John Kerry Admits His "War Crimes" to NBC's Tim Russert.

The following is from a John Kerry’s interview with Tim Russert on May 6, 2001 . In this interview, Tim Russert confronts Kerry about his admission of committing war crimes in Vietnam. John Kerry’s defense was the same defense as that used during the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal--“We were ordered to do it.” Those defenses weren’t accepted then and they shouldn’t be accepted now!

Why hasn’t this important issue been covered by the media? Why wasn’t Kerry asked about his admission of war crimes in one of the three debates? The Washington Post has run articles highlighting how John Kerry has criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Kerry thinks that Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should go and that President Bush should take responsibility. In both of these stories, however, the Post failed to mention that Kerry himself has publicly admitted to committing war crimes in Vietnam.

The question for you to answer is: “Do you think an admitted war criminal should be elected as President of the United States ?” Using Kerry’s own logic, John Kerry should not be elected President, because he’s a self-admitted war criminal.

Guess what? You Decide The 2004 Election!

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THE INTERVIEW (Long before the “Swift Boat” ads)

MR. RUSSERT: You mentioned you're a military guy. There's been a lot of discussion about Bob Kerrey, your former Democratic colleague in the Senate, about his talking about his anguish about what happened in Vietnam . You were on this program 30 years ago as a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. And we went back and have an audiotape of that and some still photos. And your comments are particularly timely in this overall discussion of Bob Kerrey. And I'd like for you to listen to those with our audience and then try to put that war into some context:

(quote from audiotape -- April 18, 1971 )

MR. CROSBY NOYES (Washington Evening Star): Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?

SEN. KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant William Calley, are war criminals.

(End of audiotape quote)

MR. RUSSERT: Thirty years later, do you stand by that?

SEN. KERRY: I don't stand by the genocide. I think those were the words of an angry young man. We did not try to do that. But I do stand by the description--I don't even believe there is a purpose served in the word "war criminal." I really don't. But I stand by the rest of what happened over there, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: By your own comments, Bob Kerrey was not alone in doing the things that he did.

SEN. KERRY: Oh, of course not. And not only that we, the government of our country, ran an assassination program. I mean, (CIA Director) Bill Colby has acknowledged it. We had the Phoenix Program, where they actually went into villages to eliminate the civilian infrastructure of the Vietcong. Now, you couldn't tell the difference in many cases who they were. And countless veterans testified 30 years ago to that reality. And I think--look, there's no excusing shooting children in cold blood, or women, and killing them in cold blood. There isn't, under any circumstances. But we're not asking, you know, nor is Bob Kerrey saying, "Excuse us for what we did." We're asking people to try to understand the context and forgiveness. And I think the nation needs to understand what the nation put it’s young in a position to do, and move on and take those lessons and apply them to the future.

END OF INTERVIEW

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There is clear evidence that the large majority of Vietnam veterans served with honor and integrity and didn’t commit war crimes. However, by his own words John Kerry was not one of them. In the third presidential debate, Kerry said that his mother told him to remember three things: “Integrity, Integrity, Integrity.” Apparently, John Kerry left that word (and the concept) back in the US when he went off to Vietnam .

There is also clear evidence, contrary to Kerry’s assertions, that it was not written policy of the United States government to order it’s soldiers to commit war crimes. But, here you have John Kerry, a candidate for President of the United States , the most powerful office in the world, IN HIS OWN WORDS admitting to his war crimes and atrocities in Vietnam .

John Kerry, also in his own words, said that his actions are “inexcusable.” So don’t excuse him now by voting for him as President and thereby rewarding him for his war crimes in Vietnam !

You Decide the 2004 Election.

(If you think any of the above is not accurate, you can read the full text of the Tim Russert interview by clicking here: History News Network .)

Um ok.... it seems that service records matter.. have a look at this...


Do You See A Pattern Here?

Democrats
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Viet nam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
&n bsp;* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrab acher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* Joh n Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)


Do you see a pattern here?


Tom

Right,OK,Tommy.The subject is war crimes! Lets see you compare apples & oranges to war crimes!I cant bwelieve people can actually overlook this crap! What has become of our country where we could do that! If we can actually vote for a traitor,then the US has far greater problems than a terrorist threat!

C3RVETTE,


Valid point taken. However it should be noted he SERVED he country. My father did some rather inhumane things in Vietnam and other parts of the world, at least carry had the courage to step forward and put the spot light on it. That isn't a traitor that is a patriot. He did his duty he did what his commander asked of him, that is what a soldier does.

To add to this I trully do not believe that one man even the President can make that much of a difference. However I believe that the President sets the tempo for the rest of the nation, I base this belief from the Clinton area... you couldn't want 10 feet without tripping over a help wanted sign. This was because he engergized the nation (neither of these candidates does this in my opinon, therefore i am for what i believe to be the lesser of the two evils). I am not a huge Kerry fan however I have seen what Bush has done to the country over the last 4 years and to be very frank with you I am AFFRAID of the next 4 should Bush be re-elected. His out sourcing our Jobs to other countries is a direct cry by big corporations to control labor... before Bush there were plenty of Jobs... educated people could be more selective as to who they worked for and at what pay rate, since out sourcing that has been done away with we have seen America's middle class take the brunt of the assult. Republicans have ALWAYS been against the middle class, i have seen this since Reagan.. they want to see a larger divide between rich and poor. Anyway enough of my ramblings.


My $.02


Tom


I'd vote for Mickey Mouse before I'd vote for Bush. GO KERRY!

Where are you getting this bogus info from? Your facts are scewed.Check Kerrys voting record over the last 20 years.Every chance he got,he voted against intelligence,our national Defense,our 2nd Amendment rights.So,in effect,he wants to disarm our troops and us,too.I'm really surprised you think a traitor served his country...he left a man behind,he injured himself to go home,he lied & stabbed his comrades in the back to the enemy-the North Vietnamese,which led to POWS being tortured worse,he stuck out his chest & proclaimed homself a war hero while proyesting the war while soldiers were still over there,& 240 of his own unit say hes a damn liar!.And you think a President single-handedly affects jobs.He cant do a thing w/o the Congress voting on it.You need to go back & re-educate yourself with a valid factual argument This is closer to a hero..-->> http://www.virtualwall.org/dm/MartinHC01a.htm

|UPDATED|10/24/2004 11:10:25 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

while Bush is not perfect by any means, he has not outsourced jobs to other countries...the President doesn't do that. Jobs have been outsourced because other countries have much cheaper labor rates and Congress (composed of Republicans and Democrats) has created a tax system that punishes corporations with confiscatory tax laws and just about forces companies to control labor rates by outsourcing some functions. The problem is not outsourcing functions to other domestic sources...that creates entrepeneurship and allows people to start their own companies and creat even more jobs...the problem is outsourcing to offshore nations. The fact is we have a net gain of jobs...as some American companies have outsourced to foreign lands, even more jobs have ben created by foreign companies outsourcing here to the US...companies such as Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Sony and many others have built factories here and hired American workers.

I'm not fond by any means of losing jobs to other countries, but there is a net gain to the US. Those directly affected by the outsourcing certainly have to deal with it, and they are the prey of the Democrats who use them for political purposes, and care nothing about them beyond that.

As far as Clinton goes...he was certainly very lucky much more than good. He comes into office after the end of an extremely mild recession, on the beginning of an economic boom fueled by the end of the cold war, the final payments on the S&L collapses, the start of the information age boom and a huge stock market surge based upon the tax cuts of the 1980's. Even Clinton's tax increases weren't enough to keep it from occuring, in fact the '90s would have been even better without his tax increases (basic economics here). He rode the wave and took credit for it, though it was none of his doing, but that's OK...all Presidents take credit or the blame for whatever happens during their Administration whether deserved or not. Just remember...during all this, Clinton cut the military, twice turned down offers to take Usama bin Laden into custody, got us involved in a Balkans war that had no strategic need to the United States that we're still stuck with, failed to respond in any meaningful fashion to a number of terrorist attacks on American interests, among others, and whose prime interest revolved around getting his noodle wet from any woman other than his wife who was agreeable.

As far as the future...John Kerry just ain't the man. His whole history in elected office shows he has talked big, but he has continually voted against our best long-term interests, and that's when he's showed up at all.

Tom, I am on your side, lesser of two evils. I wish there was a viable third choice.

scott78 said: Tom, I am on your side, lesser of two evils. I wish there was a viable third choice.

unbelievable!

1. The 'Real' John Kerry - Netlore Archive
Forwarded email criticizes Senator John Kerry's record as a Vietnam War hero/dissident ... John Kerry's war record. As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the White House ... They remembered Mr. Kerry as the anti-war activist who testified before ...
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_john_kerry.htm

2. War Record
Hanoi Kerry's War Record. Setting straight Kerry's war record. http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com. JOHN KERRY NOT TOO ANXIOUS TO SERVE IN ARMED SERVICES. This Soldier's Story. OP-Ed to John Kerry Article Above. MoneyLies. Op-Ed 2
http://25thaviation.org/johnkerry/id15.htm

3. John Kerry's War Record
John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the White House, Americans should know a few things about him that he might prefer go unmentioned -- and I don't mean his $75 haircuts. When Mr. ... John Kerry's War Record. By Michael Benge. FrontPageMagazine.com | January 13, 2003. As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts ... When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans ...
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=5468

John Kerry's service in Vietnam lasted 4 months and 12 days, beginning in November 1968 when he reported to Cam Ranh Bay for a month of training. His abbreviated combat tour ended shortly after he requested a transfer out of Vietnam on March 17, 1969, citing Navy instruction 1300.39 permitting personnel with three Purple Hearts to request reassignment. So far as we are able to determine, Kerry was the only Swift sailor ever to leave Vietnam without completing the standard one-year tour of duty, other than those who were seriously wounded or killed.

It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own commanding officer.

John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge) of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he "had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We knew how the system worked and we didn’t want him in Coastal Division 11."

Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical records and missing records related to his medal awards.

For this reason Senator Kerry should authorize complete access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a simple two-page release form.