Letter to John Kerry

I don't always trust those internet letters... but I have heard similar things about him elsewhere. This may be a made up story with an actual quote from him, in other words. I tend to vote conservative because typically I adhere to conservative values and morals. I've noticed a lack in those in both parties at times, true enough, but for the most part, the lesser of the two evils is the conservative movement by far.

I think it will be Edwards against Bush and I think Bush will win. The country is certainly becomming more conservative as liberals abort their babies instead of raising them and conservatives keep their babies. An interesting latent function of the law sociologically, don't you think?

I'm skeptical but nothing on snopes came up saying this letter is false.

As far as I can see, the contents of the letter is very real and no decent American voter can ignore the fact that Senator Kerry said what the letter described. How can one samefully criticize the morals and objectives of the U. S. Forces in the halls of Congress and now that he is looking for votes cover it as if it did not happen?

aconservative alias "crooked and liar"

Very interesting post.

Brad,
I hope this makes it to "featured status"

from article:

Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years.

source:

That same year, he{kerry} and McCain completed the effort they began on their 1991 flight to Kuwait: Their Senate investigation led them to conclude, to the chagrin of POW families in the United States, that there was no evidence that any missing U.S. soldiers were still alive in Vietnam. They helped to persuade President Clinton to normalize relations with Vietnam.

do you think mccain is in on the conspiracy, too?


source:

e relevant portion of Kerry's 1971 testimony pertained to the so-called "Winter Soldiers" investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and went as follows: I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.... They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

so he was talking about the 150 vets that had supposedly said they had done those things, not 100% of vietnam vets. it was a low point for kerry, though, as a large number of testimonies were disproven. however, he was not accusing every single vet. although:

(login required, use login: "gamers" and password: "gamers")
source:

But Gary Solis, a former Marine lieutenant colonel, Vietnam veteran and expert on war crimes who is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center here, said Mr. Kerry had made a grave error. "Sure it's true," Mr. Solis said. "Sure there were people raped, ears cut off and so on. Each one of the things that he mentioned happened, in some cases I know, and in others I'm confident. But when you put them all together in one sentence and say this was well known at every level of command, it impugns, it seems to me, everyone who fought over there and it gives the impression that everyone who fought over there was a war criminal and that's just not true."

(login required, use login: "gamers" and password: "gamers")
source:

The full picture is complex. In 1970 and 1971, Mr. Kerry was among the most prominent spokesmen for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, whose major patrons included the actress Jane Fonda, and which later staged takeovers of public buildings and walkouts from Veterans Administration hospitals. But when Mr. Kerry was involved, contemporaries recount, he often took steps to moderate the group's actions, believing it was better — for it, and him — to work within the political system that he ultimately sought to join. When he organized the mass march on Washington that resulted in his Senate testimony, Ms. Fonda was nowhere to be seen.

from article:

He still has the metals and made the mistake of sharing that fact recently.

edited: i msread what was being written up there. are you arguing that he should have tossed his medals away privately?

source:

5. 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. Undetermined. All sources agree that Kerry played a conspicuous role in the week-long VVAW protest in Washington, D.C. in 1971, during which hundreds of Vietnam veterans "returned" their decorations to the military by tossing them over a fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. Kerry was among the tossers, though the medals he hurled weren't his own — a position he has "long maintained," according to a Boston Globe biography. In fact, I've been unable to find any clear evidence that he ever claimed otherwise — i.e., "lied." Author Joe Klein writes in a New Yorker profile: Earlier, in 1984, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kerry had tossed away his combat ribbons, not his medals, at the 1971 protest in Washington. Kerry had never implied otherwise (indeed, the protesters that day had tossed all sorts of thingsdog tags, photographs, discharge papers, insignia), but he had complicated the story with an excess of honesty, recalling that hed also tossed several medals that had been given him by veterans who were unable to make the trip.

whether you choose not to believe both the "new yorker" and "boston globe" is up to you. i recommend searching to find the truth.

his cousin and his vote on hr2883:
source:

7. Kerry's 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. True. In 1993, under the direction of CEO C. Stewart Forbes (a relative of Kerry on his mother's side), Boston-based real estate giant Colliers International brokered just such a deal between an Asian subsidiary, Colliers Jardine, and the Vietnamese government to develop the port of Vung Tau. 8. Kerry prevented the Vietnam Human Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate, claiming human rights would deteriorate as a result. True. As did John McCain.

for fun, notice how it says hr2883 in the email(google shows it to be something else unless it mentions the reposted email above) and hr2833 is the real number of the bill for the "Viet Nam Human Rights Act". it's great how almost no one noticed this.

source:

The bill, Kerry said in a statement, "would weaken democratic reformers and human rights activists who are trying to promote economic development and social change and would strengthen the hand of the Vietnamese hard-liners who have never wanted the United States involved in Vietnam." He says the measure wouldn't improve human rights.

you can either:
a) believe him
don't believe him
c) spend hours looking up whether he was right or not and make up your own mind instead of reading one email and using that to determine who you want the leader of the free world to be.


source:
a timeline on vietnam-us relations. the 90s are interesting as vietnam offered more documents and information on mia's.

February 3, 1994
President Clinton announces the lifting of the trade embargo.

October 5, 1994
House passes bill saying MIA accounting should remain central to U.S. policy in Vietnam and the main function of a U.S. liaison office in Vietnam.

January 27, 1995
U.S. and Vietnam sign agreements settling old property claims and establishing liaison offices in each other's capitals.

April 30, 1995
Vietnam celebrates the 20th anniversary of the end of the war.

May 15, 1995
Vietnam gives U.S. presidential delegation batch of documents on missing Americans, later hailed by Pentagon as most detailed and informative of their kind.

May 23, 1995
Senators John Kerry (D, Mass) and John McCain (R,-Ariz.), both Vietnam veterans, urge Clinton to normalize relations.

May 31, 1995
Vietnam turns over 100 pages of maps and reports about U.S. servicemen killed or captured during the war. An American veteran's map helps locate a mass grave of communist soldiers killed during the war.

June 1995
Senators Kerry and McCain say they plan to offer a Senate resolution approving normalized relations with Vietnam.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher recommends to President Clinton that the United States establish formal diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

State Department praises Hanoi authorities for increasing counter-narcotics cooperation with the United States.

Vietnamese President Le Duc Anh announces he will visit the United States in October for a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

July 11, 1995
President Clinton announces normalization of relations with Vietnam, saying the time has come to move forward and bind up the wounds from the war.

It doesn't seem like there is a definite answer of yes or no. Which is pretty common when it comes to politicians.
russellmz2,
I don't think that the timeline of events has any real rellevence here. In fact, (in my opinion of course) I find it more damaging to him.
Why not push for normalization? If my cousin had brokerage dealings with the very same country...
The deal was made in 1993, the trade embargo was lifted in 1994.
Yes, I agree it was time to " bind old war wounds " with Vietnam. But what was Kerry's motivation?

How much info can we trust from the media to begin with? All of these stories were published for profit. When profit is involved, profit is the motivation, meaning they don't always accurately report the entire story. Or maybe the omit some important info due to editting..... Just look at the reporting for Iragi freedom.

I don't necessarily believe everything I read or see on CNN, especially concerning politicians or famous people. But I definitely believe we should, at the least, keep this in mind. I have a profound respect for our veterans, as we all should, and I find what he did, disrespectful. It's a slap in the face to every soldier that has died in combat.

This Don Bendell guy is real -- check out his web site donbendell.com and check out how he is handling his critics at
http://www.donbendell.com/DonAnswersCritics.html. Hear he may do Fox News soon, too.
hopper

FORMER GREEN BERET TACKLES KERRY AGAIN!

Thank you, John Kerry, for helping make us Vietnam veterans war heroes now, but you also were the primary reason that the American public grabbed sturdy unbending brooms of judgment and swept us into the closet of silence and shame for so many years. Now, with your latest unreported insanity, you are getting ready for our society to grab those same stiff brooms and sweep our brave, noble young men and women fighting against the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, into that cold, dark cell of heartbreak and betrayal, like we Vietnam veterans had to endure in silent dignity. I cannot and will not watch this country go through that again.

The hardcore America-hating, Israel-hating, jihad-spouting Muslim clerics in the mideast are very excited and passing around a front page newspaper story from the very anti-American TEHRAN TIMES in Iran. In the country that is home of the world’s toughest theocratic dictatorship, an e-mail from Democratic Presidential nominee, you, John Forbes Kerry, sent to the paper by your campaign committee, although they deny sending it, was printed word-for-word on the front page of Iran’s main newspaper. Your message states emphatically that, if elected President, you, John Kerry plan to travel to the mideast and elsewhere and apologize for our actions and the actions of President Bush in the War on Terror. You are already apologizing. It says that you plan to apologize to friends and foes alike. That is right, folks. John Kerry will say he is “sorry,” and in his mind, all those jihad extremists, who have vowed to kill all Americans wherever we are, will simply forgive us, hold hands with Kerry, start singing “Kumbaya,” and all will be right in the world. This is insane! You have also made statements you will do these actions within 100 days of becoming President.

Senior writer Kenneth R. Timmerman in the March 1st edition of INSIGHT, tells about the massive campaign contributions to the Kerry-for-President campaign by three Iranian businessmen living in the US, who are lobbying for the US lifting of sanctions on Iran and accepting the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-American Tehran regime and the close ties of one to the chairman of Mobil Oil.

“Pro-democracy dissidents” in Iran are shocked and appalled at your remarks, and have reported that in Iran and other Mideastern countries, that all the extremists and anti-west mullahs who strongly supported the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, USS Cole, Marine Barracks, and anyplace Americans congregate, want you to become our President, but they are scared to death of George W. Bush. Just think, The Democratic candidate for President, you, John Forbes Kerry, is endorsed by the Al Q’Aida, Hezbollah, PLF, and Hamas.

But on February 27, 2004, in a speech at UCLA , you, while trying to talk tough, despite voting against all major weapons systems for the past 18 years, stated that you will continue the War on Terror, but would use our police forces, and especially those in foreign countries, and you would also put our troops back under the powder blue flag of the United Nations. You recently made comments about Bush making troops fight without Kevlar vests, but you, Senator Kerry, voted against buying them while you were in the Senate. Senate Bill 1689. Passed 87-12. You were one of the 12. Remember?

Like the Kama Sutra, Senator, you change positions constantly. You’re not going to end the War on Terror, but instead use police to handcuff terrorists and read them their rights; then a week later, you are going to end the War on Terrorism and apologize to everyone we have offended, such as Iran. What is it going be next week, John Kerry? You flip-flop more than a beached tuna on steroids.

You convinced TV reporters Chris Wallace on Fox and NBC’s Tim Russert that a photograph circulating the web and news showing you a few rows away from Jane Fonda at a September, 1970 Anti-War Rally at Valley Forge, was simply a coincidence and that you and Hanoi Jane barely knew each other. But, in fact, Senator, there were only 8 speakers that day, including Fonda, Donald Southerland, and Bella Abzug, and Hanoi Jane funded that rally, and the keynote speaker was you, John Forbes Kerry, executive committee member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

We must be Americans first, and think about our political parties after that. Sometimes we lose sight of that. I have six grown children and two are democrats. I voted for Jimmy Carter. This is not about politics. It is about standing up to the ultimate playground bully, and not simply cowering and kissing his shoes.

I left it “all on the field” in the jungles back there when I was medevaced out of Vietnam in March of 1969 and sent back to hospitals in “The World.” Although You, Mr. Kerry, painted all of us Vietnam veterans with the yellow brush of My Lai and Tiger Force, most of us, draftees and lifers alike, actually poured our hearts out in the tropical rain forests and in the rice paddies, thoroughly gave it our all, and acted as warriors who had honor. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now and a daughter-in-law who was on orders for Iraq but is making me a grandpa again. I am not going to stand by and watch them go through the same treatment we did, because some of our well-meaning fellow Americans choose to wear blinders and believe things just because they heard it on the network news or simply not care enough to get involved.

I am not a “baby-killer, torturer, or murderer,” John Kerry. I am a Vietnam veteran and an American who will not soon forget, or ever want to see again, any more jets loaded with fuel and screaming, innocent Americans slamming into our buildings on our very own soil. I have shed enough tears for ten lifetimes. We all have. I will never again let my fellow countrymen get away with making American veterans feel like bastard step-children.

Santayana said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

John Kerry, I now call on my “Band of Brothers,” those who have heard the sound of guns and cries of orphaned children, those who hate war more than anyone who has not been there, to join me in this difficult battle ahead. Republicans, democrats, independents, and the apolitical, I call on the 25,000,000 veterans of this country to help me confront this evil facing our great nation, not with guns and bombs, but with our voices, our votes, our computers, and with all our fighting spirit.

My fellow veterans, your families, survivors, and neighbors: God bless you and God bless America.

You want proof of all I have to say. Here are the references:
http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_2889.shtml
http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=6246
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=03&d=01&a=12
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040229-105340-2864r.htm
http://johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0227.html
http://nyyrc.blogspot.com/
http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3130.shtml

Want more proof? Read the very exposing February 27, 2004 article, on page 8, of the NY Sun by Thomas Lipscomb, founder of Time Books and publisher of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt’s best-selling book. “ON WATCH ”. Also read what the man who pinned the Silver Star on John Kerry had to say about him. The article is entitled “Setting Straight Kerry’s War Record”

Don Bendell is a former green beret captain, who served in Vietnam on an A-Team and in the Top Secret Phoenix program in 1968 and 1969, as well as in three other Special Forces Groups. He is a best-selling author of 21 books, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, and a seventh degree black master in four martial arts, who was inducted into the International Karate Hall of Fame in 1995 and Martial Arts Museum of America in 1996. e-mail: [email protected]

i found the quote of what the admiral zumwalt had to "say" in the article. i put "say" in quotes because it wasn't acutually him saying it. it was a quote of someone else quoting zumwalt saying kerry had killed civilians. see, the trick is that admiral elmo zumwalt is dead and can't confirm the quote. i am sure that fact is a big coincidence. of course if kerry was so crazy as to require a strait jacket then you'd think someone in power (like an admiral) would do something about it.

"Just think, The Democratic candidate for President, you, John Forbes Kerry, is endorsed by the Al Q’Aida, Hezbollah, PLF, and Hamas."

supposedly al queda endorsed bush in some letter. conservatives were quick to point out that it was just a trick or obviously fake. btw, this guy says voting for kerry is a vote for osama. but not for hitler. because saying a vote for kerry is a vote for hitler is wrong.

i actually went to loko at the email that was supposedly sent to the tehran newspaper. it says nothing of travelling to the mideast and apologizing. the closest part is: "America needs the kind of leadership that will repair alliances with countries on every continent that have been so damaged in the past few years, as well as build new friendships and overcome tensions with others." the article mentions the democrats denied they ever sent it to them.

tehran times:

WASHINGTON (Mehr News Agency) -- The office of Senator John Kerry, the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary in the U.S., sent the Mehr News Agency an e-email saying that Kerry will try to repair the damage done by the incumbent president if he wins the election. The text of the e-mail follows. As Americans who have lived and worked extensively overseas, we have personally witnessed the high regard with which people around the world have historically viewed the United States. Sadly, we are also painfully aware of how the actions and the attitudes demonstrated by the U.S. government over the past three years have threatened the goodwill earned by presidents of both parties over many decades and put many of our international relationships at risk. It is in the urgent interests of the people of the United States to restore our country's credibility in the eyes of the world. America needs the kind of leadership that will repair alliances with countries on every continent that have been so damaged in the past few years, as well as build new friendships and overcome tensions with others. We are convinced that John Kerry is the candidate best qualified to meet this challenge. Senator Kerry has the diplomatic skill and temperament as well as a lifetime of accomplishments in field of international affairs. He believes that collaboration with other countries is crucial to efforts to win the war on terror and make America safer. An understanding of global affairs is essential in these times, and central to this campaign Kerry has the experience and the understanding necessary to successfully restore the United States to its position of respect within the community of nations. He has the judgment and vision necessary to assure that the United States fulfills a leadership role in meeting the challenges we face throughout the world. The current Administration's policies of unilateralism and rejection of important international initiatives, from the Kyoto Accords to the Biological Weapons Convention, have alienated much of the world and squandered remarkable reserves of support after 9/11. This climate of hostility affects us all, but most especially impacts those who reside overseas. Disappointment with current U.S. leadership is widespread, extending not just to the corridors of power and politics, but to the man and woman on the street as well. We believe John Kerry is the Democrat who can go toe-to-toe against the current Administration on national security and defense issues. We also remain convinced that John Kerry has the best chance of beating the incumbent in November, and putting America on a new course that will lead to a safer, more secure, and more stable world.