Reuters on Kerrey Press Conference

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

[Just to set the record straight, Kerrey's assertion below that
his gang shot at people because they were "fired upon" doesn't
really jive with the fact that they were in a "free-fire zone."

By definition, a free-fire zone meant exactly that -- anything 
that moved in a free-fire zone was fired upon, whether it was 
an NLF solider, a child or a terrified lemur. No "provocation" 
was required.

In addition, surely Kerrey damn well knows better than to say 
that "In Laos and Vietnam, the war is over." Four people died 
last week when one of the USA's murderous buried bombs detonated
in Vietnam. People die every week in Vietnam from the remnants
of Amerikka's rain of death. The deaths, the genetic and
ecological devasation aren't over in Southeast Asia for USA's
victims, any more than it is over here in Yanquilandia, for 
the villains. Kerrey's latter-day "guilt performance" worthy
of the lying murdering US presidents he serveed, and is
utterly repulsive. --NY Transfer]


Thursday April 26 5:38 PM ET (via Yahoo)

Kerrey Speaks of Guilt on Vietnam War Killings

By Christopher Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey said on Thursday he could
not justify, militarily or morally, a combat mission he led in Vietnam 32
years ago during which more than 20 unarmed civilians, mostly women and
children, were shot and killed.

Kerrey, in his first public remarks since the 1969 encounter in the Mekong
Delta between his troops and Vietnamese civilians came to light as the
result of a joint investigation by The New York Times magazine and CBS News'
"60 Minutes II," said he felt "guilty because of what happened, not because
of what we intended to do."

He also said it was too early to say if he would consider meeting relatives
of the victims, and that he "had not really thought about" whether he might
support a possible inquiry into the incident, which has stirred memories of
the 1968 My Lai massacre when 500 civilians were slaughtered by U.S. troops.

He said the facts of the incident, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star,
were that his Navy Seal squadron was in a high-risk, free-fire zone, where
according to advance intelligence a military meeting was taking place and
where there were no civilians.

"When we fired, we fired because we were fired upon," he told a news
conference. "In short, we did not go out on a mission with the intent of
killing innocent people."

Believed Lives In Danger

"I had every reason to believe that there were soldiers in the area ... and
that our lives were in danger." He and his troops found after the fighting
that only unarmed civilians

were killed.

Asked on Thursday what in fact he had done wrong, given the circumstances,
Kerrey replied, "It may be that I did nothing wrong. But I feel like I did
something wrong."

"Others have justified it militarily to me. I haven't been able to justify
it either militarily or morally."

Kerrey, now president of the New School University in New York, said, "My
guilt is connected to the nature of the Vietnam War." Upon returning home,
he said, he "came back and tried to put the war behind me."

"For the first 10 years," he said, "I was just trying to get healthy."
After more than 30 years, he said, "I have chosen to talk about it because
it helps me to heal and because I hope my words today can convey something
useful."

The 57-year-old former Nebraska governor and two-term senator has been
mentioned in media reports as a potential Democratic candidate for president
in 2004. But on Thursday he flatly ruled out the possibility of his seeking
the presidency in three years.

"At some point I hope to help the country get healthy again," he added,
noting that "in Laos and Vietnam the war is over. In the United States, it's
not."

"I'm proud of my service," Kerrey said, adding, "But I came home and
protested the war myself."

Sense Of Anguish

Kerrey, who had previously spoken about the incident in interviews with the
Times, CBS, the Wall Street Journal and CNN, and at a speech before ROTC
students at the Virginia Military Institute last week, said, "For more than
three decades I have carried this deeply private memory with a sense of
anguish that words cannot adequately convey."

Amid intense media interest, he called the news conference to discuss the
incident that he said he had kept secret even from his own children until
now.

Asked if he would consider returning his Bronze Star, Kerrey said repeated
his assertion that he was not a war hero, and said he accepted the honor
primarily on behalf of the other men in his troop.

"The medal has meant nothing to me," he said.

Kerrey received the highest U.S. military decoration, the Medal of Honor,
for actions the month after the controversial encounter, when a grenade
exploded at his feet, taking his right leg off below the knee. Kerrey
continued directing his platoon's fire until his men were able to escape.

At several points, Kerrey took exception to the questions asked, such as one
about whether he might meet someday with relatives of the civilian victims.

"You're asking too much of me," Kerrey said, adding that his public
discussion was still in the "early stages.... It's too much to expect."

Sens. John McCain of Arizona and John Kerry of Massachusetts, both Vietnam
War veterans, have spoken out in support of Kerrey since the revelations
surfaced.

In Hanoi on Thursday, Vietnam said Kerrey had been remorseful in his
statements about his past service in the Vietnam War and called on him to
help heal the wounds left over from the conflict.
 
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