ElKabong
08-27-2004, 11:45 PM
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040827/NEWS09/408270358/1001/NEWS&lead=1
The political battle over the Vietnam War has opened another front, with Iowa's most-decorated living veteran calling Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry a turncoat who lied to Congress in 1971 about alleged war atrocities.
Retired Col. George "Bud" Day, a Republican Party activist who is a Sioux City native, compared Kerry to Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold.
Day was an Air Force fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor - the nation's highest military award - after spending more than five years as a prisoner of war.
Kerry, a Navy lieutenant who received three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam, has been under attack by a group known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has raised questions about his combat record.
Some critics of President Bush, in turn, have raised questions about the Republican's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, recently called Vice President Dick Cheney a coward for avoiding military service in Vietnam.
Now the political assault against Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, appears to be shifting from his combat record to his anti-war activities after he came home from Vietnam.
In a recent statement, Day said Kerry's claims of alleged misdeeds by U.S. soldiers caused the Vietnamese communists to believe that if they hung on during the war, they would win. Day is a former Florida State Republican Committee member who has endorsed Bush for re-election. In 1984, Day was national chairman of Veterans for Reagan, and in 1992 he campaigned nationally for President George H.W. Bush.
"Kerry cast a long, dark shadow over all Vietnam veterans with his outright perjury before the Senate concerning alleged atrocities in Vietnam. His stories to the Senate committee were absolute lies . . . fabrications . . . perjury . . . fantasies, with NO substance," Day wrote.
"I draw a direct comparison to General Benedict Arnold of the Revolutionary War to Lieutenant John Kerry," Day wrote. "Both went off to war, fought, and then turned against their country. General Arnold crossed over to the British for money and position. John Kerry crossed over to the Vietnamese with his assistance to the anti-war movement and his direct liaison with the Vietnamese diplomats in Paris. His reward. Political gain. Senator. United States."
Day said North Vietnamese Gen. Bui Tin once said that the communist leadership listened to world news every day over the radio to follow the growth of the American anti-war movement. While the communists hung on, innumerable U.S. servicemembers were killed in combat, Day said.
Some atrocities clearly did occur in Vietnam, including the massacre of hundreds of civilians at the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968, by American soldiers from Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division. The dead included women, children and the elderly. The Army eventually court-martialed the commander of one of Charlie Company's platoons, Lt. William Calley Jr., who was released after three years under house arrest.
Earlier this year, Toledo Blade reporters received a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering atrocities by an elite U.S. Army fighting unit in the Vietnam War that killed unarmed civilians and children during a seven-month rampage in 1967. The newspaper's series detailed how the Army failed to stop the atrocities of the Tiger Force after commanders were told about them.
Day, now 79, who practices law in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was released by the North Vietnamese in March 1973 and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1976 for his gallantry as a prisoner of war. He served 35 years in the military, spanning three wars, and he holds more than 70 military awards and decorations. In 2002, a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Day was unveiled at the Sioux City airport, which now carries his name as Col. Bud Day Field.
Day said Thursday that he stands by his statement criticizing Kerry. He said he doesn't dispute the fact that some war crimes were committed by U.S. soldiers, but he said they paled in significance to atrocities committed by the Vietnamese communists, such as the massacre of thousands of civilians at Hue in 1968.
Gene Thorson of Ames, who served with Kerry in Vietnam, issued a statement through Kerry's campaign Thursday in which he defended the Democratic candidate.
"It's a shame that instead of talking about the issues, the Bush campaign is trying to reopen the wounds that almost tore the whole country apart 35 years ago. They should be talking about how to fix the mess in Iraq, the way John Kerry is," Thorson said.
"I served on John Kerry's swift boat. I saw his leadership under fire with my own eyes, and I'd put my life in his hands again any day of the week. So would the rest of the guys who served with him personally, and that's why we are supporting him to be the next commander in chief," Thorson said.
Evan "Curly" Hultman of Waterloo, who is a retired Army Reserve major general, is chairman of Iowa Veterans for Bush-Cheney. He said Thursday that many Vietnam veterans feel strongly that Kerry would not be a good president, and he believes Day has a right to speak his mind.
"I think there is a double standard being applied here by Senator Kerry and his surrogates. They put the issue in the campaign to begin with. They attacked George Bush for months and months about his record and service during that time," Hultman said. But now that Kerry is being criticized, his supporters don't like to hear the issue being raised, he said.
Another Iowan, Bill Lannom, 59, of Grinnell, one of the founding members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he spent one year on a boat similar to the one Kerry was on, patrolling the Mekong Delta, and that he saw no such atrocities being committed.
"I know from my personal experience that what he said was not true. Totally. He lied," Lannom said. He said he met Kerry after the war and did not serve on any missions with him in Vietnam.
Kerry testified to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, as a representative of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Part of his remarks focused on the organization's "Winter Soldier Investigation," in which he said more than 150 honorably discharged and many highly decorated veterans had spoken about war crimes committed in Southeast Asia. Kerry said they were not isolated incidents but, rather, took place on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. He did not say he personally observed any atrocities.
"They told the stories at times they had personally 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 of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country," Kerry testified.
The political battle over the Vietnam War has opened another front, with Iowa's most-decorated living veteran calling Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry a turncoat who lied to Congress in 1971 about alleged war atrocities.
Retired Col. George "Bud" Day, a Republican Party activist who is a Sioux City native, compared Kerry to Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold.
Day was an Air Force fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor - the nation's highest military award - after spending more than five years as a prisoner of war.
Kerry, a Navy lieutenant who received three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam, has been under attack by a group known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has raised questions about his combat record.
Some critics of President Bush, in turn, have raised questions about the Republican's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, recently called Vice President Dick Cheney a coward for avoiding military service in Vietnam.
Now the political assault against Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, appears to be shifting from his combat record to his anti-war activities after he came home from Vietnam.
In a recent statement, Day said Kerry's claims of alleged misdeeds by U.S. soldiers caused the Vietnamese communists to believe that if they hung on during the war, they would win. Day is a former Florida State Republican Committee member who has endorsed Bush for re-election. In 1984, Day was national chairman of Veterans for Reagan, and in 1992 he campaigned nationally for President George H.W. Bush.
"Kerry cast a long, dark shadow over all Vietnam veterans with his outright perjury before the Senate concerning alleged atrocities in Vietnam. His stories to the Senate committee were absolute lies . . . fabrications . . . perjury . . . fantasies, with NO substance," Day wrote.
"I draw a direct comparison to General Benedict Arnold of the Revolutionary War to Lieutenant John Kerry," Day wrote. "Both went off to war, fought, and then turned against their country. General Arnold crossed over to the British for money and position. John Kerry crossed over to the Vietnamese with his assistance to the anti-war movement and his direct liaison with the Vietnamese diplomats in Paris. His reward. Political gain. Senator. United States."
Day said North Vietnamese Gen. Bui Tin once said that the communist leadership listened to world news every day over the radio to follow the growth of the American anti-war movement. While the communists hung on, innumerable U.S. servicemembers were killed in combat, Day said.
Some atrocities clearly did occur in Vietnam, including the massacre of hundreds of civilians at the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968, by American soldiers from Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division. The dead included women, children and the elderly. The Army eventually court-martialed the commander of one of Charlie Company's platoons, Lt. William Calley Jr., who was released after three years under house arrest.
Earlier this year, Toledo Blade reporters received a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering atrocities by an elite U.S. Army fighting unit in the Vietnam War that killed unarmed civilians and children during a seven-month rampage in 1967. The newspaper's series detailed how the Army failed to stop the atrocities of the Tiger Force after commanders were told about them.
Day, now 79, who practices law in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was released by the North Vietnamese in March 1973 and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1976 for his gallantry as a prisoner of war. He served 35 years in the military, spanning three wars, and he holds more than 70 military awards and decorations. In 2002, a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Day was unveiled at the Sioux City airport, which now carries his name as Col. Bud Day Field.
Day said Thursday that he stands by his statement criticizing Kerry. He said he doesn't dispute the fact that some war crimes were committed by U.S. soldiers, but he said they paled in significance to atrocities committed by the Vietnamese communists, such as the massacre of thousands of civilians at Hue in 1968.
Gene Thorson of Ames, who served with Kerry in Vietnam, issued a statement through Kerry's campaign Thursday in which he defended the Democratic candidate.
"It's a shame that instead of talking about the issues, the Bush campaign is trying to reopen the wounds that almost tore the whole country apart 35 years ago. They should be talking about how to fix the mess in Iraq, the way John Kerry is," Thorson said.
"I served on John Kerry's swift boat. I saw his leadership under fire with my own eyes, and I'd put my life in his hands again any day of the week. So would the rest of the guys who served with him personally, and that's why we are supporting him to be the next commander in chief," Thorson said.
Evan "Curly" Hultman of Waterloo, who is a retired Army Reserve major general, is chairman of Iowa Veterans for Bush-Cheney. He said Thursday that many Vietnam veterans feel strongly that Kerry would not be a good president, and he believes Day has a right to speak his mind.
"I think there is a double standard being applied here by Senator Kerry and his surrogates. They put the issue in the campaign to begin with. They attacked George Bush for months and months about his record and service during that time," Hultman said. But now that Kerry is being criticized, his supporters don't like to hear the issue being raised, he said.
Another Iowan, Bill Lannom, 59, of Grinnell, one of the founding members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he spent one year on a boat similar to the one Kerry was on, patrolling the Mekong Delta, and that he saw no such atrocities being committed.
"I know from my personal experience that what he said was not true. Totally. He lied," Lannom said. He said he met Kerry after the war and did not serve on any missions with him in Vietnam.
Kerry testified to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, as a representative of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Part of his remarks focused on the organization's "Winter Soldier Investigation," in which he said more than 150 honorably discharged and many highly decorated veterans had spoken about war crimes committed in Southeast Asia. Kerry said they were not isolated incidents but, rather, took place on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. He did not say he personally observed any atrocities.
"They told the stories at times they had personally 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 of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country," Kerry testified.