TOAST
Posted on 08/26/2004 11:46:53 AM PDT by ketchikan
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reveals that the then anti-war activist admitted to writing many of the battle reports during his four months of combat in Vietnam.
Click on source URL to read Kerry's own words.
Shocking.....but those same reports are used by the media to try to convince us that the swift boat vets are lying.
guess kerry wasn't planning on the internet later on in his life... he has the AL2000 v.04 to blame for all this mess
Classic!
From Congress Should Investigate: Did Foreign Contributions Sway Policy Toward Vietnam?
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Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked the Justice Department for an independent counsel to investigate the Huang/Riady/Lippo Group tie, but one should not forget that without McCain's outspoken support, Clinton would probably never have lifted the trade embargo or renewed diplomatic relations with Vietnam. McCain's request can be viewed as the epitome of political hypocrisy.
One must also remember that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown had been accused of accepting funds from the communist Vietnamese in order to get the trade embargo lifted. Many felt that there was never a thorough investigation of this charge.
And it was reported that Frances Zwenig, Senator John Kerry's chief of staff for the now defunct Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs, served for a short-time in the Vietnam interests section of Commerce until someone figured this might be viewed as a conflict of interest. As Kerry's aide, Zwenig, according to documents, coached the North Vietnamese to concoct plausible stories on the fate of POW/MIAs in order to show that Hanoi was cooperating to resolve the POW/MIA issue, a hurdle in the diplomatic dance to lift the trade embargo and renew relations with Vietnam.
Senator Kerry was caught on camera making a promise to the North Vietnamese communists that he would ensure that they weren't embarrassed by their concocted stories. Zwenig went on to serve with Madeleine Albright at the UN. Zwenig is now reportedly working with the Washington-based U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, a group that lobbied heavily for lifting the trade embargo and renewing relations with Vietnam. Now their focus is to win most-favored nation (MFN) for the draconian communist regime in Vietnam, which recently burned a Buddhist Monastery in Hue and jailed the monks and nuns for advocating improved human rights, freedom of religion and democracy.
The question may be raised, who pays Zwenig's salary? Although campaign contributions from the Trade Council and associated companies are legal, one should follow the money trail to see if any was "laundered." Also, Senator Kerry's cousin, Forbes, who manages Kerry's trust, reportedly received multi-million dollar "sweet- heart" deal from the Vietnamese communists in real-estate concessions and port renovations in Vietnam. How much did he donate to the various campaigns?
Kerry said, that he wrote many spot reports and recalls a "tendency to report what they want to report and see what they want to see." I guess that about sums up his record.
According to the testimony , which is available in the Congressional Record, Sen. Symington asked Kerry, "Mr. Kerry, from your experience in Vietnam do you think it is possible for the President or Congress to get accurate and undistorted information through official military channels.[?]"Reporting what you want to report. Seeing what you want to see. Yes. That's interesting, John. Very interesting.Kerry responded, "I had direct experience with that. Senator, I had direct experience with that and I can recall often sending in the spot reports which we made after each mission; and including the GDA, gunfire damage assessments, in which we would say, maybe 15 sampans sunk or whatever it was. And I often read about my own missions in the Stars and Stripes and the very mission we had been on had been doubled in figures and tripled in figures.
Kerry later added, "I also think men in the military, sir, as do men in many other things, have a tendency to report what they want to report and see what they want to see." [Emphasis Added].
CNN ran a spot yesterday. "Defense Dept. reports confirm John Kerry's versions vs the Swiftboat Vets." I had to laugh. They did not report the fact that those reports were authored by Kerry.
Yeah, its a circular proof. Kerry's version is correct because it matches Kerry's version. Well, at least the ones he hasn't changed.
Wow--you might have found something Kerry actualy did during his time in the Senate. and here I thought he was only window dressing and collecting a paycheck.
I am still amazed by all of this.
I honestly consider this Swift Boat stuff as important as the Boston Tea Party in terms of real Democracy in this country.
Parties, Party Bosses, Unions and the Press have controlled it all from time immemorial.
This is directly the voice of the people. I think it is fabuluous.
bump to support SWIFTVETS and GEORGE W. BUSH... http://www.swiftvets.com/
The idea of John Kerry becoming President makes me sick to my stomach after learning the specifics of his actions in and after the Vietnam War. I can see why he is doing everything in his power to discredit the Swifties. While his actions in Vietnam are suspect and his medals likely unearned, it is his actions after coming home that are absolutely and truly outrageous and sickening.
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