Sarge Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Vietnam POW: Hanoi Hilton Torturers Cited Kerry's Speech A former Vietnam POW is alleging that his Hanoi captors specifically cited Sen. John Kerry's 1971 anti-war testimony to Congress as they brutally tortured him to get him to turn on his fellow GIs. One-time Navy pilot Paul Galanti was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent seven years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that he learned of Kerry's April 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while being tortured by his Hanoi Hilton guards. According to the Times, "during torture sessions, [Galanti] said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as 'an example of why we should cross over to [their] side.'" In his account to the Senate, Kerry accused U.S. soldiers of routinely committing rapes, beheadings, mutilations and all manner of atrocities against the Vietnamese people. Galanti told the Times that Kerry's decision to publicly allege that U.S. soldiers were war criminals "jeopardize[d] those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy." Because he did, Galanti said, "John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with." "The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield," the ex-POW said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington." Although Galanti's fellow POW, Sen. John McCain, has been silent in recent years about the damage Sen. Kerry caused as a leader of the radical group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in 1973 McCain told U.S. News & World Report that throughout his imprisonment, his North Vietnamese captors were "bombarding us with anti-war quotes from people in high places back in Washington." "This was the most effective propaganda they had to use against us," the Arizona Republican explained. But Galanti is the first POW to say that his Hanoi Hilton guards expressly invoked Sen. Kerry's words during their brutal torture sessions. In his comments to the Times, he accused the Democratic presidential front-runner of having blood on his hands, contending, "The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him." In a follow-up interview with Fox News Channel's John Gibson, Galanti said he'll take his story directly to the American people if the press fails to expose the truth about candidate Kerry. "Let me tell you one thing. It looks like John Kerry is going to get the nomination," he told Gibson. "If he does, I'm going to come out of the woodwork, and there's a whole bunch of us [who feel] the same way." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ax Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Hopefully enough guys will come forward that the press won't ignore them. While every Vet they can find in support of Kerry will get a live, on air, interveiw. He definately has American blood on his hands. IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbear Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I guess this is what gets me: How many think the Vietnam war was good one we should have been fighting? Historicaly, I think the anti vietnam croud has been vindicated as having been correct. We lost. Communism didn't spread like wild fire. The USSR still faded into the dust. So what I find funny is people bashing Kerry for having been CORRECT in his free speech. He went and fought because his country demanded it of him. He came back and spoke up against the war. What's wrong with this? Are all of you who bash him for speaking out against the war saying we should have fought that war to the bitter end? What is it you think we would have gained? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 gbear, don't forget - we live in a DEMOCRACY. We fight for FREEDOM and LIBERTY and The AMERICAN WAY! That means that we can never speak up against the government's actions, especially its military decisions. If we do, we are subverting Freedom and Liberty and The American Way and we are Traitors who are Aiding the Enemy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Originally posted by Sarge Vietnam POW: Hanoi Hilton Torturers Cited Kerry's Speech A former Vietnam POW is alleging that his Hanoi captors specifically cited Sen. John Kerry's 1971 anti-war testimony to Congress as they brutally tortured him to get him to turn on his fellow GIs. One-time Navy pilot Paul Galanti was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent seven years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that he learned of Kerry's April 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while being tortured by his Hanoi Hilton guards. According to the Times, "during torture sessions, [Galanti] said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as 'an example of why we should cross over to [their] side.'" In his account to the Senate, Kerry accused U.S. soldiers of routinely committing rapes, beheadings, mutilations and all manner of atrocities against the Vietnamese people. Galanti told the Times that Kerry's decision to publicly allege that U.S. soldiers were war criminals "jeopardize[d] those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy." Because he did, Galanti said, "John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with." "The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield," the ex-POW said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington." Although Galanti's fellow POW, Sen. John McCain, has been silent in recent years about the damage Sen. Kerry caused as a leader of the radical group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in 1973 McCain told U.S. News & World Report that throughout his imprisonment, his North Vietnamese captors were "bombarding us with anti-war quotes from people in high places back in Washington." "This was the most effective propaganda they had to use against us," the Arizona Republican explained. But Galanti is the first POW to say that his Hanoi Hilton guards expressly invoked Sen. Kerry's words during their brutal torture sessions. In his comments to the Times, he accused the Democratic presidential front-runner of having blood on his hands, contending, "The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him." In a follow-up interview with Fox News Channel's John Gibson, Galanti said he'll take his story directly to the American people if the press fails to expose the truth about candidate Kerry. "Let me tell you one thing. It looks like John Kerry is going to get the nomination," he told Gibson. "If he does, I'm going to come out of the woodwork, and there's a whole bunch of us [who feel] the same way." That really is horrible and sad to hear. I don't think, from what I have read and heard, that the propaganda they give to the POWs is all truth... some of it is fiction. I wonder, when you're a POW, how you separate the two? * Galanti told the Times that Kerry's decision to publicly allege that U.S. soldiers were war criminals "jeopardize[d] those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy." * That does seem bad, however, if Kerry believed it to be the truth (and I'm not generalizing on all soldiers, nor do I think Kerry was) and thought that this information was one of the only effective ways to potentially convince Congress to end the war - and that was Kerry's goal... I mean, this is what I think occurred. It's an unfortunate side effect of our open political process, where the press covers the debate about our wars, including the dissent, in detail... and that POWs are subjected to it being thrown into their face. It is still, however, our political process. It seems significantly un-American to suggest that open debate and discussion of our political decisions is not American. All of my other thoughts on the matter are expressed in the "Kerry's testimony" thread (http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=50582). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeorama Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 If Kerry dodged the war and protested, I could understand some criticism, but he didn't, he did his time and then criticized it. I don't think anyone could honestly make a case that the Vietnam war was a good thing at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 The war was certainly a good idea. It was a disaster in planning, deployment, action, decisions, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashback Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Originally posted by Kilmer17 The war was certainly a good idea. It was a disaster in planning, deployment, action, decisions, etc. You goddamn hippie, pinko, commie traitor! Take that false, made-up. malicious anti-Amercan drivel to ****ing China, you ****ing traitor. Yoo're not fit to breath the air in this great country where the very freedoms you abuse with this clap-trap are provided to you by the blessed American armed forces who provide it to you. This is treason, and I'd hang you if I could. BTW, that's sarcasm in case anybody missed it. I was just trying to imagine what OSF would say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Just out of curiosity: If the torturers hed been quoting, say, the Bible, or the Constitution, would you be in favor of banning them because they've "aided" the enemy? I've heard that it was routine for torturers to tell their victims in that war, that the Geneva convention didn't apply to them because the US had not declared war. Should we renounce the Geneva convention because our enemies quote it (while ignoring it)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKINZ_DOMIN8 Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 So what I find funny is people bashing Kerry for having been CORRECT in his free speech. He went and fought because his country demanded it of him. He came back and spoke up against the war. That greasey-spineless coward protested while soldiers were being tortured that is what is wrong in my opinion. If you don't like the war, then blame the politicians not the soldiers and do it behind the scenes. He is a complete farce and if he wins the election we had all better have lots of vaseline because he is going to bend over all of the hard working, tax paying citizens to pay for his abominable social programs like health care and who knows else. :puke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 flashback Nice strawman. I've never heard anyone who was in favor of the war say it was executed well(though it had gotten better with Creighton Abrams, but by then the momentum at home and in the WH had shifted.) In fact, the majority of the people I've heard that said it was a bad idea and was executed as well as it could be are leftists and libertarians against any foreign war that isn't directly defensive in nature. On the right, for or agin' it, the consensus is that it was poorly and weakly managed under LBJ and that Nixon did not account for Watergate and the push to cut off even air support and aid to SVN and Cambodia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon the Black Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 The war was certainly a great idea. If we hadn't won, communism would have spread throughout Asia and directly threatened the entire free world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 Never mind. "won," got it. :laugh: But to counter that, the war was long and while you cannot call the effort a triumphant one, it was the resolve to challenge the Communists that led to the resolution of the Cold War in the favor of the West. Too bad we're willing to squander it all by adopting their beliefs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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