Republicans Opinion on Vietnam

[Wakie]

Just a question for my Republican friends who held Kerry's protesting the Vietnam War against him, how many men had to die before you would admit that Vietnam was a worthless mistake?

[Wakie]

J-Mann, I find your assessment very interesting.  But what is striking to me is that while you agree with the end result, motives, and overall direction of Kerry's actions you criticize the execution.

I'm sorry but to me this is kind of like attacking the general who knowingly sacrifices a platoon to save a division.

[Wakie]

His general view is that Mr. Kerry made up stories just to get himself in the papers. Unfortunatley, he did it at the expense of the morale, trust, and digity of his fellow veterans.

Well, an interesting point here.  Have you or your uncle ever actually read or heard Kerry's entire testimony?  If not, make it a point to do so.  In it he talks about having come from a meeting (which it is documented he WAS at) with veterans who told the type of stories he describes in his testimony.  He cites the testimony from this meeting as his proof.

So I don't think you can say he "made it all up" but rather that he just repeated what others had told him.  That's certainly not a shocking thing for a 26-y/o to do.

If you check out his testimony and his interviews from the time, Kerry's biggest argument about the US being involved in "war crimes" is the use of "free fire zones" which are CLEARLY a violation of the Geneva Convention and were widely used in Vietnam.

[Wakie]

His general view is that Mr. Kerry made up stories just to get himself in the papers. Unfortunatley, he did it at the expense of the morale, trust, and digity of his fellow veterans.

Well, an interesting point here.  Have you or your uncle ever actually read or heard Kerry's entire testimony?  If not, make it a point to do so.  In it he talks about having come from a meeting (which it is documented he WAS at) with veterans who told the type of stories he describes in his testimony.  He cites the testimony from this meeting as his proof.

So I don't think you can say he "made it all up" but rather that he just repeated what others had told him.  That's certainly not a shocking thing for a 26-y/o to do.

If you check out his testimony and his interviews from the time, Kerry's biggest argument about the US being involved in "war crimes" is the use of "free fire zones" which are CLEARLY a violation of the Geneva Convention and were widely used in Vietnam.

1. The meeting in question is the "Winter Soldier Investigation", and most of the 'veterans' turned out to be liars.

2. Free fire zones are not violations of the Geneva convention.  They are often misrepresented as being zones where you can shoot anything you want, this is not the case.  The Court Martial of Rusty Calley over the My Lai incident demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt that behavior within FFZs had to conform to the Geneva Convention.

1) But did he know that at that time?  No.  He's only repeating what others told him.  Not a shocking thing for a 26 y/o to do.  He never presents their stories as his own.  He just repeats what he has been told.

2) The only way a FFZ is allowed is if an area is civilian free or if the civilians there "take a direct part in hostilities".  It is pretty well documented that FFZ's were overused throughout Vietnam.

[Wakie]

I'm shocked that you guys think Vietnam was "winnable".  Even Robert McNamara has subsequently said that it was an unwinnable war.  And even if we had "won", what would we have won?  Communism still collapsed.  Do we get an extra puppet government of South Vietnam (similar to South Korea)?  Oh great, another country where we are forced to maintain a massive military presence and dance around its neighbor to the North who, feeling alone in the world and threatened by the strongest nation on the planet, wants to develop nuclear arms.  Just great.  Now add in all the additional soldiers who would have to die to "win" Vietnam.  And for what!?!?