Hello unclewest,
>>Re: Vetting the Vet Record: Is Kerry a proud war hero or angry antiwar prot.
Pretty thin gruel, uw. Quite a stretch for a number of unremarkable items.
>>1. he used Navy reg. loopholes to leave his boat crew behind, leaving VN before completion of his tour.
Everyone I knew in Vietnam wanted out ASAP and by hook or by crook, especially if one was one of the many who were against the war.
>>2. while they & other guys were still in-country, he became active VVAW leader
...and? I don't believe it was illegal to be a Vietnam Veteran Against the War. I too spoke against the war while stationed in Vietnam. What's the problem?
>>3. backed a communist-crafted Paris peace talk proposal, one of whose 9 points left POWs behind as bargaining chips.
The proposals were complex as were the negotiations. I'd need a lot more info than this before I'd criticize the man, especially one who has misgivings about the war.
>>4. As chaiman of the Senate Select Cmte, while pretending to work hard for POW/MIA issue resolution, Kerry did his best to bury it because it deferred the normalization he sought avidly. He propogandized for the Hanoi position every chance he got. (see Schanberg Newsday columns on this)
I don't believe it. This smells partisan to me.
>>5. In 1992 after US gov approved increased coop. w/VN, Hanoi announced it was granting a multi-billion $$ contract to Colliers Intl. whose CEO happened to be Kerry's cousin C. Stewart Forbes.
Was this investigated? It it were important, why not?
>>6. consistently voted against or blocked funding for military programs: Abrams tank, Stealth bomber, etc. Voted over 30 times to reduce size of military. Just keeping his word here, since his early political platform was "I'll vote for anything to reduce the defense budget."
I don't see the problem. He said what he was going to do and he did it. 'Yea' votes on military appropriations are not mandatory last time I checked.
>>7. Recently managed to block passage of the VN Human Rights Act in the senate.
What does this mean?
>>8. See VN Vets Against Kerry website.
OK (later...)
>>9. Questions linger about circumstances of Silver Star award. Did finishing off a machine-gunned, unarmed VC who was running away merit one?
Oh please. This is so 'smear-campaign'...
>>10. See article "The Chameleon Senator" by Ted Sampley.
Reference?
Regards,
--FaultLine
USAF Vietnam Vet |
