"STOLEN HONOR"... WATCH IT

The documentary that the Kerry Camp didn't want America to see:

"Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal"

Background
When John Kerry appeared before the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the spring of 1971, his testimony sent shock waves throughout America and the world. Here was a young, articulate Ivy-Leaguer, a highly decorated Naval officer who had seen combat in Vietnam. Now, driven by conscience and lofty ideals, Lt. Kerry said he felt compelled to break his silence and tell the unvarnished truth about the Vietnam War and those who fought it. The war, he said, was a criminal endeavor driven by a “policy of atrocities.” The 2.5 million men who served in Vietnam were akin to “Genghis Khan’s barbaric hordes,” thugs and psychopathic war criminals who wantonly plundered the Vietnam countryside, murdering, raping and bombing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians – old men, women and children -- each and every day.

Lt. Kerry’s widely televised statements were dramatic and persuasive, made all the more credible by the fact he had been there, said he had witnessed many of these same atrocities. His testimony catapulted him to international prominence and the ranks of leadership in the American anti-war movement, launching his once failing political career. It also permanently branded in the American psyche the image of Vietnam veterans as murderous “baby killers” and “drugged out losers,” a perception that persists today, one deeply embedded in our history.

That single act earned for Kerry the lasting enmity of Vietnam veterans, especially those who had borne the brunt of his accusations, that small percentage of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who actually served on the frontlines. Many of these combat veterans would carry the scars of their service for life. Kerry’s repudiation of their sacrifice represented yet another war wound, one that would never heal. As compelling as Kerry’s Senate testimony was, these men knew it was lacking in one key element … truth. They knew from their own combat experiences virtually all his allegations were lies; the U.S. military would never countenance such brutality. And, they also knew his actions were a deliberate betrayal of all of them, especially the more than 58,000 who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.

But, perhaps, more than any living group of combat veterans, it was the America ’s POWs who suffered most, forced to endure the immediate consequences of Kerry’s treacherous falsehoods. In 1971, some 700 of these men were reported as captured or missing in action, most presumed held prisoner by the North Vietnamese Communists in such places as the notorious Hanoi Hilton. Already subjected to years of torture, solitary confinement and unspeakable psychological and physical abuse, their lives were literally hanging by a thread when Kerry issued his damning testimony. In mere moments, Kerry had willingly given the Vietnamese Communists what they had spent years of torture and blood-letting to drag out of their American hostages, an unqualified “confession” they were all war criminals.