What does this (Kerry) statement mean?

[sfecap]

"I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that," Kerry said. "However, I did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground. And all of these acts, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions and to the laws of warfare. So in that sense, anybody who took part in those, if you carry out the application of the Nuremberg Principles, is in fact guilty. But we are not trying to find war criminals. That is not our purpose. It never has been."

Is Kerry admitting to violating The Geneva Conventions and the laws of warfare?

Boston Globe - 6/17/2003

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061703.shtml

[Pez]

1. is this...

...the beginning of a barrage of attacks on kerry for orders he followed in vietnam? it's already been established (about 30 years ago) that the problem with vietnam wasn't the children we sent over there... or do you want to attack every soldier ever sent to battle? that would leave dubya safely above criticism.

[Loyal]

2. Good points

n/t

[LuminousX]

10. I believe

this is in direct response of other DUers expecting Dean supporters to parse every phrase Dean uttered. It isn't retaliation, it is about recognizing that if we get to that point of having to explain every phrase and turn of the word of our candidates, we are doomed.

Middle America doesn't give a damn about all of this. We need to stick to core issues and the game at hand. All of the candidates who have held an elected office through multiple elections have already been vetted pretty thoroughly. They have proven themselves. Now let us just choose them by which policies we agree with.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

13. We do need to nominate a truthful candidate, or we are doomed.

[Tim The Enchanter]

3. The Boston Globe has an agenda

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh021003.shtml

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. True, but even if they do have it in for Kerry,

their series on him is definately worth reading.

[foo_bar]

4. yes and it was all Kerry's idea

The correct decision would've been to fake a back injury to avert any potentially hard choices in life, then criticize stronger people for making them. Dean looks like he's going to cry whenever anyone asks him a tough question. Suffice to say, the crybaby vote won't win any elections, but it might deprive the nominee of same.

[Upfront]

6. Attack On Kerry

Being a Dean supporter I should jump on Kerry after your remarks on Dean, but I won't. No one should attack Kerry for what he did in Nam. I am sure he did what he had to do. This is below the belt. I don't care for Kerry but for other reasons. He should be thanked by this country for his service in Nam.

[sandnsea]

5. Vietnam was a horrible war

We all know that.

[Demobrat]

7. Vietnam was 30 years ago.

Everybody did the best they could at the time, even if your best was none too good, like W.

[BeatleBoot]

8. That's it, I'm voting for Dean now...

N O T!

Gimme a friggin' break, heh?

I like Howard Dean and all, but this shit is little bit over the top, no?

[Cocoa]

9. It means the way we fought that war was illegal in some ways

and he was using his perspective as a veteran to get that across, in order to bring the war to an end.

That's a fascinating article, by the way. Great window onto that time period; I was a toddler at the time.

Interesting bit about stopping Kerry before he became another Nader. :-)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

11. It means he experienced the horror of war first-hand,

like millions of other veterans.
It means Kerry has a conscience.
It means Kerry really understands the reality of sending troops into battle and why that should alway be the absolute last resort.


Kerry's Testimony befor the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

[JI7]

12. it means

he has experienced war.

[JohnKleeb]

14. Is this impling that Kerry was in the army

It seems like this to me, btw Kerry was in the navy.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

15. He was in the Navy but

he was on a 'swift boat' patrolling the Mekong Delta:

But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous. Under the newly launched Operation SEALORD, swift boats were charged with patrolling the narrow waterways of the Mekong Delta to draw fire and smoke out the enemy. Cruising inlets and coves and canals, swift boats were especially vulnerable targets.

Originally designed to ferry oil workers to ocean rigs, swift boats offered flimsy protection. Because bullets could easily penetrate the hull, sailors hung flak jackets over the sides. The boat's loud engine invited ambushes. Speed was its saving grace -- but that wasn't always an option in narrow, heavily mined canals.

The swift boat crew typically consisted of a college-educated skipper, such as Kerry, and five blue-collar sailors averaging 19 years old. The most vulnerable sailor sat in the "tub" -- a squat nest that rose above the pilot house -- and operated a pair of .50-caliber machine guns. Another gunner was in the rear. Kerry's mission was to wait until hidden Viet Cong guerrillas started shooting, then order his men to return fire.
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml