Posted on 08/30/2004 2:52:33 AM PDT by kattracks
But don't you know ALL these claims have been disproved?
That really has to leave a mark. Kerry better put some ice on it...
Btw -- the helicopter gunships devised similiar tactics during the war.
Well, well, now it's not just Kerry who is lying, but two of his lapdog Vietnam buddies.
They (democrats) always have to push it. Seeing Lanny Davis speaking so vehemently, so arrogantly, got me p* off too. How could he speak in such a manner? It's the arrogance that is their Achille's Heel.
Where is Davis? I haven't seen him for awhile. Maybe they realized he was doing more harm than good.
Not only have they all been disproved, but the NYT has exposed Novak's connection to the Swift Vets. In other words, don't believe your own lying eyes.
But the main reason I want to weigh in on this thread is to wonder aloud whether any reporter will have the you-know-whats to ask JFK wannabee this question: "Who commanded the swiftboat for the incident in which you claimed your first Purple Heart?" I can think of a dozen more questions but will settle for this one first--and hope it's asked at the debates.Regards . . . Penny
One slight amendment to your question - Kerry was in a dinghy when he fired the grenade that caused the sliver to go into his arm.
The mental picture of two officers, and a crewman manning the outboard motor, in a small fiberglass boat at 3 am in hostile territory, is an image that makes it easier to answer the question:
how could Admiral Schachte remember this one event after all these years.
The only mention of Runyon in Unfit For Command is regarding this skimmer incident. Zaldonis,however later became a member of Kerry's PCF-44 crew. At the time of this skimmer episode Kerry had not been assigned a boat. Zaldonis being on the skimmer is.....interesting.
hanoi john was GREEN at this time, he was also GREEN when he supposedly was running guns, SEALS and CIA men into Cambodia. Greenies don't get those kinds of jobs unless all more experienced men are gone.
The event does have some related activity. The discussion with Hibbard regarding Kerry's request for a PH would help to "sear -- sear" the events into Schachte's memory.
The title of this piece is very misleading, since no one is arguing that there were four people on the Boston Whaler (not to be confused with the "Boston wailer", John Kerry). Zaldonis does not appear to have a very credible demeanor in the Lisa Myers interview.
Admiral Schachte's account makes the most sense. He would have caught hell for putting a combat virgin in command of that boat had anyone been seriously injured -- particularly someone as politically connected as John Kerry.
The only thing John Kerry's version of that night has going for it is his physical qualifications for acting as a stalking horse.
In a FrontPage Magazine.com interview with John O'Neill, Lowell Ponte asked O'Neill what Kerry did after he was denied this Purple Heart. John O'Neill said "He waited three months, until everybody who was knowledgable about the incident had left Vietnam. He then, somehow in Saigon, in a way we can't tell, he got a Naval officer, now deceased, who knew nothing about the incident, to sign a Purple Heart citation of the same kind that had been refused three months earlier". No report of hostile fire, and no casualty report, which would have been required!
I really hope the next SBV commercial includes the photo of Kerry with all his officer buddies from 'Nam. The one his campaign circulated. Only with the slightly revised version showing exactly four- with one being Kerry - of them supporting Kerry's Presidential bid. Similar to how the Swifties have them displayed at www.swiftvets.com.
On 8-28-04 in nationalreviewonline William Schachte says "In each of these operations, I was in the skimmer manning the M-60 machine gun. I took with me one other officer and an enlisted man to operate the outboard motor". Schachte also said that the M-60 jammed on him after the first burst. Yet, on page 35 of Unfit For Command, Zaldonis says that he, Zaldonis, was manning the M-60. Schachte says that he does not remember who the enlisted man was.
Then there were the times he "recreated" the situations for his home movie collection!
This may well be a case of multiple events and not mistaken witnesses.
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