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http://www.ChronWatch.com/news.asp?id=9173
Written by Mike Doty
Sunday, August 22, 2004


I realize that millions have already seen the following excerpt from John Kerry’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on April 22, 1971. However, I do not believe the content of that testimony has been fully understood in context with current events. What I do believe is that Kerry’s testimony has been glossed over because the American people would rather forget Vietnam. The numerous declarations of Kerry’s honorable service in Vietnam formed one cornerstone of the Democratic National Convention, and therefore deserve very close scrutiny.

I submit that if Kerry’s testimony is the truth, perhaps I and hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans will be forever subjected to the harsh judgment of history as characterized by that testimony. I further submit that if the testimony is only the ranting of a Kennedy speechwriter, then we all must deny it, in total.

The excerpt below has been quoted from the following source.

www.nationalreview.com/document/kerry200404231047.asp

I ask the reader to examine these words from the Kerry testimony with great care.

''They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape 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 country side 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.''

Kerry admitted to participating in the commission of ''atrocities'' during his four-month semester in the war zone. If this is true, I think all Vietnam veterans deserve to know what those atrocities were and why no disciplinary action was taken against the then junior grade Lt. Kerry. Where are the commensurate official reports of Kerry’s atrocities? Where were his commanders when these acts were committed and why did they not take appropriate action? The Democratic candidate for the presidency should either recant his claim of committing atrocities or be willing to face the same sort of music of national condemnation that we all carried after his testimony. Further, I call on Mr. Kerry to either apologize to us all or remove his name from consideration in the approaching election.

Now, for a dose of reality. For those who have not done their homework, read the following from the documented bio of General Vo Nguyen Giap, senior NVA Commander.

From: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/7624/Generals/giap.htm

''By 1968, NVA morale was at it's lowest point ever. The plans for 'Tet' '68 was their last desperate attempt to achieve a success, in an effort to boost the NVA morale. When it was over, General Giap and the NVA viewed the Tet '68 offensive as a failure, they were on their knees and had prepared to negotiate a surrender.

''At that time, there were fewer than 10,000 U.S. casualties, the Vietnam War was about to end, as the NVA was prepared to accept their defeat. Then, they heard Walter Cronkite (former CBS News anchor and correspondent) on TV proclaiming the success of the Tet '68 offensive by the communist NVA. They were completely and totally amazed at hearing that the U.S. Embassy had been overrun. In reality, the NVA had not gained access to the embassy--there were some VC who had been killed on the grassy lawn, but they hadn't gained access. Further reports indicated the riots and protesting on the streets of America.''

According to Giap, these distorted reports were inspirational to the NVA. ''They changed their plans from a negotiated surrender and decided instead, they only needed to persevere for one more hour, day, week, month, eventually the protesters in American would help them to achieve a victory they knew they could not win on the battlefield. Remember, this decision was made at a time when the U.S. casualties were fewer than 10,000, at the end of 1967, beginning of 1968.''

That we had actually ''won'' the Vietnam War in 1968 is well documented. So too are the subsequent political reactions in Washington which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! Kerry was not alone when he walked into that Senate committee room to testify in April of 1971… all the protestors and the American press were there in force and spirit. In fact, Kerry did not need to testify… yet, in doing so, he forever stained the honorable service of us all, and added to the final death toll in Vietnam. Worse yet, in his quest for personal political ambitions, Kerry's testimony relied in part on anecdotes, (some from men who never served in Vietnam or any branch of United States Armed Forces) not on personal experience.

The memory of 58,000 valiant, deceased service personnel demands the truth be revealed and there seems to be no better place to begin than with John Kerry and his apology.


About the Writer: Mike Doty of Florida retired from the Air Force and entered the private sector to form his own company. As a private citizen, he has lived in the Middle East for seven years. He contributes to several Internet sites and has been published by McGraw-Hill. Mike receives e-mail at oracle216@hisurfer.net.
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