To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (1164 ) 2/17/2004 8:44:09 AM From: PROLIFE Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 2164 KERRY'S CONVENIENT VIETNAM VISION February 17, 2004 -- Sen. John Kerry spent much of the weekend in Wisconsin going on about how he "stood up against Richard Nixon and his war in Vietnam." Now, it's true that time seems to have begun for Kerry when he mounted the national stage back in 1971. But if he wants to be taken at all seriously on this issue, he needs to acknowledge the role played by Nixon's two predecessrs, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, in committing the United States to South Vietnam's defense. They were Democrats, of course. But perhaps the war only became "immoral" in Kerry's view once a Republican became president. For the record, then: America first sent advisers to the Southeast Asian country during the Eisenhower administration. JFK vastly expanded those forces - from hundreds to thousands - and gave a green light to the 1963 military coup that overthrew the Diem regime and essentially made Washington responsible for defending South Vietnam. Johnson dispatched more than 500,000 troops to Vietnam - to what LBJ had privately conceded was an unwinnable war. Nixon - as he had promised - immediately began scaling back the U.S. commitment and steadily withdrew troops, though he refused to cravenly abandon the country as demanded by Kerry and other Democrats. This even as the president's options were being limited and undercut by the vocal anti-war movement in which Kerry played such a prominent role. Now Kerry is claiming that President Bush has failed to apply the lessons of Vietnam to Iraq. In fact, the president has done just that: He understands, as the protesters never did, that this is a dangerous world. He understands that military objectives must be precisely defined - and that stalemate is not an option. Can Sen. Kerry say the same? nypost.com