"Anger" Justifies Claim of "Atrocities"?

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCLXIV

Must... control... anger....

An article at NYT yesterday.

Senator John Kerry on Sunday distanced himself from contentious statements he made three decades ago after returning from the Vietnam War, saying his long-ago use of the word "atrocities" to describe his and others' actions was inappropriate and "a little bit excessive."

"If you wanted to ask me, 'Have you ever made mistakes in your life?' sure," Mr. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said in an hourlong interview on the NBC program "Meet the Press." "I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger."

The near-apology came after the host, Tim Russert, played videotape of Mr. Kerry, in 1971, acknowledging that he had participated in shooting in free-fire zones, burning villages and search-and-destroy missions. All those actions were "contrary to the laws of warfare" and the Geneva Conventions, he said then. Republicans have seized on those comments, and accusations about war crimes the young Mr. Kerry made in testimony before a Senate committee, to try to undercut his war credentials.

"The words were honest," Mr. Kerry said Sunday, "but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top."

In an appearance his aides hoped would counterbalance President Bush's televised news conference last week, Mr. Kerry said he completely supported Mr. Bush's new position that Israel should be able to keep part of the land seized in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. He also backed Israel's assassination this weekend of a Hamas leader.

"I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it," he said. Some members of Mr. Kerry's campaign are concerned that Mr. Bush's statements about West Bank settlements could draw Jewish Democrats.

Mr. Kerry's position on Israel was a rare point of agreement with the president, whose handling of Iraq Mr. Kerry called "stunningly ineffective."

"It may well be that we need a new president," he said, "a breath of fresh air, to re-establish credibility with the rest of the world."

The interview capped a week in which Mr. Kerry hammered Mr. Bush daily on Iraq, hoping to contrast his internationalist approach and policy experience with what his advisers see as Mr. Bush's simplistic "stay the course" presentation. He spent all of Saturday huddled with aides in preparation for the show.

It was Mr. Kerry's 19th appearance on "Meet the Press," his fourth since December 2002. He appeared well prepared for the forum and avoided verbal stumbles, correctly pronouncing the name of the United Nations' envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, which he had mangled three times in recent days. Hours later, at the University of Miami, Mr. Kerry goofed again, referring to the envoy as "Brandini."

The wide-ranging interview focused largely on foreign policy, but also touched on job creation, budget balancing, his wife's tax returns and even the gas mileage standards for new cars. Pressed on his past comments about raising the retirement age and instituting a means test for Social Security, Mr. Kerry turned the tables on Mr. Russert, saying, "I wish I had the power to press this button and put up on the screen what you said" in 1997 when Medicare seemed on the brink of bankruptcy.

Marc Racicot, chairman of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign, criticized Mr. Kerry's appearance as "little more than contradiction, a great deal of confusion, inaccurate attacks and a fundamental misunderstanding of the threat that we face with terror."

In a conference call with reporters, Mr. Racicot called Mr. Kerry's reasoning on voting to authorize the invasion of Iraq but not the $87 billion appropriation for reconstruction, "remarkably flawed."

The interview did provide new fodder for Republican attacks on Mr. Kerry for avoiding direct questions. Three times, on questions about troop deployment, troop financing and whether he would pledge not to run for re-election if he failed to fulfill promises to create 10 million jobs and cut the deficit in half, Mr. Kerry said "it depends" on the circumstances or the situation.

Asked at the beginning of the show for a yes or no answer on whether the war in Iraq was a mistake, Mr. Kerry responded, "I think the way the president went to war was a mistake."

Pushed to reconcile his description of Cuba policy four years ago as counterproductive with his current support for the embargo, he said, "I think in the year 2000, the politics are very different from where they are in 2004."

When Mr. Russert asked whether his wealthy wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, would release her tax returns, which she has refused to do, Mr. Kerry said, "My wife is doing exactly what the law requires."

The most awkward moment came after the Vietnam-era videotape, Mr. Kerry's "Meet the Press" debut, with the candidate watching his younger self use grave and graphic words to describe the Vietnam War.

"Where did all the dark hair go, Tim?" Mr. Kerry tried, wearing an odd grin. "That's a big question for me."

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

MSNBC has posted a transcript (embedded ellipsis in original):

.... MR. RUSSERT: Before we take a break, I want to talk about Vietnam. You are a decorated war hero of Vietnam, prominently used in your advertising. You first appeared on MEET THE PRESS back in 1971, your first appearance. I want to roll what you told the country then and come back and talk about it:

(Videotape, MEET THE PRESS, April 18, 1971):

MR. KERRY (Vietnam Veterans Against the War): There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free-fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: You committed atrocities.

SEN. KERRY: Where did all that dark hair go, Tim? That's a big question for me. You know, I thought a lot, for a long time, about that period of time, the things we said, and I think the word is a bad word. I think it's an inappropriate word. I mean, if you wanted to ask me have you ever made mistakes in your life, sure. I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. It was honest, but it was in anger, it was a little bit excessive.

MR. RUSSERT: You used the word "war criminals."

SEN. KERRY: Well, let me just finish. Let me must finish. It was, I think, a reflection of the kind of times we found ourselves in and I don't like it when I hear it today. I don't like it, but I want you to notice that at the end, I wasn't talking about the soldiers and the soldiers' blame, and my great regret is, I hope no soldier — I mean, I think some soldiers were angry at me for that, and I understand that and I regret that, because I love them. But the words were honest but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top. And I think that there were breaches of the Geneva Conventions. There were policies in place that were not acceptable according to the laws of warfare, and everybody knows that. I mean, books have chronicled that, so I'm not going to walk away from that. But I wish I had found a way to say it in a less abrasive way.

MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, when you testified before the Senate, you talked about some of the hearings you had observed at the winter soldiers meeting and you said that people had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and on and on. A lot of those stories have been discredited, and in hindsight was your testimony...

SEN. KERRY: Actually, a lot of them have been documented.

MR. RUSSERT: So you stand by that?

SEN. KERRY: A lot of those stories have been documented. Have some been discredited? Sure, they have, Tim. The problem is that's not where the focus should have been. And, you know, when you're angry about something and you're young, you know, you're perfectly capable of not — I mean, if I had the kind of experience and time behind me that I have today, I'd have framed some of that differently. Needless to say, I'm proud that I stood up. I don't want anybody to think twice about it. I'm proud that I took the position that I took to oppose it. I think we saved lives, and I'm proud that I stood up at a time when it was important to stand up, but I'm not going to quibble, you know, 35 years later that I might not have phrased things more artfully at times....

Next time I'm angry, remind me not to accuse others of — or to confess myself to — murder, rape, robbery and/or other kinds of mayhem. On television. Okay? It must be easier to do than one would have thought.

Mr. Kerry turned the tables on Mr. Russert, saying, "I wish I had the power to press this button and put up on the screen what you said" in 1997 when Medicare seemed on the brink of bankruptcy. It doesn't matter what Mr. Russert said, or didn't say, about Medicare, or anything, in 1997. Because he was not a Senator then and he is not running for President now.

I guess Core's Law of New Media is starting to get under the skin of the Democratic Nominee Presumptive. :-)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 04/20/04 05:33:59 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & John Kerry.