Kerry Propagandist Brinkley Lies About Unanimity Of Kerry's Crewmen

Compiled | March 11, 2004 | Various

[Hon]

You have probably read the Time Magazine article, "The Tenth Brother," by Kerry's hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley:

Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004 The Tenth Brother
Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, interviews Kerry’s tenth warmate and gets a story sharply different from what the other nine crew members have had to say

Source

At first blush it is a surprising piece. Brinkley managed after a Herculean effort to unearth a former crewmember of Kerry's Swiftboats who doesn't think Kerry walks on water.

When writing my book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (William Morrow & Company) I interviewed all of Kerry’s crewmates—all that is, except Gardner. When first approached for interviews in late 2002 these Navy veterans told me they would enthusiastically campaign for their old skipper if he ever decided to run for president; they’ve lived up to their promise. Whether it’s PCF-94’s Chief Petty Officer Del Sandusky talking about Kerry’s undaunted courage on TV campaign commercials or PCF-44’s William Zaladonis explaining how Kerry never backed down, they’ve been a united front. Nobody has campaigned harder for Kerry than his crewmates. Kerry’s surprise victories in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary were, in part, a tribute to their unshakable conviction that Kerry was a born leader.

But we are soon brought back to reality. For it quickly becomes clear with Brinkley's careful guidance that Stephen M. Gardner is a crackpot. He uses coarse language. "He has some kind of weird grudge against Lieutenant Kerry.” And we are soon told why: politics. Gardner listens to Rush Limbaugh. He is a right wing fanatic.

So instead of being a piece about a crewmate who raises questions about Kerry, the piece is essentially more testimony about how wonderful Kerry is. Nine out of ten crew member agree--Kerry was and still is wonderful, and they will vote for him. And the tenth one is a right wing nutcase, which just goes to prove Brinkley's point.

The trouble is this is not the case. For another two of Kerry's crew members, James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis--both of whom are mentioned in Brinkley's article--are on record as having definite misgivings about John Kerry.

Kerry's '71 testimony on atrocities evokes debate

Some vets still hot over words; others say he echoed feelings of ex-Vietnam soldiers

By Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
February 15, 2004

WASHINGTON - On a spring day in 1971 a young Vietnam veteran with shaggy brown hair and clad in a field jacket bedecked with battle ribbons sat before the Senate Armed Services Committee and delivered riveting testimony.

"We had an investigation in which 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia - not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-by-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command," declared John Kerry, a 27-year-old Navy veteran...

"They told the stories (that) at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis, both crewmen two years earlier under then Lieutenant Kerry on his Navy Swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum craft that patrolled the waters of the Mekong Delta, were bitter and angry when they first saw television coverage of his testimony.

"Absolutely upset," said Wasser, who recalled no such atrocities. "I felt betrayed."

Said Zaladonis: "I didn't like the idea. I certainly didn't believe that all Vietnam veterans were baby-killing, women rapers. Most people I know agree with me. They didn't see it."

Source

Today, Wasser says he supports Kerry's Presidential campaign. But Zaladonis doesn't seem to so sure:

Today, Wasser and Zaladonis are no longer in agreement about their old skipper's postwar actions.

Wasser is now a strong Kerry supporter, often appearing on behalf of the Massachusetts senator at political events. His hawkish views on Vietnam have dissipated, and he now backs Kerry's involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the organization for which Kerry served as spokesman at the height of his antiwar activities.

"As I look back over the years, I feel he did the right thing," said Wasser, an electrician from Illinois.

Zaladonis has mixed feelings. "I thought he was a d--- good officer. I think I would very much like to see him as president," Zaladonis said, but he isn't sure whether he will vote for Kerry, partly due to political issues and partly because of Kerry's work with antiwar protesters.

"The more I hear about (the protests). - 'Did John say that? Did he do that?' " said Zaladonis, a retired telephone technician now living in Florida. "I'm still studying it."

So the question is, if Brinkely lied about Zaladonis' support of Kerry, how many other former crew members is he lying about? Anyway, we know it isn't 9 out of 10 for Kerry.

But the readers of Time won't know that. The Moor has done his job.

[Hon]

Negotiating with the ENEMY during a shooting war should be enough to kill his chances in a sane world. It is simply outrageous.

Kerry not only admitted to it, he BRAGGED about it to the Senate.

The stuff about Kerry's possible involvement and almost certain knowledge of a discussion to kill US Senators is another incident that should destroy his candidancy among rational voters. And that he is still involved with people who were involved with that, is unbelievable.

Then you add in his very supicious Purple Heart history--which may very well get blown sky high by that book that is coming out from the two Boston Globe reporters.

And if it isn't enough that he was more radical than Jane Fonda, more of a traitor than Bill Clinton--he is more of a liberal in his voting record than his personal nose cozy, Ted Kennedy!

Yeah, I'd say he has a lot to hide. Lucky for him he has the media, the academics and the Hollywood machine all working for him. Josepeh Goebbels could only envy the machine the Democrats have put together. But facts are stubborn things. Heck, I have even have a copy of Kerry's secret book. He couldn't burn them all!

[Mo1]

Mort said the mere idea of Kerry talking about "all these personal attacks on him" is laughable because, to this point in the election, the ONLY people throwing dirt are the Democrats and Kerry's minions.

Mort is right

[Richard Kimball]

I don't think a man who actually negotiated with the enemy during a war has ever run for President before.

Bill Clinton left Oxford during his final year and spent months in the Soviet Union. He also stayed with Communist leaders in Poland. This was during the Berlin Wall days, and people didn't just stroll into the Soviet Union like a Western European backpacking trip. The press finds Bush's being in Alabama far more suspicious than they did Clinton's sojourn in the Soviet Union, and he has never accounted for his actions and whereabouts during that time. I don't know if he negotiated with the enemy, but he sure negotiated with their bosses.

[Hon]

"Brinkley may regret the day he attached himself to the behind of the lying liberal JFKerry. Seems like he has found a need to attempt to do a bit of cleansing."

I believe you are right. Brinkley's book goes so far it is laughable. This is a transparent attempt to try to restore a little credibility.

But as I pointed out and anybody can see, it is merely a fig leaf. And, in fact, it is more about discrediting Gardner and reinforcing the unanimity among those who aren't "whackjobs" than anything else.

[xzins]

I thought I remembered that Gardner claimed some 3 years in Vietnam. If so, I'm curious as to what pay grade he was....E4,5,6???

Who were the NCOs onboard that boat?

[Hon]

I agree that Clinto did some questionable things during that period. But they really don't compare with what Kerry did.

Kerry gave aid and comfort to the enemy. People complain about Jane Fonda going to Hanoi. Kerry was meeting with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese long before Fonda went to Hanoi.

Fonda broadcast lies about the US soldiers, called them war criminals, on Hanoi radio. Kerry did it on Meet The Press, Dick Cavett, 60 Minutes and in front of the US Senate.

Fonda never negotiated with the enemy--never told Congress that they had to adopt the Viet Cong's own "People's Peace Treaty" like Kerry did.

Hell, one of Kerry's "Band Of Brothers" even entertained the VC and NVM with the VC Natinal Anthem and The Ballad Of Ho Chi Minh:

Kerry's Veteran Organizer Joe Bangert Sang For The Enemy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092856/posts

[Helms]

I saw Brinkley on CSpan and you would have thought that Kerry was the messianic Philosopher King. WOW and what a deeeeep thinker and with a conscience for all mankind was a a very gay presentation.

[Just mythoughts]

"I believe you are right. Brinkley's book goes so far it is laughable. This is a transparent attempt to try to restore a little credibility.

But as I pointed out and anybody can see, it is merely a fig leaf. And, in fact, it is more about discrediting Gardner and reinforcing the unanimity among those who aren't "whackjobs" than anything else."


I have been itching about Brinkley's book ever since that 1 Republican set foot on the stage in Iowa.


"it is merely a fig leaf." But by placing this in Time it is Brinkley who is exposing questions about his own book, no matter if it is to discredit that unexamined 10th witness.

So Brinkley's book needs more scrutiny, based upon Brinkley's own words.

[Howlin]

I have been itching about Brinkley's book ever since that 1 Republican set foot on the stage in Iowa.

Us, too!

And, Hon, there IS something that smells to high heaven about this "machine" they have put together; they obviously have been working on it since the day the Senate confirmed that Bush was the president in December of 2000.

Talk about rapid response.

[Howlin]

But if you actually READ the words that Kerry speaks, nobody can understand then.

For instance, on Haiti:

"I think you've got to be real and threatening," he said. His message to the rebels, he said, would be: "You're not going to take over, you're not kicking him out, this democracy is going to be sustained, we're willing to put in a new government, new prime minister, we're willing to work with you, but you're not going to succeed in your goal of exiling" Mr. Aristide. "And unless that's clear, you can't necessarily stop it in its tracks."

Though Mr. Kerry acknowledged that he did not fully know the diplomatic strategy of the Bush administration to deal with Haiti's crisis, he speculated that a purposefully timid approach on the part of the Bush administration — "because they hate Aristide" — could be allowing the rebels to move forward with their uprising.

Huh? Hate him? What must he be thinking!

[upcountry miss]

I have been compiling a list of scources of info on Kerry's missteps but can't find any reference to killing senators. Do you have a reference?

[annyokie]

ping!

[Hon]

As I'm sure you know, Kerry was a total hawk about invading Haiti and installing Aristide back in 1994:

Kerry Pushed For Military Invasion of Haiti in '94
The New York Times ^ | May 16, 1994 | John F. Kerry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1081446/posts

He didn't want to wait for sanctions to work. He didn't want to wait for a multi-lateral force headed by the UN.

He wanted Haiti invaded and "Father Aristide" (as he called the defrocked priest) installed immediately! Of course Aristide was a Communist. Maybe that had something to do with it.

[jackbill]

And the fact that the "outraged" family members of 911 were rabid Bush-haters never made the light of day, until we uncovered it here on FreeRepublic. And it STILL hasn't made it into the mainstream media, much less Time magazine.

Actually this story has made it into mainstream media, including editorials in the NY Post and Wall Street Journal, and a column in the Washington Times. And Fox News has done a number of stories on it.

They are mainstream, but generally conservative.

However, yesterday Howard Kurtz, in his Media Notes column in the Washington Post, quoted four paragraphs directly from the NY Post's editorial.

Also, several of us - particularly doug from upton - have been hitting on the Boston Globe's Ombudsman and the author of their original story, Anne Kornblut.

[Hon]

Was Kerry Involved In Plans To Murder 7 US Senators In 1971?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095150/posts

Kerry's Group The VVAW Discussed Assassinating Seven Pro-War Senators In December 1971
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1080806/posts

[Paradox]

Also, several of us - particularly doug from upton - have been hitting on the Boston Globe's Ombudsman and the author of their original story, Anne Kornblut.

Ewwww, ya'll oughta up yer standards!

[Helms]

Cozying up to the Congressional Black Caucus Usual Suspects.

[BushisTheMan]

Will one of the many rich Republicans that own businesses here in American please help this man. He stood up and now, thanks to Kerry, he is without a job!

Enough of the Clinton tactics! Help this man if you can.

[weegee]

Well we all know how Time Magazine feels about Rush Limbaugh:

Whereas even Ted Kazenski was a "genuis":

[weegee]

The "revived" public Media Schadenfreude and and Media Shenanigans lists

PING