Thursday, 09 August 2007
2007.08.09 Politics and National Defense Roundup
Contributed by Bill Faith

A Winter Soldier footnote
Scott Johnson

Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal published a powerful column by the former Romanian intelligence officer Ion Mihai Pacepa. The subject of Pacepa's column was the destructive effect of the left's intemperate attacks on the president. Buried in Pacepa's column is this intriguing paragraph:

During the Vietnam War we spread vitriolic stories around the world, pretending that America's presidents sent Genghis Khan-style barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages. Those weren't facts. They were our tales, but some seven million Americans ended up being convinced their own president, not communism, was the enemy. As Yuri Andropov, who conceived this dezinformatsiya war against the U.S., used to tell me, people are more willing to believe smut than holiness.

The themes identified here by Pacepa were of course products of the "Winter Soldier investigation" in which John Kerry participated. Kerry featured each of the themes identified by Pacepa in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1971. Pacepa's comments warrant attention. ...

Russ Vaughn emailed to make sure I saw Gen. Pacepa's piece two days ago and I somehow managed to space off linking to it. Please do read all of it, then don't miss the rest of Scott Johnson's post.


Below the fold:

  • Beauchamp Chronicles: Keeping the vacationing New Republic editors up to date
  • Haditha: Charges dropped against two Marines
  • Major U.S. Raid in Sadr City Targets Shiite Militia Faction

See also:

Continue reading "2007.08.09 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 9, 2007 at 01:43 PM | Permalink

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