OH THIS IS RICH

The nerve to say this:

John F. Kerry yesterday called for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody.

When the man is a self-confessed war criminal himself.

"Yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers," Kerry told "Meet the Press" in 1971, ticking off "free-fire zones" and burning villages in violation of the Geneva Convention.

He then goes on to say this:

"Today, I have a message for the men and women of our armed forces: As commander in chief, I will honor your commitment and I will take responsibility for the bad as well as the good."

Well, let me put it to you this way, Senator...in a way that perhaps only a veteran will understand.

For those of us who consider service in the military, service to our nation, as a calling...as a form of service larger than self, well Senator, we don't want you to be the Commander in Chief.

Why? It's simple, Senator. You have defiled the uniform.

You admit to taking part in atrocities in Vietnam. You must have been in a hurry, Senator, since you were only there 4 months. Didn't take you long to get into the atrocity mode, now did it?

Soon thereafter you testified under oath, Senator, that thousands of others were doing the same thing.

Problem is, Senator, a whole mess of these guys say it isn't true.

Widespread opposition to his campaign by Vietnam veterans shows they have neither forgotten nor forgiven his disgraceful allegations against his fellow GIs.

And so, it goes like this Senator.

Either, you are a war criminal. Or you lied under oath about what you and others did while in uniform. There is no way around it...it is one or the other.

And to me, a veteran, that means you are not fit to be Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces. Indeed, the travesty would be for hundreds of thousands of honorable men and women who have never defiled the uniform, Senator, to have to call you "sir."