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In 2006, Democratic Congressman John Murtha falsely claimed that US Marines who had battled in Haditha, Iraq had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Marine Corps officials pointed out that Murtha had not yet been briefed on the event at the time he made his atrocity allegations. Charges against nearly all participants in the Haditha engagement have since been dismissed. The Marine staff sergeant who led the squad recently filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Murtha that has yet to come to trial.

Later the same year, New York Democrat Charles Rangel explained why young Americans join the military -- they aren't capable of doing anything else. Congressman Rangel said, incorrectly, that most members of the military "come from very, very high areas of unemployment" and denied that they "want to fight." Rangel further displayed his deep respect for US troops by adding that if a young man "...has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq."

Sen. Tom Harkin recently suggested that Sen. John McCain's military background is a liability rather than an asset. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military," said Harkin, "and I think that can be pretty dangerous." Presidential nominee Obama also took a few moments last year to honor the US military for its ongoing campaign in Afghanistan, by suggesting that it consisted primarily of "air-raiding villages and killing civilians...."

Who then is the Democrat best qualified to continue this tradition as Barack Obama's running mate?

The choice is obvious: former nominee John Kerry. Kerry started his political career in 1971 by falsely accusing American troops of committing genocide in Vietnam. He accused his own Navy comrades of war crimes. His Vietnam Veterans Against the War created the dysfunctional caricature of Vietnam veterans that Hollywood and the media embraced for three decades. Perhaps more than anyone else, John Kerry is responsible for the way our Vietnam veterans were treated -- with contempt and pity, rather than respect.

After his unsuccessful attempt to market himself as a war hero in 2004, Kerry soon reverted to form, claiming that US troops were "going into homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children..." Kerry's own effort to compete in the 2008 cycle was derailed by his revealing suggestion to a college audience that "if you study hard and you do your homework... you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

So fire up the sound system. Launch the balloons. And let the honoring of America's veterans begin.

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Scott Swett is the primary author of a new book on the 2004 presidential campaign, To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry. He is also the primary webmaster of SwiftVets.com and WinterSoldier.com.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

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