Did John Kerry ever claim to have personally witnessed war crimes?

[trotsky]

I didn't think he did but some freeper insists so. Anyone got the answer?

[htuttle]

1. In his Senate testimony

He said that he spoke to a group of returned Vietnam veterans before his testimony, and asked them what they wanted him to tell the Senate. Part of what they asked to be said was about the war crimes.

So no, he never said that he personally witnessed war crimes.

[trotsky]

3. Thank you.

Usually when things make me go, "Huh?" I assume they grabbed it from a right-wing mouthpiece. Just wanted to verify this so I didn't get rope-a-doped.

[mbali]

2. Of course not, but doesn't matter. If Rush, FOX, SBV, Hannity say he did

he did. The big lie is a wondrous thing, isn't it? Gets a complete free pass in the media.

Now, if there's a possibility that a couple of memos that only serve to bolster the already overwhelming evidence that Bush shirked his duty may be fake, THAT's a different story! The librul media will stop at nothing, spare no expense to expose the discrepancy!

[trotsky]

5. The hypocrisy is astounding, isn't it?

And their inability to recognize it is frustrating, to say the least.

[deutsey]

4. That must be a freeper talking point

I got into a debate with one at work who insisted Kerry admitted committing war crimes.

I asked him if he knew anything about the Winter Soldier investigation. Of course, he had no clue, so I proceeded to give him a history lesson and then, when he said he heard Kerry say he had committed atrocities, I told him I'd email him a transcript of Kerry's testimony.

After I sent him a link, I didn't hear anything more about this from him.

Amazing how freepers shut up whenever the truth speaks.

PS: Here's the link I sent.

http://www.evergreenreview.com/107/kerry/kerry2.html

[trotsky]

7. Hey, thanks for the link.

C-Span also has his speech and Q&A:
http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp

[LTR]

12. I don't believe he did in the Senate testimony

He was primarily a messenger for the Winter Soldiers, who wanted him to go from their meeting in Detroit to Washington DC and the Senate. They admitted their atrocities to Kerry. Kerry did not rat them out. I have yet to see or hear an interview where he named names.

[Village Idiot]

6. Kerry admitted atrocities in 1971:

On the April 18 <2004> Meet the Press, Tim Russert played a clip from Kerry’s April 18, 1971 appearance on the show. Kerry had asserted:

“There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free-fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.”

[trotsky]

8. Well dang, wish I had waited to see this reply.

Might not be applicable, since the freeper was talking about specific war crimes (rapes, mutilations, etc.). But good enough for them to justify it in their tiny minds, unfortunately.

[Sparkly]

9. Note also that he's said he did not realize when he was there

that these were counter to the Geneva conventions and thus war crimes. (Yet the brainwashed freepers' scriptwriters continue to feign ignorance asking, "Well why didn't he do something to stop it or refuse the order" blah blah blah, and you'll hear them repeating this.)

Note too that he didn't say all soldiers were war criminals, nor was the point of the testimony or the VVAW to put blame on soldiers, nor did the VC holding POWs have no idea what was going on under their noses until they picked up a NYTimes and read about John Kerry, something else the propagandists would have you believe (and have others believing).

Note third that John F'ing O'Neill admitted on Cavett that he'd participated in free fire zones, also.

[Connie_Corleone]

10. Why didn't you highlight the WHOLE sentence??

“There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare.

[LTR]

13. Well, at least Kerry owned up to it!

He admitted what he did was wrong when he found out what he was doing was against the GC.

And this is much bigger than Bush's TANG/AANG service. And Bush hasn't confessed to what HE did during that time. If he would have, it would not be that big a deal now. Since he and Rove have stonewalled and tried to cover up any errors in judgement made back then, this has gotten much bigger.

[Bandit]

11. Every soldier who was in combat at all committed these same

crimes except that Kerry put the blame entirely on the men who ordered us to do so and who created the zones and missions in the first place. It was SOP and it was and is against Geneva Convention.

[AngryAmish]

14. Nixon lead war-crimes

Don't blame the grunt.

[Killarney]

15. what repukes usually do

is start Kerry's speech here:
"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..."

and they try to make it seem like Kerry is ACCUSING other soldiers of this. Not the case. Anyone that starts the speech there is a mother-fucking liar because Kerry was no ACCUSING, he was referring to testimony of soldiers who testified that they did that. He didn't say he saw it, he was no accusing, just referring to what they said they did.

Here's the beginning of that sentence, which repukes never include:
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.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads...

Big difference when you cutoff the beginning.