Karma: What Changed in 30 Years, John Kerry ????

What changed in 30 years, John Kerry ?

On October 9, 2002, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry stood on the Senate floor and spoke in favor of the invasion of Iraq. The next day he voted to authorize President Bush to go to war.

Thirty years earlier, Kerry became a leading voice against the war in Vietnam.

Kerry returned from Vietnam in April 1969, having won early transfer out of the conflict because of his three Purple Hearts. He had also won a Silver Star.

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military.

The Silver Star is the third-highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces. It is also the third highest award given for valor in the face of the enemy.

The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States not justifying one of the two higher awards - the service crosses (Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, or the Air Force Cross), the second-highest military decoration, or the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration. The Silver Star may be awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the armed forces, distinguishes himself or herself by extraordinary heroism involving one of the following actions:

In action against an enemy of the United States
While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force
While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party

......As a veteran and one who felt this anger, I would like to talk about it. We are angry because we feel we have been used it the worst fashion by the administration of this country.......

.....I would like to talk to you a little bit about what the result is of the feelings these men carry with them after coming back from Vietnam. The country doesn’t know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.

......We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? We are here in Washington to say that the problem of this war is not just a question of war and diplomacy. It is part and parcel of everything that we are trying, as human beings, to communicate to people in this country--the question of racism, which is rampant in the military, and so many other questions, such as the use of weapons: the hypocrisy in our taking umbrage at the Geneva Conventions and using that as justification for a continuation of this war, when we are more guilty than any other body of violations of those Geneva Conventions; in the use of free-fire zones; harassment-interdiction fire, search-and-destroy missions; the bombings; the torture of prisoners; all accepted policy by many units in South Vietnam. That is what we are trying to say. It is part and parcel of everything.........

.......We are here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is the leadership? We’re here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatrick, and so many others? Where are they now that we, the men they sent off to war, have returned? These are the commanders who have deserted their troops. And there is no more serious crime in the laws of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never even leave their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They’ve left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country…........

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My Response & Thoughts.....Mr. Kerry......for a man that fought for this country and was sent over to fight by our leaders....you went. You were proud to fight for what you believed in, for our country....BUT that soon changed when you were there and realized what was going on, when you came back you SPOKE OUT against the leaders that sent you there, the country you no longer trusted.....it is a VALID point - they made men do the unthinkable, had no thought of what it was doing to the individual human that would have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives......the violence you now had with you...was it too much to think of every day?....you were part of and participated in the inhumane acts of HATE through VIOLENCE.....you talk of RACISM....you recognized among your men who you fought should to should with....it did not sit well with you.....You came back to MAKE CHANGE, to have a VOICE to let the PEOPLE know .... WAR is WRONG.....But not thirty years later....what changed your mind?

You spoke in favor to President Bush to go to WAR.....what changed your mind ... was it now where you stood in congress???? with the leaders?? the leaders that are fighting for change back in the USA...while you help send men & women over to a foreign land to fight against terrorism.....what changed in your thoughts?? do you not realize you were the terrorism in Vietnam? Now you think your OK will made everything better in 2002?

What amount America's PEOPLE and what they want.....when War was declared on Iraq, I and many other Americans were not back home in our native land; we were abroad....did you think of the horror and terror you aided in for those Americans not to forget. To not be home, in the midst of the unknown, WAR.....shame on you. How can you lay your head down at night....and close your eyes...the demons will always be with you no matter what you tried.

Why is it that America cannot act proper and show their ways in a manner, that they don't support in WAR.....when you are young and fight with a sibling...you are asked or made to make up...whether a kiss, a hug, an I'm sorry, or just talking things out.....leaders should talk....not put the gloves on. WAR is just another form of business.....making and spending money....not for the PEOPLE but the leaders that now have a larger monopoly board game to play on....the Soils of Nations.