QandO

August 27, 2004

Swifties Phase II addresses vets real anger
Posted by McQ

Jeff Jacoby points out that while all the bruhaha about Kerry's combat record has distracted Kerry, put him off message and caused there to be doubt about his version of events in Vietnam, its not that about which the Swifties are really angry:

That doesn't mean their version of the facts is closer to the truth than his. There are conflicting eyewitness recollections, and, as The Washington Post says, "both accounts contain significant flaws and factual errors." Kerry certainly wouldn't be the first soldier to have embellished his war stories; the Swift Boat vets wouldn't be the first whose passions have altered their memories. Of course, if Kerry really wants to silence the debate about his medals, he can authorize the government to release all his military records. But that won't silence the Swifties. Because their real beef with him is not about what he did in Vietnam. It's about what he did when he came home.

Certainly its been hinted at enough, but now, the full effect and effort of pointing out his perfidy when he returned from Vietnam is their aim.

On April 22, 1971, Kerry went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to indict the American war effort in Vietnam for horrendous war crimes. These were "not isolated incidents," he testified, "but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Most who were in Vietnam, as in any war, know that there were war crimes committed as well as atrocities. It happens in every war, and they're perpetrated by both sides. But what Kerry describes above, were he to be describing WWII, would be a very valid description of the Nazi army, but not the Allies. That's not to say that the Allies didn't commit the occasional war crime or atrocity. But unlike Nazi war crimes and atrocities such as their advance through Poland, atrocities and war crimes by the Allies were isolated incidents which were not "committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command". That is also what happened in Vietnam.

And, that is the beef. That is the label which Vietnam veterans reject Mi Lai was an aberation, not a policy, just as we're now finding with Abu Ghrab. To pretend that Mi Lai was comparable to the Warsaw Ghetto is simply ludicrous, but that is what Kerry contends with those statements.

BG Burkett, in his book "Stolen Valor", quotes findings by historian Guenter Lewy in his book "America in Vietnam" which address the issue:

Lewy pointed out that incidents similar to those described at the Winter Soldier hearings did occur. "Yet these incidents either (as in the destruction of hamlets) did not violate the law of war or took place in breach of existing regulations," Lewy wrote. Those responsible were tired and punished.

"In either case, they were not, as alleged, part of a 'criminal policy,'" Lewy said. Despite the antiwar movement's contention that military policies protecting civilians in Vietnam were routinely ignored, Lewy said the rules of engagement were implemented and taken very seriously, although at times the rules were not communicated properly and the training was inadequate. That's what made the failure so notable.

But that is not what Kerry said. Instead Kerry willingly (whether knowingly or unknowingly) perpetrated a fraud which has since branded an entire generation of soldiers with the false impression he generated about the war in Vietnam.

What Lewy found is what most who were in Vietnam remember. But in 1971, no one was interested in listening to soldiers who disagreed with the anti-war side's version. No one was interested in the other side of the argument. So for 35 years, the false impression John Kerry is responsible for perpetrating in both the fradulent "Winter Soldier Investigations" and his 1971 Senate testimony has laid there like a cold lump in need of excising. Now with a war on, now with an understanding of the things which can happen in war, now with support for the military at an all time high, the maligned vets of the Vietnam era see their chance to finally tell their side of the story ... and it won't be kind to John Kerry.

That is what thousands of Vietnam veterans, not to mention countless other vets, have never forgiven or forgotten. Bob Dole, whose right arm was crippled in World War II, suggested on Sunday that Kerry apologize to the 2.5 million veterans he defamed. Kerry's words -- which drew immense media coverage at the time -- helped poison public attitudes about Vietnam veterans and the cause they had fought in. Even worse, they gave encouragement to the enemy.

Kerry has refused to acknowledge his responsibility in this, trying to wave it off as youthful indescretion. But that's not how the majority of vets of that era see it. They instead see a calculated campaign to impugn their honor and what they were doing. They remember the aura of disgust and revulsion those like Kerry helped generate against the military based on that false testimony. They haven't forgotten.

We see comments here at Q and O by some of those backing Kerry that by questioning his combat record or any other record we're smearing him or stabbing him in the back.

Well as far as I'm concerned, and I'm only speaking for myself, the smearing and back stabbing took place in 1971 by a man named John Kerry. He's the one who broke faith with his military comrades and who stabbed them in the back while they were still in combat. They've neither forgiven nor forgotten what he inferred about all of them. So I don't begrudge the Swifties at all in taking advantage of this opportunity to set the record straight and repair the honor of the military of that era that Kerry so badly impugned.

As their Phase II rolls out, remember that while there are certainly questions on both sides about Kerry's Vietnam record, the real anger comes from what he did afterward.

Kerry has never taken back his terrible slur against his fellow soldiers -- men he now calls his "band of brothers." The most he has been willing to say is that his words "were a little bit over the top" and that he could perhaps "have phrased things more artfully." He certainly doesn't regret the propaganda coup he handed the Viet Cong: "I'm proud that I stood up," Kerry told NBC in April. "I don't want anybody to think twice about it."

As I've pointed out before, eveyone has a right to dissent. But when you dissent, you have an obligation to do so responsibly. Responsible dissent doesn't include spreading falsehoods, lies and outright fabrications in order to build or boslter your case. That is what Kerry did. So while he declares no real remorse for what he did, I can find no reason to fogive him for it and I certainly haven't forgotten about it. He abrogated his responsiblity to dissent responsibly and I have no problem with now confronting him with his record on that account.

The second phase of the Swift boat vet's ads addresses the core of the anger an era of soldiers, saliors, airmen and marines hold against Kerry. If he handles this phase as badly as he has handled the questioning of his Vietnam duty, he may have the DNC researching whether they can pull a "Torecelli" nationally and elevate John Edwards to the top spot.

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