Posted on 08/05/2004 7:39:18 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Slaughters Animals, Burns Down Tiny Village
**Exclusive**
A veterans group seeking to deeply discredit Democrat John Kerry's military service will charge in the new bombshell book UNFIT FOR COMMAND: "Kerry earned his Silver Star by killing a lone, fleeing, teenage Viet Cong in a loincloth."
"And if Kerry's superiors had known the truth at the time, they would never have recommended him for the medal."
The book also claims to detail how Kerry personally ordered the slaughter of small animals at a small hamlet along the Song Bo De River.
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The book, set for release next week, hit #1 on the AMAZON hitparade after the DRUDGE REPORT revealed details of the book -- a book the Kerry camapign believes is the"the dirtiest of all dirty tricks ever played on a candidate for the presidency."
The Kerry campaign is planning to vigorously counter the charges and will accuse the veteran's groups of being well-financed by a top Bush donor from Texas.
The vets have launched a blistering new TV commercial questioning Kerry's honor and calling him a liar.
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George Bates, an officer in Coastal Division 11, participated in numerous operations with Kerry. In UNFIT FOR COMMAND, Bates recalls a particular patrol with Kerry on the Song Bo De River. He is still "haunted" by the incident:
With Kerry in the lead, the boats approached a small hamlet with three or four grass huts. Pigs and chickens were milling around peacefully. As the boats drew closer, the villagers fled. There were no political symbols or flags in evidence in the tiny village. It was obvious to Bates that existing policies, decency, and good sense required the boats to simply move on.
Instead, Kerry beached his boat directly in the small settlement. Upon his command, the numerous small animals were slaughtered by heavy-caliber machine guns. Acting more like a pirate than a naval officer, Kerry disembarked and ran around with a Zippo lighter, burning up the entire hamlet.
Bates has never forgotten Kerry's actions.
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UNFIT FOR COMMAND, DRUDGE has learned, claims Kerry "earned his Silver Star by killing a lone, fleeing, teenage Viet Cong in a loincloth."
ARE THE VETS TELLING THE TRUTH?
"They hired a goddamn private investigator to dig up trash!" charged a top Kerry adviser traveling with the senator late Tuesday. "This is pay for play... How low can they go?"
Kerry supporters are comparing the effort by the veterans to the Arkansas State troopers tell-all against Bill Clinton.
MORE
John O'Neill, co-author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, believes that "Kerry's Star would never have been awarded had his actions been reviewed through normal channels. In his case, he was awarded the medal two days after the incident with no review. The medal was arranged to boost the morale of Coastal Division 11, but it was based on false and incomplete information provided by Kerry himself."
According to Kerry's Silver Star citation, Kerry was in command of a three-boat mission on the Dong Cung River. As the boats approached the target area, they came under intense enemy fire. Kerry ordered his boat to attack and all boats opened fire.
He then beached directly in front of the enemy ambushers. In the battle that followed, the crews captured enemy weapons. His boat then moved further up the river to suppress more enemy fire. A rocket exploded near Kerry's boat, and he ordered to charge the enemy. Kerry beached his boat 10 feet from the rocket position and led a landing party ashore to pursue the enemy.
Kerry' citation reads: "The extraordinary daring and personal courage of Lt. Kerry in attacking a numerically superior force in the face of intense fire were responsible for the highly successful mission."
Here's what O'Neill and the Swiftees say: "According to Kerry's crewman Michael Madeiros, Kerry had an agreement with him to turn the boat in and onto the beach if fired upon. Each of the three boats involved in the operation was involved in the agreement." O'Neill writes that one crewman even recalls a discussion of probable medals.
Doug Reese, a pro Kerry Army veteran, recounted what happened that day to O'Neill, "Far from being alone, the boats were loaded with many soldiers commanded by Reese and two other advisors. When fired at, Reese's boat--not Kerry's--was the first to beach in the ambush zone. Then Reese and other troops and advisors (not Kerry) disembarked, killing a number of Viet Cong and capturing a number of weapons. None of the participants from Reese's boat received Silver Stars.
O'Neill continues: "Kerry's boat moved slightly downstream and was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. . . .A young Viet Cong in a loincloth popped out of a hole, clutching a grenade launcher, which may or may not have been loaded. . . Tom Belodeau, a forward gunner, shot the Viet Cong with an M-60 machine gun in the leg as he fled. . . . Kerry and Medeiros (who had many troops in their boat) took off, perhaps with others, and followed the young Viet Cong and shot him in the back, behind a lean to."
O'Neill concludes "Whether Kerry's dispatching of a fleeing, wounded, armed or unarmed teenage enemy was in accordance with the customs of war, it is very clear that many Vietnam veterans and most Swiftees do not consider this action to be the stuff of which medals of any kind are awarded; nor would it even be a good story if told in the cold details of reality. There is no indication that Kerry ever reported that the Viet Cong was wounded and fleeing when dispatched. Likewise, the citation simply ignores the presence of the soldiers and advisors who actually 'captured the enemy weapons' and routed the Viet Cong. . . . [and] that Kerry attacked a 'numerically superior force in the face of intense fire' is simply false. There was little or no fire after Kerry followed the plan. . . . The lone, wounded, fleeing young Viet Cong in a loincloth was hardly a force superior to the heavily armed Swift Boat and its crew and the soldiers carried aboard."
DRUDGE learns from UNFIT FOR COMMAND that if Kerry's superior officers knew the truth, they would never have recommended the award:
"Admiral Roy Hoffmann, who sent a Bravo Zulu (meaning "good work"), to Kerry upon learning of the incident, was very surprised to discover in 2004 what had actually occurred. Hoffmann had been told that Kerry had spontaneously beached next to the bunker and almost single-handedly routed a bunkered force in Viet Cong. He was shocked to find out that Kerry had beached his boat second in a preplanned operation, and that he had killed a single, wounded teenage foe as he fled."
"Commander Geoge Elliott, who wrote up the initial draft of Kerry's Silver Star citation, confirms that neither he, nor anyone else in the Silver Star process that he knows, realized before 1996 that Kerry was facing a single, wounded young Viet Cong fleeing in a loincloth. While Commander Elliott and many other Swiftees believe that Kerry committed no crime in killing the fleeing, wounded enemy (with a loaded or empty launcher), others feel differently. Commander Elliott indicates that a Silver Star recommendation would not have been made by him had he been aware of the actual facts."
Developing....
There's still time for him to quit under fire. It may be Hillary! after all.
I know. I love this part: "They hired a goddamn private investigator to dig up trash." Not, "They are all lying through their teeth!"
This is a completely different story than the thrice-wounded, heroic and decorated war veteran has been giving us for some time now. And apparently all the external facts are the same (ordered to Viet Nam, served on a "swift boat" with the mission of patrolling river waters, engaged in several fire fights in a "free fire" zone, appeared before superior officers, and transferred to a ship far from the war zone).
This whole blowup probably makes John Kerry almost wish he had never introduced the subject. Notice that he considers the four months in Viet Nam to be the HIGH point of his life. And by some magic transformation, it makes John Kerry a sage and knowledgable Presidential candidate, able to turn miraculous feats of statesmanship and stupendous wizardy in the fields of economics and judicial choices.
John Kerry would be a reprise of Jimmy Carter. Without even a comic relief brother like Billy.
However, if history repeats ... it will not touch KetchUp-Kerry.
What history? Compare the Col. Holmes letter regarding klintoon's draft-evasion ... known well before his first Presidential election ... and it had no impact at all.
The establishment media will do the same "bob and weave" here ... their goal is ABB ... "Anybody But Bush."
If Kerry keeps going down, they won't turn to Dean. They'll turn to Edwards.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0895260174/qid=1091718284/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-7525776-7154460?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Here is the book on Amazon, kindly copy and paste if the entire link does not come out.
It was all they had. That, and a boatload of empty promises.
Anybody hear Neal Boortz interviewing the doctor who attended Kerry for his first Purple Heart (the only one on which he is releasing records, btw)?
The doctor said Kerry put in for a Purple Heart where he was stationed, but was turned down by his commanding officer. Two months later, an officer stationed in Saigon authorized a Purple Heart for Kerry.
Interesting that he would have to go to an officer out of his unit to get this approved - furthermore, the officer is now dead, so there's no risk that he could explain exactly how this happened.
John Filthy F'N Screwup Spineless Wimp Married for Money Kerry bump
He needed the Zippo is case he had the chance to burn a village and get a medal.
Given that "the Kerry we know today" is (demonstrably) an arrogant, duplicitous rat b@st@rd, with the morals of an axe murderer and the personal integrity of a lamprey, you mean...?
Ummmmm... yeah.
Easily.
I agree 100% with you. This will hopefully become a grassroots effort by us Vietnam veterans to support the swift boat vets with our donations. My donation went to them this AM. I personally believe this ad is our best chance to "get the truth out" about the liar Kerry. McCain shot his mouth off before he checked for facts.
We just might get a revelation about what a "fried egg" brain is willing to do.....
I have read that old Saddam loved his "pot"!!!!!
Kerry's strategy is to deal with any mention of his record as a "vindictive attack" by the dirty, conniving, lying, indecent Republicans. I think it comes off as whiny and thin-skinned, personally.
Backlash by wishy-washy fencesitters...who cares?
Remember that McCain is first and foremost a politician.
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