Need help debunking anti-Kerry e-mail by "former Green Beret Don Bendell"

[joefree1]

I'm working on debunking an e-mail entitled "Former Green Beret captain." It's the usual string of inflammatory flag sucking stuff that I won't bother you with. The e-mail starts off with the following description:
>>Don Bendell is a former Green Beret captain, who served in Vietnam on an
A-Team and
in the Top Secret Phoenix program in 1968 and 1969, as well as in three
other Special Forces
Groups. He is a best-selling author of 21 books, with over 1,500,000 copies
of his books in print worldwide, and a seventh degree black master in four
martial arts, who was inducted into the International Karate Hall of Fame
in 1995 and Martial Arts Museum of America in 1996.
e-mail:[e-mail]<<

After that follow some very strong attacks on John Kerry and his patriotism.

If you're interested (and you got a strong stomach) you can see his rants on his web site at donbendell.com. I haven't found any of the usual sites refuting this guy so I'll probably do the tedious chore of rebuking his distortions one by one.

If you know any information about this guy and his rants I would appreciate it. I've already checked Snopes.com and haven't found anything.


Download the free bumper art here:
http://ediablo.com/eDiabloGallery.html

Images of the Bush Protest in Santa Monica, August 12, 2004
http://www.ediablo.com/BushProtest8-12-04.html

[Ducks In A Row]

1. remind him bush was awol because he was doing coke

that's all the effort any of this crap deserves.

[Beaverhausen]

2. Forward it to Kerry's campaign D-Bunkers

http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/

they can get on top of it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Another self-promoting...

Knucklehead, right?

Has he started his own martial arts style yet?

On edit: Them 'er some duds.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Kerry spoke truth to power about Vietnam War. Some vets never forgave him

[comsymp]

5. Was it this one?

If so, I started on a rebuttal but never polished it up- would be happy to give you the bones, though:


(ON EDIT: I'm getting ready to call it a day and only have this on my work PC- if this is the email, my responses are in bold- use/polish if you want- maybe a collaborative effort here? If this ISN'T the email, never mind:-) )

> > GUEST OPINION
> >
> >
> > My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year, and the recovery is
> > terribly painful. Then, she developed a staph-epi infection, and they had
>to
> > cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking about the
> > pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second time in the same
> > wound, makes me cringe. That experience, however pales in comparison to
>what
> > I am going through right now, in my heart.
> >
> > The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by
>fellow
> > citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again.
>I
> > am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly
> > become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the
>Nazi
> > SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up
>idolizing
> > John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I
> > volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten
>history,
> > again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John
>Kerry
> > testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents
>he
> > supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally
>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, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned
> > food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
> >
> > I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in
> > Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces
> > A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We
> > saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not
>just
> > kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out
> > soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the
> > indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad,
> > Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our
> > candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over
>the
> > globe.
> >
> > My children and grandchildren could read your words, and
>think
> > those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced,
> > unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my
> > fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw
> > none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my
> > obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a
> > single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or
> > having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar.
>Your
> > medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass
> > character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over
> > daily in all aspects of my life.


OK, so what I’m reading is that Mr. Bendell is saying that he has personal, concrete knowledge that none of the actions Senator Kerry mentions actually happened? Lt. Calley was solely responsible for My Lai? The 150 soldiers and civilians who were interviewed during VVAW’s “Winter Soldier” investigations in 1971 were all lying? (These were the “they” to whom Kerry was referring in the above quote, conveniently omitted for the purpose of this editorial) All the Vietnam Vets who’ve come home with similar terrible stories are making them up? I think it’s interesting that Mr. Bendell then tries to imply that Kerry himself was the one who initiated these allegations, by rhetorically asking why there’s “not a single record anywhere of reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested.” Neat trick, and quite likely to work on folks who aren’t paying attention.

Or is Mr. Bendell’s objection that VVAW publicized these incidents and failed to also discuss the building of schools and churches? Kinda confusing.

Equally confusing is this comment: “. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly
become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban?”
Suddenly, Vietnam vets are being characterized this way??? Surely, Mr. Bendell, you jest. I assume that the purpose of this wording is to imply that it’s all the brainchild of the twisted political aspirations of The Evil “Hanoi John” Kerry… After all, we’ve been hearing for 3 years now that only traitors would have the temerity to challenge the actions of Our Great Leader.

Oh yeah, before I forget- the author also makes a pointed reference to Lt. Kerry “spending only four months in the country of Vietnam…” Only four months!? What kinda pansy-assed tour is that? Makes ya wonder how he managed to find time to pick these up, doesn’t it:

Silver Star
Bronze Star with V
Purple Heart #1
Purple Heart #2
Purple Heart #3
Combat Action Ribbon
Navy Presidential Unit Citation
Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Actually, it was closer to 17- Mr. Bendell is mistakenly only counting Swift Boat time, I believe. Next he goes in for the kill, pardon the expression:
> >
> > Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard
> > soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally
> > dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in
> > with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so
>you
> > can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as
>an
> > Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort
> > Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard,
> > just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I
> > volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush
> > being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
> >

All righty, let’s take #1- Lumping NG service in with draft dodging, etc. This is the Bushies’ attempt to downplay the issue which has really been raised: Dubya’s year-long (72-73) disappearing act after his Poppy’s friends went to all the trouble of getting him into the TANG’s “Champagne Division” ahead of more qualified candidates.

Kerry’s statement to Sean Hannity on Fox-

"I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard. Those are choices people make. But there is a question that's been raised about whether -- about what his service was. And I don't know the answers to those questions."

Sure does sound like Mr. Bendell has a point, huh? That Kerry, a mind like a sewer, daring to suggest that young men of that time would have even considered such a despicable scheme. Fortunately, nobody with a shred of decency has ever openly claimed that NG service during the Vietnam era might have been used as one way to avoid the draft.

"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed ... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units...Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country." (Colin Powell’s autobiography, My American Journey, p. 148)

"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Not was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes." George W. Bush, 1994

And while we’re on the subject, ya think Mr. Bendell would be just as proud of his daughter in law if she decided she didn’t need to bother showing up for a year or so?


> > John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights
> > Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote,
>and
> > thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since
>then
> > who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select
> > Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any
>and
> > all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those
>reins
> > in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to
>normalize
> > relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first
>cousin
> > C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a
> > contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International
> > to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of
> > Vietnam.

Don’t go there, pal. George W. Bush launched invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan based on either flawed or fictional intelligence, costing hundreds of US lives, and resulting in profits of billions (with a B) for such noble institutions as Halliburton/KBR (see “Cheney, Dick”. See also “no-bid contract”)
> >
> > "Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest
> > about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic,
> > hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer
> > machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading
>it
> > everywhere.
> >
> > Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
> >
Couldn’t agree more. To date, ___ Coalition troops have been killed, another _____ wounded, and _____ Iraqi men, women and children are dead because this Administration claimed that (WMD, torture, terrorist link), without one shred of evidence being presented. In the meantime, Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton has posted profits of _____ and been awarded multiple no-bid contracts totaling over $_____, Bush-Cheney campaign contributor Mobil-Exxon posted record profits Billion. But as long as nobody is fooling around with an intern….
> >
> >
> >
> > Don Bendell
> >
> > Canon City, Colorado
> >
> >
> >
> > Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a
> > best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee
>into
> > the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern
> > Colorado.

[Sparkly]

6. He starts and ends with the same thing -- VVAW

They can't get over that. If I may make a blanket generalization, I think anybody using the term "Hanoi John" is using code for "I'm an ignorant fool who thinks John Kerry testified and marched in order to smear other veterans and have never heard, read, or understood what he actually said."

They don't get it, and at this point they have to be willfully ignorant not to get it. The testimony is easily available. Kerry was defending veterans, trying to save lives by bringing the truth out and ending the war, and was recounting what veterans had said at a meeting in Detroit.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no excuse anymore for saying he was doing anything but that.

[rfranklin]

7. 1.5 Million books in print!

Mostly used for fuel in Dick Scaife's barbecue.

[shockingelk]

8. self-deleted n/t

posted twice.

[shockingelk]

9. I would be more succinct

This would be my advice.

Use an amused tone - be polite but funny. It either infuriates right-wingers when you're polite and light-hearted or makes them listen. People tend to stop reading or just scan as soon as they realize they don't agree with something they're reading.

I might first mention Tiger Force before Mai Lai - the first thing many think when they hear "Mai Lai" is "isolated incident". http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SRTIGERFORCE

Maybe say that Kerry has always cared about the people he fought for - here's a short, positive essay by a vietnam vet: http://www.fva.org/200208/story06.htm

Listing Kerry's awards is great. Maybe say "Today, you might not think he deserved him, but his commanders at the time did. If you have a problem with that, take it up with those that awarded them to him. Like George Elliot."

PS. DON'T say "to pick these up" - say "earned these" or "was awarded these".

[comsymp]

10. LOL, agreed

"pick these up" most definitely conveys the wrong message. Was just a partial response when I rec'd it, several months ago- never got around to finishing it.

Tiger Force is good, too. I used My Lai because everybody's familiar w/it.

Also agreed w/the polite/amused tone, hence the faux-respectful "Mr. (as opposed to rank) B---."

[joefree1]

11. Nope, this is a different one, however

A lot of your arguments still apply. Though I wish I could find out a little more of what makes Don Bendell tick.

Here's the one I got:

>>Thank you, John Kerry, for helping make us Vietnam veterans war heroes now, but you also were the primary reason that the American public grabbed sturdy unbending brooms of judgment and swept us into the closet of silence and shame for so many years. Now, with your latest unreported insanity, you are getting ready for our society to grab those same stiff brooms and sweep our brave, noble young men and women fighting against the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, into that cold, dark cell of heartbreak and betrayal, like we Vietnam veterans had to endure in silent dignity. I cannot and will not watch this country go through that again.


The hardcore America-hating, Israel-hating, jihad-spouting Muslim clerics in the mideast are very excited and passing around a front page newspaper story from the very anti-American TEHRAN TIMES in Iran. In the country that is home of the world's toughest theocratic dictatorship, an e-mail from Presidential nominee, you, John Forbes Kerry, sent to the paper by your campaign committee, although they deny sending it, was printed word-for-word on the front page of Iran's main newspaper.


Your message states emphatically that, if elected President, you, John Kerry plan to travel to the mideast and elsewhere and apologize for our actions and the actions of President Bush in the War on Terror. You are already apologizing. It says that you plan to apologize to friends and foes alike.
That is right, folks. John Kerry will say he is "sorry," and in his mind, all those jihad extremists, who have vowed to kill all Americans wherever we are, will simply forgive us, hold hands with Kerry, start singing "Kumbaya," and all will be right in the world. This is insane! You have also made statements you will do these actions within 100 days of becoming President.


Senior writer Kenneth R. Timmerman in the March 1st edition of INSIGHT, tells about the massive campaign contributions to the Kerry-for-President campaign by three Iranian businessmen living in the US, who are lobbying for the US lifting of sanctions on Iran and accepting the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-American Tehran regime and the close ties of one to the chairman of Mobil Oil. "Pro-democracy dissidents" in Iran are shocked and appalled at your remarks, and have reported that in Iran and other Mideastern countries, that all the extremists and anti-west mullahs who strongly supported the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, USS Cole, Marine Barracks, and anyplace Americans congregate, want you to become our President, but they are scared to death of George W. Bush. Just think, The Democratic candidate for President, you, John Forbes Kerry, is endorsed
by the Al Q'Aida, Hezbollah, PLF, and Hamas.


But on February 27, 2004, in a speech at UCLA , you, while trying to talk tough, despite voting against all major weapons systems for the past 18 years, stated that you will continue the War on Terror, but would use our police forces, and especially those in foreign countries, and you would also put our troops back under the powder blue flag of the United Nations. You recently made comments about Bush making troops fight without Kevlar vests, but you, Senator Kerry, voted against buying them while you were in the Senate. Senate Bill 1689. Passed 87-12. You were one of the 12. Remember?


Like the Kama Sutra, Senator, you change positions constantly. You're not going to end the War on Terror, but instead use police to handcuff
terrorists and read them their rights; then a week later, you are going to end the War on Terrorism and apologize to everyone we have off ended, such as Iran. What is it going be next week, John Kerry? You flip-flop more than a beached tuna on steroids. You convinced TV reporters Chris Wallace on Fox and NBC's Tim Russert that a photograph circulating the web and news showing you a few rows away from Jane Fonda at a September, 1970 Anti-War Rally at Valley Forge, was simply a coincidence and that you and Hanoi Jane barely knew each other. But, in fact, Senator, there were only 8 speakers that day, including Fonda, Donald Southerland, and Bella Abzug, and Hanoi Jane funded that rally, and the keynote speaker was you, John Forbes Kerry, executive committee member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.


We must be Americans first, and think about our political parties after that. Sometimes we lose sight of that. I have six grown children and two are democrats. I voted for Jimmy Carter. This is not about politics. It is about standing up to the ultimate playground bully , and not simply cowering and kissing his shoes.

I left it "all on the field" in the jungles back there when I was medevaced out of Vietnam in March of 1969 and sent back to hospitals in "The World." Although you, Mr. Kerry, painted all of us Vietnam veterans with the yellow brush of My Lai and Tiger Force, most of us, draftees and lifers alike, actually poured our hearts out in the tropical rain forests and in the rice paddies, thoroughly gave it our all, and acted as warriors who had honor.

I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now and a daughter-in-law who was on orders for Iraq but is making me a grandpa again. I am not going to stand by and watch them go through the same treatment we did, because some of our well-meaning fellow Americans choose to wear blinders and believe things just because they heard it on the network news or simply not care enough to get involved.

I am not a "baby-killer, torturer, or murderer," John Kerry. I am a Vietnam veteran and an American who will not soon forget, or ever want to see again, any more jets loaded with fuel and screaming, innocent Americans slamming into our buildings on our very own soil. I have shed enough tears for ten lifetimes. We all have. I will never again let my fellow countrymen get away with making American veterans feel like bastard step-children. Santayana said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

John Kerry, I now call on my "Band of Brothers," those who have heard the sound of guns and cries of orphaned children, those who hate war more than anyone who has not been there, to join me in this difficult battle ahead. Republicans, democrats, independents, and the apolitical, I call on the 25,000,000 veterans of this country to help me confront this evil facing our great nation, not with guns and bombs, but with our voices, our votes , our computers, and with all our fighting spirit. My fellow veterans, your families, survivors, and
neighbors: God bless you and God bless America.<<

Yeow, that's a lot of hyperbole to swim though but I'll post the debunking after this post point by point. I welcome anyone elses comments too.

[Narraback]

12. Kerry saved my life by Jim Rassman, Special Forces

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005460>

Shame on the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush
John Kerry saved my life. Now his heroism is being questioned.

BY JIM RASSMANN
Tuesday, August 10, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

I came to know Lt. John Kerry during the spring of 1969. He and his
swift boat crew assisted in inserting our Special Forces team and our
Chinese Nung soldiers into operational sites in the Cau Mau Peninsula of
South Vietnam. I worked with him on many operations and saw firsthand
his leadership, courage and decision-making ability under fire.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. The Phoenix Program, that's really something to stick on your resume:

http://www.thememoryhole.org/phoenix/

Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"—through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture—the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution" that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas of human morality.

If anyone needs to explain what he was doing in Vietnam, I would think it would be this guy.

[joefree1]

14. Whew, OK, here's my debunking in full

My comments are in brackets ><(how do you make them bold?)

“Don Bendell is a former Green Beret captain, who served in Vietnam on an A-Team and in the Top Secret Phoenix program in 1968 and 1969, as well as in three other Special Forces Groups. He is a best-selling author of 21 books, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, and a seventh degree black master in four martial arts, who was inducted into the International Karate Hall of Fame in 1995 and Martial Arts Museum of America in 1996.
e-mail:[e-mail]

> Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"—through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture—the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution" that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas of human morality.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/phoenix/
>

Thank you, John Kerry, for helping make us Vietnam veterans war heroes now, but you also were the primary reason that the American public grabbed sturdy unbending brooms of judgment and swept us into the closet of silence and shame for so many years. Now, with your latest unreported insanity, you are getting ready for our society to grab those same stiff brooms and sweep our brave, noble young men and women fighting against the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, into that cold, dark cell of heartbreak and betrayal, like we Vietnam veterans had to endure in silent dignity. I cannot and will not watch this country go through that again.”

>This is blind patriotism. 58,184 Americans died to protect French colonialism and American corporate interests. John Kerry tried to stop that.

"How do you ask a Man to be the Last Man to Die in Vietnam, and how do you ask him to Die for a Mistake?"
John Kerry – 1971

Now we’re told to fight Iraq because of WMDs which do not exist, Iraq ties to 911 which do not exist, and finally because Saddam was a bad guy. Saddam was peanuts compared to other countries. China has massive human rights violations. When do we invade China? After we’ve given them all our jobs?
<

“The hardcore America-hating, Israel-hating, jihad-spouting Muslim clerics in the mideast are very excited and passing around a front page newspaper story from the very anti-American TEHRAN TIMES in Iran. In the country that is home of the world's toughest theocratic dictatorship, an e-mail from Presidential nominee, you, John Forbes Kerry, sent to the paper by your campaign committee, although they deny sending it, was printed word-for-word on the front page of Iran's main newspaper.

Your message states emphatically that, if elected President, you, John Kerry plan to travel to the mideast and elsewhere and apologize for our actions and the actions of President Bush in the War on Terror. You are already apologizing. It says that you plan to apologize to friends and foes alike.

That is right, folks. John Kerry will say he is "sorry," and in his mind, all those jihad extremists, who have vowed to kill all Americans wherever we are, will simply forgive us, hold hands with Kerry, start singing "Kumbaya," and all will be right in the world. This is insane! You have also made statements you will do these actions within 100 days of becoming President.”

> Republican stalking points which try to force us to chase their argument through a meandering jungle of rumor and lies before we have the chance to argue each point by point. Basically this is a whiff of a half-truth that bounces around the internet in rethuglican echo chambers (they only hear themselves) as evidence of their arguments. You can find this suspect “e-mail” on all the right wing wacko attacko sites, … but not on any “established” news forum. When you do find samples of this e-mail it’s not even from John Kerry as the letter talks about Kerry in the third person.
<

Senior writer Kenneth R. Timmerman in the March 1st edition of INSIGHT, tells about the massive campaign contributions to the Kerry-for-President campaign by three Iranian businessmen living in the US, who are lobbying for the US lifting of sanctions on Iran and accepting the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-American Tehran regime and the close ties of one to the chairman of Mobil Oil. "Pro-democracy dissidents" in Iran are shocked and appalled at your remarks, and have reported that in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, that all the extremists and anti-west mullahs who strongly supported the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, USS Cole, Marine Barracks, and anyplace Americans congregate, want you to become our President, but they are scared to death of George W. Bush. Just think, The Democratic candidate for President, you, John Forbes Kerry, is endorsed
by the Al Q'Aida, Hezbollah, PLF, and Hamas.

>A little bit about Mr. Timmerman …

** LAST MAN STANDING ON WMD
Widely discredited journalist Kenneth R. Timmerman is perhaps the country's last true believer in Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Has he found indisputable evidence of WMD or is this more of the same pro-Bush spin disguised as journalism?
(Washington City Paper)

‘A longtime right-wing scribe, Timmerman authored a piece in the May 11 (2004) issue of Insight on the News magazine, titled "Saddam's WMD Have Been Found." The story called on the Bush administration to trumpet its success in finding the elusive arsenal: "With evidence of Iraq's WMD programs and weapons in hand...why has the White House not yet blown the whistle?

The story appeared in the final edition of Insight, a nationally distributed property of News World Communications Inc., the company controlled by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon that also owns the Washington Times. The magazine was folded in an April cost-cutting initiative. But with scoops like this, perhaps someone will revive it.”

More …
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/archives/media/2004/media0723.html
<

But on February 27, 2004, in a speech at UCLA , you, while trying to talk tough, despite voting against all major weapons systems for the past 18 years, stated that you will continue the War on Terror, but would use our police forces, and especially those in foreign countries, and you would also put our troops back under the powder blue flag of the United Nations. You recently made comments about Bush making troops fight without Kevlar vests, but you, Senator Kerry, voted against buying them while you were in the Senate. Senate Bill 1689. Passed 87-12. You were one of the 12. Remember?

>Broadly speaking, it was for the appropriation of $87 BILLION to fund the occupation of Iraq.

The Bush camp has captioned what amounts to a short "clip" of that legislation for the purpose of selling their lie. Senators Kerry, Byrd, and others were actually for the full funding of the troops, but were, in that one Roll Call vote, attempting to place some oversight and accountability for those expenditures by forcing a vote which would have required it.

Because the GOP rubberstamp machine basically wanted to issue Bush's War Department a blank check, their attempt failed. And as a result of that failure, all that cash is now being pissed away on who-knows-what.

For an accurate grasp on how it all went down, check this:

"I twice tried to separate the reconstruction money in this bill, so that those dollars could be considered separately from the military spending. I offered an amendment to force the Administration to craft a plan to get other nations to assist the troops and formulate a plan to get the U.N. in, and the U.S. out, of Iraq. Twice I tried to rid the bill of expansive, flexible authorities that turn this $87 billion into a blank check."- excerpt Robert S. Byrd, October 17, 2003.

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_speeches/...

Read it and weep for the truth.

Byrd, Kerry, and a handful of other Senators were boldly trying to force Congressional oversight of those expenditures. Wouldn't it have been nice to place some fiscal responsibility over how that $87 BILLION was to be spent, given the rising stories of unchecked spending by the Administration's "rebuilding" contractors?

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1559574

Before CEO Bush grabbed the reigns of the GOP, fiscal responsibility was one of the mainstays of the Conservative agenda. But thanks to our present Administration and its rubberstamping Congress, we're now facing deficits as far as the eye can see. Each and every baby born in America today is facing a $30,000.00+ debt because their unquestioning support of the Bush Administration agenda of wild deficit spending.
More …
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/03/con04119.html
<

Like the Kama Sutra, Senator, you change positions constantly. You're not going to end the War on Terror, but instead use police to handcuff
terrorists and read them their rights; then a week later, you are going to end the War on Terrorism and apologize to everyone we have off ended, such as Iran. What is it going be next week, John Kerry? You flip-flop more than a beached tuna on steroids. You convinced TV reporters Chris Wallace on Fox and NBC's Tim Russert that a photograph circulating the web and news showing you a few rows away from Jane Fonda at a September, 1970 Anti-War Rally at Valley Forge, was simply a coincidence and that you and Hanoi Jane barely knew each other. But, in fact, Senator, there were only 8 speakers that day, including Fonda, Donald Southerland, and Bella Abzug, and Hanoi Jane funded that rally, and the keynote speaker was you, John Forbes Kerry, executive committee member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

>Well then, by your sort of reasoning the following photograph is very incriminating too.


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We must be Americans first, and think about our political parties after that. Sometimes we lose sight of that. I have six grown children and two are democrats. I voted for Jimmy Carter. This is not about politics. It is about standing up to the ultimate playground bully , and not simply cowering and kissing his shoes.

>The ultimate bully? Somebody who pushes other countrys around and who is not like by the world in general? Someone who thinks God speaks to him alone? Now who does that describe?
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I left it "all on the field" in the jungles back there when I was medevaced out of Vietnam in March of 1969 and sent back to hospitals in "The World." Although you, Mr. Kerry, painted all of us Vietnam veterans with the yellow brush of My Lai and Tiger Force, most of us, draftees and lifers alike, actually poured our hearts out in the tropical rain forests and in the rice paddies, thoroughly gave it our all, and acted as warriors who had honor.

I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now and a daughter-in-law who was on orders for Iraq but is making me a grandpa again. I am not going to stand by and watch them go through the same treatment we did, because some of our well-meaning fellow Americans choose to wear blinders and believe things just because they heard it on the network news or simply not care enough to get involved.

>Yeah a lot of us are not gonna let it happen again. However we’re not like you though. We’re not gonna let people die just to justify your idolatry of war.
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I am not a "baby-killer, torturer, or murderer," John Kerry. I am a Vietnam veteran and an American who will not soon forget, or ever want to see again, any more jets loaded with fuel and screaming, innocent Americans slamming into our buildings on our very own soil. I have shed enough tears for ten lifetimes. We all have. I will never again let my fellow countrymen get away with making American veterans feel like bastard stepchildren. Santayana said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

>Ah, you do remember that there was 0 Iraqis on the 911 planes?
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John Kerry, I now call on my "Band of Brothers," those who have heard the sound of guns and cries of orphaned children, those who hate war more than anyone who has not been there, to join me in this difficult battle ahead. Republicans, democrats, independents, and the apolitical, I call on the 25,000,000 veterans of this country to help me confront this evil facing our great nation, not with guns and bombs, but with our voices, our votes , our computers, and with all our fighting spirit. My fellow veterans, your families, survivors, and
neighbors: God bless you and God bless America.

>Great, war without end. Terrorism is the new communism. Fear for your life. Report your neighbor, especially if they act or look differently. Don’t questions those in power. Love the flag, hate the people it represents.

Mr. Bendall, you are so 1967!

Gods Bless You and Gods Bless the USA!
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[joefree1]

15. I added a little bit after "blind patriotism"

John Kerry honors Vietnam Vets and supports the American men and woman fighting in Iraq. But he is not a blind patriot or "hatriot" like Mr. Bendell. 58,184 Americans died to protect French colonialism and American corporate interests. John Kerry tried to stop that.

"How do you ask a Man to be the Last Man to Die in Vietnam, and how do you ask him to Die for a Mistake?" John Kerry – 1971

John Kerry has a honorable plan to repair the quagmire Bush has gotten us into. The following ten senior Military Officials support John Kerry's plan for Iraq.
Admiral William J. Crowe (United States Navy, Retired)
Admiral Stansfield Turner (United States Navy, Retired)
General Wesley K. Clark (United States Army, Retired)
General Merrill “Tony” A. McPeak (United States Air Force, Retired)
General Joseph Hoar (United States Marine Corps, Retired)
General Johnnie E. Wilson (United States Army, Retired)
Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn (United States Navy, Retired)
Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy (United States Army, Retired)
Lieutenant General Donald Kerrick (United States Army, Retired)
Lieutenant General Edward D. Baca (United States Army, Retired)
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/archives/002439.html#more