Kerry Proud of the Lies He Told Congress in 1971
Says U.S. Doomed to Lose War in Iraq
       Sen. John Kerry, in a speech on Saturday in Fanueil Hall criticized the Iraq war and spoke glowingly of his 1971 testimony before Congress when he accused U.S. troops of war crimes.
       The event which was staged to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the now-infamous speech by Kerry where he told Congress in 1971 that individuals whom he knew had “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 Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam.”
       Kerry drew a parallel numerous times between current events in Iraq and the events in Vietnam 35 years ago. He insisted, as he did with Vietnam, that the conflict in Iraq “cannot be won militarily” and demanded on a withdrawal of troops to begin next month, if the Iraqis do not have a viable government in place by May 15th.
       In Saturday’s speech, Kerry was careful to avoid laying blame on U.S. service personnel with regard to war crimes or violations of the Geneva Convention, but instead, laid the blame directly on Pres. Bush and V.P. Cheney for any wrongs committed. He stated:
       “America has always embraced the best traditions of civilized conduct toward combatants and non-combatants in war. But today our leaders hold themselves above the law ---- in the way they not only treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib, but assert unchecked power to spy on American citizens.”
       Afforded the opportunity to amend his 1971 testimony, Kerry attempted to re-write the content of his Congressional speech, and say that his claims of soldiers committing atrocities wasn’t demonizing some of his fellow soldiers, but just the war in general. Regarding the war and his public statements on it, he declared: “I am proud it was the dissenters … Because we spoke out, the truth was ultimately understood that the faults in Vietnam were those of the war, not the warriors.”