Posted on 04/11/2004 4:06:18 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup
Former United States Senator Bob Kerry, a possible contender for the White House in 2004, has admitted that his commando unit massacred civilians when he was a Navy officer in Vietnam, The New York Times has reported. Mr Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star for the 25 February 1969 action in the village of Thanh Phong in the Mekong Delta.
Basically you're talking about a man who killed innocent civilians
Bob Kerry The two-time Democratic senator from Nebraska says his unit of seven Navy Seals - elite commando troops - killed at least 13 women and children during indiscriminate night-time firing.
One of the men under his command at the time disputes Mr Kerry's version of events, claiming that the unit rounded up the civilians and killed them to hasten their escape.
Mr Kerry refused to contradict the man, saying their memories differed.
In-depth investigation
Mr Kerry,who stepped down from the US Senate in January and is now president of the New School University in New York, admitted his role in the massacre over the course of more than two years of interviews with The New York Times.
Mr Kerry said he has been haunted by Vietnam memories
A possible presidential candidate, Mr Kerry said it would be "very interesting to see the reactions to the story. I mean, because basically you're talking about a man who killed innocent civilians."
It is not clear what effect the revelations would have on any decision that Mr Kerry might make to run for office in the future.
In Mr Kerry's version of events, his group approached Thanh Phong near midnight on 25 February, 1969.
They encountered a hut on their approach, and men under his command entered it and killed the people inside.
Mr Kerry denied participating in the killings, but took responsibility for them as commanding officer.
Indiscriminate firing
When his group reached the village, they were fired upon in the darkness and shot back, firing some 1,200 rounds.
When they investigated after they stopped shooting, he said, they found they had killed a number of women and children. There were no adult men among the dead.
Gerhard Klann, a more experienced soldier who was under Mr Kerry's command at the time, remembers events differently.
He said Mr Kerry helped him kill an old man and woman and three children at the first hut, and that the unit then rounded up and shot the women and children of Thanh Phong to prevent them raising the alarm.
The Army Field Manual explicitly forbids killing prisoners "on grounds of self-preservation", but many people who served in Vietnam said the unwritten rules of the conflict made it clear that such actions were acceptable.
A Vietnamese woman who says she was an eyewitness supported Mr Klann's story.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
If both Senators did indeed kill civilians in Viet Nam it only proves that neither of them is/was fit to serve in the Senate.
I'm well aware of that sweet Anny, but until you and the other armchair Generals here have given BOTH of your legs in the service of your country, kindly shut up.
I'll cut some of them some slack, those that are too young or too stupid to know we're talking about the Senator from Nebraska, but for the rest of you ... kindly direct your invective at the politicians and not at the brave servicemen of that filthy war.
I meant to say ..brave and UNAPPRECIATED servicemen ..
With John Effin' Kerry, the most important part of his record is what he did AFTER he returned, which was despicable and inexcusable.
He joined the VVAW, an organization funded by Fonda and the CPUSA. He undermined his fellow servicemen in a time of war and dishonored and lied about their service while making political hay with his own. He traveled abroad and consorted with the enemy to undermine the United states, the people of Vietnam, and betray American prisoners of war. He maintained his membership in the group when one of their leaders proposed the assassination of US leaders. The group actually took a VOTE on it, yet not one, not even Kerry, had the integrity to report the assasssination plot. He tried to deny his presence there, but was caught in his lying and still associates with the individual who proposed it to this day. He ran for ofice and used his brother to break in to his opponents' headquarters and steal for John Effin' Kerry's benefit.
He uses his position as Senator to make deals for his cousin with communist Vietnam for profit, helping his company obtain valuable Vietnamese real estate development contracts in exchange for promoting the interests of the Vietnamese government. He uses his position as Senator to make deals with Chinese nationals to give China missile technology in exchange for political donations. He voted to cut US intelligence capability - benefiting all of our enemies- to promote his radical vision of an America that cannot act independenty even in its own defense.
He rejected his medals and his scorned his own service- he should not be credited with that he himself has publicly scorned and thrown away, even if he secretly threw someone else's medals away because he could not part with what he needed so desperately to disguise his intenationalist agenda and dupe potential voters who might erronously assume he is a patriot instead of an international socialist serving foreign interests, not American ones.
And the only foreign 'leader' we know who has met Kerry after he made his claim was the terrorist leader of the IRA who met him in Boston recently.
Just the guy we need to confont terrorism. Maybe it takes one to know one. [/sarcasm]
So it would be te John Kerry's advantage to bring on Bob Kerrey- they are made for each other in that Kerrey could 'back up' Kerry's broadbrushed lies about American troops, at least in the eyes of the ignorant voters they need. They could try to cloud Kerry's internationalist agenda with Bob Kerrey's 'atrocities' (which he says others did but he verbally takes responsibility for without of course, actually taking any REAL responsibility for under the law.) I suppose some folks would think that a guy who could commit an atrocity against Vietnamese couldn't possibly be in bed with them, or with other foreigners.
And Kerrey's one-time vocalness in going after al Qaeda (which may or may not have be typical of his other comments during the nineties) would help cover for John Kerry's very dangerous weakness in foreign policy. Nevermind that with John Kerry, he may talk tough when in front of a crowd of veterans or soldiers, but will sing a totally different song of appeasement when he is spaking infron radical friends. Is Kerrey any different? Most leftists are two-faced and inconsistent since it maximizes their voter base.
Plus Kerry could add Kerrey's medals to the ones he spit on in the hopes that simple-minded voters would assume that so many medals, including self-awarded ones, always imply that the bearers have a love of country. Nevermind that history features a number of medaled men who committed terrible acts against their own citizens and nations.
I KNOW he didn't lose both legs, you dingbat. I was implying that you hero evaluators should OUTDO him before you set yourselves in judgment of him.
I'm sorry one lost leg and the Medal of Honor doesn't impress you. I suspect you don't have personal memories of the Viet Nam War.
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.