Vietnam War Illuminates, Shadows Kerry's Campaign ["John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served wi

LA Times ^ | February 16, 2004 | John M. Glionna

[Hon]

[Please note that this article was posted twice before, but the excerpts only featured the first couple of paragraphs, so no one seems to have noticed these comments from retired Naval Commander, Paul Galanti:]

On April 22, 1971, the day before he threw away his combat ribbons, Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivering a powerful message that Brinkley says convinced many Americans their country was waging an immoral war.

Kerry's testimony was the lead news story on all three networks that evening, making him one of the faces Americans attached to the antiwar movement.

Dressed in his combat fatigues and ribbons, he told Congress that U.S. soldiers had "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads … randomly shot at civilians … in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan." He later acknowledged that he did not witness the crimes himself but had heard about them from others.

The speech prompted the Nixon administration to open a file on Kerry, who was placed under FBI surveillance. It also brought him lasting enmity among some Vietnam veterans who say Kerry broad-brushed them as a group of maladjusted, dysfunctional losers.

Paul Galanti learned of Kerry's speech while held captive inside North Vietnam's infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison. The Navy pilot had been shot down in June 1966 and spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war.

During torture sessions, he said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as "an example of why we should cross over to [their] side."

"The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield," Galanti said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington."

He says Kerry broke a covenant among servicemen never to make public criticisms that might jeopardize those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy.

Because he did, Galanti said, "John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with."

Now retired and living in Richmond, Va., Galanti, 64, refuses to cool his ire toward Kerry.

"I don't plan to set it aside. I don't know anyone who does," he said. "The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him."

[Hon]

This is the article that Limbacher was talking about in this NewsMax piece here:

Hanoi Hilton Capturers Cited Kerry's Speech NewsMax ^ | Feb. 19, 2004 | Carl Limbacher http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1081361/posts

[GailA]

btt

[Fixit]

John Kerry's testimony -- The Gideons' bible of the Hanoi Hilton.

[SAMWolf]

[Toespi]

"The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield," Galanti said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington."

Sadly, we can be assured that similiar words have been uttered by our current enemies in the Middle East thanks to the political antics of the likes of John Kerry. Our enemies can count on people like him who they know will turncoat and smear their own country for their own personal gain. Every time our troops are ambushed it is not just for the kill, it is for the reaction that these deaths produce within our own borders as well as government.

[GOP_1900AD]

I seriously wonder if any of the infiltrated KGB operatives [who McCarthy was stopped from rooting out of the armed forces] had anything to do with Kerry? How many of them were over in Vietnam at the time he was there? I wonder how extensive the FBI investigation was? Should a new investigation be undertaken, given how critical it is to understand the pedigree of a man who theoretically may get his hands on the football if we don't stop him?

[4integrity]

Toespi, I,too, strongly believe that comments made by the media and some of our Senators encourage our enemies and result in additional attacks on our soldiers. Why is it that these politicians do not realize this? Or, do they? And, if they do, it means they are more interested in gaining personal power than they are in the interest of our country, our citizens and mostly, our brave troops.

[Dead Dog]

I'm guessing Bush over Kerry by more than 10% on the next Rassmusan Pol.

[Toespi]

Of course they realize it, they consider it the cost of doing business. I have no doubt that some politicians (and I believe Kerry is in the crowd) look forward to hearing the daily death toll to our troops, it bolsters their anti-war rhetoric. Additionally, they use the numbers as a way to gain votes and denegrate our President. We have to come to terms with the simple fact that liberals do not love this country, that is the main premise when they challenge the constitution and everything it stands for in our society.

[Hon]

"I seriously wonder if any of the infiltrated KGB operatives [who McCarthy was stopped from rooting out of the armed forces] had anything to do with Kerry?"

Well, for one thing Kerry's group was financed in part by Mark Lane. He had a big hand in some of their demonstrations--particularly the so-called "Winter Soldier Investigation."

It's reported that the KGB archives show that Mark Lane was receiving money from them.

[LibFreeUSA]

John Kerry has never had to 'own up' to his deplorable conduct against the U.S. servicemen/women during the Vietnam war years.

Only being elected to office, and answerable to just 2.2% of the U.S. population (Mass pop 6.3 million vs 281.4 million U.S. pop), and a liberal state at that.

Now he has to run on that record against the 281 million pop., so we'll see what the rest of the country has to say about that conduct.

[not-alone]

We are going to have work hard to get the major media to cover this. If your local papers have forums put it out there. I am so sick of him being called a hero. My classmates died there and friends that came back had to put up with another hell on campus because of him.

[GOP_1900AD]

Hon: This is fascinating. Nice sleuthing! [Kerry Red Rat pedigree ping...]

[I got the rope]

What do you think? Seems like Kerry is bringing out the military vote.

[Lexington Green]

--
Walt Plaue
----- Original Message -----
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:17 PM
Subject: John Kerry...You decide


Sent to me by an old shipmate....

I was in the Delta shortly after he left. I know that area well. I
know the operations he was involved in well. I know the tactics and the
doctrine used. I know the equipment. Although I was attached to
CTF-116 (PBRs) I spent a fair amount of time with CTF-115 (swift
boats), Kerry's command.

Here are my problems and suspicions:

(1) Kerry was in-country less than four months and collected, a Bronze
Star, a Silver Star and three purple hearts. I never heard of anybody
with any outfit I worked with (including SEAL One, the Sea Wolves,
Riverines and the River Patrol Force) collecting that much hardware so
fast, and for such pedestrian actions. The Swifts did a commendable job.
But that duty wasn't the worst you could draw. They operated only
along the coast and in the major rivers (Bassac and Mekong). The rough
stuff in the hot areas was mainly handled by the smaller, faster PBRs.

(2) Three Purple Hearts but no limp. All injuries so minor that no
time lost from duty. Amazing luck. Or he was putting himself in for
medals every time he bumped his head on the wheel house hatch? Combat
on the boats was almost always at close range. You didn't have minor
wounds. At least not often. Not three times in a row. Then he used
the three purple hearts to request a trip home eight months before the
end of his tour. Fishy.

(3) The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star
make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 was fired at the boat and
missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner
knocks him down with the twin .50, Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off,
shoots Charlie, and retreives the launcher. If true, he did everything
wrong.
(a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your
stern to the action and go balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic
integrity of a frisbie after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so
between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's.
(b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber
round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was
empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was
no danger to you just flopping around in the dust during his last few
seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring do in your after-action
report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that,
too.
(c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing
procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area.
EVER! The reason was simple. If you had somebody on the beach your
boat was defenseless. It coudn't run and it couldn' t return fire. It
was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved
and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat
during or after a firefight.

Something is fishy.

Here we have a JFK wannabe (the guy Halsey wanted to court martial for
carelessly losing his boat and getting a couple people killed by running
across the bow of a Jap destroyer) who is hardly in Vietnam long enough
to get good tan, collects medals faster than Audie Murphy in a job where
lots of medals weren't common, gets sent home eight months early,
requests separation from active duty a few months after that so he can
run for Congress, finds out war heros don't sell well in Massachsetts in
1970 so reinvents himself as Jane Fonda, throws his ribbons in the dirt
with the cameras running to jump start his political career, gets
Stillborn Pell to invite him to address Congress and Bobby Kennedy's
speechwriter to do the heavy lifting, winds up in the Senate himself a
few years later, votes against every major defense bill, says the CIA is
irrelevant after the Wall came down, votes against the Gulf War, a big
mistake since that turned out well, decides not to make the same mistake
twice so votes for invading Iraq, but oops, that didn't turn out so well
so he now says he really didn't mean for Bush to go to war when he voted
to allow him to go to war.

I'm real glad you or I never had this guy covering out flanks in
Vietnam. I sure don't want him as Commander in Chief. I hope that
somebody from CTF-115 shows up with some facts challenging Kerry's
Vietnam record. I know in my gut it's wildy inflated. And fishy.

Keep smiling,

Mike

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[GOP_1900AD]

This needs to be widely distributed. Have you sent it to Hannity?

[GOP_1900AD]

Bump!....

[Hon]

"This needs to be widely distributed. Have you sent it to Hannity?"

Apparently Brit Hume mentioned these crew members in passing on Fox tonight.