Free Republic

Friday, October 8, 2004 John Kerry's secret meeting with the enemy Posted: October 8, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com On Sept. 21, 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth introduced a TV ad titled, "Friends," with the message that "John Kerry Secretly Met Enemy Leaders" during the Vietnam War, in 1970, while he was yet in the Naval Reserves. The Kerry immediate response team jumped into action, charging rather characteristically that the Swift Vets were lying. John Kerry, his surrogates maintained, did not meet "secretly" with Vietnamese communist negotiators to the Paris Peace talks – he...

I'm not one to gossip monger...unless it's really compelling and at least likely true (and benefits our side!). I read on a blog that I frequent that the latest Swift Boat Ad will be the coup de grace. (sorry for the French). It shows Kerry burning an American Flag. I even called the blogger to check the sources. He says it is still a unconfirmed rumor, but if his source is as reliable as it has been - then it's very credible. Also, some say that it's been mentioned on Hannity's radio show? Regardless, I don't KNOW that this is...

SwiftVets and POWs for Truth are running this full-page ad in the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch today and tomorrow, in anticipation of Friday's debate.

Peter Principles: The race to the Swift By Peter Roff UPI Senior Political Analyst Published 10/6/2004 6:35 PM (Please send comments to nationaldesk@upi.com.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth laid waste to John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. The Swifties, as they have become known, used a single television ad -- which initially aired in less than 2 percent of U.S. households -- to undercut the Democratic nominee's principal virtue: his record in Vietnam. The group's activities brought attention to a period in Kerry's life that, well-known and apparently well-documented, had never really...

A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth laid waste to John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. The Swifties, as they have become known, used a single television ad -- which initially aired in less than 2 percent of U.S. households -- to undercut the Democratic nominee's principal virtue: his record in Vietnam. The group's activities brought attention to a period in Kerry's life that, well-known and apparently well-documented, had never really be subject to intense scrutiny; certainly not the level of scrutiny given to either President George W. Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard or former Vice...

Navy Chief is a credible poster at the SBV forum (he broke the news the Kerry wrote the spot reports). He has some pretty explosive info that needs a voice. Thanks. This is my first time posting - sorry if I messed it up!

"For John Kerry to now claim that his activities were part of an effort to help solve the POW problem is absolutely ludicrous. Kerry encouraged the North Vietnamese to keep us in captivity longer which meant more torture, more lost years and, sadly, more death," said Vietnam POW Ken Cordier who was held captive for six years and three months and was awarded two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart among other decorations......

Here's why a lot of Vietnam veterans don't support Sen. John Kerry's presidential ambitions: They believe Kerry is a political opportunist who betrayed them. It has nothing to do with what Kerry did or didn't do when he served in Vietnam as a young naval officer in charge of a Swift boat. It has everything to do with what he did when he returned from the war and aligned himself with such radical members of the anti-war movement as ardent North Vietnam supporter Jane Fonda. Kerry entered the public spotlight when, as a representative of Vietnam Veterans Against the War,...

WASHINGTON — A political action group of Vietnam War veterans that has attacked Democratic candidate John F. Kerry over his combat record has begun a new television and direct mail blitz, enriched by $3 million in contributions from two longtime financial supporters of President Bush and the Republican Party. In filings with the Federal Election Commission last week, officials of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth disclosed two $1-million donations from Harold Simmons, a billionaire chemical and waste industry magnate, and another $1 million from oilman T. Boone Pickens. Both base their corporate empires in the Dallas area. The mammoth...

(Excerpt of) Online Petition To: Senator John Kerry (D-MA) Upon your return from Vietnam, you betrayed your fellow veterans by accusing them of engaging in horrendous war crimes. Through your post-war activities, and during Senate testimony viewed by the entire nation, you created and nurtured the myth that American soldiers in Vietnam were involved in such crimes on a daily basis, and that such activity was sanctioned by our commanding officers. Specifically, you stated that we: "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off...

WASHINGTON - Two Texas businessmen with a history of supporting Republican causes gave $3 million last week to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group trying to sink the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry. Harold Simmons, a Dallas billionaire investor, made two $1 million donations to the group and Dallas oilman Boone Pickens, who earlier this summer gave $500,000, kicked in another $1 million last week. The Texans' deep pockets have helped the veterans group air television advertisements attacking Kerry's Vietnam War record in states considered key to winning the White House. Simmons and Pickens are among the...

Thank you for your support of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Your generous response has driven our efforts as we spread the truth about John Kerry. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is making an historic impact on this presidential election. We have joined forces with a group of American prisoners of war who were held captive by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War and are now called Swift Vets and POWs for Truth.

CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer acted concerned, in a September 13th commentary, that rich people were abusing the campaign laws by funneling money to so-called 527 groups. Schieffer complained that, "One of the President's strongest supporters, Texas oil man Boone Pickens, had given the Swift Boat group a half million dollars" and "two other Bush supporters" chipped in more than $200,000 each. Then Schieffer added in passing that George Soros is a billionaire "financing millions of dollars of attack ads against President Bush…" Schieffer called these examples of "how the big money boys on both sides can find...

Thank you for your support of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Your generous response has driven our efforts as we spread the truth about John Kerry. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is making an historic impact on this presidential election. We have joined forces with a group of American prisoners of war who were held captive by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War and are now called Swift Vets and POWs for Truth. Together we need your help to tell the story of how John Kerry's activities only served to encourage our enemies and prolong the captivity of our...

** Dean's World Exclusive ** Must Credit Dean's World ** I've been trying for some time to obtain an interview with one of the members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. I most wanted to talked to one of the enlisted men who served personally with Kerry, and after much trying, I finally managed to get a phone interview late last week with Van Odell, who served as a gunner's mate in the same unit as John Kerry and who served with him longer than anyone else did in Viet Nam. Van runs his own small business in Texas...

Sen. John Kerry emerged as the likely Democratic candidate for president after racking up primary wins February 3. The next day, in a foreshadowing of campaign controversies to come, New York Times reporters Elisabeth Bumiller and David Halbfinger compared Kerry and Bush on their Vietnam service.      From the very first line, the Times found in favor of Kerry: "The contrast could not be more striking. In March 1969, John Kerry, a 25-year-old Navy lieutenant, reached down from the boat he was piloting in Vietnam's treacherous Bay Hap River and in a spray of enemy fire pulled a soldier out...

A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Senator Kerry and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Mr. Kerry's campaign Web site. According to a Navy communications expert, Troy Jenkins, who has examined the message traffic, the report in question was sent from the USCGC Spencer, Commander Lonsdale's command ship, at 11:20 that night. Only three of the officers on the mission that...

This is a 25 minute speech by John O'Neil of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth given to the Wednesday Morning Club on Setember 8, 2004.

"T his is Latch." That's how Roy Hoffmann opened the calls, with a name he hadn't used in 35 years, a name the man at the other end of the line last heard crackling over a radio receiver in Vietnam. He called all the men who'd been under his command there, finding their names in old mimeographed records and photos once stored in his attic and now spread all over his second-floor office. "Latch, remember me?" he would say, transporting them back to those days on the Swift boats, the patrols in the Mekong Delta or even the middle of...

Not one hour ago, I posted my very first post on Free Republic: "Am I the ONLY One Who Noticed This at the Debates? I received many interesting comments, a few hysterical ones, several awfully kind "Welcome to Free Republic" comments (for which I'd like to thank you bloggers again)and finally.... I also received this one very rude comment: "You're really stretching. Is this the only reason you joined Free Republic. To post this?" So I answered this blogger by telling that they "inspired me to post again tonight." What I want to tell you, fellow FR bloggers, is why...

Hardin swift boat veteran questions Kerry’s version By BOB BLAKE 419-993-2077 bblake@limanews.com LIMA — When Richard Pees served in the U.S. Navy some 35 years ago as the skipper on a swift boat in Vietnam, he had no idea that events transpiring around his boat would land him in the middle of presidential politics. But, Pees, a rural Ada resident, and Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president, have differing recollections of an incident on March 13, 1969 — an incident that landed Kerry praise and medals and which Pees cites as part of the reason Kerry is unfit...

Since April 23rd, 1971, when John Kerry, then a Lt.(jg) in the US Navy, threw what he purported to be his medals, over a fence and into a trash can in Washington, his medals and his service in Viet Nam has been seriously questioned, and for good reason. Over the last few months, we have spoken to, written to and done research on men who served in World War Two, Korea and Viet Nam who had earned Bronze Stars, Silver Stars and Purple Hearts. To a man, the commendations for Bronze Stars and Silver Stars refer to heroism beyond belief....

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.

WASHINGTON - Almost overnight, it has become an article of faith among members of the mainstream media that the charges leveled against Sen. John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been proven to be untrue. David Broder, the dean of Washington columnists, got into the act this week with a column that appeared in the Herald in which he dismissed the Swift Vets as a group peddling a scurrilous and largely inaccurate attack on the Vietnam service of John Kerry. How can the media discount Kerry's betrayal of all U.S. forces fighting in Vietnam, when he testified...

A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Sen. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Kerry's presidential campaign Web site. The report details Kerry's participation in a naval operation on the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969, in such glowing terms that he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for pulling Special Forces officer James Rassmann...

<p>A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Sen. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Kerry's presidential campaign Web site.</p>

Kerry's '70s disrespect shows poor leadership While serving in the U.S. Navy as a cryptologist, I did my job well and wore the uniform proudly. I tried to make sure that when I was in uniform I represented the service in the best manner. The key word is respect. I may not have agreed with everything I had to do or knew about, but I didn't shame the service and generalize that the entire Navy consisted of war mongers and baby killers. In war you will always have innocent people who die and some members committing crimes that can't be...

Friday, October 1, 2004 John Kerry and the politics of betrayal Posted: October 1, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com John Kerry undoubtedly calculated he could have it both ways: For those who wanted to see a war hero, he could tout his decorations; for those who were anti-war, he could point to his role as spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. What John Kerry never calculated fully was that a great number of the men and women who served in Vietnam simply wouldn't buy the story. To the Swift Boat Veterans For the Truth, John...

It was a major mistake for John Kerry to spend four days at the Democratic convention establishing his connection to Vietnam. But it was oddly appropriate. More than any other politician of our time -- including John McCain, who spent five and a half years in a Vietnam prison camp rather than four and a half months on a Swift boat -- Kerry has been haunted and shaped by Vietnam. Kerry in turn has been one of the most important shapers of the meaning of Vietnam for the rest of the country. Over the course of his three decades...

Coral Gables, Florida (CNSNews.com) - A former Navy crewmate and supporter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says it is time to "let the dead rest." He demanded that the Vietnam veterans who are questioning Kerry's military service and anti-war activism "shut up." Del Sandusky, one of Kerry's naval crewmates in Vietnam who was present during the actions that led to the Kerry's Silver Star, Bronze Star and two of his three Purple Hearts, made his remarks about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth immediately following Thursday night's debate between President George W. Bush and Sen. Kerry at the...

Media Pushes Fictions over Facts By Robin Boyd Posted On September 27, 2004 @ 09:58 PM EST [Post Comment] The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were the focus for crucial weeks of the 2004 Presidential Campaign. Day after day, Democrats decried the use of “partisan money” to fund the Swifties’ ads, calling on President Bush to denounce the partisan attack against John Kerry. John Edwards called on the President to stop hiding behind what he called a “front group.” The media’s search for Bush/Cheney connections to the Swift Boat vets was also relentless, and it is a study in media...

Never Forget (link)

I was contacted by Michael Gibson, a teacher at Wingate University, who let me know that he was in contact with Steve Garner and let me know that he is coming to speak about John Kerry while in Vietnam. Here is the flyer below: Important Presentation by Vietnam Veterans at the National Guard Armory 700 Charles St. Monroe, NC Oct 6, 7-9 PM John H. "Jack" Fellowes Shot down over North Vietnam Prisoner of the North Vietnamese for more than six years Steve Gardner John Kerry's swiftboat gunner in the canals of Vietnam, who served with him 2 ½ months...

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a non-partisan, non-profit group representing more than 250 Swift Boat veterans who served with Senator John Kerry in Vietnam, announced today they are joining forces with a group of American prisoners of war who were held captive by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. The merger coincides with a new $1.4 million television ad campaign released by the new group Swift Vets and POWs For Truth. “We welcome the POWs to this battle on behalf of truth, the real truth of who John Kerry is and how he betrayed his fellow...

WASHINGTON — A new ad featuring wives of Vietnam POWs criticizing John Kerry's (search) testimony before the Senate in 1971 will begin airing Thursday. The new ad is by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (search), an expansion of the earlier Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group's ad buy is its largest yet — $1.4 million — and the ad can be seen on broadcast affiliates in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada and on national cable channels. In the ad, titled "Never Forget," John Kerry is quoted from his 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which...

I went to make a donation today to the swift boat vet's since I had not made my donation yet and fiscally it was the best time for me to do so. So I forgot the web address and put in www.swiftboatvets.com. It and another address I put in linked me to this: http://www.swiftboatliars.com/ Anyone seen this? Also,what is the correct link to donate to the real swift boat vet's for truth? I am being re-directed to the smear of the DNC instead. Thanks, MFH

The new swift boat ad features the wives of former POW's. Very powerful as usual. Remember you can donate to keep the ads on the air at www.swiftvets.com

<p>This new, poignant Swift Boat ad, begins airing tomorrow. HUMAN EVENTS has obtained the 60-second ad that features brief comments by the wives of former Vietnam-era POWs, expressing their feelings about Kerry’s questionable post-war activities. According to sources near the Swift Boat organization, $1.4 million will be spent to get this most recent message out. The ad will appear nationally on cable, and on broadcast TV in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Nevada.</p>

Well, stay tuned today, folks. The Swifties will have another ad, probably tonight - and this one features POW wives talking about John Kerry's testimony and actions when he returned from Vietnam - while their husbands were being held and tortured in North Vietnamese prisons. (We wrote about these women before. Click here to see our first take on their potential impact) Not only will this surpass the last ad buy ($1.4 million), it will also include a "satellite tour" of these brave women. Radio, TV, press conferences - ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. A serious and well-funded grassroots effort. Frankly,...

THOSE WHO dismiss critics of John Kerry’s Vietnam service as just a bunch of right-wing Republicans out to advance George W. Bush’s cause don’t know what they are talking about — or they are engaged in wishful thinking. OK, I may have once thought that about the critics, too. But after poring over the large volume of e-mail I received after my Aug. 28 column, “What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam,” I don’t any longer. I had taken to task the authors of the blistering anti-Kerry bestseller “Unfit for Command” for giving readers an unbalanced view of Kerry’s service...

...Boat Commander Chenoweth in his sworn affidavit states that he was preparing to rescue Rassman from the water when Kerry's boat returned and picked him up. His boat was right beside Kerry's. Chenoweth states that at that time no firing was taking place. Chenoweth later stated "His (Kerry's) account of what happened and what really happened are as different as night and day." Crewman Van Odell, who was on the boat next to Kerry's (Chenoweth's) when Rassman was rescued, stated, "Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star ... I know. I was there." Also remember that most of those present...

The new documentary  “Stolen Honor” documents how a young John Kerry jumpstarted his political career by denouncing American soldiers -- and how the Vietnamese used his actions to torture, demoralize and threaten American Prisoners of War. In production before the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth splashed onto the scene, the documentary’s producers say “Stolen Honor” juxtaposes Kerry’s work with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War with the words of veterans who were still in Vietnam when Kerry was leading the antiwar movement.  Retired Captain James H. Warner -- a Marine who was held in North Vietnam for five years, five months -- is a...

<p>Heather Mocabee can recall seeing her father's Purple Heart in a trunk of momentos from his Navy days in Vietnam...</p> <p>In an election season in which the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been circulating untruths about candidate John Kerry, Heather talks about her own quest for the truth...</p>

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...

Those who dismiss critics of John Kerry's Vietnam service as just a bunch of right-wing Republicans out to advance George W. Bush's cause don't know what they are talking about -- or they are engaged in wishful thinking. Okay, I may have once thought that about the critics, too. But after poring over the large volume of e-mail I received after my Aug. 28 column, "What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam," I don't any longer.

Ad Renews Charges of Bush-Saudi Ties By Howard Kurtz Friday, September 24, 2004; Page A07 Charges of excessive coziness between the Bush family and the Saudis, last seen in theaters during "Fahrenheit 9/11," have made it to the small screen. Two new ads from the Media Fund, a liberal advocacy group, question whether the president's family and the "wealthy," "powerful" and "corrupt" royal family in Riyadh are "too close for comfort." Admaker Steve McMahon says the effort is to tie Bush to a country that has some religious schools teaching anti-Americanism and is at least partly responsible for $2-a-gallon gasoline....

Swift boat veteran suspended 9/24/2004, 5:23 p.m. PT The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Clackamas County prosecutor has been suspended for two weeks without pay because he used office equipment to prepare his affidavit as one of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, District Attorney John Foote said Friday. Alfred French, a senior deputy district attorney, used the computer in his office to receive and print a draft of the affidavit on July 21. On the same day, he asked a legal secretary in the office to notarize the document, Foote said in a statement. The Swift Boat...

To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004 Web: http://www.johnkerry.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Author and historian, Douglas Brinkley, issued the following statement to correct a report by the New York Times today: "A story in the September 24 New York Times leaves the false impression that I think John Kerry was not 'the war hero we thought he was.' Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a great American fighting man in Vietnam and deserved all of his medals. Over the past year I have vigorously defended...

Truth Be Told, the Vietnam Crossfire Hurts Kerry More By JODI WILGOREN ASHINGTON, Sept. 23 - The war over who did what in the Vietnam era rages on in the 2004 campaign. But it has inflicted more wounds on the candidate who saw combat, Senator John Kerry, than the one who did not, President Bush, analysts across the political spectrum say.