Kerry & his Vietnam Buddies
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| Thu, 07-29-2004 - 9:52am |
Senator John Kerry has made his 4-month combat tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of his bid for the Presidency. His campaign jets a handful of veterans around the country, and trots them out at public appearances to sing his praises. John Kerry wants us to believe that these men represent all those he calls his "band of brothers."
But most combat veterans who served with John Kerry in Vietnam see him in a very different light.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been formed to counter the false "war crimes" charges John Kerry repeatedly made against Vietnam veterans who served in our units and elsewhere, and to accurately portray Kerry's brief tour in Vietnam as a junior grade Lieutenant. We speak from personal experience -- our group includes men who served beside Kerry in combat as well as his commanders. Though we come from different backgrounds and hold varying political opinions, we agree on one thing: John Kerry misrepresented his record and ours in Vietnam and therefore exhibits serious flaws in character and lacks the potential to lead.
We regret the need to do this. Most Swift boat veterans would like nothing better than to support one of our own for America's highest office, regardless of whether he was running as a Democrat or a Republican. However, Kerry's phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compels us to step forward.
For more than thirty years, most Vietnam veterans kept silent as we were maligned as misfits, addicts, and baby killers. Now that a key creator of that poisonous image is seeking the Presidency we have resolved to end our silence.
The time has come to set the record straight.
(cont.)

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Few things are black and white... supporting deployed troops during war... it's a no brainer... ANY PATRIOT would support our deployed troops.... ANY AMERICAN... would... we will ALWAYS support our troops, especially once sent into combat.... to do less is to turn on ourselves... there is no excuse for Kerry's vote... and none should be offered. It disqualifies him from not only office as President, but should keep him out of any elected office imho. Anyone with intelligence would see what a fraud Kerry has been his entire life... and shun him... or kiss his butt if they could milk something from him... if you aren't getting something powerfully decent from Kerry personally then if you are at all intelligent there is no way you could support this guy... :-)
You obviously have not read foxwen's post about what really goes on when a bill is trying to make it through the House and Senate.
I know of no one who does not support our troops, no one.
Our country learned a valuable lesson from the Vietnam War - it was a tragic mistake, a huge breach of trust by our leaders. There were people who spat upon our returning soldiers because of the mistakes of our leaders. Some of these veterans have never recovered from all that they did, and suffered during that war and the shunning they received after it.
We now understand that the military does what they are commanded to do, and we honor, respect,cheer and pray for them. This does not equate with cheering for short-sighted, wrong-minded, "God told me to do it leaders".
I support a strong military I am grateful for it, I am not grateful for the fool who misuses it.
Yup the public is just too stupid..
Not stupid.
So apparently John O'Neill did see and commit what are techinically war crimes, but he just wasn't aware of it. And 30 years later, John Kerry's rebuke seems to have slipped his mind.
(I'd provide a link to some sort of transcript of the debate on the Dick Cavett show, but searches have only turned up people lamenting that there are no transcripts.)
I think much of the misunderstanding over Kerry's anti-war stance comes from people just not getting that he wasn't accusing his fellow soldiers of the atrocities - he was accusing the military and political leadership of endorsing and promoting tactics which were against the rules of warfare. The soldiers just carried out these tactics.
Here's an article which details Kerry's experiences in free fire zones in Vietnam:
In the free fire zone
The possibility of killing innocent civilians haunted Kerry. With many of the South Vietnamese waterways in ''free fire zones'' - meaning that the US Navy was authorized to shoot anyone who was violating a curfew - the likelihood that innocent villagers could be killed was high.
One of Kerry's crewmates on swift boat No. 44 said such an event happened. Drew Whitlow of Arkansas said he was on patrol with Kerry when Whitlow spotted movement along the shore and yelled, "I'm going to fire!" The quiet river exploded in gunfire, with people on the shoreline dropping, dead or wounded, and no fire being returned.
Whitlow recalled the scene: "This is a free fire zone, I will fire, I will put rounds in, I'm doing my thing, I'm feeling Mr. Macho. But then when you get close, you see the expressions of the village people, people waving their arms, saying, `No, no, no! Wait a minute, hold this off.' I ended up putting a few down, and then I found out it was friendlies."
To make matters worse, a mortar round ricocheted back at the boat and wounded three crewmen.
Kerry, asked about Whitlow's account, said he had no recollection of the episode and wondered whether Whitlow was confusing it with another event or whether he was with Whitlow on that occasion. Naval records do not resolve the matter. After being told about Whitlow's recollection by the Globe, Kerry discussed the matter with Whitlow and said he still doesn't remember it.
But Kerry does recall a harrowing incident, which he has never previously publicly discussed, in which he said a crew member shot and killed a Vietnamese boy of perhaps 12 years of age.
A member of Kerry's crew announced he was shooting, and the air filled with the ack-ack-ack of gunfire. The rounds blasted into a sampan, hurling the child into the rice paddy. The mother screamed as the flimsy craft began to sink, and Kerry, shining a searchlight, yelled, "Cease fire! Cease fire!"
Kerry said his crew rescued the mother, took her aboard the Navy vessel for questioning, and left the child behind. Due to the dangerous location, and the possibility that the gunfire had drawn the notice of Viet Cong, Kerry never had a chance to see whether the woman was hiding weaponry in the sunken boat, and does not know to this day whether his crew faced a real threat.
"It is one of those terrible things, and I'll never forget, ever, the sight of that child," Kerry said. "But there was nothing that anybody could have done about it. It was the only instance of that happening.
"It angered me," Kerry said. "But, look, the Viet Cong used women and children." He said there might have been a satchel containing explosives. "Who knows if they had -- under the rice -- a satchel, and if we had come along beside them they had thrown the satchel in the boat. ... So it was a terrible thing, but I've never thought we were somehow at fault or guilty. There wasn't anybody in that area that didn't know you don't move at night, that you don't go out in a sampan on the rivers, and there's a curfew."
The details of the episode are murky, however, because none of Kerry's crewmates remembers it the way Kerry does. The closest recollection comes from William Zaladonis, a crewmate on No. 44 who vividly recalls killing a 15-year-old boy, but does not remember a mother being rescued. "I myself took out a 15-year-old" when the crew came across a sampan in a free-fire zone, Zaladonis said. "It was all legitimate. We told them to stop. When we fired across the bow, people started jumping from the boat. At that time my officer, whoever it was, told me to open up on them, and I did. And there was one body still in the boat, a 15-year-old kid. But over there, 15-year-old kids were soldiers."
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603_p.shtml
And as for truemoblie, you call Kerry a war criminal, then in the next breath your telling us that his non-support of a defense bill to support troops that are killing some innocent humans in Iraq is un-American.
What is it? Is war criminals only subjected to Vietnam? Or is our troops in Iraq war criminals also? They both have done the same thing, killed enemy's and innocent lives. Are you making a statement that one should be held accountable, but not the other? Myself on the other hand did not fight in Vietnam, nor Iraq and I would never say that our troops, just because they may have had to kill innocent lives to protect themselves is a war criminal. Your personal hatered for Kerry is shining through.
Meet Mr. Kerry he voted to provide nothing for them for the next year while they are in harms way. Absolutely NOTHING.
It doesn't matter why, it matters that he voted not one cent to protect, supply and defend our troops... they'd be tossing sand naked on the budget Kerry voted... NOTHING... that is NOT how one takes care of a military... at least one who is a patriot... Kerry is the fool. Note also Kerry voted to put the troops there... he's one of the fools who you claim put them there... and he had access to the same information as Bush... he also sat 3 seats from Sen. KKK Byrd who was questioning the Presidents intelligence information... assuming Kerry had one wit of brains he'd at least have double checked because a leader of his own party was claiming the Presidents information was wrong. How smart is Kerry if he can't hear what his own leadership is saying 3 seats away?
As to not voting for a self professed war criminal... that's just a no brainer... nobody should vote for someone who admits to being a war criminal. Especially when he hasn't even had the decency to turn himself in and do time for his crimes.
Edited 8/2/2004 1:26 pm ET ET by truemobile
Kerry said he committed war crimes... not me... Kerry himself!
"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 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions " -- John Kerry, on NBC's "Meet the Press" April 18, 1971
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