"The New Soldier" by John Kerry et al

Apparently John Kerry co-authored a book in 1971 called "The New
Soldier." There seems to be varying differences of opinion about how
much of it he actually wrote (other than his US Senate testimony during
the "Winter Soldier" hearings), but his name is certainly prominently
displayed on the cover (see
http://www.newsmax.com/images/headli...NewSoldier.jpg or
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjoh...newsol_cov.jpg).

Copies are apparently going for several hundreds of dollars on eBay;
talk of a cover-up and the liberal Democrats trying to destroy all
copies seem far-fetched (try finding copies of any obscure book from
1971), although there are rumours that both copies are currently
'unavailable' at the Library of Congress.

Has anyone with military service actually read "The New Soldier" and can
comment on it contents?



His "Winter Soldier" testimony apparently quoted in the book is
certainly still controversial:

"Much of Kerry's speech before Congress painted his fellow GIs as so
brutal that, today, they could easily be mistaken for Saddam Hussein's
Fedayeen killers.

He reported to Congress that U.S. soldiers had "personally raped, cut
off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human
genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies,
randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for
fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of
South Vietnam."

There's a NGO link quoting some of Kerry's testimony at:
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjoh...er_sfrc_71.htm.

There are also discussions of the accuracy of the testimony, such as:
"After Senator Mark O. Hatfield read the Winter Soldier testimony into
the Congressional Record, he asked for an official investigation. When
the Naval Investigate Service did just that, many of the veterans
refused to cooperate (despite protections against self-incrimination).
One soldier admitted that his testimony had been coached by members of
the Nation of Islam; exact details of the atrocity he'd seen now escaped
his memory. Several veterans hunted down by Naval investigators swore
they had never been to Detroit and couldn't imagine who would have used
their identities. (Somehow this episode was left out of the "Winter
Soldier" chapter of Brinkley's book, but the details can be found in
Guenter Lewy's "America in Vietnam" and in Mackubin Thomas Owens's
account in the latest National Review.)"
-
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...ljiby.asp?pg=2


Lots of conflicting stories, such as:
- http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/k/kerry.htm
- http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/...0402130943.asp
- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...0/131219.shtml