SwiftVets.com

fortdixlover

The person who organized the first anti-Vietnam protest speaks out...and says it all about what Kerry and the VVAW accomplished.

FDL

http://yc2.net/horowitz.htm

David Horowitz
Oct. 01, 2001

As a former antiwar activist who helped to organize the first campus demonstration against the war in Vietnam at UC Berkeley in 1962, I appeal to all those young people who are participating in antiwar demonstrations on college campuses now to reconsider.

The hindsight of history has shown that our efforts in the 1960s to end the war in Vietnam had two practical effects.

The first was to prolong the war. Since the war ended in 1975, North Vietnamese generals have said that they knew they could not defeat the U.S. on the battlefield, so they counted on the division of our people at home to win the war for them. The Viet Cong forces we were fighting in South Vietnam were destroyed in 1968. In other words, most of the war and most of the casualties in the war occurred because the dictatorship of North Vietnam counted on the fact that Americans would give up the battle rather than pay the price necessary to finish it. This is what happened. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and tens of thousands of Americans is on the hands of the antiwar activists who prolonged the struggle and gave victory to the communists.

The second effect springs from the prolonging of the war, and that was to surrender South Vietnam to the forces of communism. This resulted in the imposition of a monstrous police state, the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent South Vietnamese, the incarceration in reeducation camps of hundreds of thousands more and a quarter of a century of abject poverty imposed by crackpot Marxist economic plans, which continue to this day. This, too, is the responsibility of the so-called antiwar movement of the 1960s.

I say "so-called" because while many Americans were sincerely troubled by the U.S. war effort, the organizers of this movement were Marxists and radicals who supported a communist victory. Today, the same people and their followers are organizing campus demonstrations against America's effort to defend its citizens against the forces of international terrorism and anti-American hatred responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.

I know better than most the importance of protecting freedom of speech and the right of citizens to dissent. But I also know that there is a difference between honest dissent and malevolent hate, between criticism of national policy and sabotage of the nation's defenses. In the 1960s and 1970s, the tolerance of anti-American hatreds was so high that the line between dissent and treason was erased.

Along with thousands of other New Leftists, I was one who crossed the line between dissent and actual treason by publishing classified government information in Ramparts magazine. I did so for what I thought were the noblest of reasons, to advance the cause of social justice and peace. I have lived to see how wrong I was and how much damage we did--especially to those whose cause we claimed to embrace, the peasants of Indochina who suffered grievously from our support for the communist enemy. I came to see how precious are the freedoms and opportunities afforded by the U.S. to the poorest and most humble of its citizens and how rare its virtues are in the world at large.

If I have one regret from my radical years, it is that this country was too tolerant toward the treason of its enemies within. If patriotic Americans had been more vigilant in the defense of their country, if they had called things by their right names, if they had confronted us with the seriousness of our attacks, they might have caught the attention of those of us who were well-meaning but utterly misguided. And they might have stopped us in our tracks. I appeal to those of you who are attacking your country, full of self-righteousness, who, like me, may live to regret what you have done.

4moreyears · Former Member Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 591

NOT too shocked.
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kerry returned to the United States on July 22, 1971, held a press conference publicly calling on President Nixon... for the surrender of the United States to North Vietnam.

Chuck54 · PO1 Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 466

4moreyears · Former Member Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 591

Seems like the next Swift Boat advertisement script.

I would strongly encourage admin. to post that article as a sticky...front and center.
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kerry returned to the United States on July 22, 1971, held a press conference publicly calling on President Nixon... for the surrender of the United States to North Vietnam.

Nomorelies · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:02 am Post subject:

Very elegant. I like it.
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Dimsdale · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:05 am Post subject:

fortdixlover · Last edited by fortdixlover on Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:15 am; edited 4 times in total

Michmaddave · Ensign Joined: 24 Aug 2004 Posts: 55

Horowitz has a lot of wisedom to say. I have read most of his books, and his contribution as a former Communist says a lot with the insight of the former traitor. He is now a great American.
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To model our political system upon speculations of lasting tranquility, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character.
---Alexander Hamilton
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

fortdixlover · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:17 am Post subject:

bach04 · Lieutenant Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 212

All of the demonstrators you will see on the streets of New york City have never experienced living in tyranical regimes and will never know what it is like to be repressed or tortured by their government. They have lived in this nation all of their lives and cannot know such political persecution. That such tyranny still exists in ths world has never crossed their minds because there is democracy and freedom in this country brought by the sacrifices of our veterans. Maybe one day, there will be a chance for them to go visit places like the gulags of North Korea, the prisons of Iran, the reeducation camps of Vietnam. Maybe one day they will realize that they had once taken freedom and democracy for granted.

Robert Cooper · Lt.Jg. Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 134 Location: Tulsa, OK

fortdixlover · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 12:09 pm Post subject:

Robert Cooper · Lt.Jg. Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 134 Location: Tulsa, OK

The fault is not due to a country that was tolerant to treason - the fault belongs to the mainstream media who encouraged and promoted treason.

Back then, the mainstrream media was not accountable to anyone - they served as the sole means that formed public opinion and U.S. Citizens depended on "Truth in Reporting". Today, however, we have competitive networks and radio talk forums promoting truth in reporting, fair and balanced journalism, and an open forum for voicing their opinions on talk shows.

Why is mainstream media and the liberal left contemptuous of the "New Eyes of America?" Because they don't have total control over people's minds anymore - they are having to be accountable.

The more the mainstream media seeks to discredit the "New Eyes of America" - the faster their credibility will be reduced to the level of the "National Enquirer."

No greater value can you bestow on the people, than to honor them with the truth. Thank you Fox News Network, and all you Radio Talk Hosts for valuing me with your fidelity to the truth.
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Know the difference between Politics and Mesmeratics - one embraces, propagates and promotes the truth, while the other manipulates it!

jwb7605 · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 4:03 pm Post subject:

swing votr · Seaman Apprentice Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 85

So protesting wars are bad... (I am going to focus on its relevance to Iraq) So if, god forbid, Kerry gets elected, does that mean the SBVFT have to keep their mouth closed when Kerry makes military decisions because points raised by conservitive critics could delay the progress of our military actions?

I think this is a misguided attempt to get people to stop protesting. So if I beleive we were wrong for going into Iraq when we did, I am suppose to keep my mouth shut?

How about this arguement:

Changing political leaders prolongs wars because the new leaders have to familiarize themselves with the current situation. By electing Nadar/Kerry/Any one but Bush, you are in fact prolonging the war and costing more lives. Therefore, for as long as we are in a conflict, we should have one president, everyone needs to keep their mouth closed, and don't question anything, or you will only cost soldiers their lives?

If the shoe was on the other foot, and a Democrat was president right now (not Kerry), how would you feel about this article?
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