Posted on 09/19/2004 11:28:57 AM PDT by Libloather
Harold W. Andersen: Swift-boat questions continue because Kerry refuses to reply
BY HAROLD W. ANDERSEN
WORLD-HERALD CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Published Sunday, September 19, 2004
An attorney friend wrote to complain about "wild-eyed accusations" against John Kerry. His letter said that "most of the assertions by the Texas-funded 'Swift Boat Veterans' regarding John Kerry's actions in Vietnam had been refuted by real facts and undermined by their own contradictory statements."
But the truth is that most of the assertions by members of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" not only have not been refuted - they haven't even been replied to. Most of the assertions haven't been reported in any detail, if at all, by the major news media.
So the ads were "Texas-funded." Does that somehow make them "wild-eyed accusations"?
The issue is the content of the ads, of a letter to Kerry and of the book "Unfit for Command," which quotes by name a substantial number of swift-boat veterans, a number of whom served with Kerry.
Scarcely reported, if at all, is a letter directed to Kerry and signed by more than 250 fellow Vietnam veterans. It included this language:
"Specifically, we the undersigned formally request that you authorize the Department of the Navy to independently release your military records (through your execution of Standard Form 180), complete and unaltered, including your military medical records."
Statements available to anyone - certainly including the news media - on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Web site offer interesting reading. Two examples:
(1) Lt. Thomas A. Withey, who had commanded a swift boat, summarizes his Vietnam experience thus: "Silver Star, Purple Heart. (I spent 21/2 months in a hospital and returned to Vietnam for the remainder of my 12- month tour.)"
(2) Retired Marine Lt. Col. James Zumwalt signed the letter to Kerry in memory of his father, Elmo Zumwalt Sr., commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and his brother, Elmo Zumwalt Jr.
The retired Marine officer said he added his name to the letter because Kerry "returned home from the war to make some outrageous statements and allegations" about "numerous criminal acts and violations of the law of war . . . disparaging those who had fought with honor in that conflict."
James Zumwalt said such acts "were few and far between," yet Kerry made numerous speeches and testified before Congress, "inappropriately leading his audiences to believe that what was only an anomaly in the conduct of America's fighting men was an epidemic."
A number of Swift Boat Veterans use much stronger language in regard to Kerry's anti- war activities in the United States after four-plus months in Vietnam.
Kerry's problem then - and his problem to this day - is that the great majority of Vietnam veterans "actually felt good about their service," in the words of B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley in their book, "Stolen Valor."
The book cites a 1980 Lou Harris poll of Vietnam combat veterans. It showed that 91 percent of those polled were glad they served their country, 74 percent enjoyed their time in the military and 70 percent would serve again.
Why do I return to this subject again? Because so many readers have told me they agree that John Kerry simply has not answered legitimate questions and criticism from other Vietnam veterans, including a number who served with him.
And because other readers are so willing to brush off the bulk of the Swift Boat Veterans' statements as lies when the truth is that the bulk of the assertions and questions haven't been reported in the news media or addressed by Kerry or his campaign associates.
My attorney friend's letter said that the attention focused on the Vietnam War "only diverts public attention from the candidates' positions on really pressing issues and probably sours many potential voters on the political process."
I agree that the campaign focus should be on pressing current issues. I expressed that view in a May 16 column, which carried this headline: "Kerry should focus on future, not past."
But the Kerry campaign continued, month after month, to emphasize Kerry's service in Vietnam. A New York Times story said Kerry's speeches on the campaign trail have included "incessant reminders of his four-month combat tour."
In accepting the presidential nomination at the Democratic Party convention in Boston, Kerry devoted three times as much time to his four-plus-months of service in Vietnam as he did to his nearly 20 years' service in the U.S. Senate.
So if there is to be any further lecturing about looking to the future rather than back more than 30 years to the Vietnam War, the pupil most in need of such lectures (former President Bill Clinton made a pass at this recently in the form of friendly advice) is John F. Kerry, Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
Time to bump...
And another paper reports in on FLIPPER failing to answer the questions.
Kerry must reply. The thrust of the story is true. Oh, yes, the facts espoused by the Swifties haven't been discredited, either!
> 'Navy Says Kerry's Service Awards OK'd'
The Navy merely confirmed that the proper process was
followed in issuing the medals.
On the matter of whether the original reports leading to
the medals were fraudulent - no answer.
On the matter of why there are 5 citations for 2 stars -
no answer.
On the matter of whether Kerry's released documents are
authentic and unaltered - no answer.
On the specific matter of Silver Star citation #3, which
is entirely disclaimed by the SecNAV who ostensibly
authored and signed it - no answer.
Do not allow the Kerry Kamp to spin the Navy statement.
Thank goodness they are not letting up. The issue is completely legit and they aren't speaking for President Bush. They are speaking the Vets who remember and won't forget!
Actually, nothing has been refuted. There are a couple of Kerry supporters who claimed there was enemy fire in one incident, but one of them was under water at the time, and out of five boatloads of sailors, only three remember a firefight.
Oh, and the Navy has released a bombshell: the medals were awarded by officers with the authority to award them.
Actually if you read the thing carefully, using the Dem tactic of parsing, the Navy said the correct procedures were used for awarding the medals.
Thanks for the ping!
After he was turned down for a student deferment to study in Paris (assuming to major in "Peace Talk") he volunteered for the Navy Reserves-- and his unit was called up. He was trying to stay out of VN.
And Kerry was an officer...
Self adulation turned into self abuse.
He's probably got hair growing on the palms of his ego.
He's roadkill.
Carrion Kerry
|
BTTT!!!!!!!
Yup, and out of combat too.
He trained for the swift boats cause they
WERE NOT doing combat when his training started.
But they were when he got there.
You know fighting the wild Viet Cong....rice
Shooting an enemy youngster in the back when he presented no danger anymore...Silver Star material according to one of the Swift Boat Officers...His own coward self.
"Kerry is getting people needlessly killed."
SOP for that coward.
Thanks for putting so many facts about the lying traitor in one post.
-------------
John Kerry adviser accuses Vietnam veterans of war crimes
Addison Ross
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 30 August 2004
John Kerry's spokesman on veterans issues, John Hurley announced on Fox News Sunday August 22 that John Kerry was right when he accused US troops of committing atrocities against civilians "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."
Why would Hurley continue to repeat John Kerry's malicious slanders knowing that they had been completely discredited? Furthermore, why is the media trying to give credibility to the views of this John Kerry spokesman on veterans issues even though he has been exposed as a calculating liar? Well, I don't think I need repeat that question.
Lying seems to be second nature to Hurley because on Monday August 16 he appeared on MSNBC's 'Scarborough Country' where he falsely stated that that the Washington Times had called Unfit for Command a pack of lies. The following Wednesday the Times published a scathing denunciation of Hurley's own lies.
Like John Kerry, on his return from Vietnam Hurley, now a Boston Lawyer, also accused US troops of being war criminals. Among those he condemned was the engineering battalion with which he served.
Tom Perdue, who served in the same battalion, was so outraged by Hurley's lies that he tracked him down and confronted him with his own slanders. Hurley was forced to admit that he had slandered his comrades. Yet this liar refused to correct the public record. Nevertheless he now has the nerve to go on Fox News to repeat the same vicious slanders in order to protect John Kerry.
They don't get any more despicable than Hurley.
But why would Hurley and John Kerry continue to slander US troops? Hurley helped set up the pro-Hanoi VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War). In this he had the support not only of Jane Fonda but also the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) along with the Black Panthers and various other domestic terror groups. None of these unsavory links deterred John Kerry from joining and then becoming a full-time organizer. So much for his patriotism and integrity.
So it was certainly no coincidence that the policy statements and political demands of the VVAW, which John Kerry supported, were identical to those of the CPUSA, which in turn took both its funding and its marching orders from the Kremlin.
Now John Kerry was once asked whether the group's communist links bothered him. Certainly not, was his response. According to his political logic getting rid of pro-Hanoi activists and other communist sympathizers would have the effect of "seriously dividing and weakening the movement, and making it less effective."
VVAW is still with us. A mere two weeks after the Twin Towers atrocity it had the gall to publicly announce that the "use of massive military power will only escalate the cycle of violence, spreading more death and destruction to more innocent people with no end in sight. ... We see many parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan." It went on to say that America really had it coming.
A couple of years later these America-haters called on Americans to oppose the "war on terrorism". It then equated the Patriotic Act, which Kerry and most of his fellow Dems voted for, with terrorism disguised as "public safety".
Considering that both Hurley and John Kerry refused to denounce the VVAW's post-9/11 statements it would appear that they are still in agreement with this anti-American organisation.
Hurley's anti-American activities must have greatly impressed Rep. Robert Drinan of Massachusetts, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, because he put Hurley on his campaign staff. Drinan was also a vocal supporter of the murderous Fidel Castro. (Leftwingers like Drinan have no trouble with child-killers so long as they are socialist dictators). He also supported the Chile Committee for Human Rights, a Soviet front organization set up by a Stasi agent.
Drinan, like John Kerry, was an avid supporter of Central American Soviet-backed Marxist-Leninist thugs, as was Hurley. Is there a pattern here? I damn well think so.
And now we have the disgusting Hurley doing the bidding of John Kerry by once again sliming war heroes.
>>>>But the truth is that most of the assertions by members of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" not only have not been refuted - they haven't even been replied to. Most of the assertions haven't been reported in any detail, if at all, by the major news media.<<<<<
WOOOHOO amen to this!!....Libs are ALWAYS on Fox News hollering this "talking point" about the Swift Boat Vets found to be liars" and NO ONE CALLS them on this rant..
Fox could take a clue from this editorial!!
bump
Thanks
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