Posted on 03/06/2004 12:21:15 AM PST by Hon
A couple of weeks ago I posted this thread about a photograph that I wound in a book about Kerry's group, the Vietnam Veterans Against The War:
Kerry's Group Met With The Viet Cong In Paris In 1971
The Vietnam Veterans Against The War (VVAW) sent their own delegation to Paris to meet with the representatives of the National Liberation Front (AKA Viet Cong) in 1971. At this time John Kerry was their spokesman and defacto leader.
This photograph is from the book "The Winter Soldiers", by Richard Stacewicz, page 284:
Since Stacewicz did not mention whether Kerry had attended this meeting and I did not see it mentioned anywhere else, I assumed he did not attend go on this trip.
I was wrong. Kerry did go to Paris. He did talk with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. In fact, he was quite proud about it. For it was the first thing that he brought up once he was done with his speech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971:
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1971
UNITED STATES SENATE;
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,
Washington, D.C.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:05 a.m., in Room 4221, New Senate Office Building, Senator J. W. Fulbright (Chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Fulbright, Symington, Pell, Aiken, Case, and Javits.
Thank you. [Applause]
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Kerry, it is quite evident from that demonstration that you are speaking not only for yourself but for all your associates, as you properly said in the beginning.
You said you wished to communicate. I can't imagine anyone communicating more eloquently than you did. I think it is extremely helpful and beneficial to the committee and the country to have you make such a statement.
You said you had been awake all night. I can see that you spent that time very well indeed. [Laughter.]
Perhaps that was the better part, better that you should be awake than otherwise.
You have said that the question before this committee and the Congress is really how to end the war. The resolutions about which we have been hearing testimony during the past several days, the sponsors of which are some members of this committee, are seeking the most practical way that we can find and, I believe, to do it at the earliest opportunity that we can. That is the purpose of these hearings and that is why you were brought here.
You have been very eloquent about the reasons why we should proceed as quickly as possible. Are you familiar With some of the proposals before this committee?
Mr. KERRY. Yes, I am, Senator.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you support or do you have any particular views about any one of them you wish to give the committee?
Mr. KERRY. My feeling, Senator, is undoubtedly this Congress, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I do not believe that this Congress will, in fact, end the war as we would like to, which is immediately and unilaterally and, therefore, if I were to speak I would say we would set a date and the date obviously would be the earliest possible date. But I would like to say, in answering that, that I do not believe it is necessary to stall any longer. I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh's points it has been stated time and time again, and was stated by Senator Vance Hartke when he returned from Paris, and it has been stated by many other officials of this Government, if the United States were to set a date for withdrawal the prisoners of war would be returned.
I think this negates very clearly the argument of the President that we have to maintain a presence in Vietnam, to use as a negotiating block for the return of those prisoners. The setting of a date will accomplish that.
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/index.php?topic=Testimony
Yep. Remember, he typed his daily heartfelt journal in Vietnam on a typewriter.
He didn't want to take the chance that future journalists and historians wouldn't be able to read his handwriting.
FOFLOL! Yeah, it sure is a neat trick. Then again, you could practically get a Purple Heart for a paper cut, depending on whom you knew or how much the brass hoped to buck up morale. And we know for a fact that Kerry knew numerous people, very high up on the food chain. This is another reason I want his military records. I'm more interested in those than his medical. The drugs are pretty much a given. He shows the classic mental changes brought on by opium dreams, just like Al.
You know...for years I was actually confused as to whether he had some kind of journalism degree too? Every military branch has it's journalists and somehow, I thought he must have had dual duty. Anybody else have that problem?
As with his videos, I believe this to be the real reason he's so afraid to let the public dig into his military record.
Kerry should at this point be in total charge of the DNC. Yet, all he can do is cut a puny deal that names three aides to the DNC.
[AP]:"Kerry will name three aides — a communications expert, a senior adviser and a senior strategist — to work at the DNC, essentially serving as his eyes and ears...The Massachusetts senator said he assumed McAuliffe would remain in his post throughout the campaign."
Hillary *is* fully in charge.
"It's cool now and the evening has closed around you to become full night. The night for once is comforting and you take a coke and some peanut butter and jelly and go up on the roof of the cabin whit your tape recorder and sit for a while, quietly, watching flares float silently through the sky and flashes announce disquieting intent somewhere in the distance. You call down to one of your men and ask him to draft a message to the Admiral in Command of all Naval Forces in Vietnam and also to the Commander of Market Time. IT says "Merry Christmas from the most inland Market Time unit." You hope that they'll court marshal you or something because that would make sense. But the night soothes everything and the people and things that are close to you dart through the mind and bring the only warmth and peace that there is. Visions of sugar plums really do dance through your head and you think of stockings and snow and roast chestnuts and fires with birch logs and all that is good and warm and real. It's Christmas Eve."
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/journal_day2.shtml
Kerry arrived in Vietnam on December 1, 1968. The Swift boats only began to engage in combat operations (according to reports) two weeks later, so around December 14th.
Notice that Kerry was hoping to be courtmartialed on December 24th, just ten days later.
How true. I lost a friend from high school that way. After coming home from VietNam he was never the same. He died sleeping in his pick up under a bridge in my home town. I think of him every time I see John 'effn Kerry open his mouth.
Yes, the Clinton's picked Kerry because he is so gullible and so usable.
The Viet Cong meeting this thread is about is prime example.
Here is an excerpt from an earlier thread I put up on the subject of who paid for the Dewey Canyon rally--during which Kerry spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
John Kerry's appearance in DC was financed by Democrat Party fundraisers.
From a quote from the book "Home to War" by Gerald Nicosia, pp. 104-105:
Even worse, the week before Dewey Canyon was to start, there was not a cent left in the VVAW treasury. John Kerry was certainly doing yeoman's service at fund-raising. He had given up his book contract with Random House in order to travel and speak throughout the country on behalf of VVAW; organizing, bringing in veterans, asking for donations -- working sometimes twenty hours a day. But when Phelan had trouble with the park permits, Kerry had to return to Washington to marshal a group of lawyers, and in the end Kerry negotiated many of the permits personally. This accomplished, he returned to the VVAW office, only to receive a phone call telling him that five thousand vets were waiting for their bus tickets to D.C., but no one knew where the money to purchase them would come from.
Kerry immediately got on the phone to some of the biggest Democratic Party fund-raisers in New York and set up a meeting. When it broke up, VVAW was $75,000 in the black, and busfare for at least a few hundred out-of-towners was assured.
Here is quote from the book "Winter Soldiers" by Richard Stacewicz, pg. 242:
According to an FBI memorandum from the Washington office dated April 13, 1971, "VVAW had received fifty thousand dollars from United States Senators McGovern and Hatfield, who... obtained the money from an unknown New York source." (footnote 36)
36. FBI teletype serial number 448092-71, April 13, 1971... FBI archives.
And this from the Boston Globe:
The protests were set for the week of April 20. Kerry spent some of his time at the Georgetown townhouse of his longtime friend George Butler, working the phones, trying to round up veterans. But the real problem was money. Kerry, who was not financially independent despite rumors to the contrary, was supposed to raise money to pay for buses that would transport the veterans.
He called his friend Walinsky, who had run unsuccessfully for New York attorney general and had excellent financial connections. Walinsky arranged a meeting of potential donors at the Seagram Building in New York City. Among those present were Seagram chief executive Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. and about 20 other New York businessmen who opposed the war. Kerry delivered a low-key speech about the importance of having veterans attend the protest. Then the businessmen were each asked to stand and declare how much they would contribute.
"We raised probably $50,000," Walinsky recalled. "It took an hour."
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061703.shtml
Did Democrat Fat Cats Make John Kerry Famous? [Including Seagram's Bronfman]
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