Kerry's words prolonged the misery of Vietman POWs

[midwayer]

Guest commentary: Kerry's words prolonged the misery of Vietman POWs

By WAYNE SMITH, Special to the Daily News
September 7, 2004

"Hanoi Hanna" was screeching away on the awful squawk box in my four-walled POW stench. She was directing her babble to servicemen who were still engaged in the conflict. "GIs lay down your weapons and revolt. Do not be the last soldier to die for a cause that Americans think is unjust."

This is a paraphrase but the theme was repeated often late in my internment in the 1970s. I could not recollect it at the time but I found out after my repatriation that these same words were the hallmark of John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Fulbright Committee: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

more...............

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/pe_local_guest_commentary/article/0,2071,NPDN_14963_3164331,00.html


&


Thomas Sowell: Vets vs. Kerry on Vietnam: The media should check the facts

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/perspective/article/0,2071,NPDN_14966_3163015,00.html

The Naples Daily News TRASHED KERRY TODAY

Thank the Lord they DID print Molly Ivins...but the majority of today was bias towards the GOP machine.

This Vietnam thing is going to kill us if we can't rebut.

HELP!

Have been working all day.....

need rebuttals

Mid

[midwayer]

1. Molly Ivins: Kerry accused of saying things he never said

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/pe_columnists/article/0,2071,NPDN_14960_3164361,00.html

[jumpstart33]

16. Had they heeded Kerry's words, it would have saves thousands of lives.

Why doesn't Kerry point that out?

[A_Possum]

2. POW can thank Kerry for trying to getting him home at all

Nixon was just stalling around so he wouldn't have to admit he was the first American president to lose a war.

*************


Kerry, the Congressional Record, 1971

The Chairman: Do you support or do you have any particular views about any one of them you wish to give the committee?

Mr. Kerry: My feeling, Senator, is undoubtedly this Congress, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I do not believe that this Congress will, in fact, end the war as we would like to, which is immediately and unilaterally and, therefore, if I were to speak I would say we would set a date and the date obviously would be the earliest possible date. But I would like to say, in answering that, that I do not believe it is necessary to stall any longer. I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh's points it has been stated time and time again, and was stated by Senator Vance Hartke when he returned from Paris, and it has been stated by many other officials of this Government, if the United States were to set a date for withdrawal the prisoners of war would be returned. (The same POW's who were so "devastated" by this attempt to get them freed sooner rather than later?)

I think this negates very clearly the argument of the President that we have to maintain a presence in Vietnam, to use as a negotiating block for the return of those prisoners. The setting of a date will accomplish that...


...what I am saying is that I believe that there is a mood in this country which I know you are aware of and you have been one of the strongest critics of this war for the longest time. But I think if can talk in this legislative body about filibustering for porkbarrel programs, then we should start now to talk about filibustering for the saving of lives and of our country. (Applause.)

And this, Mr. Chairman, is what we are trying to convey.

*******

These POW's seem to be blaming Kerry for what their captors did to them, instead of blaming Nixon for making them spend longer as POW's.

[displacedtexan]

3. Opposition to the police action in Vietnam...

was the only action which brought it to an end.

Without opposition, many more would have been wounded, killed, or captured.

Duh.

"Hanoi Hanna" didn't report anything in that statement that wasn't a true reflection of majority sentiment in the USA at the time.

I guess we should have kept quiet about Apartheid, too. After all, Dick Cheney didn't want that little policy to end, either.

[CarolynEC]

4. John Kerry put his life on the line for our country...

... then, in yet another act of true courage, came back and tried to save the lives of his fellow soldiers.

It's that simple.

[Catfight]

5. Let's Move ON folks, Kerry served, Bush deserted, end of story!

[Ducks In A Row]

6. What a lie

pure and simple.

now what about iraq, wayne. how you feel about 1000 soliders dying for nothing.

[LynnTheDem]

7. Debunked

100% absolutely totally UNTRUE.

I have links, will look them out for you asap.

[cheshire]

8. If anyone thinks that Vietcong would have done less than they did

no matter what is/are just fucking stupid as hell.

[spanone]

9. Iraq soldiers can thank bush* for trashing thier purple hearts

for political gain

[leetrisck]

10. And probably saved their lives

along with a lot of others - guess the Republicans would have been happier with 75,000 names on The Wall and now bush wants his very own wall - the miserable little deserter.

[gratuitous]

11. John Kerry loves his country

And in the same way as Paul said in First Corinthians, Love does not rejoice in falsehood, but Love rejoices in the truth (1 Cor 13). The truth then and now is that some United States soldiers committed war crimes. Those crimes tarnished every man and woman in uniform as long as they went unpublicized and unpunished. The only people who would want to cover up or deny those crimes are either complicit in them, or don't care about the truth, and therefore don't care about the reputation of the United States or the military.

[midwayer]

12. Thanks ALL who responded

I'm hoping we will get some good rebuttals from the locals printed in the paper or some opposing guest editorials as well here in the next couple of days.

The pugs are going to hammer us with this issue

[blondeatlast]

13. They keep trying, but then are swiftly

booted out of DU.

[blm]

14. Kerry brought them home sooner. Did they really want to stay longer?

Were they wanting their younger brothers and cousins and nephews to join them?

The American people were already against the war when Kerry spoke about the testimony from the soldiers who met a few months earlier. He repeated their words.

Kerry aimed his testimony at an indecisive congress who didn't know HOW to get out of a war they had already lost.

Let them chew on that.

[brentspeak]

15. POW disputes SwiftVet POW claims

Partial Article:

Phil Butler, who spent eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam,
took issue with suggestions by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that
Kerry's antiwar protests caused the POWs to be treated badly. "I lived
with two of the POWs who are now in that group -- Mr. Courdier
and Mr. Gallanti -- and I am telling you, they are full of it.
We never heard a blooming thing about John Kerry while we were there,"
said Butler, who contacted the campaign months ago to support Kerry
and only recently heard back from Kerry's veterans coordinator, John
Hurley.

Butler said that while he was tortured and mistreated until 1969, by
the time Kerry was protesting the war and speaking before the Senate
Armed Services Committee in 1971, the POWs were better treated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26519-2004Aug23.html