Posted on 01/27/2004 3:22:31 PM PST by Nix 2
Veterans Should Politically Banish Kerry For Disgracing The Marine Corps Memorial
Major Rick Erickson, 01/27/04
On the cover of The New Soldier by John Kerry and Vietnam Veterans Against The War, hippies clad in a mismatch of military uniforms are pictured mocking the legendary image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima. Today, the Iwo Jima image is a memorial statue that sits above Arlington National Cemetery and honors all Marines killed in action since 1775. It is one of the most recognized and visited sites in our Capitol City.
The New Soldier never made it on the reading list at our military academies. In the cover photo that ridicules the Marine Corps Memorial, one of Kerrys cronies is tugging on our flag, which is hung upside down as the ultimate symbol of sedition and treachery to all veterans who rallied behind our flag in battle. On the day of that shameful photograph and with its mass circulation on the cover of The New Soldier, at least 6,821 Marines who died at Iwo Jima turned over in their graves.
Of all the reasons why John F. Kerry will not become President of the United States, the biggest reason has to be that, once he returned home from Vietnam, he betrayed his fellow servicemen who remained at war. Kerry not only allied with the likes of Hanoi Jane Fonda, but, before the United States Senate in 1971, Kerry went as far as to belittle the bravery of embattled troops by generalizing their every action in Vietnam as an atrocity.
No one questioned General George S. Patton, III, when he accused Kerry of treason in giving aid and comfort to the enemy, especially when it was revealed that North Vietnam incorporated Kerrys exploits into its communist propaganda machine. However, because of the prevalence of treason at the time and the monumental task of prosecuting Kerry and his proclaimed revolutionaries, Kerrys actions went unpunished and the associated advances of communism went unhindered.
Fortunately, todays veterans and Americans who overwhelmingly support our armed forces tend to disparage those who dishonor military service and then pretend to be capable of our countrys highest office. This political reality afflicted Bill Clinton, whose anti-military past kept him from winning any more than forty-nine percent of the popular vote. No wonder Kerrys presidential campaign is doing its best to subvert his estrangement from veterans and service people in general.
The tact of Kerry for President looks a lot like Clinton-Gores approach to deceiving voters that such an obvious liability is really the opposite. When Kerry marched in the Veterans Day parade in Phoenix last year, in tow behind him were a few people carrying Veterans for Kerry placards. Some placard carriers looked like the ragtag types on the cover of The New Solider in that they were unshaven, wearing circa 1971 clothes and appeared disoriented.
The ongoing insult is that Veterans for Kerry is supposed to represent the veteran communitys support of Kerry, when the reality is that very few veterans support him. Most veterans cannot forgive Kerry for Vietnam Veterans Against The War and its promotion of communism when we were fighting communists. As far as U.S. Marines are concerned, we ought to ensure that Kerry is forever banished from the White House for dishonoring our Memorial on the cover of The New Soldier.
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Visit Rick's website at ReadyMilitary.com
Major Rick Erickson has been in the Marine Corps since 1991, when he attended Officer Candidate School, The Basic School and the Infantry Officer Course (1992) in Quantico, Virginia. He reported to the 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, California, where he assumed command of a rifle platoon and then a weapons platoon with 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (2/5). In 1993, he attended over-the-horizon navigation school and became navigator for 2/5s Fox Company, which trained in Coronado, California to conduct small boat raids for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). In 1994, the 11th MEU deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, where Major (then 1st Lieutenant) Erickson participated in Operation Quick Draw and Operation Distant Runner in Rwanda.
The Dim core is baby boomers who came of age as hippy students opposing the Vietnam war. WWII generation liberals adopted their position and captured the Democratic Party in 1972. Pro-defense Dems gravated to the pubbies - the neocons. The anti-Vietnam rump in control of the Dim party became appeasers during the Cold War, believing the War was a much or more the fault of the West as the Communists. Being anti-war was so much a part of their identity that Bush 41 almost didn't get a vote for Gulf War I. Only the shock of 9-11 in the electorate forced some to vote for Gulf War II.
What we're seeing today is a bunch of aging Vietnam protesters reliving their adolescence. If they were to admit Bush is right about Iraq, they would have to face having been wrong about the Cold War and Vietnam - their entire self-image would fall apart. They will never allow this to happen to themselves. They will live in self-deception and visceral hatred of conservatives as the cause of all their problems instead.
(Nix 2......you have a great 'Home Page'.)
(Romans chapters 8,9,10,11)
:-)
Jimmuh Carter is just bonkers. The only thing that went right in his presidency was the Camp David accords, so he thinks he can forge a legacy out of pacifism at all costs. He's nuts.
McGovern led the split in his party over Vietnam, which has led to its minority status. If you want to know why the Democrats have held the White House 8 of the last 28 years, McG bears much of the responsibility. He has a great deal invested in turning this war into a defeat for President Bush - and America. Justification for gravely damaging the world's oldest political party.
I also thought it was shameful that Kerry used the guy whose life he saved in Vietnam as a campaign gimmick in Iowa. Of course he would help Kerry if asked (and they asked him); I'm sure he feels quite a bond with the man who saved him. Even if he didn't - who could say no in those circumstances? You don't call a marker like that in for self-promotion.
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