Atrios has the text of John Kerry's remarks to the senate all those years ago. Excerpted are some paragraphs that ring so true today...
In our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart.
...
Each day, to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam, someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn't have to admit something that the entire world already knows, so that we can't say that we have made a mistake. Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, "the first President to lose a war."
We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
...
We are here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is the leadership? We're here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatrick, and so many others? Where are they now that we, the men they sent off to war, have returned? These are the commanders who have deserted their troops. And there is no more serious crime in the laws of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never even leave their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They've left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country....
I can't add anything to that.
posted by Jo Fish on 08.21.04 at 01:05 PM
Comments:
Thinking and speaking out favors the democratic party. Willful ignorance and self-serving platitudes allow fascists to organize.
Jo, I spent 17+ years in the "Rice Paddy Navy",
I guess you could call me an Asian Hand. I served under great officers and shitty ones and managed to keep my shit together long enough to
make Chief (acting) and then eight more years to finish out as a permanent CPO... E8/9 never interested me... I felt that being a working chief was enough, and had no desire to be bound to a desk.... I was a MOTU Technician and spent my time fixing broken shit that the ships/shore stations companies could not fix... I served on Tin Cans, Cruisers, APA's, LST's as ships company as a white hat, then Worked on every Class of boat/ship the navy had after winning a Bureau Controlled billet...
I loved my tours on ships that were "Horseshit" and couldn't wait to get away from those that were "Chickenshit".. I would loved to have served with John Kerry... He would have been a fine officer to have served under... (I have the same feelings about you). You and thousands like you are what made my navy career worth while... Thanks for your service, and too bad the Cubi Officers Club is long gone, I would have liked to have challenged you to a "Tail Hook Contest"... Even tho I am now an old fart, I bet I still could hook the wire and not end up in the pool...