War Vets and POWs Blast NY Times/Kerry "News Story"
by Jim Kouri, CPP
While 2008 seems a long ways off, there are quite a few politicians in both political parties gearing up for a presidential run. One of those politicians is Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA), who lost in 2004 largely because of his anti-war activity when he returned from four months service in Vietnam and his exaggeration of his wartime exploits.
One group that will not allow Americans to forget the real John Kerry is also gearing up for when he tosses his hat in the ring, much the same way he tossed phony medals over the White House fence when he was protesting the war with like-minded left-wingers.
"It isn't about medals, it's about honor betrayed," retired Air Force Colonel George E. "Bud" Day said in his response to the New York Times' report that Sen. John Kerry is attempting to resurrect his disputed Vietnam service and decorations as he readies for another Presidential campaign.
"The New York Times would be wise to stop dodging the real issue behind the veteran animus towards Mr. Kerry. He is anathema for a vast majority of Vietnam veterans who believe he betrayed them 35 years ago," Col. Day said.
A former Vietnam POW (1967-73) and Medal of Honor recipient, Col. Day is the most highly decorated Air Force veteran alive. He is also Chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, a non-profit organization of several POWs and the wife of a POW who are the targets of ongoing lawsuits filed by Kerry campaign aides last year. The VVLF POWs are accused of libeling and defaming Kerry and his anti-war followers in a 2004 documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal."
That film examined the impact of Kerry's testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on American POWs being held in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton" prison camp. Then Lt. jg Kerry accused Vietnam veterans of being "war criminals" who raped and plundered the Vietnamese, "murdering over 200,000 innocent civilians each year."
And Kerry hasn't changed say his critics. They point to his television appearance when he complained that US soldiers were terrorizing women and children in the middle of the night, but presented no evidence to backup his claim.
When the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced plans to air "Stolen Honor" in October 2004, the Kerry/Edwards Campaign launched an all-out effort to prevent it from being shown or distributed. The producer, a thrice-wounded, decorated Marine and a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winner, was sued immediately by Kerry campaign aides. In the wake of Kerry campaign-inspired boycotts, stockholder actions, lawsuits and Congressional demands for FCC and FEC investigations, Sinclair backed off its planned airing of "Stolen Honor."
The recent New York Times article, "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss," revealed Kerry plans to re-ignite the issue of his Vietnam service and medals, roundly disputed by virtually all of his former commanding officers and shipmates who were part of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign.
According to the Times, Kerry has gathered "new evidence" to support his claims that he is a war hero. One piece of that "new evidence" is a "hat" the Massachusetts Senator says was given to him during a highly disputed "secret mission" into Cambodia on Christmas 1968.
"No matter how many versions of his four months in Vietnam Sen. Kerry literally pulls out of his 'hat,' or the medals he shunned then embraced, all of that is nothing but reportorial smoke and fog designed to obscure the far more important issue - John Kerry's deliberate betrayal of his countrymen." Col. Day added, "That alone compelled many POWs and most Vietnam veterans, Swift Boaters included, to stand firm against this poser, this strutting would-be hero and turncoat."
One political analyst is far more more cynical than Col. Day. Mike Baker says he believes that Kerry and his minions have been running around trying to "find" documents to back Kerry's claims.
"Kerry knows the mainstream news media will help him when allegations re-surface during a Kerry nomination for President of the United States. They attempted to help him the last time by alleging war heroes were lying about Kerry's war record," said Baker.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for a number of organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores. Kouri holds a bachelor of science in criminal justice and master of arts in public administration and he's a board certified protection professional.
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