Kerry's Latest Betrayal........My Son

AUGUSTA FREE PRESS.COM ^ | NOVEMBER 12, 2004 | MAX FRIEDMAN

[CHARLITE]

As a longtime investigative researcher and journalist, I knew that politics could be down and dirty, but I didn't expect (despite premonitions thereof), that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., would betray my son in the same manner that he had betrayed his fellow Swift Boat servicemen, and then all the American servicemen and women who served honorably in Vietnam so long ago. But I was wrong.

I thought that he might have a little decency left in him, a decency that would spare the fighting men and women of Operation Iraqi Freedom from his demeaning smears and lies. Al Qaqaa, the Iraqi ammunition/explosives complex story, proved me wrong. I'm glad I was, for now I could see the "new" John Kerry for what he really was, the "old" John Kerry in election mode, but still as anti-America as could be.

And on Nov. 2, I was joined by tens of millions of Americans who also saw through the slick election propaganda and imagery of John Kerry and John Edwards, and voted to send them down to defeat.

As one of the researchers for the book Unfit for Command, and as a former Vietnam correspondent, I knew that those who contributed to this controversial book about Kerry's Vietnam service, his medals and his anti-Vietnam activities later would suffer an incredible onslaught of hate, smears, malice, vitriol and outright lies. Again, I (and we) were not disappointed. The Kerry propaganda machine went into full action, including using left-wing media types who had never read the book. They hit hard and fast, lied like rugs, and smeared people with the best tactics of a Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

However, the truth provided a good shield against the slings and arrows of the Devines, Meehans, Hurleys, Matthews, O'Donnells and the editors of The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others. The wounds suffered by the Swifties were not life-threatening as were the ones they had suffered in South Vietnam. Their "band of brothers" unity helped to wipe away any pain or injury. They were still made of sterner stuff than their attackers would ever be, and they had millions of other Americans supporting them.

Then came the October Surprise of The New York Times (The Pravda Times of the old Vietnam days), whose slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print" eventually morphed into "All the News That Fits." From the Pentagon Papers to Abu Graib, the Gray Lady began a slide into the dark side of journalism, featuring a hate-America orientation that has been mirrored by the left in Europe and the new extremism in vogue on the world block, Islamofascism. Now it was an open attack on the American soldier in Iraq by the Times, one that had already been planned by CBS, and a knee-jerk reaction by Sen. Kerry that set me off to no end.

One would think that the infamy of 9/11, an event that had awoken so many complacent and oblivious Americans out of their stupor about the real world, would have at least knocked a little common sense and decency into John Kerry, the presidential candidate. It did not, and now he was up to his old tricks against, blaming the American soldiers in Iraq for things they supposedly did not do, as opposed to his "Ghenghis Khan" speech in which he blamed them for things he said they did do, including committing widespread, systematic war crimes as a policy in Vietnam.

Now why was I so personally furious at Sen. John Kerry and his campaign? It was because my son served and fought with his Army Reserve company as part of the 3rd Infantry Division in the final drive to oust Saddam Hussein that occurred on April 3, 2003, at a place on the Euphrates River known as Hindiyala ("Objective Peach"). If, to use a "Ghostbusters" movies analogy, Hindiyala, on the east bank of that river, was the "lock" that would keep the 3rd from crossing over on the four-lane concrete bridge spanning it, SPC 4 Joshua Friedman and the 299th Army Engineers (Reserve), MRB (Multi-Role Bridge) out of Fort Belvoir were the "keymaster" to opening that bridge up to American armor for the final drive onto Baghdad.

Now, how does this fit into the Al Qaqaa story about allegedly missing explosives? Easy. The 299th and the 54th Ordnance Battalion had conducted a joint amphibious assault to seize the eastern bank of the Euphrates and its bridge before the Iraqi Republican Guards' Medina Division could destroy it. And they did so quite successfully, suffering no casualties and losing only one small craft. Then the Ordnancemen of the 54th defused the remaining explosives on the bridge, after one side had already been partially damaged, thus saving it for the heavy armor of the M-1 Abrams tanks to cross the Euphrates quickly and safely.

The 299th helped to clear remaining resistance on the eastern bank of the river, then went downstream a little ways and put up the first operational combat ribbon bridge of some 22-23 bays across the Euphrates, as well as constructing a medium-girder steel bridge. These were used to allow lighter equipment to cross the river in support of the Abrams tank units. And away they went, wiping out the last of the Medina Division and Saddam's Fedeyeen militia thugs, eventually seizing Baghdad Airport on the outskirts of that city, an event that led to the "Baghdad Tank Run" and the subsequent quick surrender of the last remaining Iraqi units there.

My son and the 299th also went out on patrols to police the area around Hindiyala, capturing Iraqi soldiers, many of whom were surrendering in droves, setting up traffic checkpoints, and most importantly, finding and seizing ammunition caches and sites. It was this last action that began to reveal the extent of the ammunition (including explosives)and weapons hoards that Saddam had built up over a decade since Gulf War I (despite United Nations observers).

He said that there were caches all over the place, buildings filled to the ceiling with boxes of small-arms ammo, equipment, including new chemical-warfare suits, as well as old Gulf War I ammo strewn around the desert areas.

American ordnance experts have stated that there were at least 10,000 such sites that they found (so far), spread across a country the size of California, and no one knows how much material, possibly including weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, nuclear) might still lie beneath the sands there. Some planes were found buried under the sand while one photo my son brought back showed a MIG-25 parked in a cornfield; another in the driveway of someone's house.

The total estimated weight of the Iraqi arms caches so far has been calculated to be two and a half times that of the total arms in the whole United States, some 1 million tons or more.

Now the duplicitous, U.S.-hating United Nations had made a suspiciously timed claim that the U.S. was responsible for losing 270 tons of high explosives, including RDX and HMX, from a site some 20 miles south of Baghdad known as Al Qaqaa, a claim that the Times picked up with and ran like the town drunk on a binge, a binge which CBS had planned to start on their own.

Without any proof of even whether any dangerous high-explosive materials were actually missing, the Times went after President Bush in a blatantly partisan political manner, aided by none other than Sen. Kerry. Kerry made outrageous claims blaming President Bush for mishandling the security of the explosives, letting Iraqi looters and terrorists steal them by the ton, and claiming that this was just another example of the failure of the U.S. policy in Iraq. Kerry kept claiming that he "could have done it better."

Now that a major from the 3rd has come forward and explained that his small unit had hauled away about 210 tons (quite possibly including some of the claimed 270 tons) for destruction at a designed ordnance handling site, Sen. Kerry began to slink away like a coward in the night, never apologizing to the brave American soldiers of the 3rd and the 101st/82nd Airborne who had fought and then guarded those sites during their stays there.

Kerry never said anything about aerial-surveillance photos that showed the Iraqis, and, according to Bill Gertz of The Washington Times, a special Russian Speznatz unit, hauling away munitions before the war started. Nor did he acknowledge earlier press stories about reported heavy truck movements into Syria and possibly Iran before the U.S. entry into Iraq, trucks which may have carried WMDs, the missing explosives and other deadly items.

So what we have here is a desperate little man, Kerry, again insulting the integrity and accomplishments of the American Army, but this time, instead of just insulting my friends, he insulted my son and his unit, and all the other brave men and women who have served in Iraq during the OIF actions and its aftermath.

He also spit on the graves of those who gave their lives not only to protect America, but to bring freedom to 25 millions Iraqis and millions more in Afghanistan. His outrageous and totally wrong denigration of the Tora Bora operations even brought a rebuke from Gen. Tommy Franks, the overall Centcom commander of the Afghan operations, a rebuke that set Kerry straight on that event. However, Kerry kept claiming that we "let" Osama Bin Laden "get away" thought there was never any proof that he was there in the first place. The man never learned when to shut up. The American people finally did it on Nov. 2.

As the father of an American soldier, I have a message for John Kerry regarding his despicable behavior and mouthing off about Al Qaqaa and OIF: "Not with my son, you don't."

Never again will I let you dishonor our servicemen and women. Never again will I let you trash their service for your outrageously destructive, partisan and personal political gain. And I was joined by millions of Vietnam veterans on Nov. 2 who also said "never again."

In the famous words of Army counsel Joseph Welch directed to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during a particularly nasty Senate hearing in 1954, "Have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

Max Friedman resides in Arlington.

The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on this story at letters@augustafreepress.com

[orangelobster]

Yeah, you're right. The smears and blacklisting tactics coming from the Kerry campaign and the MSM were the lowest I've seen in my lifetime. Never again will Kerry or any Dem. for that matter, be able to hurl the 'mcarthyism' label at anyone again. If they do try, they will be laughed off and branded as the hypocrites they are.

[dmw]

"Let us just hope he and mary never have any offspring. The children would be very confused."

They do have kids. I don't know how confused they are, but considering they have their mom in their life, there is hope they will turn out--at least half way decent.

[sonsofliberty2000]

"Daddy, what's a reptillian?"

So bad... so so bad...

http://www.patriot-paradox.com

[Blood of Tyrants]

They hit hard and fast, lied like rugs, and smeared people with the best tactics of a Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Except that McCarthy was right. It was the media that smeared McCarthy as a witch hunter.

[rollin]

RE: "smeared people with the best tactics of a Sen. Joseph McCarthy"

You might not be correct since many of those Senator McCarthy was after were proven to be exactly what he stated they were many years later from the KGB files.

But, of course, the MSM was on the side of those under investigation by McCarthy.

[Samwise]

"Have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

Excellent letter.

And the answer is no. Kerry has no shame.

[joesnuffy]

In the famous words of Army counsel Joseph Welch directed to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during a particularly nasty Senate hearing in 1954, "Have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

Problem here is Max...Sen Joe was warning us all of the communist conpiracy in the media and Hollywood who were doing back then to our people as they did during Vietnam and even today Kerry and Cronkite and Rather and Moore and Fonda are communists..or at least enable them. which amounts to the same thing

imo

[Coldwater Creek]

BTTT

[gidget7]

Kerry doesn't appeal to us here in MA either, trust me. We have a huge amount of curruption in this state, elitist money like Kerry/Kennedy's funding it. Big money involved, and that makes it very difficult to fight. Organizations trying to, find it increasingly difficult to raise the necessary funds to effectively do so.

Elections here can and are bought.

[gidget7]

And the answer is no. Kerry has no shame.

Nope, None! hence the moral votes. lies, smears, vandalism, etc etc etc that went on is not moral behavior. It was in fact to those of us who have a moral conscience, very frightening!

[SBOinTX]

In my short career following politics, I've never heard anyone back McCarthy. What have I been missing??

[Txsleuth]

I just read an article on Drudge from the Boston Globe's staff about the presidential campaign. They mostly talked about Kerry's campaign, but they also talked about Bush's.

Surprisingly, they talked quite a bit about the SWifties. They acknowledged how O'Neill and the Swifties hurt Kerry, but they still portrayed the allegations by them and in their books as falsehoods. Even after all this, they (MSM) won't tell the truth about Kerry's lies about Vietnam. Oh, and at one point in the story, they said that Kerry was hard of hearing because of low gunfire in Vietnam!!!!!!!My husband was there for a year, shooting a gun and has NO problem with his hearing!!!

[Txsleuth]

Ann Coulter wrote a book about the myths surrounding Joseph McCarthy. I can't remember the name of it, but it came out last year I think. Maybe some of our Ann Coulter fans here on FR can tell you.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Please take the time to read this article.

http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$28503

How long till the next attack on the military by Hanoi Kerry?

ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
will be sure to bring you Hanoi Kerry's latest propaganda.

Then ask your US Senator why Hanoi Kerry is still a US Senator.

Timeline of Hanoi Kerry

http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html

I VOW to the 58,000 + Brothers and Sisters on
The Viet Nam Wall who never came home
and to those who died at home from injuries and
from broken hearts.

"I will do everything I LEGALLY can
to expose Hanoi Kerry once and for all.

I will not tire, I will not falter,
and I will not fail.

I solemnly vow to do all I can to restore your honor
until I give my last breath on earth."

[TexasCowboy]

"I actually found I had sympathy for Johnson."

Don't ever!

Johnson was Commander-in-Chief. If he had had the guts Truman had in his little finger, we wouldn't have been flying people off the rooftop in Saigon.

We fought the VietNam War like a football team behind one point with a first down and one minute left in the fourth quarter on the two yard line when the coach sends in instructions to fall on the ball four downs and run out the clock.

The scoreboard says we lost. The players know better.

[Txsleuth]

because of low gunfire==because of LOUD gunfire

so sorry

[marajade]

My sympathy only extended to the point that he seemed to be stuck with McNamara.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Do a search here on FR or even google. The left wing media railed against McCarthy claiming that he was on a witch hunt when the truth was that he was right. Here is a Google Search. Click and see for yourself.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

12 Feb 55 - President Eisenhower's administration sends 1st 350 U.S. advisers to South Vietnam
to train the South Vietnamese Army
08 Jun 56 - 1st American advisor was killed
5 Sep 56 - President Eisenhower tells a news conference that the French are
"involved in a hopelessly losing war in Indochina"



From a Must Visit Site
Vipers Vietnam Veterans Page, A Vietnam Veteran & Proud Web Site
About Vietnam

The Vietnam war was the longest in our nation's history.
1st American advisor was killed on June 08, 1956,
and the last casualties in connection with the war occurred on May 15, 1975, during the Mayaquez incident. Approximately 2.7 million Americans served in the war zone; 300,000 were wounded and approximately 75,000 permanently disabled. Officially there are still 1,991 Americans unaccounted for from SE Asia.

Vietnam was a savage, in your face war where death could and did strike from anywhere with absolutely no warning. The brave young men and women who fought that war paid an awful price of blood, pain and suffering. As it is said: "ALL GAVE SOME ... SOME GAVE ALL"
The Vietnam war was not lost on the battlefield. No American force in ANY other conflict fought with more determination or sheer courage than the Vietnam Veteran.  For the first time in our history America sent it's young men and women into a war run by inept politicians who had no grasp of military strategies and no moral will to win. They were led by "top brass" who were concerned mainly with furthering their own careers, most neither understood the nature of the war nor had a clue about the impossible mission with which they'd tasked their soldiers.  And the war was reported by a self serving Media who penned stories filled with inaccuracies, deliberate omissions, biased presentations and blatant distorted interpretations because they were more interested in a story than the truth! It can be debated that we should never have fought that war. It can also be argued that the young Americans who fought so courageously, never losing a single major battle, helped in a huge way to WIN THE COLD WAR.

[SBOinTX]

Such a simple search, I really should've thought of it. Thanks for the tip