Wanna see why the swifities are pissed and not going away

[dude1394]

Here is an interview with one of the swifties talking about how he was a POW when Hanoi Kerry spoke.

Here he is when he got out of a n. vietnam jail.


Here is Kerry's REAL band of brothers

Kerry '71 testimony caused POW 'flashback'
Officer recalls accusations aired over PA at 'Hanoi Hilton' prison
Posted: August 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

A former prisoner of war in Vietnam says he recently experienced a "flashback" when he heard a recording of John Kerry accusing soldiers of war crimes in 1971 testimony before a Senate committee.


Paul Galanti

Paul Galanti, captured in 1966 after ejecting from his fighter jet about 100 miles south of Hanoi, said on the Sean Hannity radio show yesterday he first heard Kerry's testimony in late 1971 when it was broadcast by his North Vietnamese captors over the public address system in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison.

The broadcast on Radio Vietnam by "Hanoi Hannah" was used to reinforce the message of his captors during torture sessions, said Galanti, 64, now retired in Richmond, Va.

"We were not prisoners of war, we were 'war criminals,' they would say. 'You are going to be tried, you will never go home.'"

Then came Hanoi Hannah introducing a clip from Kerry's testimony.

"I couldn't believe it, a Navy officer saying we were all war criminals, that we raped and pillaged the countryside like Genghis Khan," said Galanti.

Galanti, who flew 97 combat missions, said he had not suffered a flashback from the war until he recently heard a recording of the April 22, 1971, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His memory was triggered when he heard Kerry mispronouncing "Ghenghis Khan."

"Then I was back there again," he said.

Galanti said Kerry broke a covenant with his fellow servicemen, to never jeopardize their safety with public criticism. But he believes, moreover, the Massachusetts senator betrayed his country.

"John Kerry was a traitor," he said, adding the "definition of treason is giving aid and comfort to the enemy in the time of war."

As WorldNetDaily reported, Galanti appears in a new television ad by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a group of 254 vets who served with Kerry and have signed a letter contending he is unfit to be commander in chief.

The 30-second spot intersperses comments from Galanti and another former POW, Ken Cordier, with Kerry's 1971 testimony.

Galanti says in the ad, "John Kerry gave the enemy for free what I and many of my comrades in North Vietnam, in the prison camps, took torture to avoid saying. ... It demoralized us."

Later, Galanti concludes the ad with, "He dishonored his country and, more importantly, the people he served with. He just sold them out."

The TV commercial begins with audio and photographs from Kerry's testimony in which he charged Americans serving in Vietnam "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Kerry's testimony was based on the "Winter Soldier investigation" in Detroit earlier that year, in which his Vietnam Veterans Against the War, or VVAW, heard stories of alleged atrocities committed in a climate said to have been created by the U.S. government and military command. He also claimed to have committed and witnessed war crimes on a regular basis.

But extensive probes of VVAW's event, which was sponsored in part by Jane Fonda, found many of those who testified as eyewitnesses to atrocities did not even serve in Vietnam, including the group's co-chairman Al Hubbard.

Galanti said that when he first heard the broadcast of Kerry's testimony, he didn't believe it was real. But after his release in February 1973, he heard it again and saw a picture of Kerry.

"The hair on the back of my neck stood up," he said. "That's the son of a gun they put on radio."

'One of the lucky ones'

Recounting his capture, Galanti said he was "one of the lucky ones, because a lot of my friends didn't come home."


Galanti and his wife made the cover of Newsweek when he returned in 1973 after 2,432 days in captivity.

After ejecting during a bombing run, he was shot in the back of the neck as he glided to earth with a parachute.

As he saw about 20 Vietnamese coming toward him from all directions, he called on U.S. airplanes to make a strafing run, but his colleagues declined because "they couldn't see where I was" and feared hitting him.

"See you after the war," he said, signing off.

Galanti said his captors stripped him down to his underwear and tied him to a tree.

"I don't remember being afraid," he said. "It was almost like my mind left my body and was looking at this poor chump about to be executed."

But Galanti, severely injured, was escorted to Hanoi over the course of 12 days, partly by truck and partly on foot.

He spent six years and eight months in 10 different camps, known to the American prisoners by names such as "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Little Vegas." Collectively they were known as the "Hanoi Hilton."

He was beaten about once a quarter, he said, and on occasion he and other prisoners would be slapped around if, for example, a "guard didn't like the way we were walking."

Many of those years, he said, were spent in seven-by-seven-foot isolation cells.

The penalty for trying to communicate with another American, he noted, was to be placed in leg irons with hands tied behind the back.

That produced anger he said, and it was that deeply embedded emotion that kept him going.


Kerry's book "The New Soldier" accused the U.S. of making its soldiers commit war crimes.

Galanti says he got involved in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad when retired Adm. Roy Hoffman, the group's initial organizer, who also lives in Richmond, invited him to a meeting.

One of the veterans at the meeting had a copy of a book Kerry spearheaded for VVAW, "The New Soldier," which includes his Senate testimony and quotes from other members during the Winter Soldier event.

The book's cover has a photograph of hippie-clad veterans in a mocking pose of the famous Iwo Jima image from World War II. Kerry refused to allow it to be republished and copies are selling on eBay for as much as $1,000.

"I read it and got madder and madder," Galanti said.

Galanti is among many veterans who believe Kerry's testimony serverely damaged the war effort, resulting in the further loss of American lives.

"I wonder how many were killed because this guy gave the communists the message they were giving to us," he asked.

He pointed out that while, as a POW, he was treated well upon his return home, many veterans were spat upon because they were seen as "crazies and lunatics" -- a reputation fueled, he contends, in large part by the accusations of Kerry's group.

Wants Kerry apology

Asked if he believes Kerry should apologize, Galanti said: "I don't think he's going to. I think he should, but I don't think he's going to."

"It would be the seal of doom for his campaign," he said.

Galanti says he supports President Bush, who he thinks is doing a "fantastic job" in the war on terror, but says he supported Sen. John McCain in the 2000 primary and endorsed Virginia Democratic Gov. Mark Warner.

Galanti was in the same prison camp as McCain several times, he said.

On Saturday, Cordier, the other former POW who appears in the ad, resigned as a volunteer from the Bush campaign's veterans' steering committee because of his participation with the swiftboat vets' effort.

"Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement," the Bush campaign said in a statement. "Because of his involvement, Col. Cordier will no longer participate as a volunteer for Bush-Cheney '04."

Galanti said he is pleased with the way the ad turned out, but is prepared to be dismissed as a liar by defenders of Kerry.

"It's one of these things, you become a public figure and your privacy goes away."

He said he's received about 1,000 e-mails since news of the ad broke Friday, and only about 10 were negative.

[LRB]

It's no question that Kerry betrayed his fellow servicemen and his country with his vicious lies. That he adamently has refused to apologize for remarks he made 33 years ago speaks volumes about his character or rather lack thereof. Our young men and women in the armed forces would be extremely foolish to ever put one ounce of trust in a traitor such as Kerry. Kerry would leave them in the lurch in a heartbeat if he thought it was politically expedient for him.

[kg_veteran]

This is the stuff that Kerry REALLY didn't want America to hear about. All of the debate about severity of injuries and merit for certain awards is one thing, but the more that his comments are broadcast and repeated, the more that people will realize what a traitor John Kerry really was.

[LRB]

the more that people will realize what a traitor John Kerry really was.

And some would argue that he's still a traitor. And I would have to agree with them.

[Drbio]

"John Kerry was a traitor," he said, adding the "definition of treason is giving aid and comfort to the enemy in the time of war."

There is no doubt whatsoever that Kerry gave comfort to the enemy during a time of war. By going on overseas radio and condemning US servicemen and propping up the enemy's propaganda, Kerry became a traitor to the United States of America.

That he might be the next president is pathetic and wrong.

[dude1394]

kerry

Synchronicity is a weird thing. Just after completing my last post, I received an email from Laura Armstrong, who wrote this back in March:

I'm the daughter of Lt. Col. Roger J. "Black Bart" Bartholomew, a First Air Cavalry rocket artillery helicopter pilot who was killed in Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day 1968, when I was eight years old. I'm a former journalist with a military newspaper, a U.S. Marine widow, and I am appalled at Mr. Kerry's latest assertions that our president "has reopened the wounds of Vietnam." For months, I've heard President Bush talking about the present, while Mr. Kerry and the media want to focus on the past. I think we need to see the whole picture.

Liberal critics of American foreign policy have claimed they "support the troops"--but they're obviously hoping we have short memories. Many of us will never forget the hundreds of lawyers they dispatched to Florida in 2000 to make sure military absentee ballots did not get counted (some sources say that two out of three military voices in Florida were never heard). That was after the Clinton administration initiated rules making it more difficult to vote on overseas military bases.

As the kid of a real war hero who did not come back, I'd like to comment not on Kerry's service, but his postservice activities. Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Mr. Kerry's organization of choice when he returned from his shortened tour of duty in Vietnam (and his springboard to fame), was known to me even as a child. The organization, while providing a place for angst-ridden vets to land after coming home, had an awful effect on those of us who lost our fathers.

It was bad enough to hear our dads criticized by those who hated the military, but to hear vets allege rampant war crimes and call their fellow soldiers evil before all the world really twisted the knife. Mr. Kerry led the way, proud in the company of Jane Fonda and others we believed had caused the deaths of good men. This group's testimony tarnished honorable actions. After taking the oath to preserve and protect, they grandstanded, throwing service awards in a show of defiance that diminished each sacrifice. Their stories dominated while the stories of thousands of honorable vets went untold. I don't hold it against them after so many years, but I'm dead sure I don't want their darling Kerry, the man who voted against funding our guys in Operation Iraqi Freedom, to be our next commander in chief.

In 2004, nothing is more important than continuing to protect America and fight terrorism. President Bush has led, not perfectly but earnestly. He has put much on the line to do what he believes is right. And he needs our continued support in the months to come.

[FishForLunch]

How come no one asks Kerry about his book "The New Soilder". Do you think there are copies of the book anywhere?

[LRB]

Originally posted by: FishForLunch
How come no one asks Kerry about his book "The New Soilder". Do you think there are copies of the book anywhere?

Kerry refuses to allow more copies to be published. I wouldn't doubt if he's not trying to sue anyone who has a copy and shares what's in it or attempts to sell it.

[Epitome22]

Oh I see, it's vendetta and personal vengence driving this madness. Why am I not surprised?

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Epitome22
Oh I see, it's vendetta and personal vengence driving this madness. Why am I not surprised?

You really should get your eyesight checked because it quite frankly sucks.

[mavsman55]

Originally posted by: LRB

You really should get your eyesight checked because it quite frankly sucks.

It's not his eyesight that sucks, it's his ability to comprehend simple facts that needs work.

[dude1394]

I think kerry has opened up a huge big sore, that a lot of vets were hoping would go away. But it is not and doesn't look like it will. That is probably as it should be, the vets now feel they can get what they feel is the real story out there. I think you should have talked a little bit more about those 20 years in the senate johnny boy. Probably should have taken Dole and McCain advice. However I'm starting to think nothing would have kept these guys from speaking out.

The internet will not allow kerry to only promote one side of his military service and these guys don't look like they are in a mood to forgive and forget. This is a vet who is commenting on this photo when kerry was talking to a VFW convention in Ohio

There is a reason that some of those veterans turned their backs to Kerry and that many others sat with arms folded, refusing even polite applause. A reason that non veterans can, perhaps, know intellectually but not feel in their guts.
Like all veterans of all wars, regardless of branch of service or duty stations, we all lost friends there. Some of those we lost were closer than brothers. Unlike other wars in our history we didn't go over together and come home together, our individual wars ended individually. Unlike other wars we came home branded by a large segment of our society as war criminals, by another segment as losers. Then, as most of us were already home, one of our own officers branded us all, including the dead that we were just beginning to mourn, as war criminals, murderers and rapists. We later discovered that many of those that he was quoting as witnesses to our 'crimes' had not spent one day in uniform. Others had never served in Viet Nam. None of them, not a single one, would testify under oath, even if granted immunity. Yet our 'crimes' became part of the common knowlege. Our children were given that testimony as fact in their history classes. We all knew soldiers, sailors,airmen and Marines that had died, leaving children behind, we know that those children were taught those same lies as fact. Who sat with those children as we did with ours, explaining that those were lies told for political gain?
It's bad enough that we couldn't mourn our dead then. Now we see the same man that stood over the open graves of our brothers and pissed on their bodies is back. This time he's dug up those bodies and is standing on them to give himself the stature for high office.
I am no famous war hero, just one of the two and a half million guys who wore Uncle's suit for awhile in a place where the same truck would splash red mud on your trousers and throw a cloud of dust on your face at the same time. My service was entirely undistinguished but I stood shoulder to shoulder with some genuine heros. Those heros came home in shiney aluminum caskets, they cannot speak for themselves. I hope someone more famous and more eloquent will speak for them soon. Until they do I can only say that not only is John Kerry not fit to command the young men and women that inherited the uniforms but he is not fit to speak of my comrades, much less speak for them. I shall say this as long as I have a breath left in my body.
This isn't about George Bush or who has a Senate majority for me. It isn't about politics. It's about a bunch of young men who never grew old. It's about the families of some 58,000 men who cannot answer the slander that this War Hee-row has never retracted.
I tried to answer that slander in 1971, I had no one to hear my voice. No way to reach anyone but my family. I have that way now, if only commenting on other people's forums.
It isn't about me. It isn't even about politics. It's about restoring the honor to the 58,000 names carved in black granite.

[LRB]

It's about restoring the honor to the 58,000 names carved in black granite.

Kerry has dug his political grave by resurrecting Vietnam.

[Drbio]

Interviews like this make me wish that the Vets could just get Kerry in a dark alley for a few minutes.