Obviously, that Vet is a Republican and cannot remember Nixon was in charge then, not 22 year old Kerry
Did you even bother to read the article or does every comment that you make have to be devoted to protecting the "Kerry record"? Do you choose to remain ignorant?
In early 2001 thousands of Montagnards demonstrated for freedom of religion and for a return of their land. The Hanoi government sent in soldiers and police to crush them. Many were killed; many were tried and sentenced to prison. More than a thousand fled across the border into Cambodia. In 2002-2003 the Bush administration took almost all of them in and they joined 600 Montagnard resettled in two earlier batches - 200 in 1986, and 400 in 1992.
In 2001 the Vietnam Human Rights Act was introduced in Congress. It tied future U.S. aid to Vietnam to the Hanoi government improving its abysmal human rights record, including persecution of the Montagnards. It passed the House with 410 ayes and only one no. But in the Senate, Kerry locked the bill up in committee and refused to allow it to go the floor for debate and a vote. In effect, Kerry killed the human rights bill.
At the time, Kerry said the measure would not improve human rights but instead would weaken Vietnamese human rights activists and strengthen the hard-liners who oppose U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
As for the "Vet", Joseph Galloway, he is a well-respected journalist whose book, "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" is considered one of the definitive works on Vietnam. I am not ashamed to say that his book had me in tears. This is a substantive guy who is taken seriously by a lot of people.
lordly.com
On May 1, 1998, Galloway was decorated with a Bronze Star Medal with V for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire in the Ia Drang Valley, in November 1965. His is the only medal of valor the U.S. Army awarded to a civilian for actions during the Vietnam War.
Galloway received the National Magazine Award in 1991 for a U.S. News cover article on the 25th anniversary of the Ia Drang Battles, and the National News Media Award of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1992 for coverage of the Gulf War. In 2000 he received the President's Award for the Arts of the Vietnam Veterans Association of America. In 2001, he received the BG Robert L. Denig Award for Distinguished Service presented by the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association.
He is a member of the advisory boards of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund; the nonprofit organization No Greater Love, founded to assist the victims of war; the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA); the Infantry Museum Foundation and the 1st Cavalry Division Association.
Galloway and his wife Karen- whose father Army Capt. Thomas C. Metsker was killed in action in the Ia Drang Valley- have five children. They live in Northern Virginia. |
