Friends,
>
> You may not like what this says. It was forwarded to me by a former POW
and
> now retired AA pilot who is one of the finest individuals I know. He spent
> over six years in Hanoi getting beat and tortured by the wonderful people
> Kerry embraced after his four months of combat duty. The author asks some
> pointed questions of Kerry. I can guarantee that the mainstream media will
> bury this.
>
> This going to be one ugly campaign!
>
> Ray
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: "Read Mecleary"
> Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 10:23:44 -0800
> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
> Subject: The Best One Yet
>
> Sorry to clog our boxes with a "forward" but this one is definitely worth
> the read.
> ******************************************************
> Read down to underlined part at least...........
>
> GUEST OPINION
>
>
> My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year, and the recovery is
> terribly painful. Then, she developed a staph-epi infection, and they had
to
> cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking about the
> pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second time in the same
> wound, makes me cringe. That experience, however pales in comparison to
what
> I am going through right now, in my heart.
>
> The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow
> citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again.
I
> am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly
> become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the
Nazi
> SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up
idolizing
> John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I
> volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten
history,
> again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John
Kerry
> testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents
he
> supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally
raped,
> cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human
> genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly
> shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned
> food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
>
> I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in
Vietnam
> and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team
on
> the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the
most
> action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill
people,
> we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and
> clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of
> Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and
everywhere
> American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations
> to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
>
> My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think
> those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced,
> unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my
> fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw
> none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my
> obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a
> single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or
> having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar.
Your
> medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass
> character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over
> daily in all aspects of my life.
>
> Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard
> soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally
> dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in
> with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so
you
> can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as
an
> Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort
> Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard,
> just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I
> volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush
> being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
>
> John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights
> Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote,
and
> thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since
then
> who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select
> Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any
and
> all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those
reins
> in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to
normalize
> relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first
cousin
> C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a
> contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International
> to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of
> Vietnam.
>
> "Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest
> about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic,
> hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer
> machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading
it
> everywhere.
>
> Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
>
> Don Bendell
>
> Canon City, Colorado
>
> Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a
> best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee
into
> the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern
> Colorado.
>
>
>
