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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mannie who wrote (54896)	9/8/2004 2:45:15 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Commentary: Exploiting The Pain of Vietnam Veterans ___________________________________________ Those who thought they were too good to go to Vietnam are now exploiting those who did go to Vietnam. By Brad Kennedy It’s been thirty-seven years since I was lucky and returned from serving in Vietnam. I volunteered for the draft and ultimately served as a forward observer for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. I still feel the horror of that war. Vietnam was like a bad dream where a monster was in control, reaching in and ripping out hearts and heads or pulling off arms and legs--American and Vietnamese. We never knew who was next. To escape its grasp was just the luck of the draw. The longer we were in that dream, the clearer we saw there were actually four monsters--North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, Viet Cong, and American. We came to see ourselves as tiny parts of the American monster. Some made up the legs, others the arms and the brain. We forward observers were the eyes. Together, we were perpetrating outrages as surely as the other monsters were. These acts were against our will, for certain. We were a monster run amok. In our fear and our horror, we had only one thing going for us--each other. No matter where or what unit an American was from, he was our brother. Creed or color or mother country were of no account. Our bonds of brotherhood seemed like they would last forever. Forged of love, they were our best hope for salvation. It was like we all had the same DNA, though that of a monster. Maybe because I have spent so much time thinking and writing about the war, I’ve become addicted to its pain. I see Vietnamese smiling in a hootch one moment, shrieking and flailing amid flaming havoc the next. I hear my friends laughing one second, then see them frozen in timelessness forever. But now, only now after all these years, I sense a new pain, a different one but one every bit as mournful. It is the pain of our veterans’ bonds of brotherhood being torn apart. Where is the love and hope we prayed would save us from being cast to the wind? The monster stirs in the night when we savor our hard-earned sleep, contriving movements to tear us asunder. All over the country others feel it, too. This is no dream. Who causes this pain? Some of us say John Kerry is to blame. They say he accepted medals he did not deserve and call him a liar. They tarred him for two weeks with these charges but couldn’t make the feathers stick. By now overwhelming new evidence has appeared in support of the official records and against their allegations. The accusers neither apologize nor recant, seemingly because it never was about the award of his medals. Several of them freely admit their actions and allegations have far more to do with what Kerry did with his medals afterwards. Principally, they object to his throwing them over the Capitol building’s fence in protest of the war, his public appearance(s) with Jane Fonda, and his raising the subject of war crimes in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. The war crimes statement seems to be the flash-point issue. These matters are filled with high-octane emotional charge, especially for Vietnam veterans. But righteous indignation is justified only when it’s right. Sincere folks have two reasons to be wary: First, the people attacking Kerry already have shown they will make false charges against him by their distortions about how he got his medals. Second, their charges are made in the context of a national election for the purpose of influencing votes. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad takes excerpts from Kerry’s testimony before the Fulbright Committee out of context in such a way that they easily can be misunderstood. The voiceover for the ad says he accused all Viet vets of war crimes. In truth, Kerry made clear that he was reporting what decorated vets had said about themselves in sworn testimony and that he was not accusing others. He bore testimony to the failures of the policymakers in Washington. It is also true that supporters of President Bush have advised, assisted, and bankrolled the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It is they, not John Kerry, who thirty years after the fact have brought up these distortions about war crimes in Vietnam and repeated them over and over and over again. It is these wizards behind the curtain, who were too good to serve in Vietnam, who now manipulate for partisan purpose the pain and grief this issue causes those of us who did. They have no shame and they envy our honor. Fellow veterans, stand your watch. Why did John Kerry protest the war when he returned home? I can only speak for myself, since I did the same. I became convinced that Vietnam was not necessary to our national security, that we were doing more harm than good there, and that it was only a matter of time before the American people turned on a policy that claimed as many as five hundred American lives every week. Given that view, which history has sustained, it would have been a breach of the bonds of brotherhood I felt for the American troops still in Vietnam for me not to do all I could within our democratic system to correct an errant policy and bring them home alive. I protested out of love for my brothers-in-arms. When I visualize a sailor turning his boat back into gunfire to save a soldier from the water, I know that brotherly love steered that ship. One night John Kerry pulled one soldier from dangerous waters, the next he tried to pull hundreds of thousands more back to the safety of our own shores. _________________________ Brad Kennedy lives in New Jersey and served in the US Army in Vietnam from August 1966 to July 1967. He is the author of the forthcoming novel Blood and Country: A Soldier’s Call. interventionmag.com

To: Mannie who wrote (54896)	9/10/2004 11:35:23 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Can a Vietnamese-American be Heard? ___________________________________________ by Tiana Thi Thanh Nga Published on Thursday, September 9, 2004 by CommonDreams.org Vietnam is a country, not a war. Our people have survived foreign invasions for thousands of years. With all these charges and counter charges on the Swift Boat Race, let’s have some understanding for the Vietnamese who gave so much for their independence and reunification. To lance our wounds, we have to examine and reconcile with the past, so all sides can participate in a healing that has only just BEGUN. John F. Kerry earned my deep gratitude when he demonstrated such compassion for both Vietnamese and Americans in his courageous stand against the injustices of the war 30 years ago. It is a sad reflection on the American political process that he should be torn away from important current issues and forced to defend his record. Why is the media extending full blown coverage to an unprecedented dispute over war medals precipitated by the dirty politics of Karl Rove and company? It is tragic that to this day, most American soldiers did not know why they were sent halfway across the world on missions to kill for 10,000 days. Americans should care how survivors on BOTH sides are still coping with the damage. Like in the media coverage of the war, the voices and experiences of my native Vietnamese continue to be not heard. Kerry's critics are selectively using their Vietnam experiences today as they did then, to justify a brutal war that most Americans turned against and prefer to forget. Their false charges are being widely debunked. But who is remembering the millions of Vietnamese non-combatants who died in that conflict? They have become non-persons once again in this debate. Their families live in Apocalypse Forever, and the reasons why remains in America an argument without end. Viet Nam’s TV war memories are etched in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. Just go to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and witness a daily parade of the bereaved. The same is true in Vietnam where I have met and cried with Vietnamese veterans on all sides of the conflict. This includes American vets who returned to Vietnam to help rebuild what their government forced them to destroy. John Kerry was one of these pro-active vets who demonstrated humane concern for my people. I filmed him on three occasions in Viet Nam on trips that brought healing and reunification to both sides. One was on an emotional bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with disabled Vietnamese and American vets. Senators Kerry, John McCain and Chuck Robb invited me to show my film at a Capitol Hill event they hosted for Vet Congressmen and Senators. What many Americans don't know is that these two Johns (Kerry and McCain) who fought in Viet Nam, turned US-Vietnam relations around for the better. For example, both worked tirelessly to convince President Clinton to lift the trade embargo, thereby preventing future deaths of malnourished Vietnamese babies in need of antibiotics. It took a great deal of personal courage for these two United States Senators to debunk the myths of thousands of POW's and MIA's and take a stand for reconciliation. Well aware that the Vietnamese still have over one hundred thousand MIA’s, they presided over ceremonies bringing American bones back to their loved ones. What has President Bush done? There is so much more yet to be addressed. Agent Orange research, for one, before it is too late. VN is the laboratory since we sprayed the toxic chemicals there. I have filmed Vietnamese postwar survivors living among the rubble in post war Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos with serious Agent Orange related illnesses. Innocent children still die every year from landmines – a persistent daily reminder of a war we want to simply forget. Next April 30th marks the 30 year anniversary of the war’s official end. Here we have the opportunity to mark the past in a manner that positively affects future generations. The Swift Boat controversy has brought Viet Nam back to the front pages but for the wrong reasons. Yet, this critical juncture presents the opportunity to reclaim the skeletons so that we may learn from the past and take essential steps to separate reality from myth. Look in the mirror, America, before you rewrite history again: Our ghosts are there alongside yours. We are not extras in “The Deer Hunter,” a Hollywood movie showing us in black PJ’s playing Russian roulette with your innocent young boys. Many of us are Americans now, and along with the 80 million Vietnamese in Viet Nam, we all share a common bond: we want the truth from our leaders. _________________________________________________ Tiana (Thi Thanh Nga Transparent Moon) is filmmaker, actor and performer. She made the critically acclaimed award winning FROM HOLLYWOOD TO HANOI filmed all over Viet Nam (78 mns.) www.indochinafilms.org ### _______________ commondreams.org