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Now
that the Kerry campaign has lost an entire week responding to “Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth” (SBVFT) attacks on his Vietnam service,
it’s time to end the public relations hemorrhaging.
It makes sense to have a “rapid-response” capability.
It does not make sense to allow Republican surrogates to seduce
the Kerry campaign into a pointless argument over his Vietnam
service.
It's time to staunch the bleeding. Here’s some ideas on how:
• REFUSE FURTHER COMMENT
Refuse
to comment further on the attacks or TV ads except to say they are
“shameful" and "indicate a desperation on the part
of the Bush/Cheney campaign.” Quote John McCain’s assessment
at every opportunity that the attacks are “dishonest and dishonorable”
and that President Bush should disassociate his campaign from them
and ask that they be stopped. Express sadness that the Bush/Cheney
campaign feels so threatened by Kerry’s war record that they
have allowed this to become an issue. Express confidence that American
voters are disgusted by these attacks and see them for the desperation
tactics they are.
• REFER ALL FURTHER QUESTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT
OF THE NAVY
State
simply that SBVFT do not have an argument with John Kerry, they
have an argument with the official records of the United States
Navy. Therefore, refer all future questions to the Department of
the Navy.
• ASK ALL CLAIMS DISPUTING THE OFFICIAL NAVAL
RECORD BE SUBMITTED TO THE U.S. NAVY FOR INVESTIGATION — AND
THAT ALL SUBMISSIONS OF CONTRARY EVIDENCE AND CLAIMS BE SWORN TO
UNDER OATH
If
the SBVFT continue to make their claims, call them on it. Challenge
them to submit sworn affidavits to the Department of the Navy and
request them to testify under oath in an investigation to dispute
their claims of inaccuracy in official Naval records. Put them on
the defensive. Call their bluff. Encourage media to ask them to
put up or shut up. Suggest media press for an official investigation.
If they SBVFT are confident of their claims, make them submit their
evidence through official Naval channels by requesting a review
of records. Let the U.S. Navy marginalize SBVFT. Indeed, force SBVFT
to marginalize themselves.
• ADDRESS LINGERING ANTI-WAR BACKLASH
SENTIMENTS
It
is clear that SBVFT has an agenda beyond calling into question John
Kerry’s Vietnam war record. Aside from their obvious ties to,
and support for, the Bush/Cheney campaign, SBVFT represent a larger
lingering residual angst some Vietnam veterans still feel for having
been put in an impossible position during that war.
In
Vietnam they were faithfully executing U.S. foreign policy and serving
their country. They were told by political and military leaders
they were fighting for freedom and democracy. But they discovered
in Vietnam that they were in the middle of a civil war, that the
enemy was everywhere and could be anyone, and that their buddies
were dying for no discernable progress. They were fighting a new
kind of conflict with rules being made up on the fly.
As
the war dragged on, they discovered that the truth of their experience
was being lied about by both their political and military leaders.
They saw their presence increasingly resented by the South Vietnamese,
many of whom were secretly supporting the Viet Cong. They lived
in a constant state of alert, of fear, never really knowing Vietnamese
friend from foe. Death could come from anywhere, nowhere, and no
one in-country was safe.
They
began to harbor the suspicion that American combat deaths were lives
“wasted” — the common grunt term for killing in general.
Some killed their own incompetent officers (“fragging”)
who they knew from experience were sending men to die needlessly.
They got combat orders they knew would result in heavy civilian
casualties. Their frustration with the deaths of friends and innocents
and a seeming lack of coherent leadership created despair. They
knew support for the war was eroding at home and they were becoming
doubtful themselves as to its purpose. They saw, heard of, and some
participated in, what properly are described as “war crimes.”
The My Lai massacre was but an instance of other actions later deemed
“atrocities.” These have been fully documented (see the Toledo
Blade Pulitzer series) and many Pentagon confirmed. Most troops did
not condone these ugly events, but they understood how and why they
could have happened. They became bitter, cynical. Their mantra in
the Vietnam War says it all: “It don’t mean nothin’."
On
their return home they were treated by some Americans as war criminals,
by others as heros. They weren’t sure themselves what they
were. They became the face of failed policy, a mismanaged war, and
carried with them not only the horrors all combat veterans witness,
but nagging doubts about exactly what it was they had participated
in.
Some,
like Kerry, stood up to join the anti-war protest movement. Those
who did were testifying by personal experience to the failure and
futility of U.S. policy. They acknowledged the brutal excesses.
They tried to prevent others from dying. But in so doing, they unintentionally
embarrassed some of their fellow veterans who were still took
pride in their service, who could not accept that all the death
and destruction may have been for nothing. These offended veterans
resented their fellow vets who spoke out against the war; some because
they still believed it to be a just cause, some because they lumped
the protesting vets with a long-haired, draft-dodging, hippie subculture;
some because they felt their patriotism impugned; some who simply
turned their anger and frustration of their Vietnam experience against
their outspoken brothers-in-arms because it helped them justify
their experience to themselves.
Just
as John Kerry is properly proud of his volunteer service, he must
make clear he is aware of how hurtful his anti-war comments may
have been to others who served. But truth is often painful. And
telling truth to power is another kind of courage. Kerry should
enlarge his Swift Boat Band of Brothers to embrace all those who
served, should acknowledge that what he said about the war pained
him to say it, precisely because it was true. He might consider telling
them again that he shared the confusing discomfort his fellow
veterans felt at having being treated as cannon fodder, heros,
fools, and war criminals -- all at the same time.
John
Kerry has so much more in common with the SBVFT than he does
differences. Without rising to the political bait they are throwing
in the campaign waters, he could express that he understands, as
only another Vietnam veteran can, how fresh the wounds from that
war still remain. And as he acknowledges the truth of that lingering
pain, so too may he ask fellow veterans acknowledge his part of
the truth of their shared sacrifice.
Copyright 2004 by George Knight Wilson. Used with permission.
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