Book reopens Kerry's war wounds ( New Book questions Kerry's Nam injuries, etc)

sunday times via theaustralian.news.com.au ^ | 02/23/04 | sunday times vis theaustralian.news.com.au

[KQQL]

VIETNAM has been the defining issue for John Kerry. His status as a decorated war hero has helped to propel him to the front of the pack of Democrat candidates seeking to evict George W.Bush from the White House. Conservative critics believe he has been given a free ride for too long on his war record, however, and are planning a fightback.

Support for their case is expected to come from a book to be published next month by reporters from The Boston Globe in Kerry's home state of Massachusetts. The book, JF Kerry, the Complete Biography, will question the extent of his injuries in Vietnam and whether he was entitled to an early release from the war.

Vietnam, The Washington Post opined at the weekend, "is a double-edged issue" for the 60-year-old Democratic frontrunner. Kerry has not authorised the release of his war records - a strange omission, say his political foes, given the ferocity with which his supporters have demanded to see every last document of Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard.

"Vietnam is such a crucial part of his background and his campaign, you would think he would want people to see them," said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, a conservative journal. "There is going to be pressure on him to release them."

Kerry, who is surrounded on the stump by the "band of brothers" who fought with him in the Mekong Delta, became a fierce public critic of the Vietnam War after he left the navy.

A faked photograph of Kerry sharing a microphone with Jane Fonda was a warning of how his opposition to the conflict would be used against him. There also has been much criticism of the way he threw away another man's medals rather than his own during a 1971 protest demonstration.

Kerry's conduct during the war, however, was until now thought to be sacrosanct. Unlike many of his generation, he volunteered for service in Vietnam. He went on to perform heroically as the skipper of a Swift boat patrolling Vietcong-infested waters, and won a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for bravery.

Kerry served only four months of a year-long tour of duty after he received three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action. The injuries were not serious; by his own account, one shrapnel wound laid him off for two days and the other two did not interrupt his duties.

Five of his friends died in action and his medals show that, at the very least, he had several brushes with death. The future senator then invoked what he insists was a "three and you're out" rule enabling a soldier with three Purple Hearts to be sent home.

He requested a transfer and was given a plum job as an admiral's aide in Brooklyn. He returned to the US a bitter opponent of the war and was released from the army early.

In response to an inquiry from The Sunday Times, Kerry's campaign staff gave the newspaper a copy of naval regulations stating that "all naval personnel" who are "wounded three times, regardless of the nature of the wound or the treatment required for each wound" may be reassigned.

A spokesman for the US Navy said, however, that such redeployment was not automatic: "It would depend a lot on the nature of the injuries."

Ted Sampley, who runs Vietnam Vets Against John Kerry, said if a soldier could be sent home for minor wounds, "there would have been a lot of people claiming scratches, getting their Purple Hearts and getting out of there".

Sampley believes that the well-connected Kerry - photographed with president John F.Kennedy as a young man - simply received favourable treatment. "How many other people were able to get out of Vietnam early and be reassigned to a cushy post?" he said.

[Destro]

To me that is hand to hand combat. Maybe it is not hand to hand combat as seen by say the Romans but that is as close to hand to hand combat as one gets in modern combat, IMHO. Will you be satisfied with it rephrased as "Kerry killed the commie up close and personal"?

[stylin19a]

approx. 2.6 million served in country. Is 23k Silvers a lot ?
it's less than 1 percent (.008)...

I have a friend of mine....he was an Army River Rat(PBR) on the Mekong. He was awarded 2 Silver Stars. He flat out don't talk about it. After 11 years i finally saw the citations.
My friend is a genuine hero. IMHO, for comparison sake, if Kerry's actions derserved the Silver Star, my friend's action warranted the MOH.

[meema]

That's my question too. How can he continue to refuse to release those records, when W has released his???
...no pressure from the MEDIA.

[Destro]

Like I said @ #124 & #135 his post war record should be questioned. Just don't make fools of yourselves questioning his legit war record.

[KQQL]

I never did question his war service nor most of the people here are.

The book does questions his wounds...that's the point of this thread.........

and
his denying the book authors his service record makes him to hide something about his wounds....

SO RELAX !

----

LIKE W he has to release his damn records and also stop hiding behind his service..

Just because he served, doesn't mean no one can question his voting record.

KERRY IS A CRY BABY !!

[Hon]

"The article said Kerry served only four months of a year-long tour as if Kerry shirked the rest of his tour."

He did not serve the remaingg eight months of his second tour. What is your problem?

"In his first tour of duty he had a cushy job in a war zone aboard the U.S.S. Gridley which he cut short to volunteer for an even more dangerous assignment on a river combat boat."

It's not clear whether he volunteered or not to go into the Swift boats. But when he was assigned Swift boats were NOT doing river combat details. That only started TWO WEEKS after he reported for duty on a PCF.

"He then became a commander of a Navy swift boat, which at the time were used to transport sailors to ships in the gulf. Two weeks after beginning his new assignment, the safe job he had picked became much more dangerous when the boats began being used in the Mekong Delta to seek out the Viet Cong and block North Vietnamese supply routes."

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040219-115623-9539r.htm

Your constant disinformation seems to be intentional. It is starting to look like agit-prop for Kerry? Does Soros give good benefits?

[Hon]

"Just don't make fools of yourselves questioning his legit war record."

Of which you seem to be pig ignorant.

[Destro]

Kerry is not my man. I find Kerry distasteful but distasteful in his leftist politics.

[Don Corleone]

Kerry will regret ever mentioning Vietnam.

Was Kerry in Vietnam? I didn't know that he was in Vietnam!Why didn't he say something? Just modest I guess. (/sarcasm)

[jriemer]

Book reopens Kerry's war wounds

Here, put some salt on it.

Nah, Kerry needs more salt than that..

[PattonReincarnated]

>> I will not adopt Democrat smear tactics because I have an inferiority complex with the Republican nominee's service record.

You sound like a DU Troll.

[OldFriend]

Wonder if this book will actually be released.

[ptrey]

"Kerry killed the commie up close and personal"?

Where's the proof? IOW...Who witnessed it?

[PattonReincarnated]

>> Like I said @ #124 & #135 his post war record should be questioned. Just don't make fools of yourselves questioning his legit war record.


The problem with the legit war record is that Kerry won't release his legit war record. All we know about Kerry is what Kerry has said. Certainly there is some truth in it, since any good liar is going to surround his lies with truth. He was a flaming commie-pinko before we war, and after the war. So what was he during the war?

[xone]

You don't have to go back to the Romans. Plenty of Nazis, Japs in WWII, commies in Korea and Vietnam went down in hand to hand combat from knives, bayonets, e-tools, tomahawks, helmets, rifle butts, comm wire, fists and feet. This type of combat against fit opponents where there is no quarter only mirrors Kerry's in the absence of quarter for combatants.

[Destro]

It's not clear whether he volunteered or not to go into the Swift boats.

Talk about pig ignorant. Did you not know that Swift Boat crews were volunteers?

[KQQL]

Monsieur John Kerry

I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations. - The Crimson 02/18/1970
"A bold progressive internationalism," Kerry. - JK Website

Kerry said "I think there has been an exaggeration," when asked if the President has overstated the threat of terrorism. - SC Debate 01/29/04

"We are not going to solve the problem of terrorism with this kind of retaliation," Kerry.
RE: 04/1986 US Air Strike against LIBYA - Hannity's Book, "Deliver Us From Evil"
Opposed death penalty until 2002, voted against military action in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

During the height of the Cold War, Kerry opposed the entire strategic modernization effort proposed by President Reagan; the Peacekeeper, B-1 and B-2 bombers, Trident submarine, D-5 missile, and the non-strategic modernization of the defense budget. - Washington Times 01/04

[OldFriend]

Kerry served four months in combat. The first tour was on a ship far from the action. He then chose the Swift boats and their mission changed, making his service on the boats more dangerous due to the change in mission.

He wrote up his own recommendations for medals and commendations and asked for early out on the three and you're out plan.

[kabar]

Five of his friends died in action

The article implies that the five friends died alongside him. According to what I have read based on the Boston Globe articles, several of his friends were college classmates who joined other branches of the service, e.g., Pershing's grandson.

Reading this thread and many others, it is quite apparent that we really don't know Kerry's real war record, except for press accounts. Until Kerry authorizes the release of his service records, no one can say authoritatively what he did and didn't do. His refusal to release them does create the impression that he does have something to hide. Otherwise, if he did all that is claimed by him, his service record could be a real asset politically.

ADM Mike Boorda, former CNO, committed suicide after a reporter learned that Boorda was wearing a combat V device on one of his ribbons. So it is not beyond the pale to consider that an ambitious, self-promoter like Kerry could also be less than truthful about his service.