Posted on 02/25/2004 7:47:04 AM PST by areafiftyone
After the media tore into President Bush’s 30-year-old National Guard record like a voracious pit bull into a bacon-scented postman, Democrats have been licking their chops in anticipation of highlighting John Kerry’s decorated service during the same time period.
A new web site launching this week, however, should give Democrats more than a moment’s pause—and it’s likely just the opening salvo in exposing the truth about the outlandish actions of Kerry and his comrades as part of an anti-war group known as Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).
The new site, WinterSoldier.com , is named after the event that helped raise Kerry to prominence in 1971. The Winter Soldier Investigation, as it was called, was held in Detroit from January 31 to February 2—with financial backing from Jane Fonda, according to an historian cited on the web site—where over 100 veterans testified about the most horrendous war crimes imaginable happening every day.
John Kerry was an instant celebrity, and the group behind the three-day conference, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), certainly served his political ambitions well. But if the wealth of information found at WinterSoldier.com gains any traction, Kerry’s past could come back to haunt him.
VVAW was a media favorite: war veterans who were anti-war. Quite a sales pitch. But the more realistic characterization would have been Americans who were anti-American. (Literally, too: One of the documents at WinterSoldier.com is the minutes of a VVAW executive meeting where members decided to take down American flags from all VVAW offices.)
Their goal was not just to sour Americans on the Vietnam war, but to make them hate America and American soldiers.
Hence the Winter Soldier Investigation.
The three-day circus featured tales of the most sadistic forms of torture, including genital mutilation and gang rape, and wanton mass murder of innocent civilians. Kerry and the others claimed that almost unprecedented war crimes were not simply rampant, but committed as a matter of U.S. policy.
One of the most shocking quotes comes from Kerry himself, claiming that he had committed war crimes in Vietnam, then suggested he was merely following orders. Following orders, however, does not absolve someone of guilt for committing war crimes. Which begs the question: will Kerry be willing to discuss the details of the war crimes he claims to have committed?
Some will excuse VVAW’s actions and hyperbolic rhetoric as the work of people understandably disillusioned by an embittering war experience. But there is evidence suggesting that many of the atrocities routinely touted by VVAW were, well, made up.
An excerpt of historian Guenter Lewy’s book According to America posted on WinterSoldier.com discusses the results of a government investigation that attempted to corroborate the claims made at the VVAW event in Detroit. The investigators couldn’t.
According to Lewy, the VVAW had told its members not to cooperate with the government inquiry—a probe that was initiated by Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon in order to verify gruesome claims made at the VVAW-sponsored event. The historian also notes that government inspectors found veterans whose names had been used by people testifying in Detroit that were not actually there.
In other words, some of the “witnesses” in Detroit were impostors, tarnishing the names of real soldiers.
It appears that Kerry was also something of an impostor. During a massive rally in front of the U.S. Capitol, a number of veterans threw their medals over a high-wire fence. One was Kerry. Or at least so it appeared.
The section “Busted by the historians” contains an excerpt from Stolen Valor by B. G. Burkett, Glenna Whitley. The key quote: “But years later, after his election to the Senate, Kerry’s medals turned up on the wall of his Capitol Hill office. When a reporter noticed them, Kerry admitted that the medals he had thrown that day were not his.”
Since Kerry’s comrades seem so eager to judge President Bush’s character by whether or not he fulfilled a handful of National Guard obligations, the door may already have been opened to attacks on the Democratic front runner’s own conduct from those days.
Voters could have plenty of versions of Kerry from which to choose: the communist sympathizer who gleefully defamed America and millions of American soldiers, the war hero too cowardly to throw away his own medals, or the anti-war activist who was so eager to claim he had committed war crimes.
Yeah, and the clothes were REALLY bad too and what's even worse, the idiot designers and clothing industry has brought all that stuff back into the stores - ewwwwwwwww! I REFUSE, absolutely REFUSE, to buy my girls "peasant blouses". Yuck!
I was JUST thinking the same thing as I read down this thread!
Think of all the horrible people who might get appointments to government positions!
And "toking".
Sen. John Kerry recently spent 4 days campaigning in Iowa with folk music legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. Yarrow, an old friend (they both protested Vietnam together...) traveled with the Senator as his opening act.
This had interesting results at the Story County Democrat event in Ames, IA. Howard Dean attended the event and joined Yarrow and Kerry while Yarrow led the signature song, “Puff the Magic Dragon:”
As the folk star began his signature song with an unintended double meaning, Kerry mouthed a few words then took his index finger to his thumb, pursed his lips, and feigned a marijuana toke.
Oh thats just lovely! Is this guy pathetic or what? He's a freakin Hippy!!!
This is not to be borne. If you know anyone who is even THINKING of staying home or voting for this loser, please, PLEASE do what you can to change their minds. I lived through the 60's once and I do NOT want to do so again!!!!!
Like you, I lived through the 60's early 70's. I can't take an encore of these anti American left wingers in power.
Life in the years under their living legends the Clintoons, 1993 until President Bush was sworn in January 2001 was enough for me.
In writing this book, Kerry did his part to undermine American morale and to establish the negative image of Vietnam veterans that lingers in the public's mind. The New Soldier has become scarce and is fetching beaucoup bucks on the used book market. After reading it, I can see why it is in Kerry's interest for the book to remain hard to find.
As Folk Singer Supports Kerry, He Objects, Too
John Kerry Report - Excerpts from the Iowa Daily Report - January 1-15, 2004
Kerry’s toke Sen. John Kerry is on a 4-day Iowa with folk music legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. Yarrow travels with the Senator as his opening act.
This had interesting results at the Story County Democrat event in Ames, IA. Howard Dean attended the event and joined Yarrow and Kerry while Yarrow led the signature song, “Puff the Magic Dragon:”
As the folk star began his signature song with an unintended double meaning, Kerry mouthed a few words then took his index finger to his thumb, pursed his lips, and feigned a marijuana toke. (1/5/2004)
'Scarborough Country' for Jan. 15
And listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (singing): ... in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee. Puff the Magic Dragon...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: What in the world is John Kerry thinking?
You are correct.
Yarrow's Kerry Puff Daddy
JOHN Kerry's presidential campaign strategists are probably hoping his friendship with frisky folk legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary will go "Puff!" like a certain Magic Dragon.
Yarrow, a close Kerry pal who has been warming up crowds for the Massachusetts senator in Iowa, pleaded guilty to taking "immoral and improper liberties" with a 14-year-old girl back in 1970.
As reported at the time, the girl and her older sister went to Yarrow's hotel room seeking an autograph. Yarrow answered the door naked and made sexual advances that stopped short of intercourse. The 14-year-old resisted his advances but did not call for help. Yarrow served three months of a one- to three-year prison sentence and was pardoned by Jimmy Carter in 1981.
Yarrow is making headlines these days while stumping for Kerry on the campaign trail. The Boston Globe reported that he "planted a major smooch on the cheek of a comely television reporter" while strumming his guitar on Kerry's campaign bus, "The Real Deal Express." Kerry chided his friend, the Globe reported, but a few minutes later Yarrow was "inching toward the newswoman. Kerry's hands then shot up in between her face and Yarrow's, leaving no doubt that the senator's perfect manners include gallantry. 'Peter, enough!' Kerry bellowed."
And at a recent party for supporters in Ames, Iowa, Yarrow may have caused Kerry some embarrassment while performing, "Puff the Magic Dragon." Apparently the silver-haired senator was enjoying the song too much. As reported by the Washington Post's Ceci Connolly, "Kerry lifted his fingers to his mouth for a quick toke on an imaginary joint. You can almost see his thick mane of silver hair returning to the shaggy brown 'do of those days."
When we called a Kerry campaign spokeswoman yesterday to talk about Yarrow, a flustered flack tried to dissuade us from reporting on his past. "What's the point of this story?" sputtered Kerry rep David DiMartino. "Isn't the New York Post supposed to break news, not rehash it?"
When we pointed out that many younger readers might not have heard much about the colorful Yarrow, who is godfather to Kerry's daughter Alex, DiMartino gave us the campaign's official line: "John Kerry has a lifelong friendship with Peter Yarrow."
CNN's "Inside Politics" just ran a video clip of John Kerry at a campaign event where Kerry pretends to be smoking a joint. The tape was provided to CNN by the Republican National Committee, Judy Woodruff said. She didn't explain a lot about why CNN chose to run it, nor did she give much background about the tape.
But here's a description of the actual event from the CBS News reporter assigned to Kerry. It took place on Jan. 6 in Iowa, when Kerry was campaigning with his old friend Pete Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary.
"... aides were shaking their heads after a Yarrow-inspired scene turned out a little weird. At a house party thrown by Story County Democrats, Yarrow summoned Kerry to the living room where he had just started playing 'Puff the Magic Dragon.' At one point, as Yarrow sang the word 'puff,' Kerry quickly gestured as if he was smoking pot."
Maybe the RNC is worried about Kerry's apparent rise in the Iowa polls.
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