“We would like to thank the Communist Parties and working class of the countries of the world, national liberation movements, nationalist countries, peace-loving countries, international democratic organizations, and progressive human beings for their wholehearted support, and strong encouragement to our people’s patriotic resistance against the U.S. for national salvation.” — These words are engraved on a wall plaque in the War Remnants Museum in Vietnam, where John Kerry’s picture hangs as an ally and sympathizer of the murderous Communist regime.

I am an internal optimist who believes that the past is behind us and the future is bright, but I just cannot let John Kerry’s record go unchallenged. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Kerry mentioned his Vietnam service a half dozen times during the first debate. If Kerry is going to make an issue out of his service, the American people have the right to critique. Before I begin, John Kerry was a hero in Vietnam. He served his country in a war that many thought was unjust. Furthermore, he was shot at and voluntarily put himself in harm’s way, which I will not dispute and I commend him for it. What I do dispute is what he did when he got back to the States. Kerry turned his back on his comrades and began a slander campaign that caused many to be tortured in Vietnam and caused hundreds of thousands of soldiers to get an appalling return stateside. John Kerry was at best dishonorable and at worst traitorous for what he did to his brothers in arms.

One thing that John Kerry did not (and still doesn’t) understand is that every word a man or woman of power says will have consequences. It is without doubt that Kerry was not aware of how far reaching his words would be when he gave his infamous testimony in front of the Fulbright Committee. In the speech, Kerry spoke of war crimes that were committed by his comrades while in Vietnam. Although John Kerry himself never saw the war crimes he mentioned, he cited discharged veterans, none of whom were under oath or swore to affidavits. Kerry spoke of the U.S. soldiers as “reminiscent of Ghengis Khan.” Soldiers that were fighting in Vietnam felt the consequences of these words hardest as public opinion against them changed overnight. Although many felt the war was not right, John Kerry put the public cross-hairs on the American infantryman. As a consequence, returning veterans were spit on, called baby-killers and even worse, were ridiculed and laughed at for serving their country. Moreover, no one wanted to be associated with veterans. Many would not even put prior service on job applications. John Kerry’s words of hate and deception caused hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans undue stress and humiliation, but the harm it caused prisoners of war (POWs) was even worse.

Most horror stories of the Vietnam conflict originate from the infamous Communist prison camps where mental and physical torture was commonplace. Many POW veterans have memories of a voice being boomed over loud speakers for hours on end, speaking of war crimes. This voice used to break the spirit of POWs was that of John Kerry. Many POWs were forced to sign confessions saying they were war criminals and, even more, were subjected to mental interrogation techniques that revolved around Kerry’s words. Paul Galanti, a POW in North Vietnam for seven years, recalled John Kerry’s words all too well when he was interviewed by the L.A. Times last February. Galanti said his prison guards cited Kerry’s speeches as “an example of why (they) should cross over to (their) side.” He went on to say that “Kerry broke a covenant among servicemen never to make public criticisms that might jeopardize those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy,” and “John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with.” John Kerry either knowingly or unknowingly let his testimony be used by the enemy as propaganda against our troops. As a result, morale plummeted in South Vietnam and the Viet Cong had a new battle cry. John Kerry is and was a hero to the Communist dictatorship in Vietnam because he rallied Americans against the war, by what ever means necessary. He did all of this, not for the troops, not for the Vietnamese people and certainly not for democracy; he did it for himself. In the coming years, his antiwar stardom rose. He met several times with North Vietnamese leaders, while the war was being fought, and continued to bash U.S. soldiers. It is one thing to be against the merits of a war, but it is quite another to be against its participants.

The sad truth is that Kerry hurt more than he helped in his anti-war rise to fame, and most veterans will never forgive him for it. According to Galanti, “The Vietnam memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him.” John Kerry aided the enemy by giving them propaganda and distorting the truth in their favor. Kerry saw an opportunity to gain political clout and seized it. Why should he care how many were hurt as a consequence?

Robert Thelen, III ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and management.