Originally posted by DavidFWhite3:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Joseph_Botwinick:
Kerry was a fraud, a cofessed war criminal, and a traitor.
Joseph Botwinick
Kerry spent four months in combat in Vietnam. This is actual US Military war record info. He was not a fraud. He pointed out things we did not want to know. Have you forgotten William Calley? Have you forgotten that even though we lost 60,000 troops in a war we did not win we killed almost 2,000,000 Vietnemese. If anybody has a right to question our military policies it is those we commission to carry them out, and John Kerry was one of those people. Where was George W. Bush in 1970? In a dental chair in Birmingham? Be nice if we really knew. We do know that your definition of a fraud was on a gunboat in South Vietnam or Cambodia! Where were you?
Why are you so afraid of truth? Why the quick support of slander to disredit those WHO WERE THERE? Kerry is not the problem. It's blind eyed supporters of misguided policy like you who cause the uneccesary deaths of our boys.
Dave </font>[/QUOTE]The record shows Kerry served in Viet Nam about four months and that his whole military service was honorable. I don't support attempts to discredit that. He deserves to be recognized for what he did. Likewise, Bush served his country honorably as well even though we - the nation - did not send him to serve in Viet Nam. He, like many others, did his part and that should be respected as well. Both these stories are old news now.
Many Americans did not serve in the military during the Viet Nam war, many who did serve did not serve in Viet Nam, and many who served there did not do so in combat. All of them still have a voice in what took place. Even the "young pups" that have never even tried on a uniform have a "vote". That takes away nothing from the honor due those who did serve honorably, who did serve in Viet Nam, and who did serve in combat. It just means the old argument that "if you haven't done something yourself you're not entitled to a voice in it" doesn't hold water. If it did few of us could do much of anything since none of us have done everything.
Those that used deception to avoid military service, deserted from military service, etc. - broke the law - are the ones who don't deserve respect. Dishonorable service is just what the name implies. There are very few of those.
We - the American military - did not loose the Viet Nam war. That happened in 1975. We were gone by 1973 and essentially out of major combat before that. The war was, in the end, lost by the Vietnamese. That of course was impacted by our dropping on-going support to them. It was very hard on them and they suffered a lot for it. We gave a lot in Viet Nam and our host nation, the Republic of Viet Nam, gave even more. Our former enemy also gave a lot. Viet Nam struggled for generations. But that war is over now. They are one country now - both those who were friends and those who were foe - and at least they have peace in their land if not the democracy we wanted and hoped for them. For that much I am thankful.
William Calley was a gross exception to the far more typical character of American troops serving in Viet Nam. Kerry, and his associates of the time, tried to portray that kind of conduct as typical doing a tremendous dis-service to the reputations of so many who wouldn't do such things and wouldn't let others do it either. The record is very clear and specific in this respect. Unfortunately, Kerry incriminated himself by his own statements but, frankly, I don't think he actually did the "war crimes" he claimed to have done. I think - but can't know for certain - he said was he did, like a lot have, to give credibility to his cause and gain support for it. That makes it very difficult - especially for Viet Nam veterans - to feel positive about Kerry. Those wounds, even though growing old, are still very deep.
Many Americans - including myself - support what we're doing in Iraq and what we were doing in Viet Nam because we believe it's right. We're not "blind" or "misguided". We are willing to send our troops to fight for just causes - and regrettably die if necessary - because we know this is the ultimate price of continued security to preserve our liberty and system of justice. We don't like it but we know it's necessary.
