Posted on 07/16/2004 8:41:08 PM PDT by Libloather
We believe it is incumbent on ALL presidential candidates to be totally honest and forthcoming regarding personal background and policy information that would help the voting public make an informed decision when choosing the next president of the United States.
Now that Senator John Kerry is the presumptive nominee of his Party for president, numerous questions have been raised concerning Mr. Kerry’s service in Vietnam and concerning his subsequent antiwar activities. Our mission is to provide solid factual information relating to Mr. Kerry’s abbreviated tour of duty as a member of Coastal Division 14 and Coastal Division 11. Since many who are involved with Swiftvets.com themselves had swift boat duty and knew John Kerry personally, they are in a unique position to provide such information.
Aiming for John Kerry's Purple Heart
How low will the Swift Boat Veterans sink to defame the presidential candidate's Vietnam record?
By Joe Conason
July 16, 2004
The hunting of John Kerry has now been contracted to a hired gun.
A private detective retained by "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" -- the Texas-based group seeking to discredit John Kerry's military record -- is contacting veterans who may have information about the incidents that led to Kerry's Vietnam decorations. According to a former Kerry crew member, several of the Massachusetts senator's old Navy comrades have refused to talk with the detective, a former FBI agent named Thomas Rupprath -- and some have complained that the detective tried to put damaging words in their mouths.
Senator Kerry,
We write from our common heritage as veterans of duty aboard Swift Boats in the Vietnam War. Indeed, you should note that a substantial number of those men who served directly with you during your four month tour in Vietnam have signed this letter.
It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam, you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us, without regard for the danger your actions caused us). Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts as to your own conduct in this war.
We believe you continue this conduct today, albeit by changing from an anti-war to a "war hero" status. You now seek to clad yourself in the very medals that you disdainfully threw away in the early years of your political career. In the process, we believe you continue a deception as to your own conduct through such tactics as the disclosure of only carefully screened portions of your military records. Both then and now, we have concluded that you have deceived the public, and in the process have betrayed honorable men, to further your personal political goals.
Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as Commander-in-Chief of the military services.
It is vital that the American public have as much information as possible about candidates for President of the United States. In various ways, you have rightly called upon President Bush to be fully accountable and to provide full disclosure. In the same spirit, now that you are the presumptive nominee of your Party, we believe it is incumbent upon you to make your total military record open to the American people.
Specifically, we the undersigned formally request that you authorize the Department of the Navy to independently release your military records (through your execution of Standard Form 180), complete and unaltered, including your military medical records. Further, we call upon you to correct the misconceptions your campaign seeks to create as to your conduct while in Vietnam. Permit the American public the opportunity to assess your military performance upon the record, and not upon campaign rhetoric.
Senator Kerry, we were there. We know the truth. We have been silent long enough. The stakes are too great, not only for America in general but, most importantly, for those who have followed us into service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call upon you to provide a full, accurate accounting of your conduct in Vietnam.
Respectfully
Since the AP is asking that all of President Bush's military records be released, I think we ought to ask them to request the same from Kerry: full medical/military/tax records.
Give em Hell!!!
I've noticed how the "mainstream press" has spiked these guys.
Can you say persona non gratta?
What Conason should talk about is the hundred or so who served in command positions over and around Kerry during his Vietnam tour and who signed a letter stating that he was "unfit to serve as commander-in-chief". He should talk about it, but he won't.......
It's not the Stockholm syndrome. He was a boat commander that gave them medals they did not deserve. He also would pull his boat up and not actually go on the mission. Reference the one black gunner he had for a while. "He was more interested in saving his lily white ass"...
And yes, I served on gunboats, and know guys like Kerry.
Right, they're at it again--fantasizing that President Bush didn't really serve his entire term in the National Guard, and he only joined that to avoid Viet Nam. Not a word of truth in their claims but they keep repeating them until the voting idjuts start to believe. It's despicable.
What are the stats on someone being able to gather 3 Purple Heart Medals in 4 months of service? My guess is he might be the only one that served in Vietnam to get 3 in just 4 months, and that in itself is suspect.
The question, Mr. Conason, is how low did and does Kerry go when it comes to his split anti-war/war hero persona.
So, several of the guys didn't want to talk to the detective? But obviously several did or you would've gleefully reported that not one would. Obfuscation isn't one of your talents, is it, Mr. Con?
I was there for 14 months.
I never saw or heard of his heroic pillaging.
Does he know he was there?
Does he know where he is today?
Hey Kerry, U numba 10 GI.
Amen to that! All candidates should be honest and open, and speak freely about their pasts. No lies and evasions, Sir, no lies and evasions.
bttt
"What are the stats on someone being able to gather 3 Purple Heart Medals in 4 months of service? My guess is he might be the only one that served in Vietnam to get 3 in just 4 months, and that in itself is suspect."
If anyone has this type of stat or knows where to find it, I would also be interested in that piece of information.
Ping to Post #15; thought you might be a good person to ask the question under discussion there.
"Right, they're at it again--fantasizing that President Bush didn't really serve his entire term in the National Guard, and he only joined that to avoid Viet Nam. Not a word of truth in their claims but they keep repeating them until the voting idjuts start to believe. It's despicable."
Circulate this info on the internet to counter the lies.
(No commercial ads host)
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
(1-2 commercial ads host)
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com/
I was there the same time Hanoi Kerry was.
I was there Oct'68-Apr'69 as a GMG 3
I served on the destroyer USS Corry DD-817
which supplied PCF's and PBR's
and gave gunfire support in North AND South Viet Nam.
My ship may have even supplied Hanoi Kerry's boat.
I VOW to the 58,229 + names on The Wall who never came home
"I will do everything I LEGALLY can
to keep this traitor from being elected."
Hanoi Kerry MUST NOT win on Nov 2 2004
"It is a fact that in the entire Vietnam War we did not lose one major battle.
We lost the war at home and at home John Kerry was the field general"
- Bob Elder, Swift Boat Veteran For Truth
"I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces,"
said retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, chairman of the organization.
"This is not a political issue. It is a matter of honesty."
Please distribute this url link far and wide.
Especially to military and vet groups.
Hanoi Kerry must be exposed for the traitor he is.
It will be updated on a regular basis.
It also contains links for voter registration
for the military AND civilians.
(No commercial ads host)
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
(1-2 commercial ads host)
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com/
"If anyone has this type of stat or knows where to find it, I would also be interested in that piece of information."
I have no information.
However it is possible that many could get 3 Purple Hearts
in a short period of time.
The BIG question is how many ASK to leave a combat area once they get 3.
Thank You for spreading the word!
Thank You for your service to our country.
"The BIG question is how many ASK to leave a combat area once they get 3."
Good point. Thanks for the reply. I'm not finding much online either--there are some stats on the Congressional Medal of Honor but I'm not seeing much else.
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