The politicians should be the ones apologizing for sponsoring that phoney
war. That war was almost as bad as the phoney war on terror in Iraq. Lets
see if this makes sense....a handful of radicals bring down the Trade
centers...whom happen to not even be from Iraq... Next Bush sees fit to
attack a country that they were not even from. Its like someone breaking
into my house then I go on a rampage and start shooting everyone in my
nieghborhood.
"Alanyu5" <alanyu5@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040919213928.23043.00000805@mb-m12.aol.com...
In 1971 a Senate Committee, Kerry's testimony accused Vietnam veterans as
war criminals based on his hearsay.
(Source)- http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0408/22/le.00.html
CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER
=============
Interview With Bob Dole; Interview With David Kay
Aired August 22, 2004 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS
FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BLITZER: Welcome back to "LATE EDITION."
In just a moment I'll speak with the former Republican presidential
nominee and Senator Bob Dole. First, though, let's go to CNN
headquarters in Atlanta for a quick check of what's in the news right
now.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: In just 11 days, President Bush will lay out his case for four
more years in office when he formally accepts his party's nomination at
the Republican National Convention in New York.
Joining us now with his special insight into this presidential race, the
former Republican presidential nominee, Bob Dole.
Thanks very much for joining us.
BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Wolf, thank you.
BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about this whole Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth ad campaign, what's going on. It's a sensitive subject. I'm
interested in your thoughts.
First of all, let's have a little excerpt from this latest ad they've put
out
going after John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off
ears, cut off heads...
JOE PONDER, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: The
accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in
Vietnam was just devastating.
KERRY: ... randomly shot at civilians...
PONDER: And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: First of all, Senator, what's your bottom line on this whole
ad campaign?
DOLE: I think this can hurt Kerry more than all the medal controversy. I
mean, one day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off
their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his
ribbons. The next day he's standing there, "I want to be president
because I'm a Vietnam veteran."
And I think he's -- I said months ago, "John, don't go too far." And I
think he's got himself into this wicket now where he can't extricate
himself because not every one of these people can be Republican liars.
There's got to be some truth to the charges.
But this is on tape. This is on television. This is before the Senate
committee.
BLITZER: Just to remind our viewers, this is when he came back from
Vietnam. He testified in 1971...
DOLE: Ran for Congress. BLITZER: Right. And he was quoting a
whole bunch of other Vietnam veterans who opposed the war and
making these allegations of atrocities, if you will, war crimes
committed by U.S. troops.
And a lot of people have always suggested that what's really angered
these Vietnam veterans, the other side, is, not so much what he did or
didn't do when he served in Vietnam, but what he did when he came
back.
DOLE: I think that's true. And I think this ad's going to take -- it's
going
to be tough on Kerry because -- and he says, "Well, this is all hearsay,"
what he picked up from other veterans. But he said it. He said it before
a Senate committee. It had worldwide attention.
BLITZER: The fact that he said on Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" a
few months ago he probably went too far. He was a young man just
back from Vietnam, and he probably shouldn't have said some of those
things during those statements when he came home from Vietnam.
Does that ease the responsibility that he has?
DOLE: Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans
who served. He wasn't the only one in Vietnam.
And here's, you know, a good guy, good friend. I respect his record. But
three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all
superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out.
I think Senator Kerry needs to talk about his Senate record, which is
pretty thin. That's probably why he's talking about his war record, which
is pretty confused.
BLITZER: You know, the American public seems to be paying
attention to these Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads. There's a CBS poll
that came out. I think this is the right poll. Here it is. Presidential
choice
among veterans, 37 percent support Kerry-Edwards, 55 percent
Bush-Cheney. But after the convention it was at 46 percent.
He seems to be losing support among veterans, which is an influential
bloc of voters out there.
DOLE: You know, I think it's too early to tell what -- nobody maybe in
six -- how many days left? Not many. There are eight weeks. Maybe this
will be forgotten. Maybe there will be something else. But I think this
has certainly damaged Senator Kerry.
And I think it's partly his own doing. He can't lay out -- I remember in
'96, I was the veteran in the race. Bill Clinton avoided the draft. And we
didn't have all this trouble over my service versus his non-service. There
wasn't much written about it. People accepted the fact that I had a
record.
=====
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