Jesus Wept
Dean
I dare you to read this note from Peter and then tell me you don't feel a deep sense of shame.
Peter: I'm so sorry. I was only 7 years old when we left Vietnam. I used to believe those horrible lies about you and your brothers. I'm glad that, whatever comes of this year's elections, people like you will have had their opportunity to come forward into the spotlight and tell people how Hollywood, academia, and the mainstream media portrayed you as psychotics, losers, villains, and helpless victims. I'm glad that you got to come forward and tell people how they lied about you, and how they got away with it for decades.
You were good men, fighting a cause entered into with the best of intentions. I didn't used to know that, but I know that now. More people need to realize it.
People can say that Vietnam was a wrong war, that it was a mistake, that we shouldn't have gotten into it. But they need to stop with the horrible lies: that we merely went into it to "benefit the military industrial complex," that it was a "racist war," and that it was nothing but a parade of horrors and war crimes. The more I read, the more I talk to real veterans, the more I know that that was never the truth. Yes, war crimes and abuses happened--they happen in every war, because man is an imperfect animal--but that was not the norm for you guys who were over there. Some of you were callous, grumpy, scared, annoyed, resentful, confused, but most of you when push came to shove wanted to do the right thing and really cared about the Vietnamese people and about America.
Thank you for serving, Peter, and thank you for speaking. You make me proud to be an American.
I'm sorry for the people of Southeast Asia we abandoned. I'm sorry for the soldiers we dishonored. I'm sorry for whatever part I may have played in that.
That these lies are taught as supposed "truth" to our own children today is perhaps the greatest shame of all.
In some sense all this smearing and haranging is poisonous and tiresome - yet in another sense perhaps it is part of a national catharsis we need to go through.
There are many Peters out there. My generation, and academia, and the MSM, have much to answer for.
Nope. It's about these guys.
"People can say that Vietnam was a wrong war, that it was a mistake, that we shouldn't have gotten into it. But they need to stop with the horrible lies: that we merely went into it to "benefit the military industrial complex," that it was a "racist war," and that it was nothing but a parade of horrors and war crimes."
I totally agree. And that is the distinction I make. There were conservatives and anti-Communist liberals who believed that Viet Nam was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time". Paul Harvey was one such conservative, and Ayn Rand was another (she argued that it was a mistake to get into it, but once we were in we must fight to win).
There was legitimate disagreement over President Truman's firing of General MacArthur during the War in Korea. General MacArthur wanted to fight to victory against the Chinese Communists, while President Truman believed that an extended war in Asia would weaken our defense of Europe. But, in all these cases I mentioned, the Cold War against Communism as such was not in question, only the best way to fight it.
Similarly, one can argue that Iraq was not the best place to fight the War Against Islam's Terror, that we would be better off fighting, e.g., Iran or Saudi Arabia. That's a disagreement over what is the best way to fight the War, not over the War itself.
But to condemn the War Against Islam's Terror, or the War Against Communism, as "racist", imperialist", "serving the military-industrial complex", etc., _is_ un-patriotic, just as were those who attacked our War Against Hitler as "Roosevelt's War", "a Jewish plot", etc.. Any attempt to undermine the morale of our soldiers in any war is un-patriotic. And it is certainly un-patriotic and despicable to smear our soldiers and veterans as "war criminals", "baby killers", etc..
I salute Peter and every one of our brave soldiers and veterans who have lain their lives on the line to defend their freedom and mine. To Peter and every one like him I say: Thank you.
CHRIST ON A CRUTCH!!!
Yes I saw it in my minds eye and have wished I was a painter. That would surely sale.
Picture this...where the mind goes, mine went here after I read that Prfound statement of Dean's.
Christ surely would put crutches on...
Little children on crutches...
Tears came to my mind when Dean said that...
Those little children...
You finish that thought and then draw it in your own mind...in mine it is beautifully profound.
Jesus weep...children grow up don't they. This soldier was a child and after the war did he suffer? I think of the crutch he must have held onto. If Jesus spared this mans life...it may have been to tell his story...
Thank you Dean...sometimes I know you are far faster than some would ever believe...Christ on a pogo stick...had they been around!?! He was a man, a simple man and yes when he was a child he too played...ask Mary.
The longest amount of time that I pondered these issues was during a fourteen hour flight on a (military) medical evacuation (medevac) plane from Asia to my destination in Illinois. That was the first stop in USA. The plane itself was destined to Washington, D.C. to drop the more serious of the wounded at Walter Reed. When I read about Mr. Kerry’s war wounds I am not impressed; not in the least. And I do not care about his medals.
I make no apology for those involved in the anti-war movement. I hold with disgust the actions of Jane Fonda, the VVAW, and John Kerry. To her credit, Jane Fonda did apologize on 20/20 in 1988:
"I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did," she began. "I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm . . . very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families."
Mr. Kerry has never made such an apology to my knowledge nor will he. But it was he that brought Vietnam back for discussion. And now he that wants to shut down the flow of free speech.
So I agree with Peter’s words based not on politics but on experience.
These are his words:
... one of our own officers branded us all, including the dead that we were just beginning to mourn, as war criminals, murderers and rapists.
...Now we see the same man that stood over the open graves of our brothers and pissed on their bodies is back.
...This time he's dug up those bodies and is standing on them to give himself the stature for high office.
...I can only say that not only is John Kerry not fit to command the young men and women that inherited the uniforms but he is not fit to speak of my comrades, much less speak for them.
Thank you, Peter.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.