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John Kerry’s 35 Year History of Contempt for the US Military
Guest Column | By Mary Mostert | November 1, 2006
In 1971 John Kerry saw no reason to preserve freedom for “misfit” Asians, dismissed totally the sacrifice of brave men who did not come back from Vietnam, and now sees no point in fighting terrorists in Iraq.
In a speech at Pasadena City College that was “an all star line up of the Democratic Party” – primarily a campaign stop to get students to vote for Phil Angelidies who is running against Governor Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kerry seems to have in one speech focused national attention on the difference between Republicans and Democrats. . He told the students “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” I’m not sure what that might have to do with getting Angelidies elected, but it probably reminded a few other people besides me of techniques Kerry has used for 35 years to undermine and discredit the men in our armed forces. Republicans quickly responded to Kerry’s snide remarks about those in the military. At White House Press Conference yesterday a reporter asked Tony Snow about Kerry’s comment. Snow said: “It sort of fits a pattern. You may recall that last year Senator Kerry—on CBS’s “Face the Nation”—accused U.S. soldiers of terrorizing kids and children in Iraq; and recently also described troop concentrations in Baghdad as “having failed miserably.” Sen. John McCain, often called a friend of John Kerry, said, “The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq is an insult to every soldier serving in combat today.” Later in the day, President Bush said: “The senator’s suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful. The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots—and Senator Kerry owes them an apology.” Kerry was quick to respond, calling his own press conference in which he stated: “Let me make it crystal clear … I apologize to no one.:” He went on to accuse the White house of “distorting” what he said and “misleading Americans” and said: “I’m not going to stand for it.” He complained that it was a “a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops,” He went on to say that “Given that half the names on the Vietnam wall were put there after the leaders knew that our policy was wrong. …If any one thinks that a veteran like me would …somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq they are crazy.” . Really now? How about John Kerry, veteran, testifying to the Democrat controlled Senate Foreign Relations on April 22, 1971 and accusing American soldiers in Vietnam of having “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped 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 Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam” ? Almost the entire chain of command that served with John Kerry, including the gunner on the Swift Boat Kerry served on in Vietnam, spoke out about their own personal experiences with him during the 2004 Presidential campaign. None of these men were running for office, in 2004. Universally they asked how they could trust John Kerry to be president when he had lied about them – those with whom he had served in the military. More than one of those veterans had been shot down over North Vietnam and tortured in North Vietnam prisons. One said that Kerry had aided the Communist torturers by his false accusations of war crimes supposedly committed by American soldiers. The man who survived torture in a North Vietnam prison had chosen honor and torture over lying, betraying and endangering other soldiers. Another comment John Kerry made to the Senate Committee in 1971 was “To attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy.” In 1971 John Kerry saw no reason to preserve freedom for “misfit” Asians, dismissed totally the sacrifice of brave men who did not come back from Vietnam, and now sees no point in fighting terrorists in Iraq, such as Abu Mus’ab Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq who was responsible for the killing of Lawrence Foley, an American diplomat, beheading Nicolas Berg, an American contractor and blowing up hundreds of Iraqi civilians. In January 2006 Zarqawi announced: “We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology. Democracy is also based on the right to choose your religion and that is against the rule of God.” In March of 2006, George W. Bush said in a speech, “Freedom is on the march. It’s a profound period of time. So I look forward to continuing to work with friends and allies to advance freedom – not America’s freedom, but universal freedom, freedom granted by a Higher being.” In June of 2006 Zarqawi was killed by a guided bomb delivered by one of those John Kerry called “least educated Americans” in the US Airforce. However, Zarqawi won’t be beheading any more Americans or Iraqis in the future. Bush and Kerry represent totally opposite views. One man believes in advancing freedom and the other believes freedom at least for Asians and Iraqis isn’t worth anyone’s concern. The reason why Zarqawi won’t behead any more Americans or Iraqis is because of people like Andrew, the manager of my neighborhood bank, who has served two separate tours in Iraq with his reserve unit. I find it not only totally inaccurate, but extremely offensive that Kerry would call an educated, successful, courageous and honorable man like Andrew who has risked his life to advance freedom an uneducated loser because he went to Iraq - not once, but twice. Kerry’s comment was no “botched joke.” It was simply another attack in his 35 year attack history on American soldiers in Vietnam, his votes to block modernizing and strengthening our military preparedness, and his efforts to undermine the American forces in Iraq.
Mary Mostert was one of the first female political commentators to be published in a major metropolitan newspaper in the 1960s. In recent years, Mary has researched, written, and edited articles for national talk show host Michael Reagan’s Information Interchange on the Internet, and for The REAGAN MONITOR, a monthly newsletter that provides in-depth information on key issues. She can be contacted at © Copyright 2006 by Mary Mostert
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
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