pan6467

I just don't understand how in the past few years Vietnam has become this great lighthouse beacon to the Right.

I grew up watching friends of my dad's come home, torn, beaten, crippled physically and mentally, drug addicts, morally broken, hating the country's leaders for putting them in a war that we had no reason being in.

Hating the country they loved's government for treating the men in VA hospitals like sub human guinea pigs.

Hating the country because the VFW's that wouldn't allow them in.

Hating the American Legions that wouldn't let them in as members.

Hating a country that dumped agent Orange and purple and Napalm on them.

Hating the country because when they got home they were spat on and called babykillers.

Hating the country becausewe didn't go in after the MIA/POW's.

And when I was old enough and talked to them, (because I was interested in history) they said they saw things that WE did and THEY did things they never thought they would do. In THEIR words I heard stories of how they killed whole villages because they didn't know whom to trust and orders were sent to find the guerillas in the village and they followed orders, because those who didn't were sent into the really bad areas (killing zones) or sent out on recon.

I heard stories how they saw men killing our own men because they were loaded up on drugs and heard a noise and shot without thinking.

I heard a lot more stories and NOT ONCE did I hear how great and noble it was, or how moral the men were. Those are myths, fallacies created the past 5-10 years, first to try to defeat Clinton then to defeat Kerry.

I can contrast this to how the WW2 vets will talk on and on about their war and homecomings in a much different way.

So, no Kerry testified seeing what many over there saw. What many reported seeing and having been a part of themselves (anyone ever see Born on The 4TH of July? True story, noone blasted Ron Kovic for showing how evil that war was.)

Vietnam Vets who saw the movie Platoon acknowledge how true that movie was.

WHY ARE PEOPLE BLASTING KERRY FOR SPEAKING OUT NOW? Why now is Vietnam becoming so glorious when the leader of the party trying to glorify it 1) never went: 2) took a year off in his service to "campaign for a family friend".

Did Limbaugh serve? Did O'Reilly serve? Did any of those right wingers who are behind other's efforts to tarnish Kerry's record on 'Nam serve?

You want to attack Kerry on policy fine. Attack him, but attacking him for doing what many did when they came home and how 1000's upon 1000's felt when they came home just shows the depths of your hatred and your uncaring trivialness of what true VietNam vets went through. And when we trivialize Vietnam, we forget, and in forgetting we are destined to repeat history.

Do any of you truly want to do that?

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"