Please see the following article that apparently is being circulated
through e-mail.  What I would like is an assessment of how much of it
is true.  How much is blown out of proportion ... taken out of context
... or just down right B.S.?  Have the facts been twisted or is our
potentially next president as big a liar and phoney as our present
one?

John Kerry's War Record 
By Michael Benge
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 13, 2004


As Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, considers a bid for the
White House, Americans should know a few things about him that he
might prefer go unmentioned -- and I don't mean his $75 haircuts.

When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on
Veterans Day, a group of veterans turned their backs on him and walked
away. They remembered Mr. Kerry as the antiwar activist who testified
before Congress during the war, accusing veterans of being war
criminals. The dust jacket of Mr. Kerry's pro-Hanoi book, "The New
Soldier," features a photograph of his ragged band of radicals mocking
the US Marine Corps Memorial, which depicts the flag-raising on Iwo
Jima, with an upside-down American flag. Retired Gen. George S. Patton
III charged that Mr. Kerry's actions as an antiwar activist had "given
aid and comfort to the enemy," as had the actions of Ramsey Clark and
Jane Fonda. Also, Mr. Kerry lied when he threw what he claimed were
his war medals over the White House fence; he later admitted they
weren't his. Now they are displayed on his office wall.

Long after he changed sides in congressional hearings, Mr. Kerry
lobbied for renewed trade relations with Hanoi. At the same time, his
cousin C. Stewart Forbes, chief executive for Colliers International,
assisted in brokering a $905 million deal to develop a deep-sea port
at Vung Tau, Vietnam - an odd coincidence.

As noted in the Inside Politics column of Nov. 14 (Nation), historian
Douglas Brinkley is writing Mr. Kerry's biography. Hopefully, he'll
include the senator's latest ignominious feat: preventing the Vietnam
Human Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate,
claiming human rights would
deteriorate as a result. His actions sent a clear signal to Hanoi that
Congress cares little about the human rights for which so many
Americans fought and died.

The State Department ranked Vietnam among the 10 regimes worldwide
least tolerant of religious freedom. Recently, 354 churches of the
Montagnards, a Christian ethnic minority, were forcibly disbanded, and
by mid-October, more  than 50 Christian pastors and elders had been
arrested in Dak Lak province alone. On Oct. 29, the secret police
executed three Montagnards by lethal injection simply for protesting
religious repression. The communists are conducting a pogrom against
the Montagnards, forcing Christians to drink a mixture of goat's blood
and alcohol and renounce Christianity. Thousands have been killed or
imprisoned or have just "disappeared." The Montagnards lost one-half
of their adult male population fighting for the United States, and
without them, there might be thousands more American names on that
somber black granite wall at the Vietnam memorial.

As Mr. Kerry contemplates a run for the presidency, people must
remember that he has fought harder for Hanoi as an antiwar activist
and a senator than he did against the Vietnamese communists while
serving in the Navy in Vietnam.

Michael Benge is a Foreign Service officer and a former Vietnam POW (1968 to 1973)

Hello.

Well, let's go through it point by point...

------------------------------------------------
"When Mr. Kerry pontificated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on
Veterans Day, a group of veterans turned their backs on him and walked
away."
------------------------------------------------

Yes, this reportedly did happen, but not recently.  

This Veterans' Day speech actually took place in 1991.  It was
reported in a Boston Globe article about Kerry on February 12, 1992.

"A contingent of fellow Vietnam vets pointedly turned their backs on
Kerry when he rose to give the keynote speech on Veterans Day at "The
Wall" in Washington."
Source: Boston Globe, Feb 9, 1992.  pg. 12
"The avenger Love him or hate him, Sen. John Kerry has always been a
man on a mission" by John A. Farrell, Globe Staff
[obtained via a library newspaper database]


-------------------------------------------------
The dust jacket of Mr. Kerry's pro-Hanoi book...
-------------------------------------------------

There's a scan of the dust jacket here:
http://www.newsmax.com/images/headlines/KerryNewSoldier.jpg


-------------------------------------------------
Retired Gen. George S. Patton III charged that Mr. Kerry's actions as
an antiwar activist had "given aid and comfort to the enemy,"
-------------------------------------------------

Patton III did make such a statement, but the statement was apparently
made during the Senate campaign of 1984 rather than during the actual
Vietnam War a decade earlier.

Patton was a supporter of Ray Shamie, Kerry's opponent for the
Massachusetts Senate seat.  This was reported on page 1 of the Wall
Street Journal on October 26, 1984.

"He [Shamie] was embarrassed further when his ally, retired Major Gen.
George Patton III -- an emotional and controversial figure -- accused
Mr. Kerry of aiding the enemy in opposing the war."
source: Wall Street Journal. Oct 26, 1984.  pg. 1
"Politics '84 -- Battle for Senate: History Colors Massachusetts"
By David Rogers. 
[obtained via a library newspaper database]

The 1984 Senate race context is also mentioned in anti-war activist
Brian Willson's "An Open Letter to Senator John Kerry on Iraq"
http://www.brianwillson.com/awolkerry.html


------------------------------------------------
Also, Mr. Kerry lied when he threw what he claimed were
his war medals....
------------------------------------------------

"Lied" seems to be a bit unfair.

It doesn't appear that anyone has found actual evidence that Kerry
ever said that the medals he threw were his.

See:
"A troubling tale from his past. Is it true?", Slate,  Sept. 3, 2003
http://slate.msn.com/id/2087554/

On the other hand, it does seem that back in 1971 at least, Kerry had
left some folks with the impression that he thrown his own medals. 
See the bottom Doonesbury cartoon panel from 1971 where that seems to
be implied:
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/kerry_faq.html

Also see the writing of anti-war activist S. Brian Willson:
"All those 13 years everyone thought you had had the courage and
leadership to return medals..."
From:
"An Open Letter to Senator John Kerry on Iraq"
http://www.brianwillson.com/awolkerry.html

------------------------------------------------
Mr. Kerry lobbied for renewed trade relations with Hanoi. At the same time, his
cousin C. Stewart Forbes, chief executive for Colliers International,
assisted in brokering a $905 million deal
------------------------------------------------

This is also been on a web site run  by the self-described "nonprofit,
non-partisan" Center for Public Integrity:
"But Kerry's participation in the Committee became controversial in
December 1992 when Hanoi announced that it had awarded Colliers
International, a Boston-based real estate company, an exclusive deal
to develop its commercial real estate potentially worth billions.
Stuart Forbes, the CEO of Colliers, is Kerry's cousin."
http://www.bop2004.org/bop2004/candidate.aspx?cid=4
More about The Center for Public Integrity
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/index.asp?L1=40&L2=0&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0


In any case, it is true that Stewart Forbes' firm did broker a $905
million deal in Vietnam.  This was reported in the Boston Herald on
June 16, 1993.

" A Boston-based firm has helped broker a $905 million deal to develop
a deep sea port in Vietnam in what was once a recreational area for
U.S. troops.
 Colliers International, through partner firm Colliers Jardine in
Singapore, has put together a plan that would bring big ships to Vung
Tau, about 80 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
 The four-year project, to start next year, is currently the largest
investment scheme in Vietnam, said Colliers CEO Stewart Forbes."
source:
Boston Herald. Jun 16, 1993.  pg. 032
"Deal will build Vietnam port" by Michael Knell
[obtained via a library newspaper database]

On the other hand, there does not seem to be any evidence of any
connection between Kerry's position on Vietnam trade and Colliers'
deal.

In fact, a 1993 article from a publication called The Spotlight points
out that Kerry had been advocating improved relations with Vietnam
long before he was on the Senate committee that had any influence on
the matter.  Also, Stewart Forbes reportedly said at the time that he
had never discussed the issue with Kerry.

'Kerry was a strong advocate of rapprochement with Vietnam long before
he was named to the select committee...
...
 Stewart Forbes states that he has "never discussed this matter [the
Colliers interest in Vietnam] with Senator nor anyone on his staff."'
source: 
The Spotlight,  July 19, 1993, "Plans for Billions in Investments" by Mike Blair
[Although several facts in this article would seem to pro-Kerry the
article is archived on an anti-Kerry web site:
http://25thaviation.org/johnkerry/default.htm ]

------------------------------------------------
 senator's latest ignominious feat: preventing the Vietnam Human
Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate claiming human
rights would
deteriorate as a result.
------------------------------------------------

Yes, this is basically true.  Kerry did oppose the Vietnam Human
Rights Act on the grounds stated.

'The bill, Kerry said in a statement, "would weaken democratic
reformers and human rights activists who are trying to promote
economic development and social change and would strengthen the hand
of the Vietnamese hard-liners who have never wanted the United States
involved in Vietnam." He says the measure wouldn't improve human
rights.'
From:
Ledger-Enquirer, Knight Ridder Tribune News, Sep. 09, 2002,
"Vietnamese-Americans rally for Vietnam Human Rights Act
"http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/4038605.htm

-------------

search terms:
newspaper database: kerry, "their backs", "veterans day"
"patton iii", "aid and comfort", kerry
forbes, colliers, kerry, vietnam
"new soldier," kerry
"vietnam human rights", kerry

I hope this helps.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 09 Feb 2004 13:58 PST

Sorry for that typo in the middle of my answer:

'This IS also on a web site run by the self-described "nonprofit...'

This site might be of interest:

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.org/

I think jugler is too kind to John Kerry. Perhaps a high percentage of
our elected officials have similar indiscretions, and a few more and
worse. I will likely vote for minor party candidates, first choice
being Libertarian = liberty = freedom = abolish the income tax and
make government function on lots less money.  Neil