Race to the Swift: John Kerry and moral courage.

National Review Online ^ | August 26, 2004 | NR Editors

[xsysmgr]

EDITOR'S NOTE: This editorial will appear in the September 13, 2004, issue of National Review.

Speaking on behalf of Vietnam veterans in his Senate testimony on April 22, 1971, John Kerry said, "We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service..." Thirty-three years later, it's clear that his plea fell on deaf ears. Kerry recalls his Vietnam service in virtually every campaign speech he makes. At the Boston convention, his four-month stint in Vietnam was repeatedly invoked as his primary qualification for the presidency.

Kerry's problem is that those who served alongside him haven't forgotten either. Many Vietnam veterans remember that Kerry slandered their service when he claimed they were responsible for widespread atrocities. These veterans include 250 of his Swift boat comrades, whose organization, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has taken to the airwaves to accuse him of lying about his record and betraying his fellow veterans. In particular, they say that in telling the U.S. Senate about non-existent American war crimes, he did something that our POWs refused to do under torture.

The book that has thrown Kerry on the defensive is not Unfit for Command so much as Tour of Duty, the authorized biography written by the pro-Kerry historian Douglas Brinkley. Until the book's publication in January, Kerry's fellow Swift boat veterans were unaware of his exact version of their alleged atrocities and his alleged heroics. Some of them had come to Kerry's rescue in the past, when he was accused of committing war crimes of his own (these statements are now used to challenge the Swift boat vets' consistency). The vets intended to refute Kerry's allegations of atrocities, but found that their eyewitness accounts contradicted Kerry's version of his exploits.

Why should it matter? First, there is the fact that Kerry has put his Vietnam experience at the center of his campaign. If it turns out that his account of that experience is based on exaggerations or lies, it is a damning indictment of his candidacy, on his own terms. Even if Kerry had not made Vietnam such a large part of his campaign, this controversy would be important, since dishonesty (even relatively minor incidents of it) with regard to war stories and decorations has ruined careers. Finally, there is Kerry's 1971 testimony, which he has never retracted and which still stands as testament to his belief that the American military was a criminal force in Vietnam. The Swift boat vets can be forgiven for asking whether someone who believes this country would order such crimes, and that its men in uniform would "routinely" carry them out, is fit to be commander-in-chief.

The merits of the charges about Kerry's service and how he won his Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze Stars are difficult to disentangle (see Byron York's piece in the September 13 issue for a thorough evaluation). Kerry seems to have lied when he repeatedly claimed to have spent Christmas 1968 in Cambodia, an event allegedly "seared" in his memory. His campaign now allows that his memory was faulty. There are also legitimate questions about whether two of his Purple Hearts were awarded for wounds that were accidentally self-inflicted. The Purple Hearts matter so much because Kerry used them to take advantage of a Navy regulation that allowed him to leave Vietnam after four months of combat. Kerry's story about how he received his Silver Star — dashing ashore to shoot a wounded Viet Cong — holds up better. Finally, there is doubt whether, in the Bronze Star incident, he really rescued Jim Rassmann from the water under a hail of enemy bullets, as the Kerry campaign and Rassmann have repeated ad nauseam.

The "fog of war" no doubt explains some of the conflicting accounts, which may never be resolved. But we still don't have all the information. For months, the Swift boat vets have been calling on John Kerry to authorize the release of his complete Navy records, only selected portions of which have been made available by his campaign. We should still see his full personnel file and his medical records. For good measure, Kerry should release his wartime journals and his films of himself from Vietnam. The press can do its part by not acting as though its sole job were to discredit the Swift boat vets, and by reporting instead on the substance of their allegations (as Michael Dobbs recently did in an evenhanded front-page Washington Post story on the Bronze Star incident).

Kerry so far has hoped to get away with falsely charging that Bush is responsible for the ads and calling the Swift boat vets "liars," an accusation that hasn't affected them much since they have been called much worse by John Kerry. The contradiction at the center of Kerry's political persona is that he now wants to pretend that Vietnam was a noble war populated by American heroes, when he made his name by smearing it as an unworthy war waged by war criminals. Kerry can probably never fully resolve that contradiction, although he could make a start by repudiating and apologizing for his 1971 remarks. But that might require more moral courage than Kerry has ever mustered, in Vietnam or after.

[dirtboy]

Kerry can probably never fully resolve that contradiction, although he could make a start by repudiating and apologizing for his 1971 remarks. But that might require more moral courage than Kerry has ever mustered, in Vietnam or after.

The problem is, in doing such he would also repudiate the core of liberal foreign policy beliefs - that, because of Vietnam, American power is evil and should not be wielded in pursuite of American national security interests. Which is why you see Kerry, Hurley and countless other liberals refuse to back away from Kerry's 1971 statements - the sentiments expressed in those statements are the very CORE of their political belief system.

[goldstategop]

Kerry is a moral relativist. The National Review editors ought to know better. Throughout his life, Kerry has always seen the world in shades of gray. The only exception is when someone happens to call him on his lies, then he believes in moral absolutes - but only for political advantage, not out of principled recognition there is such a thing as right and wrong and in the existence of universal rules of moral conduct.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. They're asking Kerry to in effect, acknowledge liberalism is itself a lie. That he will never do.

[dirtboy]

And the beauty of it all is, the Swift Boat debate is not allowing Kerry to pretend he's a moderate - because it is showing that he was liberal and anti-war to the bone, and, since he won't repudiate what he said in 1971, it also proves that he really hasn't changed much since then.

[xzins]

Until the book's publication in January, Kerry's fellow Swift boat veterans were unaware of his exact version of their alleged atrocities and his alleged heroics. Some of them had come to Kerry's rescue in the past, when he was accused of committing war crimes of his own (these statements are now used to challenge the Swift boat vets' consistency). The vets intended to refute Kerry's allegations of atrocities, but found that their eyewitness accounts contradicted Kerry's version of his exploits.

Ahhhh...finally. That makes sense to me. I was wondering what the answer to that question was.

They defended him when they thought he was being accused of atrocities. Then they discovered that he was accusing them of the same and using them for political gain....and the fight began.

He twice betrayed them, then, didn't he?

[combat_boots]

"John Kerry and moral courage"

Aren't these terms either mutually exclusive or an oxymoron?

[DustyMoment]

Kerry can probably never fully resolve that contradiction, although he could make a start by repudiating and apologizing for his 1971 remarks.

Don't hold your breath. Kerry's entire life is based on lies, fraud and deception. An apology now not only will total destroy his presidential aspirations and, IMO, leave him open to prosecution for perjury and fraud.

But, even more, what value will an apology from him have? It won't change 30+ years of shame and lies to which Vietnam vets have been subjected. It won't change the policies that liberals have forced down our throats as the result of Kerry's lies over Vietnam. It won't bring back the men that Kerry's lies killed in Vietnam, and it won't reduce the number of names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It won't heal the wounds that his deliberate and intentional lies, fraud and deceits have caused those of us who served in 'Nam. All it will be is a tiny gesture that is way too little and way too late.

Kerry can apologize, if he thinks it will do him any good, but this veteran won't accept it and won't forgive him. IMO, an apology from Kerry will be just one more lie for political gain. Thanks, but no thanks.

[sgtbono2002]

"John Kerry said, "We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service..." <<<<

Now John Kerrys says "We wish that a merciful God will wipe away the Swift Boat Vets of their memories of that service."

[elbucko]

what value will an apology from him have?
It won't bring back the men that Kerry's lies killed in Vietnam,
it won't reduce the number of names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
It won't heal the wounds......
All it will be is a tiny gesture that is way too little and way too late.

Amen.

[EdReform]

bttt

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I highly recommend this. It's long but it explains so much.

Kerry's Lost Opportunity - He could have healed the wounds of Vietnam. Instead, he tried to exploit them

Then read this:

The Facts about Bush and the National Guard - The Democratic charges fall apart.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense

arabnews press release 25 August 2004

NOTE :
Ramsey Clark is pictured below with Kerry and
Vietnam phony vet Al Hubbard
Who was head of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement.



NEW:
FReeper smith288 has an online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it without downloading pdf files!
CLICK HERE

From Kerry's "The New Soldier":
Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66

Emotions: Walking down the flight line at Saigon past stacks of aluminum cases containing American bodies and past stacks of aluminum luggage containing American currency. Seeing the tight, sad face of an Airman loading the bodies aboard a dirty Air Force Transport and the wide smiling face of a stewardess greeting the passengers aboard a clean Pan American Clipper Jet. Hearing a Vietnamese beg you to leave his country and an American colonel tells you to bomb his country. Hearing a Vietnamese invite you to live in his home, after the war and an American explain why you can’t live in his block, after the war. Flying over barren, brown, safe American held terrain and over lush, green unsafe enemy terrain. Feeling happy to be leaving a country in which you do not belong and sad to be returning to a country in which you are not allowed to belong. Sacrificing a portion of your consciousness so you won’t have to deal with being there and building mental blocks so you won’t have to deal with having been there.

- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam. The only Vietnamese he ever met was when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.
John Kerry's explanation: "He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

The New Soldier, (46 pages)
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
PART I (pdf file)
PART II (pdf file)
PART III (pdf file)

Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

NEW:
“Without question,
we were held captive longer
because of the anti-war people,
the Kerrys, the Fondas and Haydens,
the names we knew over there -
they encouraged the enemy to hang on.”
Excerpt from “Stolen Honor” website
- Leo Thorsness
Former Vietnam POW
CLICK HERE



Send this url for the online version

http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/

Send this url for the Stolen Honor website

http://www.stolenhonor.com/

Print this out (46 pages) and disribute it,
especially to the liberals you know.

Copy and paste the links to everyone you know.

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Inro.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Epilogue.pdf