SwiftVets.com

[mdcrandall]

Dear Senator Kerry:

I wish to clarify for you the position of myself and that of many other family members of Vietnam Veterans. I can assure you that we, like you and Senator McCain, would prefer to leave the Vietnam War behind us as our memories associated with it and with the national upheaval which occurred are mostly painful and represent very deep and emotional wounds.

Indeed, I can further assure you that, our primary concern is not with the anti-war activism which you engaged in over 30 years ago. There are many individuals of good conscience who engaged in anti-war activism with whom we have no beef at this point in time.

Our current concern and protest is not over past actions in and of themselves since most of us are not the individuals we were thirty years ago we recognize that individuals have the power to change, to learn, and even to become better people. Our concern is not with an immature and deceitful young Lieutenant who falsely claimed three purple hearts, who further falsified medal reports for a bronze star, who lied when he testified before a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, or even who went against his own country to engage in negotiations with a country with whom we were at war. All of these behaviors, while reprehensible, can be passed off as the failings of a young man who should have but perhaps didn’t know better.

My concern and that of many of the family members of Vietnam Veterans is that your current actions show that your current character is consistent with the character of that young Lieutenant.

You see it was not just the behavior of thirty years ago that has prompted my outburst of indignation. The complete lack of remorse, the arrogance, and the sheer tactlessness of your recent behavior as you have tried to pass yourself off as some kind of an American war hero DEMANDS that I do something about it. It is no longer an issue of 30 years ago but rather your recent actions have made it an issue which must be dealt with today.

Now since you have insisted on behaving like a child who doesn't understand right from wrong then like child I must clarify for you why your behavior was wrong so that you like a child can hopefully learn from it and maybe even yet become a better person.

Senator Kerry, 30 years ago you behaved badly.
When you and your fellow Vietnam Veterans Against the War failed to screen the “150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans” in your Winter Soldier investigation to confirm that they were indeed soldiers and had valid testimony you behaved badly.

Using some of your own words you should understand that it is impossible to describe to you exactly the emotional pain many of your fellow Vietnam Veterans and their families have been experiencing lately as they have been reliving their experiences here in the United States brought about by people who responded to your testimony in Washington D.C. They now have had to relive the absolute horror of what this country, and you in a sense, made them go through.
When you characterized the behavior of the United States Armed Service forces in Vietnam as “reminiscent of Genghis Khan.” You essentially described my father, one of the most highly decorated helicopter pilots who flew on behalf of our country in Vietnam, and all of his band of brothers as being part of those same raging hordes. This behavior was bad and caused many good and honorable men to be treated badly.

Senator Kerry, continuing with some of your own words, you may not know it yet, but you have created a monster, a monster in the form of tens of thousands if not millions of men and women who have been taught hurt by your deceitfulness and lies and who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.

As a family member of a Vietnam Veteran and one who feels this anger, I would like to talk about it. We are angry because we feel we have been used in the worst fashion by you and those who have supported you in attacking our parents honor and in spreading lies and malicious falsehoods against our armed forces.

Senator Kerry I am one member of a group that numbers in the 1,000s, which is a small representation of a very much larger group of the families of Vietnam Veterans in this country, and were it possible for all of them to communicate in this same manner today they would do so and they would have the same kind of testimony.

Senator Kerry, you have behaved badly and you not only should not be considered for the position of Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces you should apologize at once to your brothers for your recent behavior.

You have been a very, very, very, bad boy.

Now go to your room and think about what I've said.

Mdcrandall

Proud to be
#3 Son of Snake
_________________
mdcrandall
proud to be
#3 Son of Snake
(www.xav8er.com)