Kerry accuses Bush of stifling dissent

Boston.com ^ | 04/22/2006 | Mark Pratt

[Panerai]

Those who disagree with the Bush administration's policies in Iraq face the same scornful charges that they are unpatriotic as Sen. John Kerry did 35 years ago when he spoke out against the Vietnam War, the Massachusetts Democrat said Saturday.

"I have come here today to reaffirm that it was right to dissent in 1971 from a war that was wrong. And to affirm that it is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a President who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a war in Iraq that weakens the nation," Kerry said to a standing ovation Saturday at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.

Kerry's speech came 35 years to the day after he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to call for an end to the Vietnam war.

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Kerry said in 1971, a line that helped propel the decorated Navy combat veteran and Yale graduate onto the national stage.

The same question applies today as Americans wrestle with the mounting death toll in Iraq, Kerry said, speaking before about 500 supporters who punctuated his speech at least 20 times with ovations.

"Lives have been lost to bad decisions," Kerry said. "Not decisions that could have gone either way, but decisions that constitute basic negligence and incompetence. And lives continue to be lost because of stubbornness and pride."

[the invisib1e hand]

is he still on about Viet Nam, for the luvagawd?

[potlatch]

LOL, good one Phil! Send it to him but hide your name, lol!

[Panzerlied]

He fought in Cambodia. That part is seared in my memory! 8>)

[ntnychik]

Nice Zell pic. Thanks for sending. I'm a sucker for those "Eisenhower jacket" uniforms!

[ntnychik]

Excellent Traitor montage.

[smoothsailing]

Here's Zell again!

There's just nothing anywhere in the world like a United States Marine, except another one!

God Bless Them All

ZELL MILLER

[ntnychik]

Thanks for the Zell pic. What a cutie!