SFRC : 4-22-1971

[H2O Man]

"I know that all of you talk about every possible alternative for getting out of Vietnam. We understand that. We know you have considered the seriousness of the aspects to the utmost level, and I am not going to try to dwell on that. But I want to relate to you the feeling that many of the men who have returned to this country express because we are probably angriest about all that we were told about Vietnam and about the mystical war against Communism.

"We found that not only was it a civil war, an effort by a people who had for years been seeking their liberation from any colonial influence whatsoever, but we also found that the Vietnamese, whom we had enthusiastically molded after our own image, were hard put to take up the fight against the threat we were supposed to be saving them from. ….

"Now we are told that the men who fought there must watch quietly while American lives are lost so that we can exercise the incredible arrogance of Vietnamizing the Vietnamese.

"Each day, to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam, someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn’t have to admit something that the entire world already knows, so that we can’t say that we made a mistake. Someone has to die so that President Nixon won’t be, and these are his words, ‘the first President to lose a war’.

"We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
--Navy Lieutenant John Kerry; testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; April 22, 1971.

I know that some DUers have mixed feelings about John Kerry. But this is the John Kerry that I think of. This is the Senator who tried to expose the many crimes of the Iran-Contra scandal.

We need to elect a democratic president and increase the number of democrats in congress. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards are all very talented politicians, and each would be a good president. More, they all could work well with the democratic congress.

Today, Senator Kerry endorsed Barack Obama. He has the right to do that. It will help the Obama campaign, but it will not hurt either of the other two. It is best to think of it as an endorsement of one of our own, rather than a reason to attack Kerry and divide the party.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Wise words

thanks for posting them.

[MH1]

2. H2O Man

:yourock:

That statement by Kerry on 4/22/1971 is incredibly meaningful...anyone who has not read it in full, please do...you don't know John Kerry at all until you have read that.

[H2O Man]

4. It is a beautiful statement.

It is also a haunting message that should have as much meaning to America today, as it did 37 years ago.

The Nixon administration targeted young John Kerry for speaking the truth. The Cheneyites will target our leaders who try to end the madness in Iraq. Too many people -- Americans and Iraqis -- are suffering and dying while we are distracted from what is important in the upcoming elections.

[redqueen]

3. "It is best to think of it as an endorsement of one of our own,

rather than a reason to attack Kerry and divide the party."

:thumbsup:

[DemReadingDU]

5. Thank you, wise words