I don't think he ever said he committed atrocities, right?
Nor would I say that making movies while over there qualfies as "promoting war" - maybe tourism, but not much more than that.
When you're in the service, at war, whether you think war is good or bad is irrelevant. He was serving his country, and he might have thought it wrong what his countryt was doing. I did the same thing in Iraq. If you'd met me over there, and I thought I could speak my mind to you, I would have told you that I thought that war was stupid as heck, but that had NO bearing on whewther I was going to do my duty or not. Now, that's easy for me to say since I was just an analyst, but the concept is ever stronger I would surmise for combat troops. You're over there, whether you agree with the war or not is irrelevant, you have a job to do. Raise your voice when you get out of country, but you don;t do it while in country - that would be probably be illegal under the Uniform Code but would also be very difficult on you and your mates - since you're in combat. I really see no contradiction here. Maybe I'm just being obtuse. Happens a lot.
And, if he did committ atrocities (can you get me a reference?) I think that your statement that " That didn't have anything to do with his duty or following orders." IS FALSE. A lot of atrocities were committed over there, it is EXTENSIVELY documented and it is also very clear to a lot of people that it wasn;t just "spontaneous" - it was condoned or in some cases ordered by superiors. (remember My Lai?)
I really don;t recall him committeing atrocities, so your statement that "And if he really did commit them, how can he say he is "proud" of his service to our country?" seems irrelevant to me, but even if it were true one can certainly be proud of serving one's country, even if one didn't serve it "gloriously" - my own, meager, experience bears this out. And I met a lot of Marines over there who thought it was a damned stupid war - but they were going to serve their country proudly and honorably and they are some of the best people I have ever known (I usually disagree with their politics, but that's another story).
As someone above said, walk a mile in their shoes first...it's easy to second guess someone thirty years after the fact, and about what they did in war...
In any case, I am VERY interested in getting some references that say Kerry himself committed atrocities. Can you point me towards some?
thanks,
Alarik
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Krsqk said:
I don't claim to be able to read his mind. His actions simply seem to indicate that he thought war was fine, or at least that being a hero in a war was fine. All right, no complaints there. But you can't say he simply just changed his mind about war, because he came back and said that he himself committed war crimes! That's not "Well, I used to think war was good, but now I've been enlightened to the evil we're doing"--by his own testimony, he was evil during his four months over there, while at the same time he was making films which promoted war. Something just doesn't add up there. If he had honestly just changed his mind, then I could handle that. But apparently, he held both of those opposing viewpoints simultaneously. Maybe he's just a little more open-minded than I am. 
He didn't just "see the big picture" once he got out--he was right there involved in it (his atrocities). That didn't have anything to do with his duty or following orders. If he did commit them, why did he come back and say so? Conviction for that can bring some serious penalties, and he basically confessed in open testimony. And if he really did commit them, how can he say he is "proud" of his service to our country? That doesn't sound like something one can be proud of.
I repeat myself--either he was involved in war crimes while he was making war films, or he lied in his testimony and never saw or committed any war crimes. Either way, his motives are suspect.
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