Hanoi John

The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: “They 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, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."

I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.

My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.

Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.

John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW’s, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier’s International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.

“Hanoi John,” now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere.

Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado

The following were letters to the editor in today’s Amarillo Globe News. As you can see, Terry McAuliffe and Michael Moore have succeeded, at least a little bit! If you go to the website I’ve posted, you can write replies to the Globe News…I wish you’d join me in refuting some of this absolute garbage! (As you can see, only ONE of the letters is from an Amarilloan! Our wonderful paper is owned by some company in Georgia, I think, so they include letters from all over the country.)

Thanks, MS

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/022004/opi_response.shtml

Editorial Draws Combative Response: Kerry and Bush: no comparison

February 20, 2004

When I saw your Feb. 10 editorial, my mouth utterly dropped open. Comparing John Kerry's and George W. Bush's military records is laughable.
Kerry actually fought in Vietnam; Bush hid in his father's friend's office. His records have been scrubbed just as his records were sealed. Please tell me you know that his records were sealed. If you don't, you have no business writing such an editorial.
Clinton protested the Vietnam War. So did Kerry when he came home. I protested the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. Poor old W. didn't have the guts to go to war or protest it. Instead he went AWOL from the National Guard.
It's time for George to find out what it's like to pay for his lies, and his ignorance. His smirking face on "Meet the Press" turned my stomach. "I was honorably discharged" was all he could say. He never answered anything. He responded to every question with the same answer like a good boy - with what he had memorized.
It is funny no one ever remembers seeing him at meetings for the National Guard. Daddy bought him out of that mess, like he did everything else.
Paulyne Taylor
Amarillo

Editorial on military issue misleading

Your Feb. 10 editorial is enormously misleading, implying that John Kerry has made an issue of President Bush's service. Below is a quotation from a recent AP story on the question:
"Kerry said Tuesday he had nothing further to say about Bush's record. 'I just don't have any comment on it,' Kerry told reporters between campaign stops in Tennessee and Virginia. 'It's not an issue that I chose to create. It's not my record that's at issue and I don't have any questions about it.' "
It is the press, not Kerry, that has pursued the question. You have an obligation to point that out to your readers.
Daniel Garber Princeton, N.J.

If you make a promise, keep it

The author of your Feb. 10 editorial, "Military service debate not a battle worth fighting," ignores the entire thrust of the question about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. That question concerns whether he deserted, not whether National Guard service is admirable or commendable.
By miscasting the words of presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, you commit a dangerous sophistry: You suggest that his opinion about the admissibility or relevance of military service in campaigning is at all related to his opinion about the admissibility and relevance of shirked commitments.
I think Bush's potential failure to honor his promise of military service is infinitely more relevant and damning than Bill Clinton's choosing not to make such a promise.
Benjamin Sagan
Orange, Calif.

Don't send others to do what you wouldn't

With reference to your Feb. 10 editorial, the issue is not that Bush "only" served in the National Guard. The issue is the fact that he seems to have been AWOL during that service (regardless of payroll records, no one can remember him, which is highly unusual among those who have served together).
Many joined the Guard to make certain they would not see combat in Vietnam.
Many young men from wealthy, politically connected families were able to get their names at the top of the Guard list (Democrats included).
What is a bit hard for many of us to stomach is our troops being sent to die by a man who obviously was not willing to do the same - and possibly did not even bother to fulfill the commitment he made to save himself from that fate.
Richelle Krause
Seattle, Wash.

Tens of thousands of motorcyclists come to DC every year as part of Rolling Thunder. This year the event will he held on May 30. In 2003, there were 300,000 participants. The mission of Rolling Thunder is as follows:

Rolling Thunder;, Inc.'s major function is to publicize the POW-MIA issue. To educate the public of the fact that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all past wars. To help correct the past and to protect the future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action. We are committed to helping American veterans from all wars.

Rolling Thunder, Inc. National is NOT connected with or an affiliate of any other organization or political party and we do not raise funds for profit.

We are a non-profit organization, which operates under the guidelines of the Federal Government for a non-profit organization as defined by section 501C(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Assuming Kerry gets the nomination, Rolling Thunder will be faced with a decision on whether they should speak out about Kerry, who as noted here, has not been a strong supporter of the POW/MIA efforts. Officially, Rolling Thunder will not want to jeopardize their tax free status, but I can think of no better venue to show the veterans opposition to Kerry and his "band of brothers."

The President of RT is Artie "Dictator"; Muller Tel (908) 369-5439, Fax (908) 369-2072 E-mail: president@rollingthunder1.com

the website is: http://www.rollingthunder1.com/index.html

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