John Kerry 1971 Testimony

Saw it on C-SPAN last night.

I want to know what you thought of it.

If you missed the program here's the transcript:

http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp

 

Anybody Else?

 

I knew several vets back then who told me similar stories when they got back. Stories of atrocities that were committed by US soldiers. Kerry was telling the truth back in 1970.

 

I watched about 40min of testimony last night on c-span and was floored.



I feel more respect for Sen. Kerry now than ever before.

 

Of course he was telling the truth. Firstly the Pentagon Papers themselves exposed the doctrine of sheer lies upon which our entry into the Vietnam conflict was based, revelations the nation has all too foolishly seemed to have forgotten given that every conflict we've been led into by Washington since has followed that same doctrine of falsified claims of threat.

More importantly though are the revelations of the actions of Tiger Force and the dispicable inhuman atrocities they committed upon entire villages of innocent civilians...

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Tiger_force_120803.htm

All in all, we are a nation so easily spun and diverted by commercial culture and the myth that OUR leaders are "the good guys" that all it takes is sufficient time between military junkets to dull all prior realisations of our wrongs from the public psyche so Washington can perpetrate more barbarity in the name of corporate hegemony elsewhere in the world.

Time we stopped forgetting what we have learned and put an end to the MIC led control of our political system once and for all.

 

I really thought there would be more opinions regarding this...

 

No doubt people will add their voice to the fray in due course.

 

Yeah, and regardless if Bush or Kerry wins might I add. There is almost definitely going to be a reinstatement of the national draft. It's being swept under the rug until after elections, obviously, and until after being attacked again, which will be their reason for reinstating the draft.

This is an article I read on the AmericanFreePress.net website a few weeks ago:

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/draft_riots_feared.html

 

One has to wonder why the corporate media keeps describing Kerry's testimony as an insult to all veterens. That's comparable to saying that someone who came forward about the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison is insulting all American troops. Kerry blamed the policy makers in DC, not the troops.

 

You base your opinion on speculation and emotion. Prove they killed 110 civilians, or wounded 550!

Nobody's genitals were hooked to electicity, they were forced to take photos and stand in the same place for a long time. I'm not defending thier actions, I'm simply saying that John Kerry was lying then and you are lying now.

Maybe 9/11 shows how "little regard" your enemy has for you.

"America it seems can only bring war to third world countries with anything the US values." It never ceases to amaze me that you can only focus on the negative actions; completely disregarding the postive changes that have been made though out the world. Without doubt America has brought more joy to the world than it has sorrow. We feed people who otherwise would have starved, we medicate people who otherwise would have died from disease, we support the voice of the people through Democracy, and we help the countries of the world create strong economies; but for some reason the lies that one mas spouts in the Senate voids all of that.

Yes I would care to join. Iraqis deserve to have their voices heard just like you do. They deserve freedom of speech, they deserve the right to vote for whatever person they choose, they deserve the rights we are entitled to! For some reason Buss opponents believe that Iraqis deserve Genocide (alone with hundred more awful fates) at the hands of a brutal dictator!

Explain this to me: Why is it OK for America to sit back and be so safe and rich while people like Pol Pot and Saddam terrorize thier poeple?

LONG LIVE AMERICA!!!

 

You moron, The United States put Pol Pot and Saddam in power in the first place.

 

So did China, what the hell is your point? We also traded with Hitler. Gave the Russians LOTS of stuff before it was the USSR. Supported China before it was communist. Dealt with Japan before they attacked us.

I believe what your saying is that government officials must be able to see the future, know all that happens and make perfect decisions. It's a known fact that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Who better to put in power than a friend? I'm sure given the task you would have choosen some one much better.

I also believe you are saying that since we supported these people at one point that we must never condemn them.

Do you honestly think that, if the government could have know what was going to happen, the American government would have supported these people? Absolutely not.

If we put them there then we have more of a right to remove them!

 

Amazing!

In one post you say we should have disposed of Saddam and Pol Pot because of their treatment of their own people.

In this post you say that we have a right to prop up a puppet dictator against the will of their own people if it serves our interests.

that makes sence to you?

We had knowledge of their atrocities WHILE WE WERE GIVING THEM AID!

The United States didnt dispose of either Pol Pot or Saddam until once again it served the interest of the United States.

I agree that other countries are setting up puppets as well, but i dont see any of them bombing civilians for "regime change" lately.

Besides. i just dont buy into the arguement of "they do it so that justifies us doing it".

 

The CIA didn't dismantle all those facilities in Afghanistan that they built to train groups like bin Laden's. They became breeding grounds for terrorists. That was simply foolish policy. They should have known better and at least dismantled the facilities. Arming terror groups like those was a mistake in the first place. It's like putting some kids in a garage with gas cans and packs of matches and then coming back later and saying 'we didn't think they'd start a fire.'

Saddam was an assassin all the way back to when he was 20. The U.S. govt knew what a creep he was. That's why they chose him. They just didn't care, as long as he was on the side of the U.S. Brilliant policy too the way the U.S. armed Iran behind Saddam's back.

Imagine if average citizens could get away with what the Pentagon gets away with. Where's the law-and-order and accountability for the Pentagon? The are plenty who call for it for average citizens, yet the Pentagon somehow gets special status.

What's needed is for the policies makers in DC, especially those at the Pentagon, to be held accountable for their mistakes. Until that happens, there will continue to be bone-headed policies like the ones the government had supporting people like Saddam and bin Laden and leaving them all armed and housed nicely in all the facilities that the U.S. built for them.

But certain groups have a blind faith in the Pentagon. They can do no wrong.

Of course, when things go wrong, people can always use the convenient old Condi Rice ignorance plea: 'We just couldn't have possibly known this would happen.'

 

In any case, we are digressing from the topic of this thread, which is John Kerry's testimony before senate foriegn relations in 1971.

 

I wonder how some groups would feel about the U.S. govt installing dictators in one's own household to run their family the way it sees fit. If some claim it's justifiable to install and remove dictators in other countries at will, it should be ok to do with American families.

Kerry was blasting bone-headed policies of people in DC back in 71. The same problems are here today. Nothing has changed because there is no accountablility at the Pentagon.

 

I never said we have the right to force a government on anyone. I said we have the right to remove them.

I don't remember supporting Pol Pot, or Saddam. I opposed both individuals regardless of that the government did. I also don't remember the government putting this support to a vote. I don't care who did what, I'm saying that they acted in thier best interests and given the same situation so would you. The fact that we support them is wrong, and we should immediately change course to ensure that there are no more oppressive dictators.

I was formerly of the belief that these people should lead their own revolutions; which I'm not completely against. After hearing about the methods used by Saddam I couldn't realistically believe that these people could lead a revolution. Just ask the 200,000 kurds burried all over Iraq.

We as the most powerful country in the world have the ability to give these people choices. Choices that they could never give themselves.

Yes the Americans beat the strongest country in the world to gain our independence. No, it isn't necessarily possible for every populous to do the same.

Don't try to make it sound like Bush is bombing civilians intentionally. You know it isn't true as well as I do. It's extremist crap like that which gives the Conservatives ammo to use against your credibility.

 

Who do you think will be building these governments if we don't do it? Please say "the people"...I would enjoy that.


Is there accountability anywhere else, other than the Presedency?

Justice System......NO
House of Reps.......NO
Supreme Court......Definately not
Population............NO
Bureacracies.........NO
Democrats............NO
Republicans..........More than Democrats but still a NO
Nobody will take responsibility but everyone is making decisions.

 

perhaps you should reread what you wrote down in you previous post.

At what cost to our country and others? To fix the mistakes the pentagon made in the past?

The U.S. government was giving saddam aid WHILE HE WAS KILLING THOSE 200,000 KURDS, but now we're supposed to believe that this war somehow avenges them?

How about: We as the most powerful country in the world should have better judgment on WHEN and HOW to utililize that power

Especially if their government is being held together by the most powerful country in history.

When you bomb the capital of a country because you feel it needs a leader whose in our pocket civilians are going to be hit the hardest.