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Kerry's Denials at Odds With 1971 Book He Authored [Kerry denies calling vets war criminals]
Cybercast News Service ^ | February 20, 2004 | Marc Morano

Posted on 02/20/2004 5:26:39 PM PST by Jackson Brown

Kerry's Denials at Odds With 1971 Book He Authored By Marc Morano CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer February 20, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has denied ever accusing American troops of committing war crimes in Vietnam. But his remarks during an interview on CNN Thursday are at odds with the excerpts of a book Kerry authored in 1971, a copy of which CNSNews.com obtained this week.

The New Soldier, which is currently so difficult to find that it was selling on the Internet for about $850, featured the following passage by Kerry about his experiences in Vietnam. "We were sent to Vietnam to kill Communism. But we found instead that we were killing women and children."

In the book, Kerry stated that Vietnamese citizens "didn't even know the difference between communism and democracy" and he instead blamed the United States for causing chaos in Vietnam.

"In the process we created a nation of refugees, bomb craters, amputees, orphans, widows, and prostitutes, and we gave new meaning to the words of the Roman historian Tacitus: 'Where they made a desert they called it peace,'" Kerry explained.

But when asked by CNN anchor Judy Woodruff on Thursday about allegations that he had accused "American troops of war crimes," Kerry issued a denial.

"No, I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops. And if you read what I said, it is very clearly an indictment of leadership. I said to the Senate, where is the leadership of our country? And it's the leaders who are responsible, not the soldiers. I never said that. I've always fought for the soldiers," he said.

Kerry was referring to his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April of 1971 as part of his involvement with the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

But The New Soldier reveals Kerry's direct criticism of American soldiers, including charges that they committed atrocities against the Vietnamese while on patrol.

In the book, Kerry said he "saw Vietnam ravaged equally by American bombs and search-and-destroy missions, as well as by Viet Cong terrorism..." He added that his combat duty in Vietnam irrevocably transformed his outlook on the military.

"Because of all that I saw in Vietnam, the treatment of civilians, the ravaging of their countryside, the needless, useless deaths, the deception and duplicity of our policy, I changed," Kerry wrote.

The cover of the book displays long-haired, bearded men carrying an upside down American flag in an apparent mockery of the famous planting of the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

Kerry's former brother-in-law and current campaign adviser, David Thorne and documentary maker George Butler were credited with editing the book.

A defiant Kerry told CNN's Woodruff that he did not regret his anti-war activism, but also shifted the conversation to his activities on behalf of veterans many years after his own service in Vietnam, his anti-war activities and the publication of his 1971 book.

"In fact, not only did we oppose the war, but we proudly stood up and fought for the additions to the G.I. Bill so that vets would be able to use it. We fought for the V.A. Hospitals. I wrote the Agent Orange legislation with Tom Daschle. I helped with the post-Vietnam stress syndrome outreach centers," Kerry said.

"...The fact is if we want to re-debate the war on Vietnam in 2004, I'm ready for that. It was a mistake, and I'm proud of having stood up and shared with America my perceptions of what was happening," Kerry added.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1971; 2004; kerry; kerryrecord; thenewsoldier; veterans; vietgate; vietnam; vietnamveterans; vvaw
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To: Jackson Brown
Also, "They told stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires with 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." - John Kerry, before the Senate's Foreign Relation Committee, 1971

Sure sounds like atrocities to me John!

81 posted on 02/21/2004 8:51:27 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: cake_crumb; JohnHuang2
The question is "Is the Iraq War just like the Vietnam War?" Kerry and his leftist Democrats currently want to convince us that it is. They see Bush's future tied to a failing Iraq war, and so they will do whatever it takes to make it fail, even if it means treason. They did that 30 years ago, and who is going to tell them they can't try it again? Kerry and his leftist allies undermined the support of the war at home, and caused it to drag on without victory for years more,. Remember General Giap's thanking the VVAW and other antiwar orgs for that fact?

Kerry didn't start out on this course. He has been turning like a weathervane, towards any direction he thinks will get him elected. He voted to give Bush authority to prosecute a war against Iraq, that is obvious and clear, despite Kerry's dissembling. However, his devious spin regarding his IWR vote is not working very well. Now, this outright denial of something so obvious and easily proven should make the headlines read: "Kerry's Implosion Process Well Underway."

But the "mainstream" will not report this clear and unambiguous mendacity to the American people. Thank God for the "alternative" media! Between Drudge, Fox, talk radio, the Free Republic, and other internet blogs, we shall not leave one fact regarding Kerry's treason unexposed! But I don't mean to question Kerry's patriotism, I mean to deny it outright! Kerry is as much a traitor today as he was 32 years ago. But now, he is a real threat to our nation's security, and so, we must enable and help-along Kerry's ongoing implosion process!

Edwards does not escape from this debacle unscathed. Clinton's, McAuliffe's, and Kerry's lies have a tendency to hurt the Democrat party as a whole, when they are well known and irrefutably documented. So, we have our work cut out for us! The one thing I would love to see, is the testimony of the actual Vietnam Vets that served with him, his direct subordinates on board that swift boat for that 4 months. Please, if you are out there, get to typing and post your true story! America will be grateful!

82 posted on 02/21/2004 9:51:19 AM PST by Richard Axtell
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To: elfman2
We’re killing Kerry too early. Edwards is a much more formidable opponent.

Edwards lacks gravitas.

Pass it on.

83 posted on 02/21/2004 10:00:28 AM PST by cyncooper
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To: big ern
Because, CNNCBSNBCABC are pukes!!!
84 posted on 02/21/2004 10:22:15 AM PST by Smartass
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To: commish
Kerry is such a sleazy liar. He has lied about being Irish, etc. And getting an annulment from his first wife with whom he had two children was disgusting. (Reportedly he first got a divorce, then an annulment.)
85 posted on 02/21/2004 10:31:55 AM PST by Dante3
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To: cake_crumb
No problemo, ma'am. I don't mind at all. Repetition is key to getting the truth out. Too many people, including too many Freepers, have never seen it before.

Kerry is slime and snippets from that testimony should be played back every hour on the hour (and every half-hour on the half-hour) on every news broadcast in the country to counter the incessant lies coming from the Kerry campaign and other lying left wing demagogues.

86 posted on 02/21/2004 12:04:18 PM PST by LibWhacker
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To: freebilly
All it will take to destroy Kerry is a televised interview with a former 'Nam POW who saw fellow POWs tortured or killed while Jane Kerry and John Fonda were aiding and abetting the enemy...I hope you're right - but IMO far too many from the Vietnam generation have virtually their entire perceptions of themselves as being morally and intellectually superior still invested in the idea that they were correct in protesting the war, and far too many of these have by now infested the highest places in our political, media and academic cultures. Thus we have toads like political operative, analyst Laurence O'Donnell smugly and authoritatively asserting with a straight face that "the protests shortened the war and saved thousands of lives". For these cadres to undertake an honest evaluation of what they really brought on with their anti-war activity and admit that just maybe they were wrong would destroy what they had believed about themselves most of their adult lives - I think most of them (except for a rare few like David Horowitz and Dennis Miller) will deny and resist such reevaluation probably 'til their dying breaths........
87 posted on 02/21/2004 12:35:41 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: SAMWolf
Sam, are those available as stickers to put on our windows?
88 posted on 02/21/2004 12:42:27 PM PST by doug from upland (Don't wait until it is too late to stop Hillary -- do something today!)
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To: Jackson Brown
Kerry left Vietnam early after getting three dubious wounds. Does anyone know the fate of the guy who took his place?
89 posted on 02/21/2004 12:45:07 PM PST by Natural Law
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To: doug from upland
Not that I know of, found it on a Blog site.
90 posted on 02/21/2004 12:48:14 PM PST by SAMWolf (Contrary to popular belief Hamas has nothing to do with ham. If you throw ham at them they get angry)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
The cover of the book displays long-haired, bearded men carrying an upside down American flag in an apparent mockery of the famous planting of the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

Kerry's book cover and the picture above from pre-GWII are examples that American veterans serve and die so that these types can legally make royal @$$es of themselves and receive the accompanying publicity.

The fact that Kerry was a Viet Nam veteran (as he repeatedly reminded anyone who was within earshot) should make this point all that more ironic.

91 posted on 02/21/2004 1:25:43 PM PST by jriemer (We are a Republic not a Democracy)
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To: Hon
I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 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-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command....

They told the stories 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, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

Yeah, this is a much better refutation of his lies to CNN than the book.

92 posted on 02/21/2004 1:32:00 PM PST by expatpat
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To: rintense
"Vietnam Vets Against John Kerry" on the front page of the Snday Chicago Tribune:

How Kerry irreversibly ruined the reputation of Vietnam Vets.

I think the reporter stole my tag line!

93 posted on 02/21/2004 6:49:21 PM PST by cookcounty (John Kerry's done more to damage the reputation of VN vets than any other living American.)
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To: Jackson Brown; All
HERE IT IS! Audio and video of Kerry's 1971 testimony to Congress: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082860/posts
94 posted on 02/21/2004 10:10:48 PM PST by ntnychik
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To: Jackson Brown
How this book continues to be suppressed is beyond me. We should demand John Kerry release The New Soldier to print again. I want to know what the Democrat presidential candidate thought was so important to put into print 30+ years ago...
95 posted on 08/10/2004 10:08:01 PM PDT by XHogPilot
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