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Washington Times
Letter to the editor

John Kerry's war record

As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the White
House, Americans should know a few things about him that he might prefer go
unmentioned ? and I don't mean his $75 haircuts.
When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans
Day, a group of veterans turned their backs on him and walked away. They
remembered Mr. Kerry as the anti-war activist who testified before Congress
during the war, accusing veterans of being war criminals. The dust jacket
of Mr. Kerry's pro-Hanoi book, "The New Soldier," features a photograph of
his ragged band of radicals mocking the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, which
depicts the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, with an upside-down American flag.
Retired Gen. George S. Patton III charged that Mr. Kerry's actions as an
anti-war activist had "given aid and comfort to the enemy," as had the
actions of Ramsey Clark and Jane Fonda. Also, Mr. Kerry lied when he threw
what he claimed were his war medals over the White House fence; he later
admitted they weren't his. Now they are displayed on his office wall.
Long after he changed sides in congressional hearings, Mr. Kerry lobbied
for renewed trade relations with Hanoi. At the same time, his cousin C.
Stewart Forbes, chief executive for Colliers International, assisted in
brokering a $905 million deal to develop a deep-sea port at Vung Tau,
Vietnam ? an odd coincidence.
As noted in the Inside Politics column of Nov. 14 (Nation), historian
Douglas Brinkley is writing Mr. Kerry's biography. Hopefully, he'll include
the senator's latest ignominious feat: preventing the Vietnam Human Rights
Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate, claiming human rights
would deteriorate as a result. His actions sent a clear signal to Hanoi
that Congress cares little about the human rights for which so many
Americans fought and died.
The State Department ranked Vietnam among the 10 regimes worldwide least
tolerant of religious freedom. Recently, 354 churches of the Montagnards, a
Christian ethnic minority, were forcibly disbanded, and by mid-October,
more than 50 Christian pastors and elders had been arrested in Dak Lak
province alone. On Oct. 29, the secret police executed three Montagnards by
lethal injection simply for protesting religious repression. The communists
are conducting a pogrom against the Montagnards, forcing Christians to
drink a mixture of goat's blood and alcohol and renounce Christianity.
Thousands have been killed or imprisoned or have just "disappeared." The
Montagnards lost one-half of their adult male population fighting for the
United States, and without them, there might be thousands more American
names on that somber black granite wall at the Vietnam memorial.
As Mr. Kerry contemplates a run for the presidency, people must remember
that he has fought harder for Hanoi as an anti-war activist and a senator
than he did against the Vietnamese communists while serving in the Navy in
Vietnam.

MICHAEL BENGE
Foreign Service officer and former Vietnam POW (1968 to 1973)

http://vietpage.com/archive_news/politics/2002/Dec/14/0002.html

I did a google trying to find the availability of his book and I think that I ran across the same webpage that you found.

I found this to be very interesting, I wonder how big of a issue the Dems will make of this? (I'm not wondering THAT hard, LOL)

Here is a bit of info about Kerry and his Skull & Bones connections...
Kerry made his Bones in secret club - like Bush
by Andrew Miga
Thursday, May 15, 2003
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry expounds on many issues in his presidential campaign, but he's completely silent on one topic: his membership in Skull and Bones, Yale's infamous secret society.
``John Kerry has absolutely nothing to say on that subject. Sorry,'' said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander.
Kerry is a respected senator and a decorated Vietnam War combat veteran, but 36 years after he was initiated into what has been called the ``ultimate old boy network,'' he's wary of breaking the ultra-exclusive club's strict secrecy code.
There's also another high-profile member of the club: President Bush.
Bonesmen already are buzzing over the prospect of the first Bones vs. Bones presidential race should Kerry win his party's nomination and face Bush in 2004.
``Bones don't care who wins,'' said author Alexandra Robbins, whose book ``Secrets of the Tomb'' pierced the secrecy shrouding the 171-year-old society. ``If Kerry wins, it's still a Bones presidency.''
Robbins calls the group ``probably the most secretive and successful club in America,'' and adds, ``It's also pretty bizarre.''
Every year, 15 Yale juniors are tapped for the club, which holds meetings twice a week in a crypt-like building known as the ``Tomb.''
Robbins described the interior, replete with skulls and skeletons, as a cross between the ``Addams Family'' and a slightly shabby English men's club.
There are bizarre initiation rites, including a ceremony where new members must spend an evening before a roaring fire in the Tomb recounting details of their sexual history to fellow members.
Kerry was tapped for the club in 1968, two years after Bush, whose father and grandfather were also Bonesmen. Kerry's brother-in-law from his first marriage, David Thorne, was Bones. So was the late husband of Kerry's current wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. The Bones alumni roster is flush with CIA officials, business moguls, congressmen and Supreme Court justices. The club owns a secluded 40-acre island retreat on the St. Lawrence River.
In 1986, Kerry allegedly tried to recruit Jacob Weisberg, then a college-age intern at ``The New Republic'' magazine. Weisberg, now Slate magazine editor, said Kerry made his pitch during a private meeting in his Senate office. Weisberg declined, pointedly asking Kerry how he squared his liberalism with membership in such an elitist club that refused to admit women. ``Kerry got sort of flustered and said, `I've marched with battered women,' '' Weisberg told the Herald.
Five years later, Kerry was among those voting to force the club to admit women after a bitter court fight.
Want to read more about Skull & Bones War Criminal Kerry check the links below...

http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists_archive/sixties-l/3221.html http://vietpage.com/archive_news/politics/2002/Dec/14/0002.html http://www.oilempire.us/kerry.html http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=5468 http://oll.temple.edu/hist249/course/Documents/vietnam_veterans_against_the_war.htm http://www.usvetdsp.com/story35.htm