Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry (apparently new web site)

Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry ^ | on or before January 21, 2004 | U.S. Veteran Dispatch

[BillF]

On the campaign trail, White House wannabe Sen. John Forbes Kerry regularly mentions his Vietnam War combat experience, during which he received three purple hearts, the Silver Star and Bronze Star. However, the Massachusetts Democrat doesn't like to talk much about how he received the awards or the time after he returned home when he was rubbing shoulders with Hanoi Jane Fonda as a much-celebrated organizer for one of America's most radical pro-communist groups. [emphasis added]

[BillF]

I got no problem with what Kerry did. . . . . Kerry, as far as I know, broke no laws.

One of the photos is Kerry being arrested, albeit for some misdemeanor (probably disorderly conduct) at a Memorial Day protest.

Ignoring the petty law-breaking as admittedly of little significance some 30 years later, and without trying to re-fight the Vietnam war, do you think that Kerry's actions upon his return from war:

(1) dishonored his service,

(2) undercut his fellow servicemen still in Vietnam,

(3) gave aid and comfort to enemies of the U.S., not much different from Tokyo Rose in WWII, and

(4) undercut the ability of the U.S. government to prevail (either in combat or negotiation)?

Thanks again for your valliant service in Vietnam and elsewhere. Hope to see you at CPAC!

[Lando Lincoln]

It is always disgusting to hear him brag about his service when he betrayed his country with the likes of the communists Hanoi Jane and Ramsey Clark.

This is really pathetic. But this must be very, very well known by the media. Where have they been? They act like Pavlov's dog whenever the "War Hero" Kerry is mentioned. I gotta believe Ollie North will be all over this. Don't you think?

Lando

p.s. All the best.

[Dolphy]

Kerry served in Vietnam. He saw what that war did to American troops. Had Bush served, instead of going AWOL, American troops probably wouldn't be dying in Iraq right now. I find it interesting that all right wingers ignore the fact that Bush lied about WMDs as being the reason to go to war with Iraq! Clinton has an affair with an intern and all of you want to string him up from the highest pole, but Bush lies to the entire world community, attacks Iraq, sends thousands of American troops into battle, kills thousands of Iraqi civilians and nobody cares!

This is funny. Kerry votes for the war and against funding reconstruction and our troops and you are defending him? He seems rather reckless to me.

[leadpenny]

The way I see it, he exercised his rights on our soil.

I watched 68 go by while I was at Ft. Rucker in between tours. I never really held anything against Vets against the War or protestors and the like. My disgust was, and still is, directed at the Johnson administration.

Now, if it turns out that Kerry knowingly gave aid and comfort in support of groups who traveled overseas to meet with the enemy, I'll be the first to speak out against his post war record. I'm in a 'wait and see' mode.

[BillF]

Looks photoshopped to me. Maybe, photo is from his Cong. testimony with the North Vietnam flag added behind him? I'm not sure.

If Kerry testimony was so strong, I would think that it will come out.

The "Kerry saved Green Beret pulling him from the water" story just seemed awful convenient in terms of timing (a few days before the Iowa vote) and the GB saying that he was a 'pub, but was backing Kerry.

Did Kerry rescue the GB that way or did the historian (with or without knowledge of falsity) include that story in the book as a planted story that Kerry was going to milk later for votes?

I'm not saying that it's a false story, I'm just saying that the "I'm a 'pub, but backing Kerry" statement triggers my BS alarm.

[leadpenny]

I hear ya, there is plenty of time for things to come out. I should have addressed my comments above to you too.

From what I have seen so far, Clinton is not worthy of shining Kerry's combat boots.

[Thorin]

You may very well be right about how medals were awarded in Vietnam; I wasn't there, and was all of 8 when Saigon fell.

My point is, that regardless of his stupid left-wing politics, Kerry was there, and deserves credit for that. No doubt he had political ambitions, but, unlike Clinton, he sought to preserve his "political viability" by serving his country, not hiding from the draft. If all Kerry did to get the Silver Star is what is recorded on the website, he didn't deserve that medal in my view, but he still gets a lot of credit in my book for putting himself in harm's way. Unlike Bill Clinton who hid out in Oxford, Kerry could very well have been killed or maimed for life; he wasn't sitting behind a desk in Saigon.

I also doubt that this issue will be used against Kerry if he becomes the Democrat nominee for the simple reason that, apart from Colin Powell, no one of prominence in the Bush White House came anywhere near Vietnam.

[joesnuffy]

[onepocket]

Another Vietnam Veteran (USMC, DaNang, 1968-69) for our Honorable President Bush.

[Arpege92]

Kerry served in Vietnam and he also LIED about what he saw in Vietnam. Being that you are a part of the RAT party, perhaps you shouldn't buy into everything they spew out of their traps. They use you and people like you to further their own causes and God help you when they turn on you.

Clinton not only had an affair you idiot....he raped as well! Haven't you heard about this....wait, you must have had your head up your A$$ when that rape story came to light. Clinton also sent our troops into harms way without UN approval....did you hear about this as well....probably not because you had your head up your A$$ again.

Clinton is responsible for the deaths of the American soldiers who were killed in Somalia. Had they gotten the equipment they requested from Clinton, these soldiers would probably be alive today. How come your weren't angry about that....don't tell me....you had your head up your A$$ again.

Crawl back in your little hole ole' stupid one and stay there.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - demoRAT Kerry

[tioga]

RE- Kerry's ulterior motives and combat boots

The only motive one should have for being president is to serve the people -- and I'm not so sure Kerry didn't tarnish his own combat boots beyond repair. We agree clinton is a loser, but Kerry needs to prove himself with the life he leads -- so far there are a lot of others with better motives, goals and credentials. Problem is the dems have none of them. With the exception of Zell Miller who will be at CPAC!

[joesnuffy]

My point is, that regardless of his stupid left-wing politics, Kerry was there, and deserves credit for that. No doubt he had political ambitions, but, unlike Clinton, he sought to preserve his "political viability" by serving his country, not hiding from the draft. If all Kerry did to get the Silver Star is what is recorded on the website, he didn't deserve that medal in my view, but he still gets a lot of credit in my book for putting himself in harm's way. Unlike Bill Clinton who hid out in Oxford, Kerry could very well have been killed or maimed for life; he wasn't sitting behind a desk in Saigon.

Its all well and good that Kerry volunteered to go to Vietnam and volunteered for Riverine duty. Yes it was very dangerous there...pretty much all of the combat area was...

But lets examine Kerry's taking a "Silver Star" for the act as described on the web site.... and his allowing some navy corpsman to put him in for three "cheap hearts" and after getting his third cheap heart...puts himself in for transfer for some really cushy duty and gets it...

Now to me this speaks volumes about HIS CHARACTER...(of course if you are a democrat of the Clinton ilk...character doesn't count...but for some of the rest of America it does)...

I will give you one more observation...when Kerry left...the way he did...he was not showing LEADERSHIP OR INSPIRING HIS MEN TO SACRIFICE OR COURAGE...

America has been gravely damaged in our recent past by leaders of little if any character...The president of the USA must be a man of impeccable character to be an effective leader

I will give Kerry credit for volunteering for Vietnam..(most of the men in combat were volunteers BTW)

But for taking a medal imo he didn't merit..

For using his cheap hearts to get out of combat (and leaving his crew) I will not give him credit or vote for him...

His obvious dislike of the America of our founders and what I consider his profound lack of character imo disqualifies him from serving in federal legislature let alone the Presidency..

IMO

[Hon]

Thought you'd appreciate this excerpt if you haven't already seen it:

"Kerry became even more of a press celebrity during a highly publicized "anti-war" protest when he threw medals the press reported were his over a barricade and onto the steps of the Capitol. Kerry never mentioned that the medals he so gloriously tossed were not his own. The 1988 issue of Current Biography Yearbook explained: " . . . the ones he had discarded were not his own but had belonged to another veteran who asked him to make the gesture for him. When a 'Washington Post' reporter asked Kerry about the incident, he said: 'They're my medals. I'll do what I want with them. And there shouldn't be any expectations about them.'" Kerry's medals have reappeared, today hanging in his Senate office, now that it is "politically correct" for a U.S. Senator to be portrayed as a Vietnam War hero. Alas, so much for integrity."

http://www.usvetdsp.com/story10.htm

[Hon]

Recently, Kerry became extremely defensive when David Warsh, an economics columnist for The Boston Globe, questioned the circumstances for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. Kerry, who was in a close re-election battle with Gov. William F. Weld, a Republican, quickly gathered his former crew from his Swift boat days to rebuff the "assault on his integrity."

According to the official citation accompanying the Silver Star for Kerry's actions on the waters of the Mekong Delta on February 28, 1969: "Kerry's craft received a B-40 rocket close aboard. Once again Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry ordered his units to charge the enemy positions. . . Patrol Craft Fast 94 then beached in the center of the enemy positions and an enemy soldier sprang up from his position not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled. Without hesitation Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber." In an article printed in the October 21st and 28th 1996 edition of The New Yorker, Kerry was asked about the man he had killed.

"It was either going to be him or it was going to be us. It was that simple. I don't know why it wasn't us--I mean, to this day. He had a rocket pointed right at our boat. He stood up out of the hole, and none of us saw him until he was standing in front of us, aiming a rocket right at us, and, for whatever reason, he didn't pull the trigger--he turned and ran. He was shocked to see our boat right in front of him. If he'd pulled the trigger, we'd all be dead . . . I just won't talk about all of it. I don't and I can't. The things that probably really turn me I've never told anybody. Nobody would understand," Kerry said. In the column, Warsh quoted the Swift boat's former gunner, Tom Belodeau, as saying the Viet Cong soldier who Kerry chased "behind a hootch" and "finished off" actually had already been wounded by the gunner.

Warsh wrote that such a "coup de grace" would have been considered a war crime. Belodeau stood beside Kerry and said he'd been misquoted. He conceded that he had fired at and wounded the Viet Cong, but denied Kerry had simply executed the wounded Viet Cong. Dan Carr, a former Marine from Massachusetts, who served 14 months as a rifleman sloshing around in the humid jungles of I Corps, South Vietnam, questioned whether or not Kerry deserved a Silver Star for chasing and killing a lone, wounded, retreating Viet Cong. "Kerry is certainly showing some sensitivity there. Most people I knew in Vietnam were just trying to pull their time there and get the hell out. There were some, though, who actually used Vietnam to get their tickets punched. You know, to build their resumes for future endeavors," Carr said.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/story10.htm

[carpio]

I've always wondered what would happen if Kerry became President and then found himself in the position of having to wage a war. Would he still protest it?

I find it a great chuckle that people here all praise the men in uniform; until one of them has a non Bush thought. My opinion? John kerry paid his dues to say or do whatever he chooses. Unlike Bill Clinton and George Bush. Or Algore whose service was was a sham act.

I am ill from seeing C in C's who dodged the draft or used phony Guard billets to evade (that's right EVADE) military service. Me for John Kerry if he can restrain himself from picking Hilary or Gephardt or some other repugnancy as a running mate. And I will be proud to vote for him.

I am represented in Congress by Steve Pearce (R NM) who is also a Vietnam Vet. And I support him 1000% percent for the same reason I will vote for Kerry. He didn't ask some ghetto kid to pull his military service for him while he hid out in College or the Guard. Then come asking for the honor of elected Office.

carpio

[Thorin]

I would never vote for Kerry--because he's a pro-abortion, Ted Kennedy style leftist--but I generally agree with what you say. Kerry is a combat veteran of Vietnam, when--given his education and connections--he could easily have been otherwise.

As I said, this won't be an issue in the campaign, because the Bush White House would never make it an issue. They know that Bush and Cheney weren't dodging bullets in Vietnam. In fact, when asked about his multiple deferrments, Cheney was nonchalant, saying he had "other priorities" at the time. And people here are upset because Kerry's actions in combat probably were not of the level of heroism that deserved a Silver Star? Pretty incredible, if you ask me.

[joesnuffy]

You arent paying attention...
It's Kerrry's fundamental DISHONESTY and LACK OF CHARACTER
I agree about GW Bush National Guard dodge and Cheney's cushy grad school in Madison Wi.
during the years when both with their education and maturity should have been leading troops or working in intel or serving in Vietnam putting their talents toward winning the war and taking care of the troops..
But Kerry blew it imo...and has no business being President of the United States of America
none what so ever...(neither do I BTW)

[Thorin]

I don't really disagree, since I don't plan on voting for Kerry. I just think that rather than criticize what he did in Vietnam--which was basically the right thing--we should focus on his real shortcomings, which have nothing to do with Vietnam.

[carpio]

There were some, though, who actually used Vietnam to get their tickets punched. You know, to build their resumes for future endeavors," Carr said.

Brilliant explanation of how we selfish Vets used our Big Opportunity to gain unfair advantage in life over those poor guys who did not get to serve.

I feel guilty as Hell now that the horrible real truth is out about how I got on here at the Brick Yard. I am a shameless opportunist. I admit it. Please find it in your heart to forgive me.

I just saw that old War going on and I said to myself,"Boy!! Here is the chance to screw my contemporaries I been looking for!!

carpio