1960's anti-war radical Tom Hayden has stepped forward to defend likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, saying that Kerry did nothing wrong when he teamed up with Hayden's ex-wife "Hanoi Jane" Fonda to stage anti-U.S. demonstrations during the Vietnam War.
In a column written for The Nation magazine, Hayden argues that Kerry was right to complain about supposed U.S. war crimes when he returned from Vietnam, saying that U.S. atrocities were far more offensive than Fonda's decision to travel to Hanoi to side with the enemy.
Hayden admits that Kerry and his ex-wife collaborated on the Winter Soldier Investigation in 1971, where returning Vietnam vets were encouraged to detail war crimes they committed. Kerry later cited the testimony before the Senate. [Unmentioned by Hayden: many of the Winter Soldier witnesses were later discredited as impostors.]
But the '60s anti-war radical decries photographic evidence of the Kerry-Fonda alliance, complaining: "The right-wing attack dogs are on the hunt. Newt Gingrich calls Kerry an 'anti-war Jane Fonda liberal,' while Internet warriors post fabricated images of Kerry and Fonda at a 1971 anti-war rally.
"Welcome to dirty tricks in the age of Photoshop," he adds. [Again unmentioned by Hayden: the other 100 percent authentic photo showing Kerry and Fonda together at a September 1970 rally.]
Still, the founder of the Students for a Democratic Society says it's unfair to use his ex-wife to trash Kerry - because both Kerry and Fonda were right!
"The attempted smearing of Kerry through the Fonda 'connection' is a Republican attempt to suppress an honest reopening of our unfinished exploration of the Vietnam era," the one-time anti-war agitator writes.
After all, says Hayden, "Why should American atrocities be merely unsettling, but a trip to Hanoi unconscionable?"
What about reports that Fonda's visit sparked new torture sessions for U.S. POWs?
Hayden claims that reports of North Vietnamese torture have been greatly exaggerated, as his wife maintained at the time.
"I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture ... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie," "Hanoi Jane" told the New York Times in 1973.
Says Hayden 31 years later, "Vietnamese behavior meeting any recognized definition of torture had ceased by 1969." What's more, "no more than 10 percent of the U.S. pilots received at least 90 percent of the Vietnamese punishment."
We can't wait to hear what Sen. Kerry's "Band of Brothers" has to say about Mr. Hayden's sterling defense.
Editor's note:
If you love Ronald Reagan – you’ll love NewsMax’s "Reagan Collection" – Check it out – Click Here Now
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections
Sen. John Kerry
Print Page 
Forward Page 
