McCain: Hanoi Hilton Guards Taunted POWs With Kerry's Testimony

[Solmyr]

Well, whatever you do, just don't switch to a parliamentary election system. Nothing like having the parties control which candidates you may vote for. The US system is much better in that respect.

[Solmyr]

Oh, and to get back to the original topic, here's an article on Kerry's statements and just where they originated:

http://www.nationalreview.com/commen...0402260828.asp

[Aristotle]

Wow.

I am starting to think that Kerry made a severe tactical error in making such a big issue of his military service.

This is a scathing attack on his actions from a Green Beret who served in Viet Nam.

I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people; we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids, our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.

My children and grandchildren could read your words and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bald-faced, unprincipled liar and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Sen. Kerry, to bypass character, integrity and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.

And regarding more recent actions taken by Kerry:

ohn Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, H.R.2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. 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 POWs, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the U.S. to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.

[Grantref]

Originally posted by Solmyr
Well, whatever you do, just don't switch to a parliamentary election system. Nothing like having the parties control which candidates you may vote for. The US system is much better in that respect.

*laughs and slaps his knee*

Good one, good one.

Err... you *were* joking, right?

[Lokrian]

Eorick,

Every single thing I have ever read, heard or seen until this post of yours acknowledges the primary role that American demoralization played in our withdrawal from that war. If you can't at least acknowledge that common knowledge aspect of this in the midst of your dizzying deconstructions and line by line responses that address almost nothing of the overall thrust of my posts, then what is the use? Nixon's decision had NOTHING to do with political pressure at home? What? Most Americans didn't really regard the attrocities supposedly being done by our side, or the rhetoric that it was an unjust war, effect their thinking on the matter? What?

You tell -me-, since you seem to know, why this nation could not wrest control of South Viet Nam from a rag-tag group of guerillas. And why did Carter fail? And why did Reagan succeed? And do you honestly believe there has ever BEEN a truly democratic election of an educated populace that would lead a country to align itself with the old Soviet Block or Communist China?

[Aristotle]

The huge "moral relativism" tanget has been removed.

Please note the title of this thread.

Massive tangets need to go in their own thread.

I have received a number of PMs from folks who are actually interested in some of the topics in this forum. They become discouraged from participating when they see 2+ pages of a tangent instead of any discussion of the actual topic.