21 Feb 2004
My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year, and the recovery is terribly painful. Then, she developed a staph-epi infection, and they had to cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking about the pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second time in the same wound, makes me cringe. That experience, however pales in comparison to what I am going through right now, in my heart.
The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill
people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry?
Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
"Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere.
Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
Don Bendell
Canon City, Colorado
Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado.
The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill
people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry?
Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
"Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere.
Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
Don Bendell
Canon City, Colorado
Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado.
31142x Viewed | Karma points: 218. Do you like this article? [yes/no]
26 Feb 2004 11:28:23
Don is Senior Advisor to Kok Ksor, the President of the Montagnard Foundation, Inc.,
Here's a report on this "foundation".
1. Tracing the roots of the Montagnard Foundation:
The Montagnard Foundation is the latest incarnation of the Fulro Separatist Insurgency. “Fulro” first made a name for itself as a militant group in September 1964 when it organized a rebellion among 3,000 Montagnard combatants in five US special force camps in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.” It has been known as a separatist group, advocating and using violent means.
Before 1975, the former Saigon administration harshly suppressed the Fulro uprisings. Following the uprising in December 1965, “four of the Fulro leaders were condemned to death and publicly executed and fifteen others were imprisoned”.
“In April 1975, a pro-US Fulro group reportedly negotiated an arrangement with US officials to continue guerilla warfare against the Hanoi regime”. After 1975, the run-away Fulro members colluded with the Khmer Rouge. “By 1977 Fulro’s primary supporters were the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, with whom they had formed an uneasy alliance. In 1977, the two groups signed an agreement for the exchange of information and training, and in 1978 a Fulro combatant denounced Ho Chi Minh over Radio Phnom Penh. Ieng Sary, then Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Khmer Rouge, said in 1979: ‘the Fulro approached us for cooperation to exchange intelligence, military experience and get guerilla warfare training.’”
“In 1986 several hundred Fulro soldiers and their families were relocated to the United States as refugees.” In 1992, the Montagnard Foundation was set up, advocating the establishment of an independent Dega republic: “the US-based Montagnard Foundation, Inc. (MFI), led by Jarai-American Kok Ksor, launched a renewed effort to build support for an independent “Dega” homeland in 2000.” To that end, members of the Foundation encourage subversive activities by separatist elements in the Central Highlands.
In conclusion, the Montagnard Foundation is a political organization (not a human rights organization) with a separatist agenda and resorting to violence and abuse of religious freedom to interfere from outside with a view to destabilizing and sowing division among the ethnic communities in the Central Highlands.
2. Who is Ksor Kok (founder and leader of the Montagnard Foundation)?
Born in 1945 in Gia Lai province (Central Highlands of Vietnam), Ksor Kok joined the Fulro separatist group led by Kpa Koi in 1969 when it moved to Cambodia.
Ksor Kok received military staff training in the US in 1974. In December 1974, general Y Bham Enuol – leader of the Fulro movement presented Ksor Kok publicly as a lieutenant general serving as his aide and representative in the US.
In 1992, Ksor Kok together with a number of Fulro core cadres set up the Montagnard Foundation (MFI). By late 1999, Ksor Kok officially proclaimed the establishment of the ‘independent Dega state’ in exile in the United States. The Dega state purports to include 14 provinces of Vietnam from Quang Tri to Binh Thuan with the 4 provinces of the Central Highlands at the core. MFI and Ksor Kok also promote a new religious denomination, so called Dega Protestantism, along ethnic lines, Dega Protestantism being reserved only for Central Highlands ethnic minority followers, separate from protestant believers from the majority ethnic group i.e. a policy which amounts to ethnic discrimination and division and exploitation of religion for political purposes.
NB: All above-motioned quotes are taken from a report published by Human Rights Watch in April 2002
07 Jul 2004 10:22:05
John Kerry is like a cancer. He needs to be disrailed. Republicans need to walk softly and still bring forth much needed honesty.The news media covers up the real stories and bring forth only the ones that might persuede people to jump to conculsion. There are no issues on the table from either party running. But we do know, who needs to lead this country. We are in a time of crisis on the globe. We do not need a liar who is really non-caring to say he can do something. He can not do anything. His record shows it.
20 Jul 2004 07:28:52
Go Don Bendell! I applaud you!
22 Jul 2004 10:00:19
No President in history who has lost the popular vote has ever made it to the white house?,So i guess he is not a Liar and a Thief,and where are his morals?, Bush constantly stated weapons of mass destruction in Iraq yet we have found none.(again), Who the hell is the US to decide what is good for another country, We cannot and will not instill our way of life on other cultures, Are the people of Iraq better off today? lets see, Homeless, starvation, disease, jobless, yeah but they are better off just like Russia is today, Communism kept them strong and now they are divided and in turmoil, maybe thu US should become 50 inndependent countries and lets see how we fair?. By the way you insult my intelligence because you did not volunteer for Vietnam, if you were not drafted and the fact that you were a Green Beret means that you were sent their, you were forced to go. I may not have served in Vietnam because I was not born yet but I have the utmost respect for those who served their. and for your information i did my share of gigs with Marine Corps Force Recon and I am not bragging about it. How long do you think the world will put up with Bush and US world policy, Americans are weak, fat, insecure, materialistic, pompous bitches, if a war was brought to our shores we could not handle it, and we would cruble. Ilove my country and I wuld not hesitate to fight if asked but the direction that we are headed is not good, America used to stand for Strenght and Power in all aspects now our economy is crumbling and the world is looking at us as a big bully, one that eventually will have to be stopped, remeber "United we Stand, Divided we fall", well the last time I looked we did not have to mush support against our recent actions. You will probably not publish my comments because I am right and you are wrong but I will post them soon on my blog and my book will become one of the biggest single sellers of all time because my view expressed are shared by many around the world because they are the simple truth. If you think Michael Moore's movies are controversial wait untill you hear see the title of my book.
29 Jul 2004 01:09:02
Ves, Why don't you take your Michael Moore ass kissing, political no nothing whiney liberal bull crap and spew it to some of those Idiots who believe that crap, First of all you have to know how to write and spell to be able to write a book. And you haven't got the brains to be in the marines let alone in the reconn. It is obvious to everyone who reads your tripe that you haven't got a clue of what is going on in Iraq or any place else.These are the things that we have had to deal with when we had a democrat in office.
Jimmy Carter let our best Middle Eastern allie Iran get over thrown with out even lifting a finger to help them, allowing a terrorist regime to take over. Left hostages in Iran for 444 day. He gave away the Panama Canal which is one off the most important areas for the US military to be able to respond to an international crisis.Lets face it democrats are nothing but cowards and will sell out the USA to the terrorist. Clinton did nothing as president to protect the US. He sent us into a resession that President Bush is finally getting us out of. Clinton campaigned on health care for everyone, 8 years went by and still no health care for everyone. He campaigned for more jobs then signed the nafta agreement. Which did bring jobs, FOR OTHER COUNTRIES. And now you have the odasidey to say that there were no WMD's Hey butt brain just what killed 300,000 kurds? What was it that saddam used against the Iranians, get a clue.If you would come out of the cave that you reside in you would know that they have found projectiles with siran gas in them. How many do they need to find to serve your purpose. John Kerry is a man without a country, an admitted baby killer by his own words.He is a disgrace to veterans of all wars. He is a liar, and has no integratey whatsoever. The only reason he is even running for president is because Dean was a bigger loser than Kerry.The people that want to see him as president are Liberals, Idiots ( the same in my book ) and the terrorist. This is the man who said that within the first 100 day if he is elected he is going to use taxpayers money and travel to all the countries that hate America and apoligize to them for not letting them tell America what to do. Why do we even need a president? If Kerry has his way the UN will run everything in the US. They will dictate what we as Americans can and can't do. That is just what we need is a corrupt U.N. telling a corrupt liberal government what to do.So if that is what you are looking for take your sorry ass to Canada they have what you are looking for.
30 Jul 2004 09:47:59
[4] Did Bill Clinton win the popular vote ??
04 Aug 2004 10:34:06
[4] My first point is that Ves is an idiot
1. Please list specific news accounts regarding Iraqi starvation, homelessness. This is the classic liberal way to argue: make bombastic, but unsubtantiated statememts, with the hope that the reader will accept them at face value. I know plenty of reports of the US building up Iraq's infrastructure. Ollie North has has reported many first hand accounts (with video) of US Forces helping the Iraqui people. Why don't you tell the families of the several hundred thousand Hussein murder victims that Iraq is worse off? Why don't you ask the Kurds what they think?
2. "Who the hell is the US to decide what is good for another country."
The US acted in accordance with several UN resolutions that aurthorized force against Iraq for flouting several UN mandates. Iraqi gunners frequency fired at US planes in the no fly zone in direct violation of UN resolutions. Furthermore, most people genuinely believed Hussein had WMD, including several Arab leaders who advised General Tommy Franks (as revealed in his new book). Our action may have been based on faulty intelligence, or Hussein may have shipped the WMD to a neighboring country like Syria, but the bottom line is that our decision was based on what we thought were credible sources. That is not lying. If one of my subordinates gives me a piece of info that he believes to be true, I am not lying if I pass that info along to someone else if the info later turns out to be untrue.
3. Your misuse of grammer hurts your credibility. There is a difference between "their" and "there". "Wuld" is not a word.
I don't have time to address your other stupid statements, but you need to go back to grade school and start over your education from scratch. Hopefully will learn to make a reasoned argument based on factual statements, backed up with references and learn some grammar.
I know there is a good chance this response will be filtered because of my insulting tone, but some people need to be confronted with their stupidity - with the hope that they may wake up (though admittedly this is a long shot).
05 Aug 2004 07:48:39
[4] You are going to write a book? I am surprised you can read one. Your grammar and spelling reflect your ignorance.
05 Aug 2004 17:48:46
[4] Our economy is crumbling? Really? What signs do you see of that?
With a couple of bulldozers and about 72 hours, you could oversee the burial of a great deal of WMD's--they are still finding buried MIGs in Iraq--remember the size of the country.
You probably don't know that senator Kerry wrote a letter to then president Clinton in 1998, stating that he would support a preemptive strike on Irag. He believed intelligence findings that concluded Saddam had acquired and intended to use WMD's--you just don't hear about that stuff--it is true.
10 Aug 2004 16:38:18
[4] Ves, I hope you secure the services of a very good editor and proof-reader before submitting your book for publication. Whew!
04 Sep 2004 11:13:51
I can't believe how little people know about John Kerry. "A cancer"...like this lady, Stella Johnston knows. And look how "Doug" just goes off on "VES" and actually makes no point at all? Doug! Where is the truth? Give facts! Like how it was a Democrat who PROPERLY decided to go to war with Japan when they bombed Pearl Harbor. It was Bill Clinton that actually made the US respected throughout the world. Have you seen the opinion polls thoughout the world now?
You are foolish to think that Clinton sent us into a recession. If you study economics and capitalism and history, you will know that it is special interests for big business money that runs this country, not just one man. That would be a Monarchy. And HEALTHCARE??? you want to talk about healthcare??? Bush has increased the number of citizens without healthcare by over a million!!! No wait, it only 'happened' while he was in office. The point is that no President has fixed or even attempted to fix our healthcare crisis...EVER!
And what are you talking about...Kerry will go all around the world apologizing? I really think you don't question what you hear. AM talk shows are JUST OPINIONS...NOT THE TRUTH! If you think any candidate would allow the UN or any other group to influence the way this country runs, then you haven't done your homework. Please Doug, don't believe everything you hear. It's just right-wing propaganda.
Geez, how can any person in this country make such judgements?
You all have to admit that George Bush bows to his special interests like any other politician. If you don't see it, then you're a fool. We, the American people, have been deprived of truth all our lives (9/11 is an example of the snow job the Bush and Bin Laden families have pulled on us for years) and we owe it to ourselves to look for someone that isn't a liar. If you feel that Kerry is a liar Mr. Bandell, Doug, and Ms. Johnston, then how come George W Bush convinced us and the world that Sadam was an "iminent threat" to our country and its people? There are NO WMD's in Iraq. Plain and simple, he's a liar too. Admit it. There is no other excuse. Watch the news reels and tapes from that time. Their reasons for invading Iraq turned out to be completely false. They said to trust them and I did. Now I'm very sorry for trusting them and you all should be, too.
Thank You for your time. I dare you to post this!
Mr. Bandell, in Martial Arts, you are taught patience and balance among other ideologies, and yet, you are weak enough to write such horrible things about a person you haven't met or even spoke with. Shame on you.
This country needs peace before it can impose "peace" on others.
-S
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04 Oct 2004 08:31:19
What happened to your updates?, yeah figures, you open your mouth about something you know nothing about and then can't take the heat.
I pray every day that our troops will get the same treatment that Vietname Veterans got when they came home as heroes!!!
12 Oct 2004 16:44:23
[4] You are an absolute idiot!!!Have you ever heard of state electoral votes?I also must assume that you do not consider enough sarin and mustard gas to kill over half a million people to be weapons of mass destructin.Yes, it was found,but I guess you don't pay attention to things like that, do you.By the way,we are supposed to be fifty individual states.The federal government was only designed to arbitrate for the states and to assist the states in working together to defend the freedom of the nation as a whole.As for Iraqi's being better off, at least now they have the possibility of a better future.Oh, apparently, you don't know enough about the military to realize that becoming an officer and/or Green Beret is a voluntary assignment.And,if you were not so much as breathing during that time (just for the record, I wasn't either,) do like everyone else with more than two brain cells (including myself,) learn a thing or two before you run your mouth off!You are right about one thing though, if this country had to depend on people like yourself to defend our shores, there's no way in hell we would survive!To go right along with that,there's not many countries in the world with enough backbone to stand beside a nation that gets split by fools like you, even when it is the right thing to do.And finally, if you're dumb enough to believe michael moore's fascist propagandist trash, then truthfully, I have wasted my time writing this because any intelligent idividual won't care what you have to say!!!
14 May 2006 15:10:58
God Bless you Master Bendell.
14 Jul 2006 07:44:24
Dear Mr. Bendell:
I'm a senior citizen, 73 plus, that would like to speak with you. I was a Navy fighter pilot and retired from the airlines 13 years ago and ran several busineses.
I'd like to write a book that you would love to do yourself, but due to the 'title' it would be impossible. Me, or someone similar to my status in life, are the only ones that could write this story with this title - with a lot of your input and others with the same thought patterns.
Please contact me -
Bill Connor
1-239-432-9365
wconnor8@comcast.net
28 Mar 2007 01:18:55
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