US Elections 2004

[2nd Timothy]

How has Kerry flip-flopped?

Ollie    

You're joking right?

********************************************
Flip-Flopped On Military Experience As Credential For Public Office

Kerry: Service Should Not Be “Litmus Test” For Leadership. “Mr. President, you and I know that if support or opposition to the war were to become a litmus test for leadership, America would never have leaders or recover from the divisions created by that war. You and I know that if service or nonservice in the war is to become a test of qualification for high office, you would not have a Vice President, nor would you have a Secretary of Defense and our Nation would never recover from the divisions created by that war.” (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 10/08/92, p. S17709)

But Now Kerry Constantly “Challenges The Stature Of His Democratic Opponents” Over Their Lack Of Military Service. “And more than ever, Mr. Kerry is invoking his stature as a Vietnam veteran as he challenges the stature of his Democratic opponents -- none of whom, he frequently points out, have ‘worn the uniform of our country’ -- to withstand a debate with Mr. Bush on national security.” (Adam Nagourney, “As Campaign Tightens, Kerry Sharpens Message,” The New York Times, 8/10/03)

Flip-Flopped On 1991 Iraq War Coalition

At The Time, Kerry Questioned Strength Of 1991 Coalition. “I keep hearing from people, ‘Well, the coalition is fragile, it won’t stay together,’ and my response to that is, if the coalition is so fragile, then what are the vital interests and what is it that compels us to risk our young American’s lives if the others aren’t willing to stay the … course of peace? … I voted against the president, I’m convinced we’re doing this the wrong way …” (CBS’ “This Morning,” 1/16/91)

Now Kerry Has Nothing But Praise For 1991 Coalition. SEN. JOHN KERRY: “In my speech on the floor of the Senate I made it clear, you are strongest when you act with other nations. All presidents, historically, his father, George Herbert Walker Bush, did a brilliant job of building a legitimate coalition and even got other people to help pay for the war.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 1/11/04)

Flip-Flopped On View Of War On Terror

Kerry Said War On Terror Is “Basically A Manhunt.” “Kerry was asked about Bush’s weekend appearance on ‘Meet the Press’ when he called himself a ‘war president.’ The senator, who watched the session, remarked: ‘The war on terrorism is a very different war from the way the president is trying to sell it to us. It’s a serious challenge, and it is a war of sorts, but it is not the kind of war they’re trying to market to America.’ Kerry characterized the war on terror as predominantly an intelligence-gathering and law enforcement operation. ‘It’s basically a manhunt,’ he said. ‘You gotta know who they are, where they are, what they’re planning, and you gotta be able to go get ‘em before they get us.’” (Katherine M. Skiba, “Bush, Kerry Turn Focus To Each Other,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/13/04)

Two Weeks Later, Kerry Flip-Flopped, Saying War On Terror Is More Than “A Manhunt”. “This war isn’t just a manhunt – a checklist of names from a deck of cards. In it, we do not face just one man or one terrorist group. We face a global jihadist movement of many groups, from different sources, with separate agendas, but all committed to assaulting the United States and free and open societies around the globe.” (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At University Of California At Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 2/27/04)

Flip-Flopped On Funding For Our Troops In Iraq

Kerry Pledged To Fund Reconstruction With “Whatever Number” Of Dollars It Took. NBC’S TIM RUSSERT: “Do you believe that we should reduce funding that we are now providing for the operation in Iraq?” SEN. JOHN KERRY: “No. I think we should increase it.” RUSSERT: “Increase funding?” KERRY: “Yes.” RUSSERT: “By how much?” KERRY: “By whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win. It is critical that the United States of America be successful in Iraq, Tim.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 8/31/03)

Then Kerry Voted Against Senate Passage Of Iraq/Afghanistan Reconstruction Package. “Passage of the bill that would appropriate $86.5 billion in fiscal 2004 supplemental spending for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would provide $10.3 billion as a grant to rebuild Iraq, including $5.1 billion for security and $5.2 billion for reconstruction costs. It also would provide $10 billion as a loan that would be converted to a grant if 90 percent of all bilateral debt incurred by the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein has been forgiven by other countries. Separate provisions limit reconstruction aid to $18.4 billion. It also would provide approximately $65.6 billion for military operations and maintenance and $1.3 billion for veterans medical care.” (S. 1689, CQ Vote #400: Passed 87-12: R 50-0; D 37-11; I 0-1, 10/17/03, Kerry Voted Nay)

Kerry Later Claimed: “I Actually Did Vote For The $87 Billion Before I Voted Against It.” (Glen Johnson, “Kerry Blasts Bush On Protecting Troops,” The Boston Globe, 3/17/04)

Flip-Flopped On Welfare Reform

In 1993, Kerry Voted To Kill Bipartisan Welfare Work Requirement. In 1993, Kerry and Kennedy voted against a welfare-to-work requirement that was supported by many Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV):

Fiscal 1993 Supplemental Appropriations - Welfare Work Requirement. “Moynihan, D-N.Y., motion to table (kill) the D’Amato, R-N.Y., amendment to sharply cut federal welfare administration aid to states that do not, within a year, require at least 10 percent of their able-bodied welfare recipients without dependents to work. The required workfare participation rate would be increased by 2 percent a year until 50 percent were working.” (H.R. 2118, CQ Vote #163: Rejected 34-64: R 1-42; D 33-22, 6/22/93, Kerry Voted Yea)

Flip-Flopped On Leaving Abortion Up To States

Kerry Used To Say Abortion Should Be Left Up To States. “I think the question of abortion is one that should be left for the states to decide,” Kerry said during his failed 1972 Congressional bid. (“John Kerry On The Issues,” The [Lowell, MA] Sun, 10/11/72)

Now Kerry Says Abortion Is Law Of Entire Nation. “The right to choose is the law of the United States. No person has the right to infringe on that freedom. Those of us who are in government have a special responsibility to see to it that the United States continues to protect this right, as it must protect all rights secured by the constitution.” (Sen. John Kerry [D-MA], Congressional Record, 1/22/85)

Flip-Flopped On Death Penalty For Terrorists

In 1996, Kerry Attacked Governor Bill Weld For Supporting Death Penalty For Terrorists. KERRY: “Your policy would amount to a terrorist protection policy. Mine would put them in jail.” (1996 Massachusetts Senate Debate, 9/16/96)

In 1996, Kerry Said, “You Can Change Your Mind On Things, But Not On Life-And-Death Issues.” (Timothy J. Connolly, “The ‘Snoozer’ Had Some Life,” [Worcester, MA] Telegram & Gazette, 7/3/96)

But, In 2002, Kerry Said He Supported Death Penalty For Terrorists. KERRY: “The law of the land is the law of the land, but I have also said that I am for the death penalty for terrorists because terrorists have declared war on your country.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 12/1/02)

Flip-Flopped On Gay Marriage Amendment

In 2002, Kerry Signed Letter “Urging” MA Legislature To Reject Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriage. “We rarely comment on issues that are wholly within the jurisdiction of the General Court, but there are occasions when matters pending before you are of such significance to all residents of the Commonwealth that we think it appropriate for us to express our opinion. One such matter is the proposed Constitutional amendment that would prohibit or seriously inhibit any legal recognition whatsoever of same-sex relationships. We believe it would be a grave error for Massachusetts to enshrine in our Constitution a provision which would have such a negative effect on so many of our fellow residents. … We are therefore united in urging you to reject this Constitutional amendment and avoid stigmatizing so many of our fellow citizens who do not deserve to be treated in such a manner.” (Sen. John Kerry, et al, Letter To Members Of The Massachusetts Legislature, 7/12/02)

Now, In 2004, Kerry Won’t Rule Out Supporting Similar Amendment. “Asked if he would support a state constitutional amendment barring gay and lesbian marriages, Kerry didn’t rule out the possibility. ‘I’ll have to see what language there is,’ he said.” (Susan Milligan, “Kerry Says GOP May Target Him On ‘Wedge Issue,’” The Boston Globe, 2/6/04)

continued....

[2nd Timothy]

Flip Flopped On Trade With China

In 1991, Kerry Supported Most-Favored Trade Status For China. “Sen. John Kerry said yesterday that he is breaking party ranks to support most-favored-nation trade status for China … ‘I think the president has some strong arguments about some of the assets of most-favored-nation status for China,’ Kerry said.” (John Aloysius Farrell, “Kerry Breaks Party Ranks To Back China Trade Status,” The Boston Globe, 6/15/91)

In 2000, Kerry Voted In Favor Of Permanent Normal Trade Relations With China. (H.R. 4444, CQ Vote #251: Passed 83-15: R 46-8; D 37-7, 9/19/00, Kerry Voted Yea)

Now Kerry Criticizes The Bush Administration For Trading With China. “Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said on Monday Americans workers were paying the price for President Bush's weak stance on trade with China and other countries. … On the bus tour, Kerry singled out the Bush administration's handling of trade with China and said that country was manipulating its currency.” (Caren Bohan, "Kerry Pledges Aggressive Trade Stance," Reuters, 4/26/04)

Flip-Flopped On Iraq War

Kerry Voted For Authorization To Use Force In Iraq. (H.J. Res. 114, CQ Vote #237: Passed 77-23: R 48-1; D 29-21; I 0-1, 10/11/02, Kerry Voted Yea.)

In First Dem Debate, Kerry Strongly Supported President’s Action In Iraq. KERRY: “George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him.” (ABC News, Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Columbia, SC, 5/4/03)

Kerry Later Claimed He Voted “To Threaten” Use Of Force In Iraq. “I voted to threaten the use of force to make Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions of the United Nations.” (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At Announcement Of Presidential Candidacy, Mount Pleasant, SC, 9/2/03)

Now, Kerry Says He Is Anti-War Candidate. CHRIS MATTHEWS: “Do you think you belong to that category of candidates who more or less are unhappy with this war, the way it’s been fought, along with General Clark, along with Howard Dean and not necessarily in companionship politically on the issue of the war with people like Lieberman, Edwards and Gephardt? Are you one of the anti-war candidates?” KERRY: “I am -- Yes, in the sense that I don’t believe the president took us to war as he should have, yes, absolutely.” (MSNBC’s “Hardball,” 1/6/04)

Flip-Flopped On Eliminating Marriage Penalty For Middle Class

Kerry Said He Will Fight To Keep Tax Relief For Married Couples. “Howard Dean and Gephardt are going to put the marriage penalty back in place. So if you get married in America, we’re going to charge you more taxes. I do not want to do that.” (Fox News’ “Special Report,” 10/23/03)

Said Democrats Fought To End Marriage Penalty Tax. “We fought hard to get rid of the marriage penalty.” (MSNBC’s “News Live,” 7/31/03)

But, In 1998, Kerry Voted Against Eliminating Marriage Penalty Relief For Married Taxpayers With Combined Incomes Less Than $50,000 Per Year, Saving Taxpayers $46 Billion Over 10 Years. (S. 1415, CQ Vote #154: Rejected 48-50: R 5-49; D 43-1, 6/10/98, Kerry Voted Yea)

Flip-Flopped On Patriot Act

Kerry Voted For Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357-66 in the House. (H.R. 3162, CQ Vote #313: Passed 98-1: R 49-0; D 48-1; I 1-0, 10/25/01, Kerry Voted Yea)

Kerry Used To Defend His Vote. “Most of [The Patriot Act] has to do with improving the transfer of information between CIA and FBI, and it has to do with things that really were quite necessary in the wake of what happened on September 11th.” (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At Town Hall Meeting, Manchester, NH, 8/6/03)

Now, Kerry Attacks Patriot Act. “We are a nation of laws and liberties, not of a knock in the night. So it is time to end the era of John Ashcroft. That starts with replacing the Patriot Act with a new law that protects our people and our liberties at the same time. I’ve been a District Attorney and I know that what law enforcement needs are real tools not restrictions on American’s basic rights.” (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At Iowa State University, 12/1/03)

Flip-Flopped On NAFTA

Kerry Voted For NAFTA. (H.R. 3450, CQ Vote #395: Passed 61-38: R 34-10; D 27-28, 11/20/93, Kerry Voted Yea)

Kerry Recognized NAFTA Is Our Future. “‘NAFTA recognizes the reality of today’s economy - globalization and technology,’ Kerry said. ‘Our future is not in competing at the low-level wage job; it is in creating high-wage, new technology jobs based on our skills and our productivity.’” (John Aloysius Farrell, “Senate’s OK Finalizes NAFTA Pact,” The Boston Globe, 11/21/93)

Now, Kerry Expresses Doubt About NAFTA. “Kerry, who voted for NAFTA in 1993, expressed some doubt about the strength of free-trade agreements. ‘If it were before me today, I would vote against it because it doesn’t have environmental or labor standards in it,’ he said.” (David Lightman, “Democrats Battle For Labor’s Backing,” Hartford Courant, 8/6/03)
********************************************

Just to name a few for you.

A better question would be, what hasn't Kerry flip flopped on?   Its about the only thing he is consistant with.....changing his mind!

Kerry is like a box of Chocolates....ya never know what you're gonna get.     Even if you don't like Bush, you know exactly where he stands....no beating around bush with Bush.

Grace and Peace!

[sincereheart]

"Kerry is Scary and I don't Trust the Bush Administration at all!!"

........
There are other options just as bad as Kerry and Bush.

Sigh!
Ollie

I haven't seen where Bush is a 'bad option'.

[sincereheart]

Brothers and Sisters,

Well, I think that I've seen too much of Kerry. In short, I don't think he belongs in any kind of public office, especially not the office of President of the United States. I think he probably has horns under that $750 dollar haircut.  

Love In Christ,
Tom

The trashing of the candidates does not intelligently handle their positions on issues that affect America. Both candidates need to stop trashing each other as well as their constituents need to stop the trash. After all we have all sinned. Let he who is free of sin cast the first stone.

What are their positions on things that affect America? I want to know! So I can make an intelligent choice.
I donot want to know about their past mistakes in life. We all make mistakes. If you knew some of mine you would not vote for me either if you held my mistakes of the past against me.

Thank God for forgiveness.

Ollie

While I agree with the premise of your point, Kerry has made his past record a point that we should consider for choosing him, has he not?   Can't expect some not to take him at his request.

Grace and Peace!

................................
 His records say he is a hero in the Vietnam war.

Purple Heart Number One:

... and Kerry was slightly wounded on his arm, earning his first Purple Heart on his first day of serious action.
"It was not a very serious wound at all," recalled William Schachte, who oversaw the mission and went on to become a rear admiral.

Purple Heart Number Two:

Kerry earned his second Purple Heart after sustaining a minor shrapnel wound in his left thigh on Feb. 20, 1969.

Purple Heart Number Three:

On March 13, 1969, a mine detonated near Kerry's boat, slighting wounding Kerry in the right arm.

When later asked about the severity of the wounds, Kerry said that one of them cost him about two days of service, and that the other two did not interrupt his duty. "Walking wounded," as Kerry put it.

Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty:

Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.

He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.

"This means that Kerry didn't jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed,".....

The instruction, titled 1300.39, says that a Naval officer who requires hospitalization on two separate occasions, or who receives three wounds "regardless of the nature of the wounds," can ask a superior officer to request a reassignment. The instruction makes clear the reassignment is not automatic. It says that the reassignment "will be determined after consideration of his physical classification for duty and on an individual basis."
Because Kerry's wounds were not considered serious, his reassignment appears to have been made on an individual basis.
Moreover, the instruction makes clear that Kerry could have asked that any reassignment be waived.
The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer . . .

[sincereheart]

Did not our Congress many years after make a statement that the Vietnam war was a waste of lives and resources for America and should not have been fought? Not sure of the exact words. My memoery says they did???

Ollie

Now see, I DON'T remember Congress mocking the US flag and then turning around and saying they were such good Americans and served honorably.  

I donot understand what this statement has to do with my question?

I don't remember that either.

Ollie

In other words: Whether or not Congress made the statement has no bearing on Kerry 'riding' his 'heroism' NOW when at that time he followed his disharge with sedition.  

[ollie]

How has Kerry flip-flopped?

Ollie    

You're joking right?

No. Very serious about finding out.

Thanks for the information. All that is lacking is the reason for the change of mind. Are there legitimate explanations?

For example: Were bills voted against because of pork added to them? But yet the initial bill was favored, but the pork wasn't?

Thanks,
Ollie

[ollie]

"Kerry is Scary and I don't Trust the Bush Administration at all!!"

........
There are other options just as bad as Kerry and Bush.

Sigh!
Ollie

I haven't seen where Bush is a 'bad option'.

Ok. That is your right.

I am not satisfied with either candidate. I think America for many years now has suffered mediocrity in its leaders.
It is beginning to show and tally up in our standard of living for many, or work force, our children, born and unborn, the infrastructure, Industry, peoples attitudes etc..
Perhaps it is part of God's purpose to eventually bring it all to His end.

Ollie

[ollie]

Are there any examples of Bush flip-flopping or changing his mind?

Ollie

[sincereheart]

Brothers and Sisters,

Well, I think that I've seen too much of Kerry. In short, I don't think he belongs in any kind of public office, especially not the office of President of the United States. I think he probably has horns under that $750 dollar haircut.  

Love In Christ,
Tom

The trashing of the candidates does not intelligently handle their positions on issues that affect America. Both candidates need to stop trashing each other as well as their constituents need to stop the trash. After all we have all sinned. Let he who is free of sin cast the first stone.

What are their positions on things that affect America? I want to know! So I can make an intelligent choice.
I donot want to know about their past mistakes in life. We all make mistakes. If you knew some of mine you would not vote for me either if you held my mistakes of the past against me.

Thank God for forgiveness.

Ollie

While I agree with the premise of your point, Kerry has made his past record a point that we should consider for choosing him, has he not?   Can't expect some not to take him at his request.

Grace and Peace!

Exactly! No one has a perfect past (or present). But when Kerry constantly reminds the American public of his FOUR MONTHS served in Vietnam, he conveniently forgets that he came back and made a big production out of how wrong he thought was and how wrong he thought the US was. Now he uses it as a point of pride? The man flip-flops on every issue that I can see..... Is he fit to be Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces? NO!

Did he make mistakes and has since changed? Or does he try to justify and rationalize them? BIG DIFFERENCE!

What mistakes did Kerry make? Serving and fighting a war in a heroic fashion and then protesting it when he found out the war was a farce? He did not conveniently forget His protest, but spoke of it at the convention and why he protested. This is America and we are free to protest. Are we not?

There is so much fascist attitude among us, it is skerry.

How has Kerry flip-flopped?

Ollie    

Re: Flip-flopping..... 2nd Timothy has covered it well.  

Re: Mistakes.....  We probably define 'hero' differently. I definitely don't see Kerry as one. Maybe it's simply because I've spent my whole life around the military.

"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

Kerry tried to get the okay to avoid the war by studying in Paris. That didn't work. So he then signed up for what he thought would be safe duty. Instead, he got three minor wounds and requested reassignment which he did receive. Reassignment is requested ... as a personal aide in Boston, New York, or Wash., D.C. area." Then he trashed all those still serving after he was safely back. Sorry, not my idea of a 'hero'.

Yes, he absolutely has the right and freedom to protest. However, his right to protest does not negate my right to disagree with him.  

[sincereheart]

Kerry-Kennedy liberalism II



Ever since John Kerry won his Massachusetts Senate seat amid former President Reagan's 49-state landslide in 1984, he has acted as a virtual clone of Massachusetts' senior senator, Edward Kennedy. Indeed, based on its annual statistical analysis of congressional voting patterns on economic, foreign-policy and social issues, the authoritative, nonpartisan National Journal has crowned Mr. Kerry the Senate's most liberal member twice in the 1980s, once in the 1990s and, most recently, in 2003.
    In a previous editorial, The Washington Times reviewed the annual ratings that various interest groups assigned to the voting records of Massachusetts Democratic Sens. Kerry and Kennedy. Those organizations included the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, the American Conservative Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Conservation Voters, the AFL-CIO, the Concord Coalition, the National Taxpayers Union and the Christian Coalition.
For all practical purposes, the ratings were identical. The same conclusion can be drawn from an examination of the voting patterns of Messrs. Kerry and Kennedy on the annual lists of "key votes" that are carefully selected by Congressional Quarterly and National Journal's "Almanac of American Politics."
    Each year CQ identifies about 15 "key votes." From 1985, when Mr. Kerry entered the U.S. Senate, through 2003, CQ has selected 270 "key votes." Mr. Kennedy has cast a vote on 268 of them. For five of the 268, Mr. Kerry neither voted nor publicly announced a position. That leaves 263 Kennedy votes that can be compared with Mr. Kerry's positions. Mr. Kerry voted with Mr. Kennedy on 235 of those "key votes," and he announced a position identical with Mr. Kennedy's votes on eight others. On just 20 of Mr. Kennedy's 263 votes did Mr. Kerry cast a vote different from Mr. Kennedy's.
    In sum, Mr. Kerry agreed with Mr. Kennedy's votes on 92.4 percent of CQ's "key votes" from 1985 through 2003. Moreover, in five of the last six years, Mr. Kerry has not differed with Mr. Kennedy on a single CQ-designated "key vote." Regarding the two votes from 2002 where the two differed — the use of force against Iraq and passage of the Andean free-trade agreement — Mr. Kerry has effectively repudiated both of his votes, bringing him in line with Mr. Kennedy 100 percent of the time over the past six years.
    The National Journal has identified 108 "key votes" spanning 18 years, beginning with the 99th Congress (1985-1986) and ending with the 107th (2001-2002). Mr. Kennedy has voted on 106 of them. On 98 of those votes, Mr. Kerry agreed with Mr. Kennedy. That's 92.5 percent of the time. For his first 16 years in the Senate, Mr. Kerry was in sync with Mr. Kennedy on 96 percent of National Journal's "key votes."
    The conclusion is unassailable: A vote for John Kerry is virtually indistinguishable from a vote for Ted Kennedy and all of the left-wing baggage that he carries.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040808-110051-1762r.htm

The conclusion is unassailable: A vote for John Kerry is virtually indistinguishable from a vote for Ted Kennedy and all of the left-wing baggage that he carries.

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

This is a great thread, maybe my vote for non-Biblical thread of the year. We are actually disagreeing, agreeing, discussing, exchanging information, and nobody is getting ANGRY.  BRAVO!!!  I'm proud of all of us, including me for a change.

Disagreement and varying views CAN BE very positive. If this is possible with politics, surely it could also be possible with Biblical threads. However, I know that Biblical views are much more personal than politics, obviously so. For Christians, our Biblical views are the core and center of our being. Politicians, for the most part, are clowns and comedians.

I think that Brother Ollie already said it - "God's Will be Done!" I think that's the only thing that matters.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[ollie]

Decorated veteran John Kerry, testifying before the House Foreign Relations Committee, questions the War in Vietnam, Washington, D.C., April 22, 1971.

 
Thank you very much, Senator Fulbright, Senator Javits, Senator Symington and Senator Pell.

I would like to say for the record, and also for the men sitting behind me who are also wearing the uniforms and their medals, that my sitting here is really symbolic. I am not here as John Kerry. I am here as one member of a group of 1,000, which is a small representation of a very much larger group of veterans in this country, and were it possible for all of them to sit at this table, they would be here and have the same kind of testimony. I would simply like to speak in general terms. I apologize if my statement is general because I received notification [only] yesterday that you would hear me, and, I am afraid, because of the injunction I was up most of the night and haven't had a great deal of chance to prepare.

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. These were not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis, with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit--the emotions in the room, and the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.

They told stories that, 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 Ghengis 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.

We call this investigation the Winter Soldier Investigation. The term "winter soldier" is a play on words of Thomas Paine's in 1776, when he spoke of the "sunshine patriots," and "summertime soldiers" who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough.

We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country, we could be quiet, we could hold our silence, we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel, because of what threatens this country, not the reds, but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out.

I would like to talk to you a little bit about what the result is of the feelings these men carry with them after coming back from Vietnam. The country doesn't know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.

As a veteran and one who felt this anger, I would like to talk about it. We are angry because we feel we have been used it the worst fashion by the administration of this country.

In 1970, at West Point, Vice President Agnew said, "some glamorize the criminal misfits of society while our best men die in Asian rice paddies to preserve the freedom which most of those misfits abuse," and this was used as a rallying point for our effort in Vietnam.

But for us, as boys in Asia whom the country was supposed to support, his statement is a terrible distortion from which we can only draw a very deep sense of revulsion. Hence the anger of some of the men who are here in Washington today. It is a distortion because we in no way consider ourselves the best men of this country, because those he calls misfits were standing up for us in a way that nobody else in this country dared to, because so many who have died would have returned to this country to join the misfits in their efforts to ask for an immediate withdrawal from South Vietnam, because so many of those best men have returned as quadriplegics and amputees, and they lie forgotten in Veterans' Administration hospitals in this country which fly the flag which so many have chosen as their own personal symbol. And we cannot consider ourselves America's best men when we are ashamed of and hated what we were called on to do in Southeast Asia.

In our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart.

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, also, we 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 supposedly saving them from.

We found most people didn't even know the difference between communism and democracy. They only wanted to work in rice paddies without helicopters strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and tearing their country apart. They wanted everything to do with the war, particularly with this foreign presence of the United States of America, to leave them alone in peace, and they practiced the art of survival by siding with whichever military force was present at a particular time, be it Viet Cong, North Vietnamese or American.

We found also that, all too often, American men were dying in those rice paddies for want of support from their allies. We saw first hand how monies from American taxes were used for a corrupt dictatorial regime. We saw that many people in this country had a one-sided idea of who was kept free by the flag, and blacks provided the highest percentage of casualties. We saw Vietnam ravaged equally by American bombs and search-and-destroy missions as well as by Viet Cong terrorism, - and yet we listened while this country tried to blame all of the havoc on the Viet Cong.

We rationalized destroying villages in order to save them. We saw America lose her sense of morality as she accepted very coolly a My Lai, and refused to give up the image of American soldiers who hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum.

We learned the meaning of free-fire zones--shooting anything that moves--and we watched while America placed a cheapness on the lives of orientals.

We watched the United States falsification of body counts, in fact the glorification of body counts. We listened while, month after month, we were told the back of the enemy was about to break. We fought using weapons against "oriental human beings" with quotation marks around that. We fought using weapons against those people which I do not believe this country would dream of using, were we fighting in the European theater. We watched while men charged up hills because a general said that hill has to be taken, and, after losing one platoon, or two platoons, they marched away to leave the hill for reoccupation by the North Vietnamese. We watched pride allow the most unimportant battles to be blown into extravaganzas, because we couldn't lose, and we couldn't retreat, and because it didn't matter how many American bodies were lost to prove that point, and so there were Hamburger Hills and Khe Sanhs and Hill 81s and Fire Base 6s, and so many others.

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 have 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."


_______________







 

[ollie]

Continued:

Where is the leadership?
We're here to ask where are McNamara,
Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatrick, and so many others?

_______________




We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? We are here in Washington to say that the problem of this war is not just a question of war and diplomacy. It is part and parcel of everything that we are trying, as human beings, to communicate to people in this country--the question of racism, which is rampant in the military, and so many other questions, such as the use of weapons: the hypocrisy in our taking umbrage at the Geneva Conventions and using that as justification for a continuation of this war, when we are more guilty than any other body of violations of those Geneva Conventions; in the use of free-fire zones; harassment-interdiction fire, search-and-destroy missions; the bombings; the torture of prisoners; all accepted policy by many units in South Vietnam. That is what we are trying to say. It is part and parcel of everything.

An American Indian friend of mine who lives in the Indian Nation of Alcatraz put it to me very succinctly: He told me how, as a boy on an Indian reservation, he had watched television, and he used to cheer the cowboys when they came in and shot the Indians, and then suddenly one day he stopped in Vietnam and he said, "my God, I am doing to these people the very same thing that was done to my people," and he stopped. And that is what we are trying to say, that we think this thing has to end.


_______________

The Army says they never leave their wounded.
The Marines say they never even leave their dead.
These men have left all the casualties
and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude.
_______________




We are here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is the leadership? We're here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatrick, and so many others? Where are they now that we, the men they sent off to war, have returned? These are the commanders who have deserted their troops. And there is no more serious crime in the laws of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never even leave their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They've left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country....

We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service as easily as this administration has wiped away their memories of us. But all that they have done, and all that they can do by this denial, is to make more clear than ever our own determination to undertake one last mission: To search out and destroy the last vestige of this barbaric war; to pacify our own hearts; to conquer the hate and fear that have driven this country these last ten years and more. And more. And so, when, thirty years from now, our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able to say "Vietnam" and not mean a desert, not a filthy obscene memory, but mean instead where America finally turned, and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning.

 
 


On March 16, 1968, U.S. soldiers, led by Lt. William Calley, invaded the village of My Lai in South Vietnam in search of Viet Cong and their sympathizers. Some 347 unarmed civilians, including women and children, were killed. After about a year of covering-up the killings, the Army opened its own internal investigation, which led to congressional hearings. Five soldiers were court-martialed for participating in the attack. Four were found innocent, and Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1974, a federal court overturned the verdict, and Calley was released.





Kerry is making a reference to the official language used in the Army court-martial case against Lt. William Calley. In the charges and proceedings against Calley, Army lawyers and members of the Court repeatedly use the phrase "oriental human beings" when describing the number of bodies and the number of people slaughtered at My Lai.

[Evangelist]

I would like to nominate my son-in-law for "War Hero", President, and "Living Testimony of the Grace of Jesus Christ".

He's currently in Najaf with the 1st Cav as a company sniper.

He lost a finger (left index) from the middle knuckle on some time ago.

He chose to stay.

Just got word that's he's been put in for a Bronze Star with valor, but don't yet know the details other than an apparently heavy firefight in which many of his squad were wounded but he got them out safely (no loss of life).

Best of all, he's witnessed to a number of Iraqi's (against regs), passed out bibles, helped a local church rebuild after being bombed, and seen his entire squad and most of his company get saved.

Please pray for him, because he's having some real difficulties in resolving his actions (as a sniper) with what he believes are Gods expectations.

[sincereheart]

Touching speech, eh?  

And Kerry's emotional, from-the-heart speech had been carefully crafted by a speechwriter for Robert Kennedy named Adam Walinsky, who also tutored him on how to present it.

And filled with lies.....


I would like to nominate my son-in-law for "War Hero", President, and "Living Testimony of the Grace of Jesus Christ".

I'll second that nomination!