Kerry went from soldier to anti-war protester (unusually great article)

Baltimore Sun ^ | February 14, 2004 | Tom Bowman

[68skylark]

1971: After returning from Vietnam with five medals for combat service, the young Navy veteran testified in Congress and appeared on television to talk about the horrors of the conflict.

WASHINGTON - On a spring day in 1971, a young Vietnam veteran with shaggy brown hair and clad in a khaki field jacket bedecked with battle ribbons sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and delivered riveting testimony.

"We had an investigation in which 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-by-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command," declared John Kerry, a 27-year-old Navy veteran.

"They told the stories [that] at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

Kerry said more that day, much of it an impassioned argument for ending the war. But it was his words about alleged atrocities by Americans that infuriated, and bewildered, many fellow veterans of that long-ago conflict.

[ASA Vet]

she should reasonably have anticipated

Comrade Fonda did anticipate the harm to our soldiers, which is why she did it.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Salvation]

What You Don't Know about John Kerry

[OldEagle]

I think you are right and to add to it, I think Kerry had political ambitions when he went to Vietnam, I think he saw action and was revolted by the reality of it. I doubt that he ever got over it. While (and this is a stretch) he might have been well intentioned in his criticism of war, his actions hurt his country and his comrades.
He was wrong and he has to deal with the consequences.

[PhilDragoo]

Kerry got three purple hearts which required no hospitalization and left no scars.

Kerry got a Bronze Star for showing up.

Kerry got a Silver Star for shooting an enemy combatant downed by .50 caliber fire by others.

Kerry wrote his own citations and was back in the world in four months.

He was eager to call his "band of brothers" murderers, torturers, baby-killers, and rapists.

His most important award was from General Vo Nguyen Giap who credited Kerry for the Communist victory.

Kerry slandered his betters for the fawning praise of the enemy commander.

[autoresponder]

..


Senator Kerry, you said you carried and used a weapon.......

What type and caliber if firearm was it......

That you shot and killed that Vietnamese mother and her baby with........

The ones you confessed to killing....

In the 1971 audiotaped interview.....

Tim Russert played back for you......

Recently on "Meet The Press".......

What do you mean by "I had no choice" Senator Kerry.......??????



??????????




Senator??????????

[petitfour]

When Kerry was at Yale, he was courted by Kennedy admin officials, who encouraged he and his classmates to be commissioned upon graduation and to lead the way in Nam. By the time Kerry was a senior, he was publicly denouncing our efforts in various parts of the world. He endorsed our efforts in Europe during WWII. (his mother was living in France when Hitler invaded and took over the place.) Kerry has essentially the same UN-directed world view that he had as a college student. PRIOR to his becoming a Navy officer. His family was very Eurocentric. There is an article on Boston.com that is pretty good, detailing Kerry's family history and what-not.

[CyberAnt]

What's amazing to me .. the very same period that the dems are persecuting the President over, is the very same period when Kerry WAS BACK FROM THE WAR AND HAD JOINED THE PROTESTORS.

While President Bush was flying 3 a.m. sorties looking for Russian infiltrators, Kerry was out there protesting the war.

Too bad the Newsweak cover doesn't show that contract .. but then why would they want to expose themselves to the truth. Instead they show a color picture of an entry into the military picture of Kerry, and a black and white picture of the President. Pathetic.

[CyberAnt]

I don't think so because all the stories I have read say that Kerry didn't start his anti-war stuff until after he returned to the states - which was when he was separated from the Navy.

[CyberAnt]

Not only that (no specifics), had they been, and had he actually witnessed these activities and didn't report them, they are considered "war crimes".

As to defending his anti-war stance .. he can't. His votes in the Senate show perfectly well how he hates the military. He has voted NO for every military armament, equipment, intelligence, etc. The fact he would vote for the war in Iraq and then vote NOT TO SUPPORT THE TROOPS who are already there proves to me he cannot be a CIC, not in war time .. and probably not anytime.

I know they will lie, but this will be very difficult to defend.

[CyberAnt]

"Kerry's "staff" claims Kerry went to weekly, monthly, and annual Navy Reserves 'camp' from 1972-1978. But Kerry refuses to release his records"

W H A T ..??? KERRY REFUSES TO RELEASE HIS RECORDS. But .. Bush is REQUIRED to release his .. just more of the double standard. And .. now I see why they are making such an issue of it .. as usual, it's to cover up their own failings.

[CyberAnt]

Thank you. Very reasoned response. You may be correct that when he encountered the reality of war (which is traumatizing), he never got over it. And .. you are correct that although America does allow him to protest, his actions did harm America and the military.

So far, I don't think he's dealing with the consequences very well.

[Zack Nguyen]

I am no psychologist, but it seems to me that Kerry's virulent war protesting, his anti-defense and anti-intelligence postions, and his general peacenik attitude is probably a deep-seated psychological need to atone for atrocities he committed in Vietnam. Being left wing and gaining approval from those who hate America makes him feel better about himself.

It is possible to feel badly for Kerry and what he probably goes through. He'll never find forgiveness in that way. The worse he feels about himself, the more leftist he becomes. If this little hypothesis is right, we are all being subject to his search for forgiveness.

[petitfour]

I have read that Kerry asked to be stationed stateside, and he was assigned to be an aide to an Admiral. While he was working for the Admiral, he was busy flying one of the big anti-war protesters around New York. At the request of his sister, I believe. Kerry was anti-war BEFORE he went to Nam. It is very evident in a speech he made as a senior at Yale.

[CyberAnt]

Wow! Great info. Thanks!

[XEHRpa]

An amazing article coming from the Baltimore Sun, which is usually slightly to the left of Marx.

[68skylark]

I don't know much about the Sun in general. But when I find a good mainstream reporter it's pleasant to point him out to other Freepers.

[MEG33]

Asked if he would be a "war" president,Kerry said"I will be a jobs President,a health care President,an education President.I will work with other countries to preserve security."

I'm paraphrasing the last statement about security..

[68skylark]

That guy says the dumbest things! How the heck did he get to the front of the Democratic pack? He really thinks there are Americans who want to consult France about our security problems. How many voters are going to rally around that kind of rhetoric? Not even his supporters will be inspired that way.

[MEG33]

He's a 9/10 kind of guy.