POWs’ Lawsuit Could Force Kerry to Come Clean on Vietnam “War Crimes” Charges

Reprinted from Newsmax.com

When John Kerry slandered an entire generation of men who fought in Vietnam he branded them as "war criminals." Today, much of the same thing is being said about our young men and women in Iraq.

Now, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas will test the very foundation of Kerry’s anti-war persona for the first time. It isn’t dubious medals or Kerry’s disputed service record in Vietnam that is being called into question. This time Kerry may finally be forced to answer for the events that launched his public career, one that made him an anti-war hero for many American liberals and a turncoat for millions of Vietnam veterans.

The lawsuit (Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, et al. v. Kenneth Campbell, et al.) challenges the basis, the factual accuracy of then Lt. (j.g.) Kerry’s acrimonious testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. It was there Kerry’s public career was catapulted with his now ubiquitous portrayal of American soldiers as murderers, rapists and torturers "who ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam . . . [and] razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

For the anti-war, anti-American protesters, the American soldiers are the "terrorists," and the enemies are the victims of a barbaric U.S. military which tortures and murders defenseless civilians.

That false premise, one of the most vicious and enduring smears spawned by Kerry 35 years ago, will also be put to the test once Kerry’s true "Band of Brothers" are put under oath in a Philadelphia courtroom.

The background to this lawsuit is long and complex, but even a condensed version is rich in irony and poetic justice.

It had it roots in 2004 with the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. Many may recall the film, although it is probably best known for not being seen, suppressed after Sinclair Broadcasting Company courageously announced it was going to air the documentary in its entirety. Thanks to Kerry and his liberal colleagues in the Senate and their enablers in the mainstream media, Sinclair was browbeaten into withdrawing the film, its broadcast license threatened by a Kerry campaign manager in 2004. The film’s producer, Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter, interviewed former POWs for the documentary.

I was among those whom Sherwood, a decorated Marine combat veteran himself, asked to participate in Stolen Honor. I was a POW for nearly six years, held in North Vietnam prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a place of unimaginable horrors — torture, beatings, starvation and mind-numbing isolation. When Kerry branded us "war criminals," he handed our captors all the justification they needed to carry out their threats to execute us. Thanks to Kerry, Jane Fonda and their comrades in the anti-war movement, our captivity was prolonged by years. The communists in Hanoi and Moscow couldn’t have had a better press agent to spread their anti-American propaganda.

To guarantee Stolen Honor would never be seen by anyone — not even theatre-goers — the producer was slapped with a libel and defamation lawsuit. That lawsuit was filed by a long-time anti-war disciple of the Massachusetts Senator. He was one of Kerry's key war crimes "witnesses," one of several on whom Kerry claims he based his Senate testimony.

The lawsuit put a unique spin on the definition of defamation, claiming that Stolen Honor had damaged the public reputations of himself, Kerry and others by simply quoting their own words and criticisms of America during the Vietnam war!

The POWs and the wives of POWs who participated in Stolen Honor refused to abandon the facts conveyed in the film. For some of us, it was the first time since our release by the Communists in 1973 that we were able to have our voices publicly heard, to tell our stories about the consequences of Kerry’s treachery. In 2005, we formed a nonprofit organization, the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), to gather records, documents and other materials to form a fact-based, educational repository for students and scholars of Vietnam history and to tell the true story of the American soldiers in Vietnam. The VVLF’s mission is "to set the record straight, factually, about Vietnam and those who fought there."

For our efforts, we were promptly sued by two long-time anti-war Kerry followers and VVAW members. It was clear that Kerry not only wanted to punish us for Stolen Honor; he intended to use surrogates to sue us into permanent silence and financial ruin.

Forced to spend huge sums to defend ourselves from these frivolous lawsuits, we have filed a countersuit against these Kerry surrogates and intend to reveal the truth about the lawsuits and their sponsors. We believe that we can prove that the purpose of nearly two years of litigation was to protect John Kerry, to drain us financially and spiritually, and to prevent us from setting the record straight.

At stake is ultimately nothing less than the integrity of the American military in Vietnam, the honor of the men who served their country, the nobility of those who gave their lives, and the truth of America’s history in Vietnam. Until or unless we do correct the existing record, the American military may never be free of the myths and smears of Vietnam, its honor and integrity cleansed as it fights to defend freedom at home and around the world.

Our mission is hardly over. We hope you will join us in fighting this battle . . . for our soldiers, then and now. For more information about Vietnam, the foregoing litigation, or to make a donation, please access the VVLF website now — Go Here Now.

Col. George E. "Bud" Day
Director and President
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.,) was a POW in North Vietnam for five years, seven months and 13 days. He served in three wars (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) and earned the Medal of Honor. He is the Air Force’s most decorated living veteran. He is the Director and President of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, Inc., an organization created to better educate and inform the public about the Vietnam War, its events, its history, and the men and women who sacrificed to serve their country. Please go here to read Col. Day’s statement in its entirety.

Americans Do Not Have a Severe Disease

On July 12th of this year, Claire Shipman of ABC News wrote an article entitled “Gorbachev: Americans Have a Severe Disease.” http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2182020&page=1

In it he said, “Do you [America] really think you are smarter than we are?” He went on to say that Americans are arrogant and “…are trying to impose their way of life on other nations.”

Mr. Gorbachev did not state which other nations he referred to. If the former Soviet Union (his own country) is one of those nations, I don’t think I’d be far off base if I were to say, “Yes, America today is smarter than Russia.”

Is it arrogant for me to make such a statement? Marginally. But I believe my response is no more arrogant than the likely utterances of, say, Ramses the Great, or Hannibal, or Alexander, or Queen Elizabeth I, or even Czar Ivan (the Terrible of Holy Russia), all of who bled and drew blood to build, expand, and strengthen empires. Historical archives are stacked to the rafters with the names of such arrogant men and women.

It is fact that no country on Earth is without error or sin, not even America. Many mistakes are made in the formation and growth of a nation. Just as with the raising of a child, no plan is perfect, and neither are all solutions to specific problems ideal. Humans and lands grow and progress by fault. America has grown, prospered and is future-minded; here is where freedom reigns, for now and always. At the same time, unfortunately and shamefully, there are other countries, such as Russia and in the Middle East, who appear to be marching backwards to their primordial origins.

Presently, Russia is in a state of ruin. Doubtless, her citizens—particularly the elderly—would not mind terribly if we would impose our way of life upon them, namely, employment, trade, decent transportation, healthy food (or rather, any decent food); higher education, healthcare, to name only a few. (Granted, our healthcare, political, and industrial systems are overdue for serious restructuring, but, as is, they remain far and away supremely better than what does not exist in Russia today. Insofar as our healthcare is concerned, just ask any of the injured Iraqi children who were brought here by our soldiers and given complimentary medical treatment.)

In the area of benevolence, Mr. Gorbachev should be reminded that, apart from the monetary aid provided by the U.S. Government, aggregate donations from ordinary American citizens like myself topped three-quarters of a billion dollars for the victims and countries devastated by the earthquake and tsunamis of December 2004. Our president ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other strike groups deployed to assist, as well as American hospital ships. There were also foreign troops from Singapore, Japan, and Australia. And everywhere, in every country and region affected by that tragedy, were volunteer American private enterprises side by side with other nations’ citizens ministering selflessly to the injured, displaced, and deceased.

Where was Russia on that list? I have researched reports and found only inconsequential data. Yet, Mr. Gorbachev made audacious and outrageous accusations against the United States of America.

Mr. Gorbachev broke bread and brokered for peace and nuclear disarmament with one of our greatest presidents. He took pleasure in our 5-star hospitality, which was offered in friendship and trust. He is, therefore, incautious to suggest Americans suffer from a severe disease. For Mr. Gorbachev to make such a remark is no different than a person opening his home to a friend in sincere amity and later the invited friend badmouths his host.

I am of Russian origin and proud of it. But I do not call myself a Russian-American. I am an American. Period. So when I read such baseless material quoted by someone I once admired, I am discomfited with the fact that he and I hailed from the same, once great nation.

Today there is only one great nation on Earth: America. It is to America I have pledged my complete allegiance. Warts and all, I would never scorn, ridicule or belittle the country that lovingly opened her arms to my family and provided them safe haven from the ravages of World War II.

Before he proffers further idle statements, I would suggest Mr. Gorbachev first look at his own country and peoples, because whatever phantom illness he claims Americans are afflicted with is a trifling compared to the unattended ailments and widespread squalid poverty in which a vast majority of Russians are forced to subsist today. And when those in Russia are blessed with escape from their desolate existence, more often than not their final destination is but one port: America.

Mr. Gorbachev, if it is a disease having the privilege of being an American with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then may no scientist ever discover a cure.

Liberals Say They Don't Lie. They Just Don't Report The Truth.

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2006 - Iraqi security forces and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers worked together to kill three terrorists and detain 14 suspected terrorists over two days this week.

U.S. soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, seized a large weapons and munitions cache while conducting a combat patrol west of Baghdad Oct. 11.

The soldiers seized 5,000 13.5 mm armor-piercing rounds, 130 82 mm mortar rounds, four 120 mm mortar rounds, 30 60 mm mortar rounds, five rockets, 28 RPG rounds, five 40 mm high-explosive rounds, 13 grenades, five RPG launchers, five rifles and various bomb-making materials.

An explosive ordnance disposal team performed a controlled detonation of the weapons and munitions.

And, a combined U.S.-Iraqi patrol consisting of U.S. soldiers from the 463rd Military Police Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and Iraqi policemen engaged an unknown number of terrorists during a firefight in Saab al Bour, north of Baghdad, on Oct. 11. Two suspected terrorists were detained. Iraqi soldiers from 2nd Tank Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, identified the two in custody as the same men who had fired at them on previous days.

Meanwhile, a separate U.S. patrol from 1st BCT observed eight local nationals acting suspiciously and detained them near Boob al Sham, north of Baghdad on Oct. 11. The GIs requested assistance from Company C, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st BCT, 4th Infantry Division.

The reinforcements arrived to assist the first patrol and to maintain custody of the detainees. The second patrol returned to their base to question the detainees. All were released except for an Iranian fighter.

And, a combined U.S.-Iraqi patrol from 2nd Tank Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, and 463rd Military Police Company, attached to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, killed three terrorists and detained one during a firefight in Saab al Bour on Oct. 10.

After receiving small-arms fire, the patrol engaged the terrorists, killing one and wounding several others. The patrol then called for aviation support and continued to press the fight against the enemy forces. U.S. Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopters from 1st Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, responded and engaged two terrorists in an open field.

In a separate incident, U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, detained a terrorist cell leader and three of his associates in Adhamiyah Oct. 10.

And U.S. soldiers seized a large munitions cache while conducting a combat patrol northwest of Baghdad, Oct. 10.

The soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, seized 123 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, seven 120 mm mortar rounds, five 20 mm mortar rounds, 41 illumination rounds, a RPG launcher, four boxes of .50-caliber ammunition and various bomb-making materials.

An explosive ordnance disposal team performed a controlled detonation of the munitions.

As of Oct. 11, Iraqi forces and U.S. soldiers had cleared more than 95,000 buildings, 80 mosques and 65 muhallas, detained more than 210 terrorist suspects, seized more than 1,700 weapons, registered more than 750 weapons and found more than 41 weapons caches in support of Operation Together Forward. The combined forces have removed more than 206,393 cubic meters of trash from Baghdad streets.

(Compiled from Multinational Division Baghdad news releases.)

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1611]

Free Schooling For Illegal Immigrants On How To Buy Food Stamps

There's been a lot of noise in the media lately on the immigration problem that is growing in our country.

For those who are not familiar with what is occurring in the State of California, I attach a link to an October 13 Los Angeles Times report, which proves that the problem is getting way out of hand.

Read it and weep.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stamp13oct13,1,224178.story?ctra

Pardon Me While I Whip This Out

Scandals, whether political, sexual, or otherwise, have been a skein of yarn in the overall knitting of the fabric of any country’s social structure.

Here in America, the Democrats of late have been beating their tom-toms and whooping their war chants over incidents involving a fellow named Foley and his alleged electronic misconduct involving a couple of younger fellows.

Sigh.

Backtrack 300 years. Scandals were just as prominent then, and no better or worse. In 1777 there was Conway Cabal’s conspiracy to oust George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. Conway missed by a mile. General Washington was elected the first President of the United States.

By the 1800s, the list of bad boys and girls doing nasty things grew, and kept growing: Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton’s duel. Hamilton lost, by the way. And there was Judge John Pickering’s impeachment by the U.S. Senate for spewing vitriol and obscenities while on the bench and in a state of inebriation. Tammany Hall. Crédit Mobilier of America. The Whiskey Ring. William Belknap, Secretary of War, and the bribes he accepted.

Between 1900 and 1945 were the Newport Sex Scandal and the Teapot Dome Scandal. Things seemed to be tapering off. But the lull was only temporary.

Between 1945 and 1999 the list not only grew, it was impressive. To name only a few:

The 1951 Department of Justice tax scandal ... Robert Mitchum busted and jailed for smoking a marijuana cigarette ... Joe McCarthy ... Billy Sol Estes ... Bobby Baker ... Ingrid Bergman left her husband to be with Roberto Rossellini. (Not a bad thing, actually, because from that union sprouted the magnificent Isabella Rossellini.) ... Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. ... Senator Thomas Dodd ... Justice Abe Fortas ... The Pentagon Papers ... Watergate ... President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon ... The Milk Money Scandal ... “Lancegate” ... “Billygate” ... First Lady Betty Ford admits she’s an addict ... Senator Herman Talmadge ... Abscam ... William Casey ... Iran-Contra ... The Keating Five ... The House Banking Scandal ... Vince Foster’s “suicide ” ... Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s financial bad behavior ... Whitewater ... Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

Then 2000 rolled around:

Enron ... Trent Lott’s resignation over racial hullaballoos ... Bill Frist's involvement in campaign finance improprieties ... Abu Ghraib ... Tom DeLay ... Janet Jackson's wardrobe "malfunction" ... Sandy Berger removing classified documents, then pleading guilty ... Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal ... Mel Gibson (funny thing, Barbara Walters publicly stated that she would never again speak to Mel after his arrest for drunkenness and alleged anti-Jewish remarks. Now we're hearing that Ms. Walters is incensed that it was not she but the classy Diane Sawyer who has nailed a first-since-the-incident interview with Mr. Gibson. Shades of John Kerry: "I voted for it before I voted against it.")

And now, Mark Foley.

On the peccadillo peter meter, Mr. Foley's bugaboo should be rated a measley "2," 10 being the worst. Yet, the Democrats have called for a jihad against him, and at a time when more heinous events have occured in our country, namely the killing of innocent children in their schools. How can the Democrats justify their wailing over a couple of inappropriate e-mails when mothers and fathers have had to bury daughters who had been shot to death in cold blood?

In the grand scheme of things, this, like all other scandals before it, will not cause Earth to crash into the sun, and neither will the crops wither and die. Liberals should accept that this latest tittle-tattle pales in comparison to lean pastrami on rye, which is more tasty and fulfilling. They should also engage in a good game of dodgeball, which they would find more fun and satisfying.

Democrats should expend the same amounts of energy that they've poured over the Foley affairs on convicting, sentencing and executing terrorists who plot and kill innocent Americans, as well as men who kidnap, torture, rape and murder little boys and girls.

I have arrived at the conclusion that it would be best if the Republican Party remain in control, warts and all, to iron out the kinks, mend the rips and tears, and resolve the problems they have created. It's either them or the whimpering, simpering Left who have accomplished little or nothing other than bang their gongs at a time when respectful silence should have been the order of the day.

I'm now anxious to hear what the Left have to say -- if they could take a break from marinating in their own testosterone -- about North Korea's detonation of an underground nuclear device. This is something to lose sleep over. Not Mark Foley.

2008 Democratic Convention Agenda

6:00 p.m. - Opening flag burning ceremony
6:05 p.m. - Opening secular prayers by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton
6:30 p.m. - Anti-war concert by Barbra Streisand
6:40 p.m. - Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

7:00 p.m. - Tribute theme to France
7:10 p.m. - Collect offerings for al-Zawahri defense fund
7:25 p.m. - Tribute theme to Germany
7:40 p.m. - Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
7:45 p.m. - Anti-war rally (Moderated by Michael Moore)

8:25 p.m. - Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:30 p.m. - Terrorist appeasement workshop
9:00 p.m. - Gay marriage ceremony (both male and female couples) (Formal Attire Optional)
9:30 p.m. - *Intermission*

10:00 p.m. - Posting the Iraqi Colors by Sean Penn and Tim Robbins
10:10 p.m. - Re-enactment of Kerry's fake medal toss
10:20 p.m. - Cameo by Howard 'Yeeearrrrrrrg!' Dean
10:30 p.m. - Abortion demonstration by N.A.R.A.L.
10:40 p.m. - Ted Kennedy proposes a toast and late night swim
10:50 p.m. - Pledge of allegiance to the U.N.

11:00 p.m. - Multiple gay marriage ceremony (threesomes, mixed and same sex) Rep. Barney Frank (D, Mass.), Sponsor (Formal Attire Optional)
11:15 p.m. - Maximizing Welfare workshop
11:30 p.m. - 'Free Saddam' pep rally
11:59 p.m. - Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

12:00 p.m. - Nomination of democratic candidate

P.S. Any chance anyone could get Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home from the convention?