John Kerry: The Moment of Truth In Iraq
May 6th, 2006 @ 10:28 am
John Kerry speaking at Grinnell College in Iowa today The subject of his speech will be “his thoughts on Vietnam, and how his experience there changed his priorities in life.” We will have the text of the speech as soon as it is available.
The Des Moines Register published the following OP/ED by John Kerry today:
The Moment of Truth In Iraq
By John Kerry
Des Moines Register
Thirty five years ago this spring, I testified before the United States Senate. I was a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran who believed the war had to come to an end.
It was 1971. Three years earlier, Richard Nixon had been elected president with a secret plan for peace — a plan he kept secret from the American people as young Americans continued to die.
We were a country deeply divided. Many people did not understand or agree with my act of public dissent. To them, supporting the troops meant continuing to support the war, or at least keeping my mouth shut.
I couldn’t remain silent. I felt compelled to speak out about thousands of Americans losing their lives in Vietnam while politicians in Washington schemed to save their political reputations.
Thirty-five years later, in another war gone off course, history is repeating itself. It is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a president who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a course in Iraq that weakens the nation.
True patriots must defend the right of dissent and listen to the dissenters. Dissenters are not always right, but it is always a warning sign when they are branded unpatriotic by politicians trying to avoid accountability. Those who are right should never fear public scrutiny.
The War in Vietnam and the War in Iraq are now converging in too many tragic respects.
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