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Beyond
the Swift Boat Controversy: Exposing Vietnam War Atrocities
Off to War: The Story of the Arkansas National Guard's Journey
to Iraq
Beyond the Swift Boat Controversy: Exposing Vietnam
War Atrocities
We speak with Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Mike Sallah
who uncovered massacres committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam
on the scale of My Lai that had gone unreported for 36 years
and we hear from former Army journalist Dennis Stout who witnessed
U.S. soldiers atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam
including raping and killing Vietnamese girl and skinning
an unarmed Vietnamese man as well as how he was threatened
by senior military officers when he tried to come forward.
The Republican National Convention is just days away and
George Bush and John Kerry remain neck and neck in most major
national polls. Advisers to Bush have made clear in recent
days that at the convention, the president and other speakers
will invoke the September 11th tragedy from the podium at
Madison Square Garden in New York. They say that the administration
wants to highlight it's handling of 9-11 as a show of one
of the administration's strengths. But while 9-11 may be an
issue the Republicans will be hammering away at, the Iraq
war remains a difficult issue to celebrate. The occupation
has turned into a state of significant crisis for the administration
with more than 1,000 soldiers killed and the US fighting Shiite
Muslims who it once claimed it was liberating.
But that doesn't mean Republican operatives aren't making
war a central theme. Just not the Iraq war. Rather, the Vietnam
war. In recent weeks a group called Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth have launched a series of high-profile television ads
calling John Kerry's record into question. The ads claim Kerry
lied about his war record and that he is undeserving of the
medals he won. Furthermore, they blast Kerry for his 1971
Senate testimony in which he alleged widespread atrocities
being committed by US troops in Vietnam. Here is one of those
ads.
- Swiftboat Veterans For Truth Political Advertisement
That was one of the ads appearing on TV across the country,
put out by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. We
wanted to go back and play an excerpt from Kerry's testimony
in 1971 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- John Kerry speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee on April 22, 1971.
As the attacks against Kerry escalate, the Republicans have
deployed Bob Dole as one of the lead people attacking Kerry
for his remarks made more than 30 years ago. Here is Bob Dole,
speaking last Sunday on CNN.
- Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole speaking on CNN.
That was former US Senator Bob Dole. When John Kerry appeared
on NBC's Meet the Press, here is what he had to say.
- Sen. John Kerry speaking on NBC's Meet the Press.
- Michael Sallah, national affairs writer for Block News
Alliance which consists of the Toledo Blade and the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette. He co-wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning series
"Buried
Secrets, Buried Truths."
- Dennis Stout, former Vietnam Army journalist speaking
at the Veterans for Peace National Convention, July 25,
2004. He describes atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers
in Vietnam including raping and killing Vietnamese girl
and skinning an unarmed Vietnamese man as well as how he
was threatened by senior military officers when he tried
to come forward.
Off to War: The Story of the Arkansas National Guard's
Journey to Iraq
In April 2004, 57 citizen soldiers from Clarksville, Arkansas
left their jobs and their families to serve in Iraq as members
of the 239th Infantry of the Arkansas National Guard. Embedded
with them is the brother filmmaking team of Brent and Craig
Renaud who tell their story in a new documentary, "Off
to War" featuring on the Discovery Times Channel.
A year and half after the US launched its invasion of Iraq,
an investigative panel in Washington is criticizing the Pentagon's
war plan, saying it called for too few troops and that it
did not have a good strategy for occupying the country after
the defeat of Saddam Hussein.
Since the invasion, nearly 1,000 US soldiers have been killed
in Iraq and many thousands more wounded. Today, we are going
to take a look at some of the personal stories of those American
men and women that have been shipped off to war. Many of them
are not professional soldiers, they are members of the Army
Reserve, National Guardsmen and semi-retired veterans.
A new documentary called "Off to War" tells the
story of the Arkansas National Guard's Deployment to Iraq.
In April 2004, 57 citizen soldiers from Clarksville, Arkansas
left their jobs and their families to serve in Iraq as members
of the 239th Infantry of the Arkansas National Guard. Embedded
with them is the brother filmmaking team of Brent and Craig
Renaud.
A special Discovery Spotlight presentation of Off to War
premieres on the Discovery Channel today at 8 PM and 11 PM
ET.
- Brent Renaud, independent filmmaker and co-director of
"Off to War."
- Craig Renaud, independent filmmaker and co-director of
"Off to War."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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