John Kerry's war record

Washington Times Letter to the editor ^ | Fri Dec 13 2002 | MICHAEL BENGE

[restornu]

As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the White House, Americans should know a few things about him that he might prefer go unmentioned ? and I don't mean his $75 haircuts.

When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day, a group of veterans turned their backs on him and walked away. They remembered Mr. Kerry as the anti-war activist who testified before Congress during the war, accusing veterans of being war criminals.

The dust jacket of Mr. Kerry's pro-Hanoi book, "The New Soldier," features a photograph of his ragged band of radicals mocking the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, which depicts the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, with an upside-down American flag.

Retired Gen. George S. Patton III charged that Mr. Kerry's actions as an anti-war activist had "given aid and comfort to the enemy," as had the actions of Ramsey Clark and Jane Fonda. Also, Mr. Kerry lied when he threw what he claimed were his war medals over the White House fence; he later admitted they weren't his.

Now they are displayed on his office wall. Long after he changed sides in congressional hearings, Mr. Kerry lobbied for renewed trade relations with Hanoi.

At the same time, his cousin C.Stewart Forbes, chief executive for Colliers International, assisted in brokering a $905 million deal to develop a deep-sea port at Vung Tau, Vietnam ?

An odd coincidence.

As noted in the Inside Politics column of Nov. 14 (Nation), historian Douglas Brinkley is writing Mr. Kerry's biography. Hopefully, he'll include the senator's latest ignominious feat: preventing the Vietnam Human Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate, claiming human rights would deteriorate as a result. His actions sent a clear signal to Hanoi that Congress cares little about the human rights for which so many Americans fought and died.

The State Department ranked Vietnam among the 10 regimes worldwide least tolerant of religious freedom. Recently, 354 churches of the Montagnards, a Christian ethnic minority, were forcibly disbanded, and by mid-October, more than 50 Christian pastors and elders had been arrested in Dak Lak province alone.

On Oct. 29, the secret police executed three Montagnards by lethal injection simply for protesting religious repression. The communists are conducting a pogrom against the Montagnards, forcing Christians to drink a mixture of goat's blood and alcohol and renounce Christianity.

Thousands have been killed or imprisoned or have just "disappeared." The Montagnards lost one-half of their adult male population fighting for the United States, and without them, there might be thousands more American names on that somber black granite wall at the Vietnam memorial.

As Mr. Kerry contemplates a run for the presidency, people must remember that he has fought harder for Hanoi as an anti-war activist and a senator than he did against the Vietnamese communists while serving in the Navy in Vietnam.

MICHAEL BENGE Foreign Service officer and former Vietnam POW (1968 to 1973)

[Texasforever]

A wounded man with an RPG is still able to sink a boat

Especially a boat stupidly grounded in the "chase". He pulled a guy out of the water. why in the hell did he get a medal for that? Was Kerry alone on that damned boat?

[MEG33]

You aren't going to swoon are you?

[Mo1]

Thanks for posting that piece by Joe Klien .. I think I figured out who helped Hellary write her book

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?040112fr_archive

[RLK]

Kerry is mentally unstable. Anyone not as unstable as he is will recognize him as being so. The question is, is the general population healthy enough to perceive him for what his is. The answer is probably, no. It's as simple as that.

[Radioactive]

John Kerry threw medals over the white house fence to protest the war.......but they were not his medals.

His medals are hanging on his office wall.

This terd threw somebody elses medals and now he has the nerve to throw this "I'm a veteran" crap in the face of the men and women who fought and never complained, doing their duty.

Kerry, you can KMA.

[joyce11111]

I truly believe Sen Kerry would be better off trying for a starring role in *The Munsters* He will have all the movie stars on his side...so heck...why not!
he looks just like one of the Munsters, not, like a Prez.

[joyce11111]

I noticed lst Monday night this fact...his wife, Mrs Ketch thinks Kerry is tedious.
It was especially noticable when she jammed her elbow into him...on stage whilst he had his arms around her waist, It was a great moment. Boy, did he move back quick.

[NYCVirago]

If this nation can elect a draft dodger you think the vast majority would hate Kerry for serving and trying to bring Americans home from a war that was unpopular? We need to defeat him on his record. Everytime we bring this up it makes our side look bad. None of our Republican candidates have seen combat and Cheney never served.

Even if our side doesn't bring it up, their side will. But the thing is, they spent eight years telling us that being a draft dodger was no big deal (after all, if military service was so important for a candidate, why didn't these libs support Bush 41 or Dole?) Now the left will turn the other way. But I don't think it will work -- it's like when they told us Clinton's egregious sexual behavior was his private life, and then went after Arnold as a groper. Most voters yawned at the charges. I think it's the same thing on military service -- the libs have so inoculated people that it doesn't matter, that it's difficult to turn around claim it does now.

[backhoe]

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

[RLK]

I noticed lst Monday night this fact...his wife, Mrs Ketch thinks Kerry is tedious. It was especially noticable when she jammed her elbow into him...on stage whilst he had his arms around her waist, It was a great moment. Boy, did he move back quick.

---------------------

She may be intelligent enough to find him nearly intolerable

[MEG33]

Good article and lots of links here.

[prairiebreeze]

Kerry not only spit on fellow soldiers, he advocated payment to the North Vietnamese, and wanted to take our troops out of VietNam AND THEN try to negotiate for the release of POW's. After we'd lost any leverage we had.

Horse. Barn door. Open.

Prairie

[steve8714]

Double check...Imhotep menacing Zita Johann and Edward Van Sloan in the original scariest picture of all time...evil magic, not pseudo-science brought him to life, and with evil magic he controls minds.

[joyce11111]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/pruden.htm

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[restornu]

Thanks

[restornu]

Thank for reminding me I was able to read updates I missed on Kerry they fairy tails!

Kerry look like a cadaver!

[leprechaun9]

Hey John Freakin Keery - I am grateful for your miltary service for my country, but I believe that you returned from Viet Nam as a "Marchurian Candidate"!

I also remember that Timothy McVeigh served in the military and was honorably discharged, but that service is no license to forgive what he was convicted of in Oklahoma City!

Your votes in the Bob and Billie Club (formerly the U.S. Senate) clearly show your hatred of the military and all legislative efforts to support them.

[FreeAtlanta]

They also did the same thing with Bush vs. Gore, when they said that Bush didn't have international experience and Gore did. Never mind, that Clinton was elected w/o international experience, and Bush governed a state bordering another country. The hypocrisy sees no end, when dealing with these people.