You are entitled to your opinion just as everyone else is. However, I have no use for anyone that assumes that they are right and uses personal attacks to attempt to discredit anyone else's views.
No, I was not a member of the "Brown Water Navy". However there are those that dispute Kerry's account.
snopes.com: John Kerry's Service Record
snopes.com: John Kerry Swift Boats
As a Vietnam veteran I have no use for John Kerry'. His obvious political motivation for his anti-war speech removes any and all credibility from anything he says. I would like to further point out that I did and still disagree with the overall micro-management of the Vietnam war by politicians just as I disagree with how the military was and is being used in Afghanistan. In addition the blunders by the Pentagon, State Department, and the Administration in Iraq cost lives and was in simple terms indefensible.
First. Thank you for your service sir.
Second. Your cited articles basically show how Kerry served honorably, amd the swiftboater campaign was a mass of baseless slander, devoid of facts; but thick with political malice only.
Third. I fully agree with your dislike of the political (and societal) handling of the Vietnam war. As well as the flagrant, even
treasonous misuse/abuse of the military by Bush/Cheney (along with their knowing amping up of the executive branch's powers (progressives warned of that more than a decade ago, and now the conservatives are whining about their own creation)).
...and Last. I am always loathe to insult someone directly, for it serves no purpose, particularly in a discussion. I strive only to bring the facts to light. As you say, everyone is entiltled to their own opinion, :yes:.......but they are only allowed to have
one reality;
one set of facts. Kerry served honorably. He acted bravely and he saved men's lives. He then spoke out against the war in Vietnam, like thousands of other former service men and women. These are facts. Whether you hate him for it, or respect him for it is up to you. The swiftboaters said he never did good things for his crew. Said that he was never injured in combat. These are lies. Lies that swayed hundreds of thousands or even millions of voters to vote against him and for the likes of the drug abusing draft dodging Bush Jr., and the duplicitous totalitarian Cheney.
The right wing media, and their wholly owned Republican party are cons. This is proven over and over and over again.
Although it may not be nice to point out....a
victim of a con artist is called a 'patsy',....swayed to vote or donate or rally or think the way the con has twisted them. Over the last 30 years, and particularly in the past 15 years, the Republican party has drifted from conservatism and into blind plutocratic zealotry (ie. fascism). Their media has lost all credibility, and is now a willful and shrill propoganda machine.
I do not mean to insult you by calling you a patsy, just as you weren't insulting me by claiming that my age somehow negated my ability to have any facts what-so-ever in my corner. Ignorance is neither something to be ashamed of, nor used as a weapon. It should be sought out and cured, as it is most definitely dangerous. Once we have the factual information (and we can set aside the propoganda), then acting on it in the right way is usually (but not always) child's-play.
PS - I don't know if you care to hear it, but this is Kerry's 1971 senate testimony regarding the Vietnam war.
Vietnam War Hearing: John Kerry Testimony - Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971) - YouTube
