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The Fraud of the Winter Soldier
An excellent article in the Q&O Blog concerning Kerryâs testamony before congress and the âWinter Solder investigationâ which preceeded it. EFL. Many statements have been made that because John Kerry participated in Viet Nam, he had earned the right to protest the war. I want to say an unequivocal âI agreeâ. But that being said, Iâd agree that ANY American has that right. Dissent is critical to the maintenance of freedom and Iâd not deny that right to anyone for any reason. However, as with any right, there come responsibilities. One of the responsibilities incumbent upon any who dissent is to do so in a PRINCIPLED fashion. It is their right to dissent, but it is their duty to do so responsibly... To reveal the depth of dishonesty present, Al Hubbard, one of the founders of the VVAW and its Executive Secretary, claimed to be an Air Force pilot, wounded in Viet Nam. In fact, Hubbard was never an officer, never wounded and never in Viet Nam. VVAW members Elton Mazione, John Laboon, Eddie Swetz and Kenneth Van Lesser all claimed to have been a part of the Phoenix program in Viet Nam where they routinely killed children and removed body parts as a part of their duty. They were shown to have never been in the Phoenix program nor had they ever been in Viet Nam. And the list of more frauds later found within the organization is mind-boggling... Not content with this outright lie, he stated further on in his âtestimonyâ: âIt is part and parcel of everything that we are trying as human beings to communicate to people in this country: the question of racism which is rampant in the military, and so many other questions; also the use of weapons, the hypocrisy in our taking umbrage in the Geneva Conventions and using that as justification for a continuation of this war, when we are more guilty than any other body of violations of those Geneva Conventions, in the use of free-fire zones, harassment, interdiction fire, search-and-destroy missions, the bombings, the torture of prisoners, the killing of prisoners - accepted policy in many units in South Vietnam.âThis too is a complete and utter lie. For instance, to pretend that torturing or killing prisoners was an âaccepted policy in many units in South Vietnamâ is to DISHONOR those who served in Vietnam because it requires one to then believe that gross human rights violations were encouraged by the chain-of-command and therefore committed âroutinelyâ, as a matter of policy, by our soldiers. As Guenter Lewey pointed out in his book âAmerica in Vietnamâ, "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. âThose responsible were tired and punished. In either case, they were not, as alleged, part of a âcriminal policy,â"Weâve also since learned that John Kerryâs âimpassionedâ and âimpromptuâ testimony wasnât even written by him and certainly, as he claimed, NOT âimpromptuâ. --stuff about kerryâs imprompto statement being carefully crafted by a speechwriter snipped-- So what about the famous âWinter Soldier investigationâ which was the basis for Kerryâs testimony? The same disrespect for the truth was in operation during the Winter Soldier hearings. After all the atrocities were dutifully taken down, the transcript was inserted into the Congressional Record by Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, who asked the commandant of the Marine Corps to investigate the many crimes, particularly those perpetrated by Marines. "The results of this investigation, carried out by the Naval Investigative Service are interesting and revealing," said historian Guenter Lewy in his book America in Vietnam. His history of the war was one of the first to rely on previously classified documents in the National Archives. "Many of the veterans, although assured that they would not be questioned atrocities they might have committed personally, refused to be interviewed. One of the active members of the VVAW told investigators that the leadership had directed the entire membership not to cooperate with military authorities. One black Marine who testified at Winter Soldier did agree to talk with the investigators. Although he had claimed during the hearing that Vietnam was "one huge atrocity" and a "racist plot," he could provide no details of any actual crimes. Lewy said the question of atrocities had not occurred to the Marine until he left Vietnam. His testimony had been substantially "assisted" by a member of the Nation of Islam. "But the most damaging finding consisted of the sworn statements of several veterans, corroborated by witnesses, that they had in fact not attended the hearing in Detroit," Lewy wrote, "One of them had never been to Detroit in his life." Fake "witnesses" had appropriated the names of real Vietnam veterans.
Leweyâs findings? "The VVAWâs use of fake witnesses and the failure to cooperate with military authorities and to provide crucial details of the incidents further cast serious doubt on the professed desire to serve the causes of justice and humanity." Lewy wrote. "It is more likely that this inquiry, like others earlier and later, had primarily political motives and goals.â Although the âWinter Soldier investigationsâ were thoroughly discredited, they continued to be used to discredit the Vietnam era military, such as in a 1993 âNewsweekâ story by Brownmiller about gang rape by soldiers. They also continue to be the basis for the myths and stereotypes which linger, even today, about Viet Nam veterans. EFL - Posted for historical information. This is Kerryâs statement to the Senate.. Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement by John Kerry to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations Here is a link to this Winter Soldier Investigation Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-02-20 |
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