Cheney's Five Draft Deferments During Vietnam Era Emerge as Campaign Issue

It was 1959 when Dick Cheney, then a student at Yale University, turned 18 and became eligible for the draft. Eventually, like 16 million other young men of that era, Mr. Cheney sought deferments. By the time he turned 26 in January 1967 and was no longer eligible for the draft, he had asked for and received five deferments, four because he was a student and one for being a new father.

Although President Richard M. Nixon stopped the draft in 1973 and the war itself ended 29 years ago on Friday, the issue of service remains a personally sensitive and politically potent touchstone in the biographies of many politicians from that era. For much of Mr. Cheney's political career, his deferments have largely been a nonissue.

In an increasingly vituperative political campaign, Mr. Cheney this week again questioned the credentials of Senator John Kerry and his ability to be commander in chief. Mr. Kerry, who was decorated in Vietnam and has made his service there a central element of his campaign, fired back.

Putting Mr. Cheney's record in the spotlight, Mr. Kerry said that he "got every deferment in the world and decided he had better things to do."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/politics/campaign/01CHEN.html

:yourock:

He is really despicable. We should open the shades and let the sunlight hit him. It would be shocking, and repulsive, but it might be like salt on a slug . . .

Oh, and did you see his college photo? No sneer! He developed that over his long career . . .



http://www.wgoeshome.com

He let others die in his place.

 = VIET-NAM

Nguyen Ngoc Loan, whose execution of a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon in 1968
became one of the most chilling images of the Vietnam War


=IRAQ-NAM

At most, the 372nd's alleged abuses of prisoners were "stupid, kid things - pranks," Terrie
England said,


MY TAKE

In 20 years---- every time IRAQ-NAM or some variant is mentioned ---this photo will pop into your mind– Just like General Loan’s HEAD SHOT in Cholon 1968

with the guy and gal SMILING behind them all.

This is the single most horrendous, odeous, inhumane, vulgar, gross, thing I have EVER seen in my entire life!!! Who/what in their WILDEST imagaings could think up such a thing - let alone make people do that! And then SMILE about it yet!!!!

*spit*spit*spit* Can't get the horrible taste out of my mouth. Those two 'people' (and all the rest that aided in this atrocity) better be punished and punished SEVERELY.

and him falling ,blood gushing from his head,but that one moment frozen in time is even more compelling.Did the photogragher win a Pulitzer? He should have.

http://www.photonews.net/gallery/eddieadams/eddieadams.html

http://www.newseum.org/warstories/interviews/mp3/journalists/bio.asp?ID=22

http://www.eddieadamsworkshop.com/

He is a mentor and a man I admire greatly

So much truth is captured in that moment that it is difficult to fathom.

The treatment of Iraqi prisoners is shameful. I am angry beyond words about this evil that is being perpetrated in my name. The photos of the treatment of Iraqi prisoners document nothing less than crimes against humanity.

We moved to Long Bihn just a few months before Tet

They took over the Phu Tho Racetrack during TET the Vietnamese Air Force pretty well destroyed it.

For what its worth

WELCOME HOME !!!!


The Battle For Phu Tho Racetrack

http://members.aol.com/thays46945/PTR.htm

How pathetic can an individual be?

VVAW at the Republican National Convention (Miami, 1972) (The last Nixon Coronation)

THAT'S RON KOVIC IN THE CHAIR THERE

(I wonder if JR. Bootlick above was there)

Can't wait for New York

the San Fernando Valley and Ron Kovic was there.

on the Statue of liberty, what does the banner on the right say? It starts with -"We've carried the rich..."
I think it ends with something like, 'it's time for them to get off our backs...' but I can't tell for sure.

This has given me an idea for a bumpersticker:

Fight the Rich
Not Their Wars
Vote Bu$h Out !!

Good luck !!!! This was the second takeover.

"...fair game"?

So's this.

for being married ? It would be rich if he wasn't, and a shame to not point it out in the campaign.

But she was in on 9/11 too though. Clarke's book explains.

I don't think so.

and I need to say "I had better things to do", too
Chickenhawk of the lowest order.

I am going to do my damndest to keep this from happening again.

in a rock and roll band. Had a pretty blonde girl friend. I owned a brand new Mustang GT. Life was good until I got drafted.

I remember we were in a class room at Ft Monmouth, New Jersey and this officer told us how lucky we were to be getting technical training and being draftees. He said that if it wasn't for the fact that they were short of skilled people we would all be in the infantry. A guy who was from New York who had a good paying job working for the city yelled out in perfect Brooklyn accent, "Fuck You!"

1971 --

this story just cracks me the fuck up.. THIS is so real and the way it was..

people had balls then, and gave a shit.

not enough of us to go around at this point I'm afraid..

oh, and the NY TIMES SPUN the "New father" deferment.. Cheney wasn't even sure if his wife was pregnant or not..

thanks Mountainman, I needed that laugh.. my son is 17 and has no balls at all. dooomed.

:kick:

The news has surely BEEN there all along, even in the 2000 election! From the article:

On Aug. 7, 1964, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to use unlimited military force in Vietnam. The war escalated rapidly from there.

Just 22 days later, Mr. Cheney married his high school sweetheart, Lynne. He sought his third student deferment on Oct. 14, 1964.

In May 1965, Mr. Cheney graduated from college and his draft status changed to 1-A. But he was married, which offered him some protection.

In July, President Johnson announced that he was doubling the number of men drafted. The number of inductions soared, to 382,010 in 1966 from 230,991 in 1965 and 112,386 in 1964.

Mr. Cheney obtained his fourth deferment when he started graduate school at the University of Wyoming on Nov. 1, 1965.

On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born. On Jan. 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant, Mr. Cheney applied for 3-A status, the "hardship" exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. It was granted.

In January 1967, Mr. Cheney turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the draft.

Cheney in 1964.
Cheney in 2001.

I wonder if he has a conscience? If he does, his rationalization functions must be working overtime. Maybe his a sociopathic?

I do not. I see a cold, black hole of a soul in those eyes.

They are SCARY. Just like his afterlife is liable to be...

Ever notice that Cheney never looks anyone in the eye when he's speaking to them? He always averts his gaze....a signal that he's up to no good...

This should be a campaign issue.

The Dick would definately use it against his opponent were that the case.

it would be nice to hear someone bring it up. Sounds like a good bomb to drop as a "Crossfire" talking point.

I think I'll make it my project this weekend to email am@cnn.com and maybe get Jack Cafferty to read an email that Cheney knocked up his Ho to get out of the draft.

He lied when he said she was pregnant when she wasn't, then he fucked her like a rabbit until she was. Were they even married at that point?
If not, he was/is a demon fornicator !!!

At the Article 32 Hearing (like a grand jury hearing) Specialist Matthew Wisdom, an M.P under
oath stated

Wisdom said:
SFC Snider grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile. . . . I do not think it was right
to put them in a pile. I saw SSG Frederic, SGT Davis and CPL Graner walking around the
pile hitting the prisoners. I remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its
ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick. . . . I left after that.
When he returned later, Wisdom testified:
I saw two naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with its mouth open. I
thought I should just get out of there. I didn’’t think it was right . . . I saw SSG Frederick
walking towards me, and he said, ““““Look what these animals do when you leave them
alone for two seconds.”””” I heard PFC England shout out, ““““He’’’’s getting hard"

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact

On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born. On Jan. 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant, Mr. Cheney applied for 3-A status, the "hardship" exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. It was granted.

How would you feel if you found out you were a "draft deferment" baby?

I have to wonder about Dickie's lack of "character" when he refused to fight for his country.

how convoluted politicians make it.

NO ONE WANTED TO BE DRAFTED...

Not Clinton
Not Bush
Not Delay
Not Cheney
Not ANYONE..

Drafted meant infantry (most of the time).. It meant a one way ticket to VietNam..

It has always amazed me that these bright (supposedly) men could not articulate what was in their minds back then..

How easy it would have been (or still would be) to just say something like this:


Clinton: " I was raised dirt poor, but I was intelligent.. I got a Fulbright scholarship to study abroad...You BET I did not want to be drafted, instead of going to college.. I had a high number, and probably would not have even been called, but COLLEGE was my way out of poverty, and of course, I did not want to go to war."..

Bush:.." I was lucky.. I had a father with connections. Am I proud of pulling strings to get into the guard?..No...but I was young and I was afraid of going to war, and I was lucky enough to get out of it...like many other well-connected kids... Now, I see the error of my ways, but back then I did not"..

Cheney:.." I took every legal option available to NOT be drafted. I was not a good student, so I availed myself of the marriage/children clause..like many others"..

---

Why are they so reluctant to put into words, what all of us (of a certain age) already know??

I really think that if they all came clean, people would drop the whole thing as an "issue".. Every family in the country has had this dilemma, and probably has ones who went and oones who didn't. It's a no-brainer..........

All they had to do was just talk about Mr Kerrys political record, but they couldn't resist the (arrogant) challenge of projecting their lack of patriotism onto Kerry.

I have no problem with people who avoid the draft and don't start wars. It's the hypocracy of the ones who avoided their own draft but then start wars for others to fight that earns them the name of chickenhawk.
I also distinguish between starting wars and fighting wars. The first is aggressive, the second defensive.
The biggest lie is telling soldiers they are defending the US when really they are fighting aggressive wars for a few corporations.

Even many of the fools who still think Junior's a wonderful chap are easily swayed on the subject of Cheney. There's nothing endearing about this guy: he looks as if he's sneering at his victims while maneuvering to marginalize everyone else and reap the rewards. (Wonder why that is...?)

He looks mean, he sounds mean, he's on record for saying some very reckless and downright nasty things, and even the apologists for Bush can't help but see this. Always attack your opponent's weaknesses, and this schmuck is the Achilles' heel--and what a heel--of the whole crypto-fascist mob.

Impugn his decency, insinuate his Svengali-like control over the boy-king, recount his voting record as a Congressthug and characterize him as the true face of the administration. What this does is put the enemy on the defensive. If we chant long enough and repeatedly enough that HE'S the real president, it will gain some traction; it's got the whiff of truth because it's largely true, and this will work.

He's a bully, a thug and a coward; beyond that, he's shockingly incompetent and unscrupulous.

Kerry's stellar record of serving with honor is a quick antidote to the chickenhawk GOP's constant braying about it's strength on defense.

Bush's national guard records are so pathetic, it is almost to laugh.

The GOP knows nothing of sacrifice. The American people do however, and that will help Kerry's message resonate with them.

congresspeople and senators and saying 1) that I supported Kerry and was VERY WELL AWARE, and appreciative, of his SERVICE IN VIETNAM. And 2) then I said - "and bush's medals from Vietnam are...?"

Usually they hustled me off the phone rather quickly.

They don't like having their noses rubbed in it. I say FAIR GAME. I say maybe there's a reason WHY they don't like it. Because it's true, and because it rubs in the fact that THEIR boy doesn't measure up. Further, it rubs in that OTHER PEOPLE KNOW - AND AGREE - that their boy doesn't measure up.

It's not that I really hope to sway anybody in any of those offices. They're ruthless, unrepentent partisans and they are truly beyond reach. They've seen, and probably typed up and helped distribute, all the talking points. So they're not reachable. But it is VERY useful and valuable to contact them and let them know, in no uncertain terms, that you are among a growing number of people who are onto them and their lies and misrepresentations and character assassinations and malicious fraudulent hose-jobs. It's important that they know this. It's important that they see the tide rising - AGAINST them. It's important for them to be told, repeatedly, that they're on the wrong side and more and more Americans every day agree about this.

Discouraging and demoralizing the enemy is a legitimate battle tactic. I consider it similar to the US troops playing all that loud rock music outside where Noriega was hiding. Besides, they've had more than long enough to be so smug. Their time is UP.

:kick:

:D

that self-righteous prick needs to be under the gun. he's an evil person.

TO SHOW THE DRAFT DODGER THAT A FEW HAD A SPINE

Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, embraces his mother, Debra, in this Dec. 2003, family photo. Dunham, who died April 22, at Bethesda Naval Hospital, in Md., was buried, Saturday, May 1, 2004, in Scio, N.Y. Relatives say Jason never regained consciousness after sustaining a head injury from a shrapnel wound, April 14, in the Iraqi city of Karbala. The oldest of four children, Dunham enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2000 after graduating from Scio Central School near Buffalo. His father, Daniel Dunham, said Jason was scheduled to be out of the service in July. (AP Photo/The Wellsville Daily Reporter, courtesy Dunham Family)


RIP--------------saigon

Photos of U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites) Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal are displayed in the back of a room during a memorial service for him Friday, April 30, 2004, in Neah Bay, Wash. Bruckenthal, the first U.S. Coast Guardsman killed in battle since the Vietnam War, died in a suicide bomb attack on April 25, 2004, in Iraq (news - web sites). He served for two years at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Neah Bay. (AP Photo/Keith Thorpe, Pool)


RIP --------------saigon