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.

[Hon]

You're a troll, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it.

[KQQL]

[KQQL]

[moehoward]

bomp

[Destro]

I think you are, You want us to ignore Kerry's liberal voting record in the hopes we concentrate on his war record. I saw right through your underhanded methods. The date you joined up makes sense now since that is when this became an issue or there abouts. You liberals sicken me.

[Hon]

Enjoy!

Veterans and the Kerry Controversy [Vets Question His Record]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083499/posts

[Destro]

I think it was good stategery by the Kerry camp (to have his service record questioned)...They clearly made an issue of the Military record(s)...but, when voters scrutinize Kerry - and discover that he did serve in Viet Nam...It's hard to see that service as "disappointing" or a weakness...so it's a win/win for Kerry...

Bush took the bait and spent a week babbling about pay stubs...

Those who want to dwell on Kerry's post-Nam activities will sound like they are beating a dead horse...

Most folks today think "Hanoi Jane" was someone who played guitar for Hole (Courtney Love)...

[Hon]

"You want us to ignore Kerry's liberal voting record in the hopes we concentrate on his war record. I saw right through your underhanded methods."

More BS from you. Here are some threads I've posted about Kerry:

John "Flip Flop" Kerry On Missile Defense
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082842/posts

Kerry Championed The Nuclear Freeze Movement
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082283/posts

Kerry: Citizenship For Anyone In US For Five Years
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1067615/posts

Teresa Heinz Kerry Funded Group Calls For Censure Of Bush
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079318/posts

The Heinz Endowments have teamed up with a secretive left-wing group [Mrs. Kerry Is A Commie]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1077429/posts

Democrats (And Other Frenchmen) On Iraq's Weapons Of Mass Destruction
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1066882/posts

I'm still waiting for you to produce ONE POST critical of Kerry's voting record--which you have been harping upon.

[Destro]

I linked above - enjoy, Dem.

[Hon]

You did not such thing, troll. Yo have YET to produce a post critical of Kerry's voting record.

But you won't let anybody else talk about anything else? Real subtle. --Not.

[Destro]

I was posting against General Clark before he even ran for president where were you then? I was posting against the evils of Islamists before 9/11 where where you then?

[Hon]

"I was posting against General Clark before he even ran for president where were you then? I was posting against the evils of Islamists before 9/11 where where you then?"

You're right. I had forgotten there is no life outside of the confines of Free Republic.

[sport]

Bump

[TeleStraightShooter]

He returned to the US a bitter opponent of the war and was released from the {navy} early.

I thought this was the central issue the Demo-rat's tizzy over W's Guard service.
Bush was Honorably Discharged early to attend Yale.
Kerry was Honorably Discharged early to incite others to spit on returning GI's.

Using the Demo-rats' logic: Is it true that J ef'in Kerry was found absent when his country called?

[Destro]

No, just watch your typing fingers when you throw out the troll accusation because you need to resort to an insult because you can't make your point any other way. Such conformist tactics remind me of those Maoists with their little red books.

[Hon]

I say you are a troll because you are intentionally posting misinformation--for whatever reason. It is part of the classic definition of a troll.

I don't care what else you have posted. On this thread and others I have seen, you were trolling. You weren't trying to enhance the discussion. You were trying to disrupt it. You were using misinformation to do it.

That is trolling.

[xone]

Excellent summation. Didn't volunteer for combat, got stuck in it despite his machinations. From SLJO to HMFIC.

[xone]

'If I am on Kerry's staff then my post #313 would get me fired.'

Moby's staff perhaps?

[Hon]

I have to say I think I've uncovered an interesting descrepency, which I posted about on this other thread:

Veterans and the Kerry Controversy [Vets Question His Record]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1083499/posts?page=9

And that is: Kerry got a Purple Heart for a wound he received his SECOND DAY in Vietnam.

And yet the Swift boat mission was not changed until he had been in Vietnam for TWO WEEKS. Up until then it was considered one of the safest assignments.

So how was Kerry wounded on his second day in Vietnam?