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New Document Indicates Kerry Wrote Disputed Vietnam Report BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun October 1, 2004 Conclusion: Kerry wrote the disputed after action report that is the basis for his bronze star.

My lawyer readers will immediately recognize this as an invitation to Kerry supporters to make a motion for partial summary judgment on the SwiftVets' claims. This short paragraph from a New York Times article perfectly illustrates the liberal media's widespread characterization of the results to date of the SwiftVets' campaign (boldface added): Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which drew national attention with advertisements making unsubstantiated attacks against Mr. Kerry's military service, has less money and uses several strategies to stretch its dollars, said one of its leaders, John O'Neill. To find a similar example from the blogosphere, one need look...

The man who credits John Kerry with saving his life says the senator from Massachusetts must fight harder if he is to wrestle the presidency from George W. Bush. A former green beret and retired law-enforcement lieutenant, Jim Rassmann said Thursday that Kerry must go on the offensive to end questions about his service in Vietnam and regain his political footing. "He has to fight the campaign like he fought in Vietnam," Rassmann said after an appearance at a Veterans of Foreign War hall in Orlando. "He needs to go on the offensive, and I've told him that." Rassmann is...

The Rescue Sen. Kerry's Bronze Star recommendation makes no mention of Sen. Kerry being under enemy small arms fire. Here is how his Bronze Star recommendation describes the rescue: "LTJG KERRY from his exposed position on the bow of the boat, managed to pull RASSMAN aboard despite the painful wound in his right arm." Jim Rassmann claims he was the one who recommended Sen. Kerry for a award, originally recommended Kerry for the Silver Star that later was reduced to a Bronze Star. However, Sen. Kerry's Bronze Star recommendation only lists one eyewitness for the rescue of Jim Rassmann:...

Jim Rassmann: John Kerry saved my life. Now his heroism is being questioned. Rassmann, a retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, served with the U.S. Army 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam 1968-69. I came to know Lt. John Kerry during the spring of 1969. He and his swift boat crew assisted in inserting our Special Forces team and our Chinese Nung soldiers into operational sites in the Cau Mau Peninsula of South Vietnam. I worked with him on many operations and saw firsthand his leadership, courage and decision-making ability under fire. On March 13, 1969, John...

Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Brinkley had in-hand the Belodeau Eulogy, but ignored it in telling the Rassmann rescue story My regard for Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley as an historian has dropped to a new low. I've discovered that Brinkley must have had in his hands — and ignored — an unimpeachable source in which John Kerry told a version of the Jim Rassmann rescue that is completely, mutually inconsistent with the version which Kerry has related, and Brinkley himself has repeated, everywhere else. In reading his book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, I've mostly marvelled at...

Another eyewitness has spoken out on the subject of whether there was or wasn't enemy fire from the shores during the Bay Hap River action out of which Sen. Kerry received his Bronze Star for rescuing Jim Rassmann: An Oconto Falls man says he was there when John Kerry earned his Purple Heart and his Bronze Star in Vietnam. And, Butch Vorphal has a very different account of what happened that day. Kerry says he earned bothmedals for pulling a fellow soldier out of a river while under heavy enemy fire. Vorphal was on board Swift Boat Number Three, which...

Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ] RASSMANN GOT A PURPLE HEART, TOO? ON THE SAME DAY? [08/26 01:52 PM] Has it been reported elsewhere that Jim Rassmann, the man John Kerry fished out of the river, was awarded a Purple Heart “for wounds received in connection with military operations against a hostile force” on the day he was rescued by John Kerry? Have any of the accounts of that day listed an injury on the part of Rassmann? The descriptions, including Rassmann‘s own, don‘t mention this injury. The Kerry Spot is not charging Rassmann with not being injured; but...

John Kerry placed in the Congressional Record on January 28, 1998 the eulogy he gave (apparently) at the funeral of a former swiftboat companion. He describes what could be an entirely different version of the Rassmann falling in the river/mine exploding story. * * * 

WACO, Texas -- James Rassmann, his yellow tie off after a long morning Wednesday, eased his 6-foot, 260-pound frame into a red booth at the Dairy Queen next to his friend Max Cleland. Rassmann, dressed in a Navy blazer and khakis, munched on a burger while Cleland, the former U.S. senator from Georgia, ate two chili dogs and sipped a cherry soda. The two decorated Vietnam War veterans relaxed into easy conversation while a handful of campaign aides to Sen. John Kerry buzzed around them, chatting on cell phones and checking their BlackBerries to see how the networks were carrying...

Cleland and Rassman expected at the checkpoint shortly. Fox is expecting a "photo op."

The Officers-in-Charge of Swift boats PCF-51, PCF-23, PCF-43, and PCF-3 state that they were not receiving enemy fire after the mine explosion.I do not doubt the sincerity of Mr. James A. Rassmann regarding his version of events on March 13, 1969. My own experience and review of such part of the record as is available convinces me that then First Lieutenant James A. Rassmann is right about then Lieutenant Junior Grade John F. Kerry helping him out of the water. However, Rassmann is wrong about Kerry heroically saving his life.I was an Operations Officer for 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment...

Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete And Flawed Clashes Roil Kerry Campaign By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A01 When John F. Kerry rescued James Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later. For Kerry, then a green and gangly Navy lieutenant junior grade and now the Democratic challenger to a wartime Republican president, that tale of heroism under fire has become integral to his campaign. A centerpiece...

When John F. Kerry rescued James Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later. For Kerry, then a green and gangly Navy lieutenant junior grade and now the Democratic challenger to a wartime Republican president, that tale of heroism under fire has become integral to his campaign. A centerpiece of public rallies, videos and a new campaign advertisement last week, it has helped distinguish the candidate from his Democratic primary rivals and...

Kerry’s March 13, 1969, “Medals” According to the records, Kerry claimed in the casualty report he prepared on March 13, 1969, that he was wounded as a result of a mine explosion. Within a short period, he presented his request to go home on the basis of three Purple Hearts. By March 17, 1969, Kerry’s short career in Vietnam was over. Regarding the action on March 13.1969, Kerry’s medals were once again a complete fraud. Notwithstanding the fake submission for his Bronze Star, Kerry was never wounded or bleeding from his arm. All reports, including the medical reports, make clear...

August 19, 2004 -- Posted Swift Veteran statements in response to today's Washington Post article by Michael Dobbs, Records Counter a Critic of Kerry. Dobbs attempts to make a case that there was enemy small-arms fire during the Rassmann incident for which John Kerry obtained a Bronze Star, based on the writeup for Larry Thurlow's own Bronze Star. But who wrote the action report for the event? And why no bullet holes in any of the boats? Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth member Larry Thurlow Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth member Van Odell Statement By Swift...

DES MOINES, Iowa Jim Rassmann, who credits John Kerry with saving his life while under fire in Vietnam, is countering new commercials challenging the Democratic nominee's war record. Rassmann, a former Special Forces officer, is in Iowa today. It's his first visit to the state since January when he was reunited with Kerry after more than 30 years. His visit, which started in Cedar Rapids this morning, comes as another group of Vietnam veterans airs T-V ads accusing Kerry of fabricating his war record. Rassmann says he has little patience for it and it's starting to be "very irritating."

Sen. Kerry has an established a track record for playing fast and lose with the facts, such as claiming he commanded the PCF-94 during January of 1969; that it was his boat that hit a mine and lifted 2-3 feet out of the water (See Congressional Record: January 28, 1998 (Senate) Page S186-S187); claiming the Rev. David Alston was a member of his crew; Christmas in Cambodia, and well you get the idea. Sen. Kerry released a document for the March 13, 1969 incident that details his swift boat's (PCF-94) damage for the March 13th incident that had earned him...

The account of Kerry's citation here's what happened: Lieutenant (junior grade) Kerry was serving as an Officer-in-Charge of Inshore Patrol Craft 94, one of five boats conducting a Sealords operation in the Bay Hap River. While exiting the river, a mine detonated under another Inshore Patrol Craft and almost simultaneously, another mine detonated wounding Lieutenant (junior grade) Kerry in the right arm. In addition, all units began receiving small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks. When Lieutenant (junior grade) Kerry discovered he had a man overboard, he returned upriver to assist. The man in the water was...

<p>Check out this, which Captain Ed mentioned at the bottom of a post regarding some of the Swift Boat stories. I have blogged about it here as well.</p> <p>On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore. Kerry was hit in the arm, while a mine blew Rassmann’s boat out of the water. With enemy fire coming from both sides of the river and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann.</p>