Saturday, August 28, 2004
Gen. McInerney: Kerry Testimony Treasonous
Vietnam veteran-turned-military analyst Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said Thursday that John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee portraying Vietnam soldiers as "monsters" would have been consider ground for treason charges in an earlier day.
"There is deep, deep anger for a man who, if he had done this during World War II, would have been tried for treason," McInerney told ABC Radio's John Batchelor.
Noting that two of his brothers also served in Vietnam, where one died, McInerney said, "He betrayed us . . . He betrayed not only my personal family but my [West Point] classmates and all the veterans that were over there."
Referring to the portion of Kerry's testimony where he accused his fellow soldiers of routinely committing barbaric acts on Vietnamese civilians, McInerney told Batchelor, "We did not do those things that he claimed that we did."
McInerney said Kerry's testimony was largely responsible for creating the negative stereotype of Vietnam veterans, noting that many of his fellow soldiers were greeted "babykillers" when they returned from the war.
On Kerry's decision to make his Vietnam service the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, McInerney said, "He picked a scab that he should not have."
Vietnam veteran-turned-military analyst Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said Thursday that John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee portraying Vietnam soldiers as "monsters" would have been consider ground for treason charges in an earlier day.
"There is deep, deep anger for a man who, if he had done this during World War II, would have been tried for treason," McInerney told ABC Radio's John Batchelor.
Noting that two of his brothers also served in Vietnam, where one died, McInerney said, "He betrayed us . . . He betrayed not only my personal family but my [West Point] classmates and all the veterans that were over there."
Referring to the portion of Kerry's testimony where he accused his fellow soldiers of routinely committing barbaric acts on Vietnamese civilians, McInerney told Batchelor, "We did not do those things that he claimed that we did."
McInerney said Kerry's testimony was largely responsible for creating the negative stereotype of Vietnam veterans, noting that many of his fellow soldiers were greeted "babykillers" when they returned from the war.
On Kerry's decision to make his Vietnam service the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, McInerney said, "He picked a scab that he should not have."
