USMC-Pride
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 28
Location: Minnesota
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 Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:44 pm Post subject: Another Kerry version of comments he made in '71 |
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I read this in my september 2004 issue of "The American legion" Magazine. The magazine asked Kerry this:
Q: A number of Vietnam war Veterans have mixed feelings about your 1971 anti-war testimony before congress. How do you respond to them?
A:I wanted to win. I volunteered to go. When I got there, I found a policy that,in my judgement, was a mistake, just not being prosecuted right, not effective. People were being lost, I thought, in operations that were in many cases unsupported and unnecessary. I came back and spoke out against it. I was upset, angry about it, and I spoke from my heart and my gut. I've said publicly that there are some words I chose, that I used, that I wouldn't use today, and I regret that some veterans- and I understand- took offense at some of that. But I never pointed at the individual veterans. I never blamed veterans for what happened. I was pointing to our leaders in our country, I was pointing to the policy of our country. I have huge respect and affection for all those who served. I think the vast majority obviously served with great courage, great distinction and the highest traditions of the military, and I think what we were focused on then- to try and show america some of the bad things-unfortunately clouds the overall sense. Obviously, as an older person with retrospect, looking back on it, I would try to frame that a little more extensively. But I don't walk away from my opposition. I'm proud that we fought, I'm proud of the people we fought with, and I'm proud of the people who stood up and said, "This is wrong".
Now... didn't he just tell one of the swiftees he called this weekend for support, that he didn't mean the swiftees just all the other veterans?
"Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"
BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there." [Brant had two men killed in battle.]
KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."
Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.
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"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."
-- President Abraham Lincoln |
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