know the very deepest heartache. And You have stirred these patriots once again to serve their country ... they reject the lies and stand for the truth. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for each one whose name we know only as "Veteran." ... Amen
bump!!
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.