VIETNAM VETERANS FOR ACADEMIC REFORM
The University of Kansas Student Auxiliary
V.V.A.R.: Leading the student revolt on campus against speech codes, political correctness, multiculturalism, gender feminism, dormitory re-education, lying about Vietnam, and other instruments of academic oppression.
Leonard Magruder - Founder/President
Former professor of psychology - Suffolk College, N.Y.
Member: National Association of Scholars
CONTACT: Magruder44@aol.com - Phone: 785-312-9303
(Vietnam vet contact: General Carl Schnieder (ret.) Korea, Vietnam
dukesch@aol.com, 480-595-7668)
MAGRUDER SALUTES SWIFT BOAT VICTORY OVER MEDIA COVER-UP FOR KERRY. IS SET TO EXPOSE MEDIA COVER-UP OF 80% VIETNAM VET OPPOSITION TO KERRY IN A SERIES OF PROTESTS. LAWRENCE DOWN, TOPEKA NEXT.
August 28, 2004
By Leonard Magruder
Leonard Magruder, President of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform, said today that the lies told by presidential candidate John Kerry about his Vietnam service, exposed by Swift Boat veterans in spite of massive attempts by the media to keep them hidden from the American people, are only the tip of the iceberg. Last week he paraded a sign for two hours in front of the news building of The Lawrence Journal-World as reporters and editors walking by totally ignored the press release he offered them. The sign read, “Stop the Media Cover-up for Kerry.” The issue is that polls by 28 Vietnam vet organizations from all over the country sent to V.V.A.R. show that Vietnam vets are 80% opposed to Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, primarily because of lies Kerry told about them in his ‘71 testimony to Congress and their doubts that he could handle the terrorists. No group favored Kerry.
Other lies that the media is covering up include Kerry’s statement that he was not in Kansas City when assassination was discussed by his group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the lie about being in Cambodia, and the lie that he volunteered immediately for service when in fact he first tried to get out of service through a deferment to go to Paris to study.
The Swift Boat veterans were only able to get their message out after taking bold and expensive measures by taking out ads, seen in limited areas whereas the national media should have covered the story from the beginning. Here is a chronological account of the cover-up of both the Swift Boat vets Conference in Washington and the V.V.A.R. polls. Our charge of repeated cover-up of our poll, reported to the media beginning two months ago, was strongly reinforced when Swift Boat Veterans for Truth announced that 220 out of 229 Swift boat Vietnam veterans contacted (96%) had signed an open letter to Kerry challenging his fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. NBC, ABC, and the Associated Press all refused to report to the American people on the conference. Dan Rather mentioned it briefly on CBS Evening News but dismissed it as “allied with the Bush campaign.”
Another confirmation of the V.V.A.R. data came from Talon News in a press release titled, “Veterans Deserting Kerry”: “After months of touting his military record and his combat heroism, the Massachusetts Democrat is losing the veteran vote to President Bush. A CBS poll released Wednesday showed veterans prefer Bush over Kerry by a whopping 13 points, 54 to 41. Not surprisingly, coverage of the stunning poll result has been slim to none. Said Bush-Cheney spokesman Scott Stanzel, “It’s buried in every poll that I have seen” ...Kerry’s fellow Vietnam veterans were not surveyed independently. But anecdotal evidence suggests that most veterans of that era still harbor deep resentments against Kerry because of anti-war protests where he trashed his comrades in arms as war criminals and was involved in projects with Jane Fonda. If the presidential challenger doesn’t top Bush in the veterans category by the end of the Democratic Convention, it’s sure to be a huge political embarrassment.
FOLLOWING THE CONVENTION, HE STILL DIDN’T TOP BUSH.
A new poll by the national organization Rasmussen Reports, taken after the Democratic Convention, shows that Bush holds a 23% lead among veterans, but those with no military service favor Kerry by 10 points.
This has very frightening implications. Those with knowledge about war strongly prefer Bush over Kerry as Commander-in-Chief. An honest national media would investigate this finding and tell the American people why these veterans believe this. It also means that the much larger group of those with no military experience to judge the matter believe that Kerry would be better. In their ignorance of what makes a good Commander-in-Chief, because the media is covering up what veterans have to say, they could make Kerry, the less able of the two men, Commander-in-Chief. This would place the country in much greater danger that it would be in under Bush. The media, blindfolding America to further its campaign for Kerry, is leading America directly into harms way. If the media, and the university for that matter, do not start getting serious about the crisis, we are going to lose the war on terrorism.
The psychology by which the media cannot allow the public to find out that the majority of Vietnam veterans oppose Kerry is elementary. Most Vietnam vets agree they fought for the freedom of the South Vietnamese against Communist aggression from the North. The media, the campus, and those like Kerry and Fonda fell for Hanoi’s propaganda that it was an imperialistic, immoral war of aggression by the U.S. against those in South Vietnam attempting to unify their country. And they are apparently willing to risk the nation rather than admit they are wrong. (For an expose of the Big Lie of the anti-war movement, see Kerry Too Naive - Part 1 at v-v-a-r.org.
Here is what Vietnam Vets for the Truth, who are sponsoring a protest in Washington, D.C., against Kerry on Sept. 12 (Kerry Lied...While Good Men Died), are saying about him, probably reflecting the way most Vietnam vets feel:
“Contrary to most media reports, Vietnam veterans are overwhelmingly opposed to Kerry. He lied to the American people and the U.S. Senate when he told our mothers and fathers, our wives and our children that we had raped, tortured, murdered, and ravaged the countryside of Vietnam. It was a pack of lies, but much of America was disenchanted with the war, and America listened to and believed Kerry as he used the Vietnam War to launch his political career. Kerry is not the centrist, moderate, strong-on-defense candidate he represents himself to be, and voters need to know those facts. On Sept. 12 we will tell the true story of how the fine young men and women who fought in Vietnam came home to insults instead of parades, because they listened to Kerry’s lies, when they should have welcomed them home with gratitude. Kerry gave aid and comfort to the enemy when he returned to the US:
1) He joined the radical left of the anti-war movement and worked with Jane Fonda, as advocates of our enemy.
2) He launched his political career with false testimony to Congress in 1971 calling American soldiers in Vietnam “..a generation of monsters.”
3) He said he was ashamed of his Vietnam service and dishonored his decorations by throwing them over a fence labeled “Trash” at a Washington D.C. protest.
4) He met with our enemy’s negotiator in Paris in 1970 in violation of U.S. law while hostilities were going on, returned to the U.S. and publicly advocated the enemy’s proposal of unilateral U.S. withdrawal before negotiating the return of our POW’s.
5) Kerry’s false 1971 testimony was used on American POW’s to pressure them to confess to war crimes.
6) Kerry’s picture is prominently displayed in Communist Vietnam’s War Museum in gratitude for his help in their victory over the U.S.
7) In June 2004, a few months ago, the official Communist newspaper accused the U.S. of a pattern of inhumane war crimes, citing the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal and Kerry’s ‘71 testimony.
8) 21 of the 22 officers Naval officers who served with Kerry consider him unfit for office.”
This election will definitely hinge on whether the media will allow these issues to surface, or are they again, as they did in the case of the Tet Offensive in 1968, going to rob the American people of the ability to make critical judgments about their most vital security interests in a time of war? Go as far back as you wish, you will find nothing to commend Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, although some mention the fact that he has fired weapons in battle against the enemy. This is something tens of thousands of Americans did in Vietnam, without expecting that this made them qualified to become President. The whole theme of Kerry’s campaign, that firing a weapon in battle, or even pulling someone out of the water, possibly under fire, qualifies him to be Commander-in-Chief, is a very limited argument. Learning to combat the enemy in a jet fighter, and flying them, can be just as scary. Craig Gordon of Newsday’s Washington Bureau wrote in an article on Kerry on Feb. 21, 2004, “Kerry’s speech in 1971 is considered by many to be one of the peace movement’s defining moments. It helped galvanize the protests and turn popular opinion against the war.”
Kerry has made a few statements recently about this ‘71 testimony, but he misrepresents it. The ‘71 charges were not “highly documented”; they are totally unsubstantiated. He didn’t “help people understand what was going on”; he helped to publicize lies. He didn’t “honor” the service of vets; he charged them and their officers with daily atrocities. Here are excerpts from what was said by every veteran interviewed for our film How The Campus Lied About Vietnam, showing how the impact of statements by Kerry and other war protestors impacted the returned veteran.
Veteran A: Now that hurt me a lot. They yelled at us, “Nixon’s hired guns.” Does one need a college education to do that?
Veteran B: All they cared about was themselves, and those who served in Vietnam they didn’t give jack---- about and that stinks. When a country turns its mind and body against a veteran who fought a war for that country, that stinks.
Veteran C: When I returned I could only keep going if I forgot my Vietnam service, shut it out of my life. But I don’t feel that way anymore. I have every reason to be proud of what I did in Vietnam.
Veteran D: Humiliating, insulting, degrading. It hurt, what the protestors did.
Veteran E: They protested the fact that the American soldier was in Vietnam, but when we came back they treated us like dirt - they didn’t care.
Veteran F: When we came home we wanted to fit back into society as soon as possible. But it didn’t work out that way. They kept saying, “you must be one of those baby killers, one of the psychopathic killers of Vietnam.” When you start living with something like that you start telling people you were not over in Vietnam, just out of the country.
Veteran G: They were idiots...we came home alone, straight into the jaws of insensitive idiots. The peace movement was very diverse, from Vietnam Veterans Against the War to mothers and fathers who couldn’t understand.
Veteran H: Because of them we were portrayed as people that we were not, as “baby killers” and all of that. If they could make those returning feel they had done something wrong it added credibility to their arguments. It was a tack taken so they would not have to go.
Veteran I: Oh boy, do I remember that, spitting at us at the airport and saying we were rapists, that we raped babies, and they left a mark on us, making people think that we were no good.
Veteran J: When we got back we were blacklisted as very uncomfortable reminders to those people who opposed the war, and many of them felt the arrogant need to isolate many of those who tried to come home and re-penetrate those peer groups-they were ordered to the closet. It was especially difficult for disabled veterans, who were told their sacrifice was a stupid and unnecessary act of patriotism.
We will send a copy of this film to any Vietnam vet group that will try to get it on Public Access TV. 40 minutes long, that leaves 20 minutes for a live discussion by vets about Kerry. Although an amateur film, it was shown once here in Lawrence and went over well. Anyone who is able to do that, please let us know. Email Magruder44@aol.com.
THE V.V.A.R. POLL
This data is reported from all over the country. Any group could just as well have preferred Kerry, but so far no group has. Although most groups are small, the fact that all point in the same direction, and very strongly at that, suggests that what this collection is telling us is very significant statistically, and it looks like our estimate now is that 80% of all Vietnam vets oppose Kerry. Where you have a number of small poll results, it is acceptable to add them all together into a larger, more significant sample. While we have no way of verifying this data, we have been in contact with most of these people for some time and trust them.
When the opinions of Vietnam vets are added to all other vets in national reporting to the public. But isn’t.
(For updates go to Latest Presidential Poll at v-v-a-r.org. This poll is ongoing. Please send us your data)
GROUPS WITH DATA
§ 6 Vietnam vets this weekend at HS reunion, all oppose Kerry - Dan Haney - 602nd Air Commando Sq. A1 pilot ‘67
§ Out of 45 Vietnam veterans... all say pooh on JFK...100% - powmiavets
§ Our heli-vets pol shows 160 against and 6 for Kerry - Ron Leonard-25th Aviation Battalion
§ I know about 650 Vietnam vets and their attitude toward about Kerry is 100% negative - Dan Decker, TSgt.USAF (ret.)
§ I know thousands of vets .I would say the opinion is about 98% against Kerry - Tony Cartlidge-Vietnam Combat Marine- 1968
§ Of 27 Vietnam Veterans I know, including myself, not one is willing to vote for John Kerry. - Charles Banto - USMC 1958-1974 -2 tours in Vietnam
§ 100,000 e-mails, almost all veterans, around 100 to 1 against Kerry - Don Bendell, Special Forces, Vietnam, 1968-69, noted author
§ Out of 25 guys 85%-95% against Kerry - Mike- mleonardos
§ 240 vets, mostly Vietnam, 85% against Kerry -Tony Newcomb, Cpt., U.S.Army (ret.)
§ Of the more than 2500 veterans of all ranks who responded , 59 took umbrage with what I had to say (against Kerry) - Mark A. Smith, former POW, Vietnam, Holder, Distinguished Service Cross
§ An ongoing poll, with names and comments at 11thcavnam.com is running 16 for Bush, 4 for Kerry. (80% for Bush.)
§ 12 Vietnam vets, all of whom are against John Kerry. -Vietnam vet, Tom Taylor
§ A summary of individual votes sent in to V.V.A.R. is running 12 for Bush, 3 for Kerry
§ I’d make the numbers 80 to 20 against Kerry - Philip Topps, Cpt. Inf.(ret), 1st Inf. Div. 69-70
§ 100 against Kerry - 0 for him - Storrs Warinner- F-4 pilot Ubon 67-68
§ 17th Annual Reunion - out of 55 vets all against Kerry - Bob Griffin - 101st Abn. Div. Vietnam 1968-69
§ 99 for Bush - 1 for Kerry - Don Martin., USA, combat aviation
§ Vets - union factory workers- 170 for Bush - 73 for kerry -Tony Newcomb, Veterans Leadership program
§ All the vets I know (50 or so) have no use for Kerry -John Morrill- Vietnam veteran
§ 200 on the net for Bush, 1 for Kerry - flyc54@bellsouth.net
§ members, 151 for Bush, 6 for Kerry - Kenneth Roberts
§ All the vets I know, probably 50, have no use for Kerry - John Morrill - Vietnam veteran
GROUPS WITH NO DATA
§ Every vet we know is opposed to Kerry - Chuck and Mary Schantag, P.O.W. Network
§ Rangers are 100% against Kerry -noatlmus44 - President
§ Every veteran I’ve talked to is against Kerry - General Carl Snyder (ret.), Air Force -Korea and Vietnam.
§ I am anti-Kerry, as are most of my friends who are Vietnam veterans - Stud 369
§ I share the distrust I hear from my veteran colleagues - Peter McHugh, CW4 USA -67-68,71-72
§ I would say 90% of the military here (power plant) are against Kerry - P.Rein
In times of crisis the media elites, arrogant, as Bernard Goldberg showed, act as a counter-government, believing they know what is best for the country. And they have decided that Kerry is best for the country, precisely because he “spoke out against the war,” that is, endorsed their own leftist version of the war.
But we don’t want the media playing games like this with our lives, with the lives of our families and our children, with our country. Osama bin Laden is serious when he talks about the “the American Hiroshima.” We demand the media start telling the truth about John Kerry, asking the hard questions.
We salute what the Swift Boat veterans have done. And we agree with Bob Dole that Kerry should apologize. He should apologize for all those in the anti-war movement who like him fell for leftist propaganda to defeat the sacrifices of the American soldier to bring freedom to South Vietnam.
Isn’t it obvious that Vietnam veterans would very much like to see one of their own become President? Isn’t it also obvious that if 80% are against one of their own becoming president that they must know of a very good reason? In trying to warn America to reject Kerry, are they not making a second sacrifice for the sake of their country? But the media, which betrayed their sacrifices in Vietnam, is betraying them a second time, not allowing them to be heard. This is a true American tragedy in the making.
“Therefore,” said Mr. Magruder, “I will continue my campaign against the media. I will take my sign to Topeka and parade it at the newspaper there. If that fails, I will take it to Kansas City. If that fails I will just keep going, to Washington and Congress. Somebody is going to put this story on the newswire, that 80% of Vietnam vets would not trust Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, and the nation is going to want to know why.”
Mr. Magruder, President of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform is available for phone interviews at 785-312-9303. Last semester he was interviewed on stations in Vermont, Florida, North Carolina, and California (Geoff Metcalf National Radio.) While Mr. Magruder does not speak for Vietnam veterans, not being one, he is knowledgeable about “the war on the home front,” having been a professor on various campuses during the Vietnam era. As a psychologist who did volunteer work with returned veterans, he is well familiar with the damage done by statements such as those made by Kerry about their service.
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Founder/President, V.V.A.R.
Phone: 785-312-9303
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