Green Beret call out John Kerry.

[bthomas]

The following is a letter from Vietnam War Era Green Beret Don Bendell - I'm not saying if it's right or wrong, but it's interesting at least - bt

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

[Scott]

...had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous

people of Vietnam

Indeed....

Is this person saying Kerry is a liar and did not witness these things? Or that they never happened? Is this also not the person who has been critical of both John Kerry and John McCain over the POW/ MIA issue? I suggest that you read a little of his book draw your own conclusions.

There is no question that John Kerry fought for his country bravely and was wounded multiple times doing so. Kerry is well thought of by his brothers in arms some of whom claim to owe there lives to him, unlike George Bush's special treatment and unexplainable absences from service during wartime. Kerry then felt compelled, by his conscience, to return home and testify before congress and tell what he saw. So what can you say?... people are often critisized for telling the truth.

btw- I will probably vote for Ralph Nader.

[Raleigh-NC]

John Kerry has dirt, too. Just wait and see. By the way, this letter by Don Bendell is well written. My father was a veteran too, and I heard many stories, but John Kerry isn't the man to deliver the truth. Kerry is the person who was against the first Gulf War, yet he claimed the was in favor. He is the person who was in favor of the War in Iraq, yet he claims he was against it. He is definitely not the right person. Ralph Nader is a better choice than John Kerry, even if one is a hard-core Democrat.

[tocoto]

Why believe a man who toots his own horn and claims to be one of the elite when the other has the medals? War sucks and no one wins.

There is nothing to say desert storm was good, it just is what happened. We went to Iraq and didn't take out hussein. 10 yeras later the world trades center was attacked and we finally went over and got hussein. In the meantime a tremendous American hatred and unrest grew around the world due to heavy handed unilateral actions by bush II. The results of conservative hawkish politics in the middle east have solved our problems.

[Scott]

I'm quite sure there are alot of people digging dirt. Could one call someone who was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star with V, three awards of the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal while serving as skipper of a Swift Boat anything worse than "Hanoi John"? That's pretty low. I can accept not thinking he would be a good president on the issues but this article is just rubbish. Let's seperate the real war heros like Kerry and peoples fathers and grandfathers from the pretend heros "prancing around" on the flightdecks of aircraft carriers.

[M. Brown]

Well Im voting for Kerry. He sounds like MLK from the way he deliver his speeches which is a big turn on for me. Im def. voting for Kerry.

[bthomas]

Exactly what we need, another guy who says whatever people want to hear, but does something different.

I'm leaning more towards Bush, again. I don't know if I can trust what Kerry says. There are several documented instances where he's said one thing and done another... sure, all politicians do that, but if I know about it happening , then I can do something to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

[Scott]

Like I said you can think somebody is or isn't a good candidate for president based on facts and opinions but calling someone "Hanoi John" is viscious character assasination and entertaining such a notion suggests a certain desperation.

btw- Check out this guys website and tell me where he's coming from: http://www.donbendell.com/

[bthomas]

LMAO - so true!

Mabye too many kicks to the head from Chuck Norris?

Still, he's right about Kerry being a hypocrite though, but who in politics isn't?

[Raleigh-NC]

bthomas: Well said!!!

tocoto: The hatred towards the US is not the result of the war in Iraq. It flourished when we hit the Serbs, and the only reason why it didn't grow as strong as now was because other countries had initiated the whole mess in the Balkans; we were merely invited and stupidly accepted that invitation. That wasn't Bush I or II... it was our boy Clinton. Even the intelligence/military community was against that involvement. So, the war in Iraq was merely the drop that overfilled the glass. We (USA) may be wrong about quite a few things, but who says those who hate us are right on most issues. They are bigger hypocrites than we are and I can't accept any speech about morals from countries that have done (and continue doing) more horrible things than we do, directly, or indirectly.

Scott: Thanks for the link... Honestly, I didn't see anything about Don that I could detest, so please feel free to share the points that show how he is a "bad guy". I am not being sarcastic towards you, I really mean it.

[Scott]

I don't know him personally and never said he was a "bad guy" outside of saying insulting things about an actual war hero and selling books and setting up a web page to cash in on it.

It amazes me how low some people will stoop in order to get at Kerry. Even to listen to low lifes like "Don" and ignore the unpleasant facts about Bush.

[Cotuit]

The Arab World's disdain for the US dates back a lot further than our involvement in Serbia.

Or perhaps I'm confused and the barracks bombing in Lebanon and PanAm 103 and The Achille Laurel and the Iran hostage crisis and numerous other events were signs of friendship.

[bthomas]

The Arab World's disdain for the US dates back a lot further than our involvement in Serbia.

Or perhaps I'm confused and the barracks bombing in Lebanon and PanAm 103 and The Achille Laurel and the Iran hostage crisis and numerous other events were signs of friendship.

perhaps it was the rebuilding of Iraq in the early to mid 1900's -

Seriously, the zealots in the Arab world makes no sense - they kill and fight us for having "moral decay" in our country, does that make any sense to anyone?

Honestly, this is about Oil and stability. Think about it - We are one of the most industrious countries on the planet; we need oil to survive and flourish. The Arabs have it and are stingy with it. I have no problem with kicking a tyrant's ass and taking his oil... it's not like we just stole it from a nice person either...

I'm glad we stole his oil. Saddam is a punk. Let his people flourish from their natural resources instead of ruling them with an iron fist!

[Raleigh-NC]

Cotuit, you are not mistaken, but I was not referring to the Arab world. I was referring to the Europeans, although I did not make it clear. Read carefully what I wrote:

"The hatred towards the US is not the result of the war in Iraq. It flourished when we hit the Serbs,..."

None of the above statements say that the US became a target of hatred on a certain time. I merely said that it didn't initiate before, during and after the war in Iraq, which is an antisputed fact. Keep in mind that I grew up in Europe, and I can assure you that the anti-American sentiment existed there all the time, but up until the war against Serbia, it was [mostly] the work of communist propaganda in Europe (I am not limiting this to Russian Communists), and quite harmless.

Scott, you may not say "bad guy" , but you do say "low life". I am a bit confused, but this is kind of conflicting. This guy (Don) seems to have enough experience and credentials to criticize Kerry on his past. Correct me if I am wrong, but I see a lot more fanaticism from Liberals/Democrats against Bush than I see against Kerry from Conservatives/Republicans. Neither one is a perfect candidate, so let's not turn Kerry into an idol, or even worse, a saint. He is as dirty as (if not more than) Bush. When it comes to voting you must ask yourself one thing: who has the ability to run this country? Sorry, but Kerry isn't the one... in my opinion. I'll let you know if I find someone.

[Cotuit]

When it comes to voting you must ask yourself one thing: who has the ability to run this country? Sorry, but Kerry isn't the one... in my opinion. I'll let you know if I find someone.

Neither is Bush. Another lesser of two evils election.

[M. Brown]

Just vote for anybody but Bush and we will be alright. Im voting for Kerry like i said before.

[Cotuit]

Just vote for anybody but Bush and we will be alright. Im voting for Kerry like i said before.

That's what Nader would have you think. But current polls show Kerry and Bush in a dead-heat and Nader grabbing 6%. Of course the election is like 12 years away. We'll all be bored to tears with it by then. Some of us are bored to tears already. A shame.

[Guest donaltopablo]

Neither is Bush. Another lesser of two evils election.

Aren't they just about all the lesser of 2 evils.

I'm still out on Kerry. He is pretty notorious for changing his mind and waffling on issues. Not that Bush is much better. But at least Bush isn't a ######...

Right about now I'd almost take overly aggressive verus some coward in office.

[Guest donaltopablo]

Damn, I can't believe it censored that

[Raleigh-NC]

Neither is Bush. Another lesser of two evils election.

So, you don't vote. Lesser of two evils doesn't always work. Unless I hear something concrete from Kerry about his economic and national security plans, I don't see how I can possibly vote for him. Bush is not a leader, but he has strong people behind him. I can't say the same for Kerry, even if he means well. I trust Nader far more, although I am afraid he doesn't have much chance to win. Then again, we always must vote according to our own beliefs, for the person we think is good, not because we don't like someone. If we can't be honest and consistent with our own beliefs, how do we expect our politicians to be honest with us? Just my opinion...

[BrandonTO416]

Doing a background search on the guy who wrote that, he's a major Anti-Democratic political operative.

I got the email, too. Its a chain letter circulating around the net bigtime... Its called b.s.

[ShowMeKC]

Do any of you know that the dictator of north korea has been playing John Kerry's campaign ads on tv and supports kerry for OUR presidency?

Course, Kerry wouldn't want a war with N. Korea, but Bush can be the one to limit the number of communist nations in the world down to 2.

[monsoon]

[Guest donaltopablo]

Regardless of who wins or what side you support, it's going to be an ugly compaign. I just want to get to the bottom of Kerry position on defense and war on terrorism (and more than just some sound bites of him talking about being pro-defense, pro-war on terror). Also, I'm interested in his real plan for repairing the economy in this country. Bush hasn't done very well with it, but pulling back tax cuts for the rich and maybe giving them back to middle class IMHO doesn't do much for driving the economy. Neither does giving tax breaks to rich people.

I still might consider voting for Kerry, just a lot of bad information going around.

[BrandonTO416]

Do any of you know that the dictator of north korea has been playing John Kerry's campaign ads on tv and supports kerry for OUR presidency?

Course, Kerry wouldn't want a war with N. Korea, but Bush can be the one to limit the number of communist nations in the world down to 2.

Do you know what communism is?

Iraq is not, was not, and never has been communist.

Furthermore, our free trade status with China is promoting a communist regime.