SwiftVets.com

[Truegrit]

We are winning the struggle against Kerry's smear campaign against the Swift Boat Vets and all Vets who want the truth about his accusations of war crimes to come out.

We can make our presence felt on the streets of our communities, in a visible and very meaningful way.

Here is the handout I am preparing to pass out in the Boston area, including the Boston Commons, Harvard Square and other venues. Feel free to use this as a template for your own actions.

Senator John Kerry’s False War Crime Charges Against the Vietnam Vets

In 1971, Senator John Kerry made unsubstantiated allegations in Senate testimony of war crimes, claiming that he and his fellow Vietnam Veterans, including the Swift Boat veterans, committed atrocities against the civilian population of Vietnam.

Kerry’s statements were used by the North Vietnamese in efforts to further demoralize American POWs. Painfully, some of these POWS are now listening again to Kerry’s vile charges of war crimes, that our brave servicemen behaved like “Genghis Khan” – after first hearing Kerry’s words 33 years ago during captivity in Hanoi.

I ask you to please read the statement below by Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Major General Patrick H. Brady on why Kerry is UNFIT to be Commander in Chief.

Edwin “Ted” Harwood, Ph.D.
U.S. Army Veteran

P.S. If you want to protest Kerry’s bid for the presidency in the Boston area, get involved. Email me at: Harwood_T@msn.com and I will tell you how you can help.


Excerpted from a Statement by Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady Congressional Medal Of Honor Recipient (From Northwest Veterans Newsletter)

”Kerry defines patriotism as "keeping faith with those who wear the uniform of this country." He also brags that he "defended this country as a young man". If Missouri is the show me state, Veterans are the show me voters - we are not much for words, deeds are our stock in trade. Let’s look at Kerry's deeds.

”Before Kerry played his "hero" card, he played the atrocity card. When Kerry came back from Vietnam he joined with Jane Fonda and in 1971 denounced "those who wear the uniform" as terrorists-like rapists and assassins who "cut off heads, taped wires ... to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks" ... and said he "committed the same kinds of atrocities as thousands of others". He made these charges under oath. Kerry says today that he would have framed some of what he said in 1971 differently. But he does not say he lied, which he did, nor does he apologize. How can one properly frame the denunciations of ones comrades in arms as modern day “Genghis Khans”?

”He could have attacked the war without attacking the warrior. He could have questioned policy without supporting the communists' claim that our soldiers were war criminals. He could have kept faith with those who wore the uniform with him. But he did not and he should be held accountable.

”By every measure, the Vietnam veteran has been an exceptional citizen; but there is one disturbing statistic -- their suicide rate. In the first 5 years after discharge the rate was 1.7 times higher than non-veterans. After 5 years it was less. This may have been due to the treatment the Vietnam veteran received from the media - and the anti war movement led by Kerry -- in the early years after the war. Living with the scars of war is difficult, for some unbearable, but all veterans suffer. The Vietnam veteran suffered physically as much, perhaps more than any veteran of the past century, but no veteran has suffered the mental agony of that veteran.

”Kerry's "hero" card is based on medals he received in Vietnam and is much celebrated, and unchallenged, by the mainstream media. I know many Medal of Honor recipients who have received less publicity for their medal than Kerry has for his. But medals don't make a hero. It is how one uses medals that make a hero. Every honest soldier knows that medals are a function of circumstance, even happenstance, but most of all the support of ones fellow warriors.

”I was awarded the Medal of Honor; but my fellow soldiers who supported me in the actions and took the time to write it up earned it. I wear it for them, they own my medals. And every Medal of Honor recipient and hero I know believes as I do. Medals should be a sign of patriotism, a symbol of sacrifice, support and defense of a great nation. The highest form of patriotism is service to our youth; heroes also wear their medal for them to signal the importance of courage. Heroes do not use their medals for personal political gain. As I said they are not theirs to use.

”Senator Kerry threw his medals away (or ribbons, they are symbolically the same), a political act very difficult for any veteran to understand. He must have been proud of them for he wore them even on his fatigues, in violation of all regulations. But they were not his. They belonged to those who he served. By that act he symbolically denounced his fellow veterans -- again. Does one keep faith with those who wear the uniform by throwing away their medals?

”But perhaps most telling of his leadership qualities is his use of his Purple hearts to abandon his band of brothers, his command, on a technicality. Kerry may be the only person in history who took advantage of a Navy regulation that allowed him to leave his command after 4 months for 3 purple hearts none of which ever caused him to miss a day of duty. In my experience men fought to stay with their band of brothers, especially commanders. All the commanders I know would get out of a hospital bed to be with their men. Some one had to take his place; someone probably less experienced who would have to learn the ropes. That put his command more at risk than if he stayed. It is not hard to understand why those who stayed in combat for the full year are upset with Kerry.
_________________
Ted Harwood, Ph.D.
Enlisted, U.S. Army ('57-'60)