Posted on 08/13/2004 2:32:27 PM PDT by Dog
(CNSNews.com) - Newly released FBI files reveal that presumed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry attended a second meeting with North Vietnamese communists in Paris in the early 1970s. Kerry has previously admitted to meeting only once with the North Vietnamese delegations in 1970.
According to the FBI files, Kerry met with representatives from the North Vietnamese government in Paris in 1971 in an effort to secure the release of captured American prisoners of war. Kerry has previously acknowledged meeting "both delegations" of Vietnamese communists in Paris in 1970, but has said nothing of the 1971 meeting.
Researcher and author Jerry Corsi, who began studying the anti-war movement in the early 1970s, believes Kerry is hiding key aspects about his anti-war past from the public as he seeks the presidency.
"Kerry has admitted to one meeting with Madam Binh. Now we have reason to believe there was a second [meeting], so let's press them to admit the second [meeting]," Corsi told CNSNews.com.
"Kerry needs to explain to the American people why he directly went into negotiations with communists," Corsi added. Corsi has written an essay on Kerry's dealings with the Vietemese communists on the Internet site, WinterSoldier.com.
According to Gerald Nicosia, a Kerry supporter and the author of the book Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement, Kerry's second visit to Paris to meet with emissaries of the North Vietnamese communist government is documented in redacted FBI files from the era.
"The [FBI] files record that Kerry made a second trip to Paris that summer (1971) to learn how the North Vietnamese might release prisoners," Nicosia wrote in an essay in the Los Angeles Times on May 23.
"After deciding not to run [for Congress] in 1970, he and his new wife, Julia Thorne, traveled to France in May to meet Madame Nguyen Thi Binh and other Viet Cong and Communist Vietnamese representatives to the Paris peace talks, a trip he now calls a 'fact-finding mission,"' Nicosia wrote.
Nicosia noted that, "Kerry had tried to distinguish between his own trips to meet with the Vietnamese in Paris, which he considered necessary to fight through the lies of his own government, and actual negotiations with the enemy, which Kerry knew were illegal."
Kerry told the New York Times on April 24 that his first meeting with the Vietnamese communists in 1970 was "not a big deal."
''People were dropping in (at the Paris Peace Talks). It was a regular sort of deal," Kerry explained to the New York Times .
But Corsi believes it was a very big deal.
"You had (Former Nixon aide) Henry Kissinger there (in Paris) trying to negotiate formally with the Paris peace delegation and then these guys (from Vietnam Veterans Against the War) are off on their own side show, establishing back channels to the Vietnamese communists; all of this is against the law," Corsi said, referring to U.S. code 18 U.S.C. 953, which declares it illegal for a U.S. citizen to go abroad and negotiate with a foreign power.
"Exactly who was Kerry ... to have arranged these trips? He had to be in discussion with some link with the communist party of Vietnam in order to establish these trips and meetings," Corsi explained.
Kerry also may have had plans to go to South Vietnam in 1971, according to a June 16, 1971 article in the communist Daily World newspaper.
"Former Navy Lt. John Kerry is planning a three-week trip to South Vietnam in July to report on 'what is really happening' to the GI's there, he told newsmen here," read the article, written by the Daily World's Ted Pearson. Kerry was attending an event in Chicago with Jesse Jackson, who at the time was head of the organization, Operation Bread Basket.
It is unclear whether Kerry ever made the trip to South Vietnam in 1971 and Kerry's campaign did not return several phone calls seeking comment for this article.
Nicosia has criticized Kerry in the past for not being more open about his anti-war past.
"I am in kind of an awkward position here. I am a Kerry supporter and I certainly don't want to do anything that hurts him. On the other hand, my number one allegiance is to truth. So I am going to go with where the facts are, and John is going to have to deal with that," Nicosia told CNSNews.com back in March when the contents of the FBI files became public and caused Kerry to revise his past statements on a series of issues dealing with his past.
"I am having some problems with the things he is saying right now, which are not matching up with accuracy," Nicosia said in March.
"I think [Kerry] may be worried or the people around him may be worried that his association with VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) is a very negative thing and they want John to back away from it," he added.
Kerry's anti-war activism and his meetings with the communists had a big impact, according to Corsi.
"Vietnamese communists would not have won the war without John Kerry. They were cultivating his protest activity with the VVAW," Corsi said.
Corsi said the Vietnamese communists have shown their gratitude to Kerry by displaying a photo of him at Ho Chi Minh City's Protestors Hall of the War Remnants Museum. The photo of fellow anti-war activist and actress Jane Fonda also appears in the Women's Museum in Saigon.
"As soon as [Kerry] came onto the seen, [the Vietnamese communists] latched on to him like bees on to honey. [The communists] said 'This is a guy who tells our story, it will undermine the sympathy for the war in America,'" Corsi added.
I donated! Bump!
But is there a law against treason that has to do with the military that would be under military law?
There may be violations of the UCMJ, but treason is very strictly defined in the Constitution. A treason conviction requires testimony by at least two eyewitness. It makes no distinction between whether one is a member of the armed forces.
no way.
ping
Thanks for the ping!
And one of Freepers said Bill and Hillary were being too quiet, why they are very busy.
Probably true and of immense importance. Combining this with the mainstream press reporting-especially that of ol Walter Cronkite, whom I used to respect, who TOLD us that the TET offensive was a complete disaster when, in fact, the communists were ready to fold, losing over 50,000 troops in that offensive in a few weeks....I just feel like SCREAMING at KERRY who SO HURT our national resolve and demoralized our precious troops who were laying their LIVES on the LINE, DYING and getting spat upon at home!
I HATE WHAT JOHN KERRY DID. I DO! Corsi said the Vietnamese communists have shown their gratitude to Kerry by displaying a photo of him at Ho Chi Minh City's Protestors Hall of the War Remnants Museum. The photo of fellow anti-war activist and actress Jane Fonda also appears in the Women's Museum in Saigon.
I wonder if KERRY has this picture upon his wall along with his medals?
I believe EVERY AMERICAN has a RIGHT TO KNOW THIS ABOUT JOHN KERRY. This is a man running for president.
Would it be going to far to say that John Kerry has the BLOOD of millions of Cambodians upon his stinking, stupid self?
It's absolutely disgusting!
Ah, DUH! (Comrades one and all)
' "Exactly who was Kerry ... to have arranged these trips? He had to be in discussion with some link with the communist party of Vietnam in order to establish these trips and meetings," Corsi explained.'
could it be that Kerry's antiwar activities that SO HURT OUR NATION and our TROOPS were supported, manipulated and encouraged in some direct manner by the N Vietnamese, OUR ENEMY?
Any indication he was in Paris during or shortly before April 1972? VVAW revealed US plans to bomb Hanoi and Haiphong in April 1972, while kerry was a leader in and spokesman for VVAW. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1192601/posts
ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.