Did Kerry Say ALL Vets Committed War Crimes Like Genghis Khan?

[DrFunkenstein]

Well, they better clarify that real quick, because that is the new GOP talking point and I heard it about 20 times in the half hour I spent on the treadmill at the gym.

The media obviously is not going to call anyone out for saying that - that would make them liberals. Begala let it go. So, the campaign better get on top of this ASAFP.

We have to let Americans know that Kerry was always on the side of the grunts, that he was quoting testimony, and that he was protesting policy like Abu Ghraib where upstanding, patriotic soldiers were put into situations where they broke international law as a matter of policy.

[AlinPA]

1. I don't think Kerry originated those words; I heard he was telling the

committee what he heard said in Michigan at some Vets meeting.

[DoBotherMe]

2. Kerry was the elected spokes person to represent the 150 vets

who had testified during the Winter Soldier investigation that was held in January 1971.

http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp
<snip>
They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

(edited header: Oops, I didn't read the header very well in post 1. Please forgive me Lt. Kerry!)

[EST]

6. READ, please, what you just posted...

n/t

[DemOperative]

7. Did you read that testimony?

Direct quote:

"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Nowhere does Kerry use the term "I"

[calico1]

8. These are not his words. He was recalling

what others had told him.

[Sparkly]

Doesn't say "all veterans" and that was never the purpose

of the VVAW. It wasn't about scapegoating veterans, it was about holding the *leadership* accountable and ending the war. That's the part the rightwing is purposely pretending not to understand.

Now they're pretending the VC wouldn't have known what was happening right under their noses if they hadn't read it in the New York Times, transcribed from Kerry's testimony.

[KC21304]

15. Please clarify, yes he did say what ?

Are you saying that Kerry did say that all veterans committed war crimes like Genghis Kahn ? If you are, you may like to brush up on your reading comprehension.

[DoBotherMe]

18. I admitted I misread the

header in the first post and have corrected my post. D ; )

[LynnTheDem]

16. It's not that difficult to understand

1. Winter Soldier hearings; Veterans testified to things they had done.

2. Republican Senator Hatfield heard about the testimonies and ordered the testimonies be presented to Congress.

3. The veterans asked Kerry to take their testimonies and present them to Congress on their behalf.

4. Kerry agreed to do so.

5. Kerry presented THOSE VETERANS' TESTIMONIES TO CONGRESS and he SUMMARIZED what THOSE VETERANS had TESTIFIED TO, as THOSE VETERANS had ASKED KERRY TO DO.

He is ONLY REFERRING TO THOSE VETERANS who testified at the Winter Soldiers hearings.

He is ONLY SUMMARIZING what THOSE VETERANS testified to at the Winter Hearings.

Full testimony;

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082204F.shtml

[DoBotherMe]

19. I made a mistake.

I am in no way a Kerry basher. I love John Kerry and everything he stands for. I thought the point of the post was his reference to Gehngis Kahn...and I said "yes" he did say that, yes he used the metaphor of Ghengis Kahn in reference to the U.S. policy of destroying the countryside of Vietnam and committing genocide on the people. I am very sorry for the misrepresentation...D ; )

[lanparty]

24. Weasel words ...

John Kerry clearly said that SOME vets had commited war crimes, not ALL vets had commited war crimes.

Using the same standards, we could claim that George Bush said ALL the soldiers in Iraq had totured and raped Iraqis.

[zaj]

3. "I would like to talk, representing all those veterans... "

[Sparkly]

9. Note he didn't say "all veterans"

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. yeah, Begala wimped out

He should have called that woman on her statement but he just sat there following the 'no follow up' rule.

[DoBotherMe]

5. Are those pix for real?

Hank eating buggers!!! ROTFL D ; )

[THUNDER HANDS]

14. yeah its real

Kissinger even sued a Brazilian newspaper to keep these photos from being released.

[tandot]

12. EEEWWWWW ...is he picking his nose and eating it??? YUCK

DISGUSTING.

[tandot]

10. He was talking about ALL those veterans who personally told him that they

personally participated in all those atrocities.

[aquart]

11. Genghis did NOT commit war crimes.

He was the only law of any kind in the places he conquered, and his opinion was he didn't do anything wrong: therefore, no crimes.

I guess he'd be George's role model except for his race and George's non-knowledge of history.

[expatriot]

13. he never, ever, ever, said anything LIKE THAT.....look at the quote.

every one is saying that he did... DOLE said he said it.

[GOPAgainstGW]

17. HELL NO!!!!! KERRY NEVER SAID THIS - READ THE DAMN '71 Speech Transcript!!

How many times do we have to go through this crap with MY GOP party!!!!!

I glad that Kerry-Edwards is repositioning their focus and the RNC convention.

WE HAVE TO GO INTO A SEARCH AND DESTROY MISSION ON THE GOP OVER ALL THIS SBVT FRAUD. WE HAVE ALL HAD IT WITH THIS CRAP!!!!!!

NRK

------------------------------
Beltway and Texas Republicans
Against Bush-Cheney ’04, Inc.
------------------------------

[mondo joe]

20. This is why Kerry needs to attack Bush rather than just defend himself

As long as Bushco continues to make these outrageous claims they will dominate the news and message boards. And no matter how well Kerry defends himself, the end result is that his support erodes.

Kerry needs to take the fight back to Bush and pin his own failures on him.

[bobbyboucher]

21. I think 60 Minutes might be a good venue to clear some things up.

Kerry could tell it like it is for an hour in front of a hundred million and settle this election thing in one night.

[Lefty48197]

22. Here's a link to the Kerry testimony transcript:

http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp

Here are Kerry's actual words from the transcript. These are the paragraphs that the Republicans twist into Kerry somehow accusing all the American soldiers of committing atrocities.

"I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.

It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit, the emotions in the room, the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam, but they did. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

[Southern Patriot]

25. OK, I understand that... what about when Repukes say that

many~most of the the people at the Winter Soldier investigation "weren't even Vietnam vets?"

[DrFunkenstein]

23. Sean Hannity Began This

Hannity uses the out-of-context quote to launch a vicious attack on Kerry—which Hannity knows not to be true because Hannity saw the original context of the quote. Here is what Hannity—like Pruden--said that Kerry said:

"They ... raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside."

Right after he gave Kerry's out-of-context quote, here is what Hannity said: "That's what John Kerry says he witnessed with his fellow soldiers in Vietnam. John Kerry said that."

http://www.scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_scoobiedavis_archive.html#107636259007109229

It was then followed up by The Washington Times.

http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2004_02_08_archive.html#107656099795297489

Welcome to the origin of a smear campaign.