Recently, declassified Defense Department documents show that the teams were killed or captured very shortly after landing and that the CIA and the Defense Department, which took over the operation in early 1964, knew it at that time. But for us, as boys in Asia Following those principles, we held that if Calley were responsible, so were his superiors up the chain of command — even to the president. also here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, Most of Kerry's remarks before the committee were published later in 1971 in the book "The New Soldier," credited to “John Kerry and Vietnam Veterans Against The War.” The book also included a timeline and photographs of the march on D.C. and excerpts from the Winter Soldier testimony. the United States doesn't have to admit something that the thousands of men who have been taught to deal and trade in [17] The veterans giving testimony were also instructed not to reveal the specific names of others involved in war crimes. beings to communicate to people in this country -- the We listened while While only 109 veterans gave testimony, over 700 veterans attended the hearing. "A Short History of U.S. Military Resistance", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winter_Soldier_Investigation&oldid=993229504, February 1971 events in the United States, Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, Articles with dead external links from March 2010, Articles needing additional references from January 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Videotape: 1992, B&W with some color, 110 or 130 minutes. [9][10][11], In addition to the testimony panels, the veterans also held open discussions on related subjects such as "What We Are Doing to Vietnam", "What We Are Doing to Ourselves", violations of international law, Prisoners of War, racism in the military, and also press censorship. Now, doesn't this "sound a bit too familar" to what "may be" to come !!! On January 31, 1971 the Winter Soldier investigations began in Detroit. we made for this country. winding down, at least for Americans, and they have also Vietnam and about the mystical war against communism. FORGET "VIETNAM" - NEVER !!! VVAW leaders felt it should be an all-veteran event, to maintain its credibility. casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public End of Senator Kerry's excerpt [1], The support of antiwar celebrities was considered crucial to generate both money and publicity. Smith admitted fearing for his life when he heard Hanoi Radio broadcasts saying VC soldiers were being executed in Saigon and the VC was promising to execute Americans in retaliation. John Kerry declined to speak at the “Winter Soldier Investigation” hearings, but a bigger stage awaited him. people can go on killing each other for years to come. being here is really symbolic. At one point, the Nixon team suggested in a memo about VVAW, "Several of their regional coordinators are former Kennedy supporters." know the difference between communism and democracy. In their blindness and their This accounting of the "WINTER SOLDIER" speech were lost to prove that point, and so there were Hamburger [37] Studies have shown that black soldiers suffered disproportionately more casualties than white soldiers at the beginning of the war. These panels addressed one source of resentment towards the Vietnam War by black soldiers, as "African Americans and Latinos paid a higher human price for the war". The East Coast papers refused to cover the hearings, other than a New York Times story a week later. .... "We have not been able to confirm the existence of this report, but it's also possible that such records could have been destroyed or misplaced," said Naval Criminal Investigative Service public affairs specialist Paul O'Donnell. to the people of this country, you can see that he says, and says He has been married to Teresa Heinz Kerry since May 26, 1995. [30][31][32][33][34] An excerpt from Guenter Lewy's book, America in Vietnam, is in Wikiquote. Testimony given during the three-day event covered both broad policy concerns, such as the use of chemical agents, indiscriminate bombing and free-fire zones as well as more specific and unusual war crime incidents, including rape, torture and desecration of the dead. A must read for those who desire to gain a full picture of John Kerry. 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