20040527 POW Congressman Johnson Hanoi Used Kerry Speech
POW Congressman: Hanoi Used Kerry Speech, Gore Comments 'Traitorous'
Thursday, May 27, 2004 11:34 a.m. EDT
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/5/27/113857.shtml
POW Congressman: Hanoi Used Kerry Speech, Gore Comments 'Traitorous'
North Vietnamese jailers at the Hanoi Hilton invoked Sen. John Kerry's 1971 anti-war testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to taunt and demoralize U.S. POWs, Vietnam war hero Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, revealed on Wednesday.
Johnson, who spent six years at the infamous prison camp, also called former Vice President Al Gore's remarks yesterday to the radical left-wing group Moveon.org "traitorous."
Asked if he'd heard about Kerry's speech while he was at the Hanoi Hilton, Johnson told WABC Radio's Mark Levin, "Yes, we did."
"[Hanoi Hilton jailers] played stuff on the loudspeaker darn near 24 hours a day - propaganda, of course - telling us about the 'uprisings' in the United States," he said.
A fighter pilot in both Korea and Vietnam, Johnson was shot down on his 87th combat mission in 1966. He spent three and a half of his six POW years in solitary confinement, during which he was repeatedly tortured and had no contact whatsoever with any other American.
A fellow POW Navy captain recalls that Johnson's first words upon being released from solitary were "Lieutenant Colonel Sam Johnson reporting for duty, sir."
Johnson told Levin that his North Vietnamese jailers found the anti-war activities of actress Jane Fonda, who teamed up with Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1970 and '71, to be particularly useful.
"They played her speech to the guys on the front line, where she talked through a loudspeaker and told them to lay down their arms and quit fighting," he recalled. "And John Kerry was part of that anti-war movement."
"He was a Jane Fonda type, if you will," added Johnson, who referred to Kerry on the House floor last month as "Hanoi John." "That's what most of the POWs refer to him as," he explained.
"[Kerry] let the veterans down. When you're in a war you don't go out there badmouthing your fellow soldiers," he noted, referring to Kerry's 1971 speech. "You know, that's a disservice to the veterans."
"Anybody who comes back and works against the best interests of the United States, in my view, doesn't deserve to be president of the United States," the former fighter ace said.
Johnson also weighed in on former Vice President Al Gore's speech to Moveon.org yesterday, where Gore called on top Bush defense and national security officials to resign.
After Levin played a clip from the Gore speech, the Texas Republican was livid, saying that the comments were "as close to being traitorous as I can think of."
"You know what, we're in a war. I think people ought to stop and think about that," Johnson added. "I think that our [soldiers] are doing such a grand job [in Iraq] that they just need to be commended and not slaughtered by traitorous remarks that I just heard."
"Al Gore is no friend of America the way he was talking in those clips you played," he told Levin. "It's just unbelievable to me that anyone would make comments like that about our nation and the war that we're involved in today."
Rep. Johnson's war decorations include two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals and three Outstanding Unit Awards.
He also served as director of the Air Force "Top Gun" Fighter Weapons School.
Editor's note:
Breaking: The Real Story About John Kerry`s Vietnam Record – Click Here!
20040520 This week’s Creative Loafing “Scalawag” title goes to Kevin Griffis
