Dear Editor:
I am a Viet Nam veteran offended by the Swift Boat Veterans’ ads against John Kerry. They are despicable and do not represent the views of all Viet Nam veterans.
I served in Viet Nam for thirty-two-and-a-half months. Like so many with whom I served, I knew little about the nation where we fought. I thought we were trying to stop worldwide communism. At the time, however, I did not even understand a thing about capitalism or communism.
But I learned that the Vietnamese we fought against were really nationalists. We tried to cram American capitalism down their throats when we should have left them alone.
By the time I got back home, I totally opposed the war. I joined Kerry’s group, Viet Nam Veterans against the War and joined hundreds of veterans protesting the war on Wilshire Boulevard in early 1970.
Why do the Swift Boat Veterans insist on attacking Kerry for criticizing the war? Kerry was like an investigative reporter. He was only reporting what other veterans had told him about atrocities they had seen. All Americans need to understand that it is American to speak out, criticize and analyze. It is Un-American to shut up and be a lamb.
In a war, people don’t ask questions. It is not a police action. War is chaos. War is the absence of reason. Babies die. Mothers die. Fathers die horrible, irrational deaths. I still have nightmares over thirty years later about what I saw in combat. I also witnessed the rampant corruption between military personnel and civilians in Viet Nam.
The Swift Boat Veterans simply don’t want to give John Kerry any credit for pursuing the truth about the Viet Nam War. They have tried to gloss over the reality of war, an attitude that I find disgusting and just plain nuts.
I find Kerry to be a courageous hero for speaking up during the War and now. I will proudly vote for him.
Jim Willett
Disabled Viet Nam Veteran