Posted on 08/24/2004 9:54:47 AM PDT by KriegerGeist
Former POW Says Kerry Lied About Vietnam Atrocities
By Melissa Charbonneau
White House Correspondent
August 24, 2004
CBN.com – (CBN News) - The controversy over those ads against John Kerry will not go away. Today a new commercial goes on the air. This one is not targeting his service in Vietnam. It is about the impact of his anti-war activities after he came home.
In an exclusive interview with one of the key figures in this new commercial, CBN News spoke with former POW Paul Galanti. Galanti never knew John Kerry in Vietnam. A Navy pilot captured in 1966, he spent seven years as a prisoner of war. He said, "I was in solitary over a year. Seven by seven room, concrete beds."
Galanti does not remember hearing Kerry's name at the Hanoi Hilton, but he does remember the voice.
Part of the new Swift Vet ad has Kerry explaining the military atrocities he says he saw in Vietnam. Kerry said that American soldiers "... razed villages in the fashion of Genghis Khan."
Galanti said, "Kerry gave for free what I and many of my comrades in prison camps took torture to avoid saying."
Galanti appears in this new Swift Boat ad targeting Kerry's 1971 Senate speech that accused U.S. soldiers of being war criminals. It is a speech, Galanti says, that was used against him and other POW's by the North Vietnamese.
"They had it pumped in at five o'clock in the morning," said Galanti about Kerry's speech, "and then at nine at night there'd be a re-run."
"I remember distinctly hearing this guy talking about atrocities, baby killers," Galanti added. "They're chopping off ears, hooking genitals to generators, and I thought, that's not true. There's no way that's true!"
Galanti continued, "I'd been there five years. The peace talks had been going on two years. There was no end in sight. The Vietnamese are telling us, 'we're never going home because we're war criminals.' And here comes a guy purporting to be an American Naval officer saying, 'Yeah, we did commit war crimes,' saying exactly what they said. It was just devastating. Terribly demoralizing."
Galanti's wife Phyllis said, "It just demoralized us beyond comprehension. How can this be, while our men are being tortured and locked up in an enemy prison camp? [How can he] be saying these things in this country?"
Phyllis Galanti says Kerry's actions aided the enemy and broke the spirit of American prisoners. "They could easily have thought this whole thing is going downhill in a hurry," she said. "The country's not behind us and this is a sure indication, to have somebody saying such things in front of a congressional committee."
Paul Galanti added, "We were mad. Just steaming mad, and we couldn't do anything about it. I was incredibly frustrating to listen to this guy lie like that, cause we knew it wasn't like that, chopping off ears and killing babies."
"And right after that, is when we started to hear about GI's getting spat at," Paul Galanti continued, "coming home from Vietnam, and he may be personally responsible for a lot of that."
When CBN News contacted the Kerry campaign for their side of the story, spokesman Michael Meehan said they had no comment. The campaign has called on President Bush to silence the Swift Boat Veterans, accusing them of being a politically motivated front group spreading smears and lies.
In a counter strike, Kerry's campaign Monday launched its own negative ads in three states. It says, "George Bush, denounce the smear, get back to the issues. America deserves better."
Monday, the President condemned all unregulated soft-money ads, but stopped short of mentioning the Swift Vets by name.
And this is one issue that does not appear to be going away.
Phyllis Galanti remarked, "That was many years ago, that was true; but it's not something that you can say was a 30-year-old issue, and you can sweep it under the rug. It was so huge for us, that this group is not going to forget it."
How is Kerry going to answer this charge? This man is not a Swift Boat Vet, but a POW who suffered because of Kerry.
Perhaps, a better question would be: how would our current men and women in uniform in harm's way suffer were Kerry to become Commander-in-Chief?
The chickens are all coming home to roos, aren't they Johnny Boy?
It wasn't the troops doing warcrimes ~ it was high officials in the government who were doing warcrimes against the troops, and that still requires resolution.
We need a lot more of these former POW's to come out.
Are these really his words?
I saw him too. The pain in his eyes weas heartbreaking. He spent 7 years in a POW camp, and this pos skerry was safe at home calling them war criminals, then to ad insult to injury he actually uses the POW's as a campaign issue in his 1971 political campaign. skerry is one sicko, lying pos. Oh yes, gigilo, slimeball, etc etc etc.
Bush has done nothing but talk about the issues.
This isn't Bush's war. This is between Kerry and the SBV.
Fight your own battles, Kerry. Bush can't save you. He's working.
When are people going to talk about the fact that because of what Kerry said millions of soldiers were spat upon in the United States. This man robed an entire generation of soldiers of honor.
When will that story be told?
There is something out that says that Kerry and the VVAW supplied these tapes to the NV during their visits to NV.
The FBI files mention several times about differant members/leaders of VVAW going to NV.
IF THEY WERE NOT ON HIS BOAT THAN HE COULD NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING........LOLOLOL
Galanti does not remember hearing Kerry's name at the Hanoi Hilton, but he does remember the voice.
This is important. Sometimes a sound or smell can be seared into your memory.
I heard somewhere that Kerry traveled to Paris to meet with the NV about 1971.
If so, it sounds like he was supporting their cause in many ways.
Lies and Smears?
The Smear was Started 33 years ago by JOHN F. KERRY!
Demoralizing is what Hillary, McDermott, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Terry Mcawful - all have demoralized our troops - Hillary's Thanksgiving trip; McDermott finding his Potemkin Village in Baghdad; Kennedy's constant insults to the troops Commander in Chief and President and all the other garbage the Democratic Party, Democratic Socialists of America and the Black Caucus have spewed out over the last 3 years. They are just a guilty today as John Kerry was in 1971 when he dissed all who served in Viet Nam - they hoped to turn Afghanistan and Iraq into the same purple war.
This time they can't as brave men are stepping forth with truth as their weapon, serving their country once again in the time honored fashion of “Duty, Honor, Country.” How lovely it is to hear John Kerry and his campaign gang cry UNCLE! Demoralizing is what Hillary, McDermott, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Terry Mcawful: all have demoralized our troops - Hillary's Thanksgiving trip; McDermott finding his Potemkin Village in Baghdad; Kennedy's constant insults to the troops Commander in Chief and President and all the other garbage the Democratic Party, Democratic Socialists of America and the Black Caucus have spewed out over the last 3 years. They are just a guilty today as John Kerry was in 1971 when he dissed all who served in Viet Nam - they hoped to turn Afghanistan into the same purple war.
This time they can't as brave men are stepping forth with truth as their weapon, serving their country once again in the time honored fashion of “Duty, Honor, Country.” How lovely it is to hear John Kerry and his campaign gang cry UNCLE!
Advice to President Bush:
Sir, this isn’t going away so stay out of it. The people are speaking out as never before about a traitor who misled his country and left comrades to bleed and die while giving succor and aid to the enemy. John Kerry IS truly NOT FIT TO COMMAND HIS SENATE RECORD PROVES IT. Mr. President this is not your fight – you take care of the nation and we’ll take care of the rest.
Galanti said it was the French pronunciation of Genghis that stuck in his mind--that was the tip off.
May well have been Fonda/Clark or other commie symps.
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