JOHN KERRY: 1971 VS. 2013
Photo: AP
By Eric Boehm, Watchdog.org -
In 1971, John Kerry was at the center of one of the great anti-war demonstrations in American history. His testimony before Congress was a crucial element in turning public opinion against the war in Vietnam.
On Friday afternoon, Kerry was again giving a much-watched public speech in Washington, D.C. But the one-time “winter soldier” who was willing to straight-talk Congress about the bloody quagmire in Southeast Asia has changed his tune about America’s role in international conflicts.
Here’s three side-by-side comparisons of Kerry in 1971 vs. Kerry in 2013:
In 1971, Kerry said America’s involvement in Vietnam was never about national security:
“In our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam, nothing which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart.”
In 2013, Kerry said America’s involvement in Syria was about national security:
“It matters deeply to the credibility and the future interests of the United States of America and our allies…. And make no mistake, in an increasingly complicated world of sectarian and religious extremist violence, what we choose to do or not do matters in real ways to our own security.”
In 1971, Kerry said America lost its sense of morality by bombing villages in Vietnam:
“We rationalized destroying villages in order to save them. We saw America lose her sense of morality as she accepted very coolly a My Lai and refused to give up the image of American soldiers who hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum.”
In 2013, Kerry said America must bomb villages in Syria, because of our sense of morality:
“It is also profoundly about who we are. We are the United States of America. We are the country that has tried, not always successfully, but always tried to honor a set of universal values around which we have organized our lives and our aspirations.
MORE WAR: As Secretary of State, John Kerry laid out the case for America to go to war with Syria.
“This crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community, against the norm of the international community, this matters to us.
“And it matters to who we are. And it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world.”
In 1971, Kerry said America should stay out of internal civil wars in other nations – no matter how bad they might be – because history shows that is the right thing to do.
“The war will continue. So what I am saying is that yes, there will be some recrimination but far, far less than the 200,000 a year who are murdered by the United States of America, and we can’t go around — President Kennedy said this, many times. He said that the United States simply can’t right every wrong, that we can’t solve the problems of the other 94 percent of mankind. We didn’t go into East Pakistan; we didn’t go into Czechoslovakia. Why then should we feel that we now have the power to solve the internal political struggles of this country?
We have to let them solve their problems while we solve ours and help other people in an altruistic fashion commensurate with our capability. But we have extended that capacity; we have exhausted that capacity, Senator. So I think the question is really moot.”
In 2013, Kerry said America must intervene in what he admits is an internal civil war in another nation, because history shows that is the right thing to do:
“But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency, these things we do know.
“We also know that we have a president that does what he says that he will do. And he has said, very clearly, that whatever decision he makes in Syria it will bear no resemblance to Afghanistan, Iraq or even Libya. It will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open ended. And it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well underway.”
The full transcript of Kerry’s testimony before Congress in 1971 can be found here. Full transcript of his remarks on Friday can be found here.
Eric Boehm is a reporter for Watchdog.org and can be reached at Eric@PAIndependent.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricBoehm87
It seems to me that Mr. Kerry may have been compromised.
John Kerry is 0 (zero) % Irish. Why? His family changed their name to Kerry in 1901 when they came to this country.
ReplyDeleteCan you say disingenuous?
What is he?
DeleteCzech Jewish
ReplyDeleteJohn Forbes Kerry
ReplyDeleteBirth Place: Aurora, Colorado
Ethnicity:
*Ashkenazi Jewish (father; who was raised Catholic)
*English, Scottish, Northern Irish, Dutch, Welsh (mother)
His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Central Europe.
Hmmmm, Kerry sort of an odd duck but credit for gaining much knowledge on Foreign Affairs while in the Senate. Married big time Heinz money that owns most of Pittsburgh. Clearly BO changed his mind and left Kerry to defend the switcheroo on the Sunday morning talk shows. BO gets cover if Congress punts and in the end the far left is more concerned with their aims of long term power consolidation than a few kids in Damascus burbs. These people subscribe to the notion of fuck your enemies and con your supporters. Witness the Chicago Democrats who still support BO. Kerry was conned. Trust me wait for his memoirs in 4/5 years.
ReplyDeleteKerry was raised as a Roman Catholic by his Catholic father and Episcopalian mother.[4] As a child, Kerry served as an altar boy. Although the extended family enjoyed a great fortune, Kerry's parents themselves were upper-middle class; a wealthy great aunt paid for Kerry to attend elite schools in Europe and New England. Kerry spent his summers at the Forbes family estate in Brittany, and there, he enjoyed a more opulent lifestyle than he had previously known in Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteIt was discovered in 2003 by Felix Gundacker, a genealogist[5] working with The Boston Globe, that Kerry's paternal grandparents, who had been born Jewish, as "Fritz Kohn" and "Ida Löwe", in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, changed their names to "Frederick and Ida Kerry" in 1900 and converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism in 1901[6][7] or 1902.[8] Fritz' elder brother Otto had earlier, in 1887[7] or 1896,[5] also embraced Catholicism. The "Kerry" name, widely misinterpreted as indicative of Irish heritage, was reputedly selected arbitrarily: "According to family legend, Fritz and another family member opened an atlas at random and dropped a pencil on a map. It fell on County Kerry in Ireland, and thus a name was chosen."[6][8] Leaving their hometown Mödling, a suburb of Vienna where they had lived since 1896, Fred and Ida, together with their son Eric, emigrated to the United States in 1905, living at first in Chicago and eventually moving to Brookline, Massachusetts, by 1915.[6]
Congressman Lipinski is having a Town Hall Meeting:
ReplyDeleteThursday 09/05 at 7 PM
Willow Springs Community Center
8156 S Archer Ave
Be there and show him and others your views.
No U.S. involvement in Syria!!! We not losing anymore of our sons and daughters or r $!!!!
ReplyDelete.......“Kerry’s account of this action, which was used to secure the Bronze Star and a third Purple Heart, is an extraordinary example of fraud,” they say.
ReplyDeleteThe letter also recounts the incident that occurred Dec. 2, 1968, that led to Kerry receiving his first Purple Heart.
Once again, the vets insist there was no hostile fire involved, and, again, they say, Kerry’s very minor wound was self-inflicted.
According to the vets’ account, Kerry, Navy Lt. William Schachte, and an enlisted man were on a whaler.
“Seeing movement from an unknown source, the sailors opened fire on the movement,” the letter says. “There was no hostile fire. When Kerry’s rifle jammed, he picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and fired a grenade at a nearby object. This sprayed the boat with shrapnel from Kerry’s own grenade, a tiny piece of which embedded in Kerry’s arm.”
Upon examining Kerry’s injury, Dr. Lewis Letson says he asked Kerry why he was there.
Kerry reportedly told him he had been wounded by hostile fire. Letson removed the tiny fragment with tweezers and placed a Band-Aid over the scratch.
The next morning, Kerry went to see Division Commander Grant Hibbard to ask for the Purple Heart. Hibbard had already spoken to Schachte and conducted an investigation. Hibbard’s investigation revealed that Kerry’s “rose thorn” scratch had been self-inflicted in the absence of hostile fire. Hibbard denied the award.
Some three months later, Kerry managed to obtain his first Purple Heart from an officer with no connection to Coastal Division 14 or knowledge of the Dec. 2, 1968, event, they say.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2004/08/26004/#aW1Z48VFdjiWweFt.99