FREEREPUBLIC NET LAUNCHES WEB SITE ON “WINTER SOLDIER INVESTIGATION”

JOHNKERRYFORPRESIDENT.INFO ^ | 2/23/03 | Diotima

[diotima]

***NEWS RELEASE***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2004
Contact: Scott Swett (frn@freeper.org) (703) 863-8033

FREE REPUBLIC NETWORK LAUNCHES WEB SITE ON "WINTER SOLDIER INVESTIGATION" AND KERRY SLANDER OF U.S. TROOPS IN VIETNAM

(Washington, DC) The Free Republic Network today announced the unveiling of www.WinterSoldier.com, a new web site to provide news, analysis and research material regarding the false claim by John Kerry and others during the Vietnam era that atrocities were routinely committed by America's military.

In 1971 former Navy Lt. John Kerry testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about American "war crimes" in Southeast Asia, which he described as "not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command". Free Republic Network Director Scott Swett released the following statement:

"John Kerry played a key role in the leftist disinformation campaign that undermined support for the war by slandering a generation of American soldiers as mass murderers of civilians. Kerry testified before the Senate that the United States committed war crimes in Vietnam as a matter of military policy, citing claims of atrocities made at the discredited 'Winter Soldier Investigation' -- an event primarily funded by Jane Fonda."

"The truth is that atrocities were the exception in Vietnam, not the rule."

"Since Senator Kerry has made the strength of his military record a key issue in his pursuit of the Presidency, it is important for voters to have access to a more complete picture of his actions than is available from the Kerry campaign or the media. WinterSoldier.com will document and analyze the activities in which Kerry and others participated during the Vietnam era."

The site features a section on Kerry's hard-to-find 1971 book "The New Soldier" and covers the activities of the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War and its sponsors. New information will be added as it becomes available. Readers are invited to provide feedback, submit editorial pieces, and provide relevant material. The site will go live on Monday, February 23, 2004.

The Free Republic Network www.FreeRepublic.net is a 501(c)(4) public service corporation whose mission is to organize, train and support conservative activists nationwide. It provides information and organizational services to more than 50 regional and issue-based chapters around the country, and serves as the activism arm of the Free Republic Forum www.FreeRepublic.com.

--30--

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Sarge.

[SAMWolf]

Only the Beginning video & 16mm color film 1971* 18 mins.*

Opens and closes with hundreds of decorated Vietnam Veterans, just returned from the war, throwing away their medals in front of the Capitol Building to protest the war. Best expose of the true nature of Nixon's Vietnamization strategy from 1969-1972. Dramatic footage of the devastating air war over South Vietnam and of GI's burning villages and herding people into concentration camps. Vets testify about atrocities. Some National Liberation Front footage. Brings back the emotions that caused the uproar over the war.

Narrated by Vietnam Veterans.

Video Loans on the Vietnam War and Post-war Call Us at 617-497-5273 Vietnam War and Post-war Videos

[Askel5]

=== These guys are just trying to get on with their lives and forget what happened. This will be rubbing salt into unhealed wounds from long ago in the name of politics.

I don't understand it either.

Additionally, by drawing attention to what atrocities were committed, the one truly useful lesson of Viet Nam -- "SUPPORT THE TROOPS" -- will lose a lot of its "with us or agin' us" allure as the War on Terror becomes a fact of life for us, our children and our children's children as we're drawn into various funkholes worldwide for the next 30 years at the very least.

[Hon]

That documentary about Operation RAW is available online from the Quakers to anyone for a small donation:

Different Sons video 1971 54 mins. An important historic record of the beginnings of the Vietnam Veterans anti-war movement that all young people should see. In the late summer of 1970, one hundred U.S. soldiers - recently returned from Vietnam - marched through the towns and country-side of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their purpose: to tell spectators of the atrocities they committed in Vietnam and to arouse anti-war sentiment about the immorality of the war. Along the way, they enact scenes of the brutality they engaged in while in Vietnam. Interviews with the soldiers communicate deep insight into the war and the humanity of the Vietnamese. They are confronted by pro-war residents and praised by those who oppose the war. Interviews with pro-war spectators really communicate the racism and rampant anti-communism that was the bulwark of pro-war, pro-Nixon sentiment of those days. Excellent for undermining revisionist history that claims the anti-war movement rejected the veterans. Shows that it was the pro-war people who rejected the soldiers as losers while they were embraced by the anti-war movement. Combines somewhat boring footage of marching with some of the most profound statements about the war and the humanity of the Vietnamese that you will find anywhere. Makes you feel proud that these young soldiers of peace are your fellow citizens. Donation A

One Stop Shopping For Anti-Vietnam War Documentaries
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1086173/posts

It'd say it is a MUST HAVE!

[Interesting Times]

Askel! How good to see you again.

Thanks so much for stopping by to bump our thread.

It's truly unfortunate we weren't able to track you down to ask your opinion before putting together WinterSoldier.com.

Oh, well, maybe next time.

[M1Tanker]

No, never saw the tape, but saw it written several places. I doubt the "mainstream media" will activly seek it either. Though it SHOULD BE in NBC's archives. Wanna bet they're "misplaced"?

[Askel5]

Hey, morning! Nice to see you too!

Actually ... it's probably always a good thing to invite a little honest criticism from those not a part of Team and able to give a more objective opinion in advance.

Sometimes an idea that sounds grreeeat! in the Echo Chamber tends to ring a little flat in live performance.

In case I get banned again, you can always reach me at FR[at]askel5.dissimulo.net ... I realize you're being facetious but I'm dead serious.

With a little help from your old rightist friends who aren't in the thick of things, caught up in the race and such, you might be taking down the NO DIVING sign at the FRN Think Tank sooner than you think. That could only be a good thing for everyone involved.

[cyn]

hi, fv -- fyi!

[Interesting Times]

Sometimes an idea that sounds grreeeat! in the Echo Chamber tends to ring a little flat in live performance.

True enough. However, this doesn't appear to be one of those occasions. We've received several hundred emails from veterans, overwhelmingly supportive, many directing us to useful new information.

Interestingly, not a single veteran has criticized our 'reopening' the issue of Vietnam-era atrocities. On the contrary, they seem eager to help us find and report the truth.

So thanks, but we think we have a pretty solid working group already. We don't take disagreements personally, and there seems to be very little backstabbing.

[Askel5]

Well, like Rebelbase said ... most who have knowledge of the damning sorts of events that occurred likely want to put the past behind them. I don't doubt they have nothing to say to you.

But kudos are definitely due on your overwhelming response. I'll be looking for your reporting on same. This is a subject in which I've been intensely interested since high school ... when I teamed up with a Vietnamese classmate who'd finally joined his family a year or so prior ... and presented some facts to counter our radical "religion" teacher's take on Viet Nam.

Neither my support for the military (including my Dad, the Colonel) nor my belief the cause was just have diminished in the least over the years ... despite compelling evidence that things were not what they seemed in Viet Nam and that -- indeed -- much took place about which no one should be particularly proud.

Having begun this initiative at the behest of those wishing to eke a little mileage out of Viet Nam in an effort to distance Kerry from Bush despite their actual agreement -- in word and practice -- on many critical issues, I sure hope you all see it though.

I'll be most interested in your detailed report of both the responses you received and -- in particular -- the "useful new information" and the sources you used to corroborate same.

[Interesting Times]

Sorry, but we don't really have an opening on our research team for somebody to eat bon-bons, emit sly innuendoes, and demand things of the people who are actually doing the work...

[Askel5]

=== somebody to eat bon-bons

I'm a lotus-eater, actually ... though I learned to make some mean chocolate covered cherries as of this New Year's. Thank goodness I managed to box them all up, tie them with bows and get them OUT of the house before Lent!

Not to worry, Little Red Hen, I'm not demanding anything. I just can't wait to see your follow-through on this project, that's all.

I'll also admit I'm intrigued by how much play the Winter Soldier thing will receive and think that -- regardless his faux pas, I guess -- Registered appears to have been on the right track in playing up the Fonda:Kerry connection, such as it is.

No ill will, Intereseting Times. Carry on. Takes all kinds, I guess ... and it's true there's no way I could do what you all do. I'll butt out as best I can and leave you to the yes-men. Honest Injun.

[floriduh voter]

This is today's John Kerry not much different than in the seventies: 2-28-04

"In Los Angeles, Mr. Kerry laid out his own strategy for combating terrorism, saying he would expand the authority of the C.I.A. director over the nation's intelligence community and fight to "win the war of ideas" against radical Islam." NYT 2-28-04

Ideas won't make America a safer place. Kerry's such an ideologue and definitely doesn't have what it takes to be POTUS period.

[floriduh voter]

Dan Than or Dan Tran is leading Vietnamese-Americans Against John Kerry but I can't find a link for them. They are mentioned in conjunction with Vietnam Vets Against Kerry but I'd like Dan T's link if anyone has it.

[floriduh voter]

bttt

[MeekOneGOP]

Kerry: America needs a 'regime change' too

[TShaunK]

I'm sure sombody has mentioned it but I just haven't seen it,but has anybody ever asked John "Fraud" Kerry to disclose his full military record?

[MeekOneGOP]

Oh, yeah ! I'm sure the media is ALL OVER IT !
I mean, after all, they hafta be fair to both sides !
< /sarcasm >

[MeekOneGOP]

I'm sure sombody has mentioned it but I just haven't seen it,but has
anybody ever asked John "Fraud" Kerry to disclose his full military
record?

Well, how 'bout it JK? Gonna release ALL your military records ?? ...

Kerry: America needs a 'regime change' too

[KeyLargo]

Excellent commentary political cartoon by Jack Higgins. Go to: http://www.suntimes.com/index/commentary.html
Click "Higgins" line and scroll back to Chicago Sun-Times, Sunday February 22, 2004.