Vietnam Vet Protests Vietnam Premier (Calls McCain a traitor)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5090901,00.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sitting as guest of honor at a dinner marking a new era of friendship between his country and the United States, Vietnam's prime minister got a stark reminder of the divisiveness that lingers a generation after the war ended.

``That's life,'' visiting Prime Minister Phan Van Khai muttered after security officers hustled a balding, shouting protester believed to be a Vietnam veteran away from the head table.

Tuesday night's incident, on a day in which Khai met at the White House with President Bush, was in stark contrast to the communist leader's introduction by another Vietnam veteran, Sen. John McCain.

The protester inside the Mayflower Hotel ball room was being interrogated by Secret Service agents late Tuesday night, Secret Service spokeswoman Lorie Lewis said. The man, whose identify was not disclosed, had shouted ``You're a traitor'' toward the stage, but it was unclear whether he meant McCain or Khai.

For what reason would a Vietnam vet call Khai a traitor? The media does its best to protect McCain.

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Poor delusional man

McCain has been a supporter of "normalized" relations for years.

And even if this guy is a veteran, it's extremely dubious that anything he did in Vietnam was in the interest of the people of the United States of America. He should be tracking down Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger for his insults, not McCain and Khai.

[NNN0LHI]

5. I suspect he was talking about the statements condemning the USA...

...he signed while he was a POW? I am sure he was tortured but torture is OK with McCain now so those statements should be held against him.

He was dropping fire from 30,000 feet on women and children. I would say the Vietnamese showed great restraint by not killing him when they caught him.

Don

[Skwmom]

2. "Straight-talking" McCain is a media created myth. e/o/m

[dArKeR]

7. I agree. All of the Repuke 'stars' are just like false idol Gods. It's a

myth. The Media Whore Corps. are instructed by their handlers on who to groom for advancement.


Just like Powell at My Lai and in the UN on Iraq. Dean Democrats have to stand up and start directly calling the GOP and their media corporations liars but then present a list of facts on paper.

The soldier had written about rumors of a massacre that Americal Division soldiers had committed in the hamlet of My Lai 4 in South Vietnam. Although he did not mention My Lai in the letter, the soldier complained that Americal soldiers were indiscriminately killing Vietnamese civilians. Such acts, the young soldier warned, "are carried on at entire unit levels and thereby acquire the aspect of sanctioned policy."

Several days after he received a copy of the letter, Powell sent a memo to his superior, the adjutant general, making the outrageous claim that the young soldier had not given enough specifics upon which to base an inquiry. The purposely blind Powell said the soldier's charges were false except for "isolated instances." He wrote that "relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese are excellent." Powell's damage control efforts soon proved fruitless and the My Lai massacre burst onto the world stage like an atomic explosion, severely damaging the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. On the orders of Lt. William Calley, soldiers from the U.S. Army Americal Division had indeed indiscriminantly gunned down an entire village of men, women and children.

Although Powell's attempt to cover up the massacre was unsuccessful, he had at least proven his willingness to do what was necessary to please his bosses. For his two tours of duty in Vietnam, Powell, who was never exposed to serious combat, was awarded the Purple Heart for a minor foot wound he received after stepping on a "punji stick." He was later awarded a Bronze Star for heroism and the Soldiers Medal for pulling two men free from a non-combat related helicopter crash.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/story13.htm

[unhappycamper]

3. He was probably talking about this (s)election pic:

http://www.38ludlow.com.nyud.net:8090/lemonblog/archives/mccain_bush.jpg

I can see the vet's point.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

8. This is a very disturbing picture that should be an embarrassment to McCai

if he still possesses any sense of moral integrity. I personally feel he is no more than the average political whore with kneepads who will violate any sense of basic human decency to become president. Wait until he has to do the serious "hard work" of pandering to the radical religious right to receive their blessing if he is to have any hope to capture the repuke nomination. Another disgusting hypocrite masquerading as a super-patriot, two wanna-be demagogues loving each other up, pass out the barf bags.

[bluestateguy]

4. I don't defend John McCain anymore

Somebody else can do that now, even when his patriotism is attacked. In fact, if he's the 2008 nominee, I think the Democratic nominee should consider harshly attacking his war service and patriotism.

[TX-RAT]

6. My first attack would be.

How did getting your ass shot down, make you an automatic hero. I was only there for 11 months, but i saw men for more deserving of that title than him.

Guess being on ground level doesn't qualify.

[napi21]

9. I'm sorry you had to experience Vietnam at all, but 11 months

really isn't the same as 5 years in a Vietnamese prison either.

I have always supported our troops, wether I agreed with what they were told to do or not. There is a mixed bag of backgrounds in my close family. My husband never was drafted because we got married which changed his classification, so you COULD call him a draft dodger of sorts. My BIN served in Vietnam, and continued his military career for 24 years, and my oldest son is in the Nave and served in the Gulf war.

I look at your criticism of McCain the same as I viewed the Swift Boat idiots against Kerry. Criticize the man for his positions, how he voted or statements he's made, but it's wrong to criticize his military service.

[NNN0LHI]

11. You may want to read this? Luck Of The Admiral's Son Not For "Grunts"

http://www.usvetdsp.com/smith_mc.htm

When two U.S. Army enlisted men were captured by the Viet Cong in 1963, they were plunged into an ordeal that would prove to be a relentless trial of body and spirit by torture. Once they were finally freed, however, their trials began all over again, when their statements critical of the U. S. Vietnam policy landed them in a military court facing a capital offense for violating the military Code of Conduct by "aiding the enemy."

But, if your name is John McCain and your father and grandfather were famous admirals, violating the Code of Conduct by "aiding the enemy" translates into fodder for a political career, book deals, and adulation bordering on sainthood.

Even though news reports of McCain collaborating with the enemy continued from the time he was captured in 1967 through 1970, the Navy never considered prosecution as an option.

Instead, Pentagon pencil pushers chose a political spin that lifted McCain, the former POW turned U.S. Senator, up to a glorified pedestal where he sprouted a halo and wings and became America's "POW-hero" and today a presidential candidate.

No such luck for the two lowly "grunts."

[napi21]

12. I disagree with the way the grunts were treated too, but I stand by

my position today. Slam McCain for hugging Shrub during the 2004 campaign, slam Kerry for not being an agressive enough candidate, but leave their military service off limits.

You know, this may sound folllish to you, but I feel ALL the service members currently in Iraq are heros, no matter what their job is, just to survive 120 degree average temperatures over there!

[NNN0LHI]

14. I didn't think you would read it n/t

[TX-RAT]

15. So to surrender and become a POW is a heroic action?

There were way to many there who died fighting, for me to buy that.

Yes i was only there for 11 months, the next 14 months i spent going through a series of 5 surgery's to rebuild the left side of my head, i guess that doesn't count in your book either.

[Toots]

16. Not everyone who served has served honorably

Republicans have repeatably said about McCain that he was the only POW to gain weight. I don't know what he did or did not do as I was not there with him but I was in Vietnam and saw things that make these new prison scandals look mild. American soldiers can be very barbaric and cruel.

[Desertrose]

10. I'd ask him why he forced the Navajo to relocate onto radioactive land

He is a real nasty piece of work IMHO and would sell his soul for power...oh wait...I think he pretty much already did that.


Blac Mesa link for those interested....
http://www.greenjournal.com/showarticle.asp?404;http://www.greenjournal.com/article121.asp

[AlCzervik]

13. hmm, i wonder if that was Ted Sampley?