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]

"I also recall reading he flew someone to anti-war rallies while he was still in the Navy?"

The head of the VVAW (and former RFK speechwriter) Adam Walinsky.

Walinsky alter wrote Kerry's "testimony" before the Senate in April 1971.

Again, it's all in the Boston Globe's excellent profile. A lot of people would save a lot of time and questions is they would take the time to read it and bookmark it.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

[Hon]

"Destro is just trying to sugarcoat Kerry."

I've begun to detect a pattern where Destro states things authoritatively, that simply aren't true. And always to Kerry's favor.

[EllaMinnow]

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=352185

According to the 1970 article linked above, he spoke out against the war as early as 1966.
He also requested a deferment from the draft board to spend a year studying in Europe, and joined the navy when his request was turned down.

[One4Indictment]

Can any of you HTML pros take this and put "KERRY/FONDA in the center of this flag?

[Destro]

I don't support Kerry and he should release his records. That does not excuse us from supporting half truths like Clintonistas.

Kerry still did 2 legit tours of duty. That the 3 Purple Hearts are legit is not in question. He killed communists for his country. He did it in hand to hand combat. He got his wounds in combat against the enemy. He bled for this nation in combat and that you laugh off his wounds does not sound like the Republican party I remember. The same people who laugh off Kerry's combat medals defended Pvt. Lynch's medals in injuries sustained via a car accident to the death. All you people do is highlight the fact that while Kerry shed blood in 'Nam Bush shed blood in an Alabama dentist's chair.

Leave the war record alone. Concentrate on the after war record. Do not become a Clintonista like operative. Do not smear the truth or embrace half lies because the other side does it also.

[cynicom]

Also all medals are not equal.....Lyndon Johnson was awarded a Silver Star, one that was totally false. Kerry also was looking for future political enhancement. Neither were heros.

[FairOpinion]

Did Fonda really say that?!

I didn't know that.

[Destro]

I did not know I was detectable. I did not know I was memorable. Thanks!

[xone]

"hand to hand combat"

Where did you get this!

[cynicom]

Destro..Stop trying to evade the fact that you were spreading false information.

[metesky]

Ronnie, what do you think of this Band of Idiots Brothers crap that F'n Kerry is runnin'? Think he's paying them?

[Destro]

I can't prove a negative.

[Poincare]

Chuck Colson: "He came back a hawk and became a dove when he saw the political opportunities," http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1061739/posts

[FairOpinion]

"Kerry still did 2 legit tours of duty."
==

Then please do us a favor and post a legitimate source stating that.

I looked and couldn't find anything.

He MAY have served two tours of duty, but how about some actual evidence of that?

[KQQL]

KERRY CLAIMS 100's and thousands Nam girls/women were raped by American soldiers.

SO HOW MANY GIRLS/WOMEN DID KERRY RAPE in NAM ???

[Hon]

"Kerry still did 2 legit tours of duty."

He did two greatly abbreviated tours. In total ten months tops, as opposed to 24.

"That the 3 Purple Hearts are legit is not in question."

Sure it is. Hence the question about his treatment for those wounds. Hence the questions why he won't waive his privacy rights so the records on those wounds can be opened. Did you not even read the article that begat this thread?

"He killed communists for his country."

He claims to have killed on wounded VC who was running away and probably dying. Which was probably a war crime.

"He did it in hand to hand combat."

You have an active imagination.

"He got his wounds in combat against the enemy. He bled for this nation in combat and that you laugh off his wounds does not sound like the Republican party I remember."

Right. I'm sure you're a Republican like all those people who call C-SPAN and the folks who tell the NY Times they will never vote for Bush again.

[cynicom]

Caught with your drawers down and you try to weasel your way out with parsing words. How pathetic.

[StriperSniper]

O.K., two things:

1) All you people do

I don't know who you think your talking to, all I said to you was one thing in agreement.

2) Do not become a Clintonista like operative.

Actually, your manic post is quite Carvile like, so excuse me, and have a good evening.

[Hon]

See my post above and go to the Boston Globe's timeline, linked above.