Posted on 02/21/2004 6:45:10 AM PST by thesummerwind
In a stark about-face, Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry is now denying that he ever accused U.S. soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, despite amply documented comments - some televised, others delivered while under oath - where he did exactly that.
Asked on Thursday whether he had accused his fellow soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam during his April 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry told CNN's Judy Woodruff:
"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."
However, a transcript of Kerry's April 22, 1971 testimony contains accusations that his brother-soldiers committed all manner of atrocities; charges he based on interviews of returning Vietnam vets earlier that year at the Winter Soldier Investigation, an event Kerry organized with anti-American actress Jane Fonda.
Kerry told the Senate that Winter Soldier witnesses "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."
Speaking under oath, Kerry continued:
"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."
A few days before his Senate testimony, Kerry gave the following account on NBC's "Meet the Press":
"There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages."
The future presidential candidate added:
"All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down."
Appearing on "The Dick Cavett Show" in July 1971, Kerry admitted that he'd never actually seen some of the atrocities he testified about, but still maintained that U.S. soldiers fighting in Vietnam routinely violated the Nuremberg Principles.
"I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that," he told Cavett. "However, I did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground."
Kerry continued:
"And all of these acts, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions and to the laws of warfare. So in that sense, anybody who took part in those, if you carry out the application of the Nuremberg Principles, is in fact guilty."
CNN's Woodruff declined to confront Kerry with his previous comments accusing his brother soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam.
She is not the only one.
They hide under the news etiquette banner and say that it is not their job to do so.
Then they do it through innuendo and titles of stories.
Something has always stunk in the world of fair and balanced journalism.
Including FOX News.
ROFL!
..... and it depends on what your definition of "cut off ears", "randomly shot at civilians," and "razed villages like Genghis Khan" are!
Let's hope it dies down long enough for him to win the nomination. Edwards might be a bit harder to beat in November, even with his short tenure in public life.
Kerry's Denials at Odds With 1971 Book He Authored [Kerry denies calling vets war criminals]
At post 19 LibWhacker has an excerpted transcript of Kerry's testimony.
Darn, Scrawny Kerry ought to be reprinting the damn book now that he's getting all this publicity from running for President. He could outsell Sean Hannity. ;)
This says that Kerry knows this topic is going nowhere; he knows that the main-stream press is going to give him a complete pass on this topic.
Also, many FReeper posters are exactly correct in observing that the blue states are in the Kerry bag and the red states will remain GOP...even if it is discovered that Kerry may have had sex with his current wife.
Don't know about Squids but in August of 1972 at Ft. Polk, LA, the Geneva and Hague Conventions and the Laws of War were some of the first training I received. It is not credible that, as an officer he would not be well versed in regulations he should be enforcing.
The old "I was only following orders" defense was tried (and failed) at Nuremberg.
Hey I mostly agree with you. However I do believe that a very small group of middle of the road voters will be swayed by this denial of FACT.
But the difficult part is getting the story to those voters -- the mainstream media is SO LEFTWARD CORRUPT it's disgusting. -- worse now than ever, as they use that Bulls**t "Stolen 2000 Election" issue. The mainstrem media is tearing down this country.
Beautiful. But, knowing him he'd deny the denial.
I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages.
Scroll down 3/4 down for Kerry/Russert.
That 'aint NewsMax!
Excerpt ....
"KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities. And I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed, in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones; I conducted harassment and interdiction fire; I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people; I took place in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages."
1- the well-documented bias of the media... and I make the point repeatedly that it is not just the news media, but also the entertainment media who are two sides of the same coin. Indeed, the entertainment arm may be more harmful, for they instruct much of the public on what's hot, what's not, what should be ignored, and what is worthy of ridicule. Remember Newt?
2- then there's the other, more pernicious problem... the media- both arms, again- is "Desperately Seeking Susan"- looking like mad for a Clinton II who they will create, protect, laud, and magnify. It's a symbiotic relationship. "Enablers" comes to mind, and one feeds on the other. The unfortunate Doctor Demento Dean was an excellent example of how this worked. Media types are at heart looking for a Saviour- it's a quasi-religious experience for them.
All we can do is try to inform people and get them to get their own news and not rely on the pablum & pap the TV and most papers and magazines feed them.
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