Original message:
From: David Stinson
Subject: OT: Open Letter from a Green Beret to John Kerry
(copy of editorial by Don Bendell snipped)

Mr. Stinson, are you employed by, a volunteer at, or otherwise associated
with the Bush for President campaign?

It's interesting to note that when I did a Google search of "Don Bendell"
the first site that comes up is titled "Welcome to Bendell Enterprises": it
has a link to Mr. Bendell's agent prominently displayed on the page. The
fact that Mr. Bendell is, as a Republican spokesman, so obviously (you'll
excuse the pun) "bush league" is indicative of how desperately the
Republican National Spin Meisters are trying to find anything or anyone who
will denigrate Senator Kerry's war record.

No matter: Mr. Bendell was there, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
I doubt that his recollection is the only valid one of that place or time,
and I also doubt that he has the one true account of Vietnam. Loyal service,
even as part of an A team, does not grant an old soldier the right to
rewrite history.

I was there, too: and everything John Kerry said is true.

That Mr. Bendell didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen: he is entitled
to support and protect the memory of his comrades, as am I - but not at the
expense of whitewashing what others have documented. Yes, some soldiers
_did_ cut the ears off VC dead. Yes, some soldiers did other unspeakable
things: just ask Rusty Calley if you don't believe me. Some of it, I saw
with my own eyes, some I read in the courts-martial and/or arrest reports I
saw as a Military Policeman.

Mr. Bendell is entitled to be proud of his relatives who are in the National
Guard, especially in peacetime when there's little chance they'll be put in
harm's way - and I am entitled to hold someone who is standing for election
to a higher standard. The rich and powerful have a greater obligation to
the ideal of service than do ordinary men and women, and Shrub wasn't there.

Whatever Mr. Bendell's perception of the Vietnam war is, he's not entitled
to shoot the messenger who first brought the ugly, sad truth to America's
attention in a way that could not be denied or swept under the rug. That
John Kerry chose to leave the war zone early is no shame: nobody who's been
shot at blames another for taking advantage of the "three strikes" rule,
which spelled out early return for a sailor who was wounded three times.
Only an former General Officer like President Eisenhower could tell the
military brass "I will not send one American boy into that elephant grass",
and for the same reasons, only a decorated commander like John Kerry could
have founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

At a time in our nation's history when the rich and well connected were
scurrying to park their sons' yachts in safe backwaters, a well connected
young man raised his hand, took an oath, and took everything that came with
it. You can't fake that kind of courage, and you can't spin his opponent's
kind of cowardice. John Kerry was there.

Bill Warren

P.S. Readers are invited to cross-post this to any newsgroup where Mr.
Bendell's editorials are appearing.

P.P.S. FWIW, some soldiers did kill dogs: the unfortunate animals couldn't
read signs, and those that were lucky enough to wander through a minefield
unscathed would, sad to say, leaves tracks that Viet Minh sappers could
follow. I did, too: in my case, as a courtesy to our Vietnamese workers, who
wanted them for food but were unable to participate in butchery because of
their religeous beliefs.

(William Warren is a pseudonym I use to protect my privacy. I will respond
with my actual name to anyone who asks offline: modify the return address in
an obvious way to email me directly. I don't work for the Kerry campaign, or
the government, or the Democratic party, and have never even met the
Senator.)