Posted on 04/11/2004 7:25:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
FBI files stolen from the home of Vietnam war historian Gerald Nicosia detail at least one secret 1970 meeting in Paris between future Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and representatives of the communist government of North Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War.
In an interview last week with California's Marin County Independent Journal, Nicosia said the FBI files contained information on Kerry's May 1970 trip to Paris, where he spoke to Hanoi negotiators who were beginning peace talks with the Nixon administration.
Kerry revealed his secret meeting with then-enemy negotiators during a little noticed question and answer session after his April 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee. The Paris meeting also included representatives from U.S. ally South Vietnam.
"I have been to Paris," Kerry told the Senate, in quotes first reported by the Boston Globe. "I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government."
According to Vietnam War historian Stanley Karnow, the Provisional Revolutionary Government was "an arm of the North Vietnamese government."
After revealing his meeting with enemy negotiators, Kerry told the Senate that his goal was to bring an end to the killing, including "200,000 [Vietnamese] a year who are murdered by the United States of America . . . ."
Kerry's confession that he met with Hanoi representatives immediately raised eyebrows even among Senators sympathetic to his efforts, prompting Sen. J. William Fulbright to remind Kerry that even Congress "cannot directly under our system negotiate a cease-fire or anything of this kind."
According to the Globe, Kerry responded, "I realize that even my visits in Paris . . . in a sense are on the borderline of private individuals negotiating."
Then as now, U.S. law forbids citizens from negotiating with foreign governments on matters such as peace treaties.
Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan insisted to the Globe that his boss "had no role whatsoever in the Paris peace talks or negotiations. He did not engage in any negotiations and did not attend any session of the talks. Prior to his Senate testimony, he went to Paris on a private trip, where he had one brief meeting. . . "
Meehan did not explain why Kerry referred to "visits" to Paris, suggesting there may have been more than one meeting with members of the Hanoi delegation. In his interview with the Journal, Nicosia gave no indication that the missing FBI files documented multiple meetings.
Nicosia told the Journal that it was no coincidence that someone may have wanted to get their hands on FBI files covering Kerry's Paris trip[s] and other troubling activities from the candidate's anti-war past.
"There is obviously a lot of sensitive stuff in that material - stuff that could really be used against Kerry in a big way in the campaign."
"Maybe we're back in the era of dirty tricks," he added.
I'm with you wag. Starting when sKerry started pulling away from Dean and Edwards, I was saying he's nothing more than a placeholder.
My suspicion is that The Mighty Hildabeaste is waiting in the wings to see how vulnerable President Bush is going to be. If the "finger in the wind" says he wins with more than, say, 55%, she'll sit back and let sKerry twist in the wind. But if it looks close, she and Bubba and McAwful will figure out some way to get her in and sKerry out. And if that happens it will be a terrible time for our precious country.
Here's the woman Kerry met in Paris "Madame" Nguyen Thi Bihn, above with Olaf Palme of Sweden and below as Vice President of communist Vietnam in 2002.
aJohn French Kerry: "We'll always have Paris."
Did any of the Vietnamese communists who met with Kerry ever describe their conversations with the future senator?
Not that I am aware of. We do know that Kerry came back and advocated in April 1971 before Congress the negotiating points of Madame Binh and her cohorts. Kerry spouted the Commie line hook, line, and sinker.
LOL !
With all due respect that IMO is unlikely as that's where and how this mope, Nicosia, got his copies of Mr. 'Kohn's' Feeb files - and as I understand it fairly recently. Also, 'the republicans' would have zero reason to 'mis-place' them.
BTW, Why doesn't Mr. John go by his real name? Is he ashamed of being Bohemian?
Previous sould read:
BTW, Why doesn't Mr. Kohn go by his real name? Is he ashamed of being Bohemian?
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