Why Truth Matters (James Bond Stockdale II)

[DinahMoeHum]

(The author is the oldest son of the senior ranking Navy POW in Hanoi prisons during the Vietnam War)

Link:
http://www.opednews.com/stockdale_100704_truth.htm

(The first few paragraphs tell of his father's involvement as a Navy pilot of the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964, and the subsequent chain of events and misleadings that eventually got 58,000+ Americans killed in Vietnam)

(snip)
. . .(September 1965) Dad was shot down and captured. As the senior Naval officer in prison, he issued clandestine orders designed to forestall the use of prisoners’ statements for propaganda. He and many others were tortured severely – in large measure a result of those expectations... Some of these same men are now participating in propaganda of a different sort. They suggest that John Kerry’s testimony before Congress resulted in additional torture and prolonged imprisonment. Simply not true.

In the classified debriefs of prisoners held in North Viet Nam (over 500 volumes of transcription) there is not one mention of John Kerry’s name or any reference to his activity. Dad ended his career as the only three-star Admiral in the history of the U.S. Navy to wear both aviator wings and the Medal of Honor. He (literally) wrote the book on prison history. In all those years he has never written or spoken of John Kerry’s involvement. In fact, no former prisoner ever remarked about John Kerry until it became politically expedient 6 months ago.

But much more is at stake here than conflicting memory. We are replicating (with haunting attention to detail) the mistakes of Viet Nam. The region and labels may be different. But the faulty judgment and sad, gut-wrenching results will prove the same.
(snip)


much more. . .


:nuke:

[knowbody0]

1. god is truth

[blm]

2. I sent it to my local paper.

Great find.

We should do a media blast on this and see if guys like Chris Matthews will book Stockdale on his show.

[dogtag]

3. John McCain knows this as well and he has

said so, but being John McCain with his lips firmly planted on the phony rancher's butt, he has said so quietly and with little fanfare. It would be very nice to see James Bond Stockdale II out on the talk show circuit ASAP. The horrid attack ads may be losing some steam, but the latest one featuring the POW wives may have an effect on undecided women.

[glitch]

4. Thanks for posting. Nice ending:

"As a schoolmaster, I marvel that the President could miss a complete course on life’s lessons that others were forced to learn through difficult experience. He defiantly refuses to submit an excuse for his absence, so we are left to wonder where he was. But we know he missed the entire term – and now he’s failing the test that really counts."

[blm]

5. Hey frank, you should repost in GD so more people see and send it around.

It's too significant.