Posted on 02/08/2005 2:23:10 PM PST by gopwinsin04
In February, the ultimate obediant soliders, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and POW's for Truth will recieve the 'Courage Under Fire' at a banquet hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Former US Senator Zell Miller, who was tapped to present this honor, said of the group, 'They performed an invaluable service to America..these veterans took a lot of undeserved criticism for daring to speak the truth.'
This bizarre notion, and the fact that the Swift Boat Vets have been embraced by the Republicans and perhaps a significant percentage of the electorate, does not bode well for the cause of ethical warfare.
Kerry was targeted not because of what he did in Vietnam, but for what he did afterwords. He had the audacity to testify in front of the US Senate in 1971 because he thought shooting women and children and burning villages to the ground qualified as war crimes.
Kerry believed that morality is an essential part of being a good soldier, and morality trumps the idea of loyalty and obediance by way of silence. In fact, this 'ideal' may have cost him the presdiency.
So the long war of John Kerry continues. We are still in the grip, as Kerry said in his testimony of more than 30 years ago, of 'John Wayne' syndrome, masculinity and patriotism through brutality and racism.
Safeguarding freedom, justice and the protection of innocent civilians apparently are not ideas that become ingrained in the hearts and minds of many recruits. Only time will tell if the good soldiers have lost the battle or the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at interventionmag.com ...
Hmmmm? It lacked humor!
I have never heard of this publication and your links don't work.
Thank you so very much for pointing that out. You're a class act.
You guys related?
Long lost cousins, who like to drink beer.
Did you know that when Kerry was on MTP (Sunday) - he told Russert HE DID GO TO CAMBODIA! So the freak was lying again about the Cambodia issue. Good grief.
"beer"
Nah!!
Snap out of it CyberAnt. Maybe CedarDave will send you some good beer too to cure ya!
WTF??!! LOL!! This rag and its writers are all Vietnam ant-war holdovers. Get a life already.
LOL!! And .. just what do I need to be cured of ..??
You need to be cured of your distaste for beer. It can be fatal.
Well .. actually, I love beer with tomato juice .. that is when I drank beer 30 years ago.
That sounds like a fine combo, as long as you chased it with a shot of Jack. Cheers.
After Sunday's Superbowl and "The Commercial", if you break down and drink something other than Guinness, make sure you make a toast with an Anheuser-Busch product.
Well, I'm torn, because after I found out August Busch (prez of the company) very publicly endorsed John Kerry, I shot them an angry letter saying I would no longer buy their products (I never did often anyhow). I think the ad on S-Bowl sunday was a defensive move against all of the angry mail they got. BTW, you don't need to send CyberAnt any beer, he gave it up 30 years ago (when he was 12 years old).
Whew! Glad to hear that; couldn't have afforded to send him any, especially if you had won and I had to send some to you!
I had heard that Busch didn't support Bush, but I still drink their beer. Missouri was a red state after all.
Gettin' redder all the time!
AFFIDAVIT OF STEVEN J. PITKIN combat veteran of the Vietnam War (Kerry pressured him to give false Winter Soldier testimony)
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff
Pitkin Affidavit
AFFIDAVIT OF STEVEN J. PITKIN
STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF PALM BEACH
Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared Steven J. Pitkin, known, to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to this instrument, who, after first being duly sworn by me, upon oath stated:
1. My name is Steven J. Pitkin. I am over the age of twenty-one years, and I am fully competent and able to make this affidavit. I am able to swear, as I do hereby swear, that all facts and statements contained in this affidavit are true and correct and within my personal knowledge.
2. I am a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, having served with the Ninth Division of the U.S. Army beginning 25 May 1969. A mortar explosion wounded me, my wounds gradually became infected, and I was treated in an Army hospital in Okinawa. I contracted hepatitis C from blood transfusions I received during that time. I left Vietnam on 28 August 1969 and was honorably discharged from the Army on 9 September 1970.
3. Medals received for my Army service include: Combat Infantry Badge, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, RVN Cross of Gallantry, Air Medal, Purple Heart.
4. During my service in Vietnam, I neither witnessed nor participated in any American war crimes or atrocities against civilians, nor was I ever aware of any such actions. I did witness the results of Vietcong atrocities against Vietnamese civilians, including the murder of tribal leaders.
5. Upon my return to the United States I encountered anti-war protestors who, at various times, threw feces, spit, and screamed obscenities.
6. I joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), at Catonsville Community College in Baltimore in 1970.
7. In January of 1971, I rode in a van with John Kerry, a national leader of the VVAW, and others from Washington D.C. to Detroit to attend the Winter Soldier Investigation, a conference intended to publicize alleged American war crimes in Vietnam. Having no knowledge of such war crimes, I did not intend to speak at the event.
8. During the Winter Soldier Investigation, John Kerry and other leaders of that event pressured me to testify about American war crimes, despite my repeated statements that I could not honestly do so. One event leader strongly implied that I would not be provided transportation back to my home in Baltimore, Maryland, if I failed to comply. Kerry and other leaders of the event instructed me to publicly state that I had witnessed incidents of rape, brutality, atrocities and racism, knowing that such statements would necessarily be untrue.
9. In April 1971, I attended a VVAW protest in Washington D.C. known as “Dewey Canyon III.” During this event I was present when protestors, including John Kerry, threw medals and ribbons over a fence outside the U.S. Capitol. I witnessed a man holding a bag of ribbons and medals and handing them out to other protestors. I saw that many of the ribbons and medals were not those that would be received by veterans of combat in Vietnam.
10. During the “Dewey Canyon III” protest, others and I confronted protestors who were wearing or carrying Vietcong flags.
11. After the “Dewey Canyon III” protest, I was no longer invited to meetings of the VVAW in Baltimore, and ended my association with the organization.
12. I joined the 5/20th Special Forces Group of the Maryland National Guard in 1974, was graduated from paratrooper “jump school” with honors in 1976, joined the Coast Guard in 1978 and served there until my retirement in May 1997.
(signed) Steven J. Pitkin
Further affiant saith not.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th Day of September, 2004.
Jonathan Feldman
Commission # DD235268
My commission expires July 28, 2007
Steve Pitkin Affadavit, August 31, 2004
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff
Steve Pitkin DD-214
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/graphics/PitkinDD214.jpg
Steve Pitkin WSI testimony
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinWSI
Steve Pitkin WSI video clips -- February 1, 1971 (4:16, 1.6MB)
http://www.wintersoldier.com/video/pitkin2.wmv
"Phony Vietnam veterans alleged in books
Guenter Lewy's 1978 book America in Vietnam (pages 316-317) and B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley's Stolen Valor (Verity Press, Inc., Dallas, Texas)(pages 113, 131-137) contain similar information about alleged flaws in Lane's book. Neither book, however, refutes any of the testimony given during the Winter Soldier Investigation.
Lawyer and leftist activist Mark Lane was one of the organizers of Winter Soldier. In 1970, Lane had published a book called Conversations With Americans purporting to be interviews with Vietnam veterans about war crimes, containing Vietnam tales of atrocities. Reporter Neil Sheehan showed some interviewed in Lane's book had never served in Vietnam and others had not been in the situations they described. Lane admitted he did not check military records, as confirmation of details was not relevant. Lane later confirmed these militarty records.
The following are often falsely listed as being participants in Winter Soldier, but were actually in Lane's book instead. This confusion is probably due to Stolen Valor having an explanation of Lane's history within the section on Winter Soldier.
Chuck Onan, stock room clerk in Beaufort, S.C.
Michael Schneider, deserted in Europe and deserted again in the USA.
Terry Whitmore, was in an unpopulated area of Vietnam.
Garry Gianninoto, medical corpsman at battalion headquarters.
VVAW leader and Winter Soldier co-organizer Al Hubbard lied about being an officer, and sustaining war injuries - but he never testified at Winter Soldier .
According to the investigative work of Burkett, Lewy and others, there were many imposters, liars, and plain nutjobs who infiltrated the ranks of the anti-war movement, and, in some cases, testified to war crimes and atrocities that never occurred in order to get attention, sympathy, and, in one documented case, medals and honors."
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/W/Winter-Soldier-Investigation.htm
"...At the time, Kerry was serving as the point man for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The president of the organization was Al Hubbard, who claimed to be an Air Force captain who was severely injured during his service in Vietnam.
It turned out Hubbard was a sergeant who never served in Vietnam.
He did, however, as Kerry knew, serve the communist cause with great enthusiasm and distinction – making propaganda trips to Hanoi paid for by the Communist Party USA. "
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39982
"...For Kerry, his Yuletide mission was an epiphany: the moment when he realized his government was lying to the people about what was going on. This is the turning point, the moment that set the young Kerry on the path from brave young war volunteer to fierce anti-war activist.
And it turns out it's total bunk."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
August 15, 2004
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn15.html
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