Posted on 05/20/2004 12:44:03 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy
Subject: A GREEN BERET TAKES ON JOHN KERRY!
Open Letter to John Kerry:
My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year, and the recovery is terribly painful. Then, she developed a staph-epi infection, and they had to cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking about the pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second time in the same wound, makes me cringe. That experience, however pales in comparison to what I am going through right now, in my heart.
The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again.
After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids, and our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar.
Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribes people in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years.
Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
"Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it every- where.
Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
Don Bendell Canon City, Colorado
Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) Compares Guard Service To Draft-Dodging. “‘If people went to Canada, if people opposed the war, if people chose to be in the Guard, that’s their choice, and I’ve never raised that in an issue,’ he said.” (Noelle Straub, “Kerry Presents Himself As GOP’s Worst Nightmare,” Boston Herald, 2/3/04)
Kerry Repeats Insult Of Guard. “‘I’ve never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard,’ Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, told Fox News Channel. ‘Those are choices people make.’” (Nick Anderson, “Buoyant Kerry Embraces Role Of Frontrunner,” Los Angeles Times, 2/4/04)
DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe Says National Guard Service Not Part Of Military. “George Bush never served in our military and our country.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 2/1/04)
Ooooops! This was already posted. Sorry. Yikes! Maybe someone who didn't real it will read it this time.
John Kerry has a lot of nerve.
A great letter to run in all the newspapers in our country in the fall. Every American should read it.
I had forgotten what a great song that is. Thanks. It made me cry, too.
I wish the media would give some attention to this brave man instead of trashing and bashing our President.
Bless those who served with dignity and returned home to the disdain and worse of those influenced by Kerry.
You've got Freep mail..
Amen to that.
"your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam."
How has this gotten by the New York Times? Where's the mainstream media on this? How does this man look at himself in the mirror? HYPROCRITE!!
In my haste, I forgot to thank you for posting this letter. This needs wide circulation throughout this country. I will be e-mailing to John McCain.
BTTT
Yep! Yes! And Hooray!
Gee whiz, I wish he'd tell us how he REALLY feels.../sarcasm. Great post.
Having nerve is how he got a couple of his 'medals' - having the nerve to claim he was 'wounded' by the 'enemy' -> maybe it depends on what the word 'enemy' means, as in he is his own worst....
BUMP
I hate Kerry almost as much as you do but you have a right to hate him more!
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