Lewes man (George Elliot) renews salvos: Blasts Kerry's service, medals in radio interview

DOWNSTATE - Lewes resident George Elliot, a retired U.S. Navy captain, has landed in the thick of a debate over Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's military record.

Massachusetts Sen. Kerry and 14 other lieutenants served under Mr. Elliot in Vietnam during 1969, leading swift boat patrols on the Mekong River.

Mr. Elliot and Greenville resident Robert G. Elder are among several Vietnam veterans appearing in a recently released television commercial accuses Sen. Kerry of lying about his war record, which includes a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

"John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam," Mr. Elliot says in the ad, airing in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, states where Sen. Kerry and President Bush are campaigning heavily.

The Kerry campaign panned the ad as an "outrageous lie" in a statement e-mailed to reporters last week. The statement included a point-by-point rebuttal of the ad, which is being paid for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry group that questions the candidate's military credentials. At least one Republican lawmaker has called on President Bush to ask the ad be taken down.

The campaign's response repeatedly emphasized none of the veterans in the controversial commercial served in a boat that Sen. Kerry commanded. The response also included statements from the Navy and Mr. Elliot praising Sen. Kerry's service.

During an interview Monday afternoon on Lewes radio station WGMD-FM 92.7, Mr. Elliot said he was misquoted in a Boston Globe story last week, which reported he backed off statements in the commercial. He added he has sworn out two affidavits backing up his criticisms.

Instead, Mr. Elliot said, he has more information now than in 1969 when he recommended then-Lt. Kerry for the awards. For example, Mr. Elliot said, Sen. Kerry was awarded the Silver Star for pursuing and shooting an armed Viet Cong soldier. Recently, Mr. Elliot said, other soldiers who saw the incident say Sen. Kerry shot the Viet Cong in the back as he was fleeing.

"Had I known the facts, I would never have recommended Kerry for the Silver Star for simply pursuing and dispatching a single, wounded, fleeing Viet Cong," Mr. Elliot said in an August affidavit.

Susan C. Swan, the director of the Kerry campaign's Sussex County operations, said the ad lacks input from veterans who served under Sen. Kerry and witnessed his service. About a dozen veterans spoke in support of Sen. Kerry during last month's Democratic National Convention.

"The people on his boat feel Sen. Kerry served very courageously," Mrs. Swan said on WGMD.

"I was in grade school when these events happened in 1969, and I probably know as much about what happened as Mr. Elliot because neither of us was there to actually witness the events."

Sen. Kerry has emphasized his Vietnam service during the campaign, offering a contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas and Alabama National Guards and did not see combat. As the campaign continues to focus on national security and homeland defense, Sen. Kerry uses his military background to try to convince voters he can keep the country safe.

Republican groups have not backed away from challenging Sen. Kerry's service and his role as a leading anti-war protester when he returned from Vietnam/

Mr. Elliot said Sen. Kerry's testimony to Congress about alleged atrocities committed by U.S. troops sullied the good names of service personnel.

Mr. Elliott said American prisoners of war held hostage for several years in the infamous prison dubbed the Hanoi Hilton told him their Vietnamese captors used pictures of Sen. Kerry and transcripts of his antiwar testimony in attempts to break their spirits.

"He lied about the men and women who served honorably in Vietnam," Mr. Elliot said.

"He painted a broad brush of war criminality. He said war crimes were rampant throughout Vietnam and condoned by the chain of command.

"It is an out-and-out lie. He has failed to apologize to the hundreds of thousands of veterans who served honorably in Vietnam."

Though the military handed out thousands of Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War, Mr. Elliot said at least one of Sen. Kerry's awards for being injured in combat came for a concussion that may have been self-inflicted.

"If you read the Department of Defense's criteria for them, you do not have to have a leg shot off to get a purple heart," Mr. Elliot said.

"In the case of Lt. Kerry, we have pretty well documented that he more or less lobbied for Purple Hearts for wounds that other men just put Band-Aids on and went back out there."

Republican Sen. John McCain, who was held for several years in the Hanoi Hilton, described the ad as "dishonest and dishonorable." Sen. McCain likened the swift boat veterans' ad to the negative tactics used against him during the 2000 presidential campaign, when he was competing with President Bush.

"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," Sen. McCain told the Associated Press.

Sen. McCain called on the president to denounce the ad and call for its removal, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan stopped short of a rebuke last week during a press briefing.

"We have been very clear in stating that, you know, we will not - and we have not and we will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam," he said.

KERRY CAMPAIGN IN SUSSEX COUNTY IS LEAD BY WOMAN WHO DISREPECTS VETERANS!

I am writing in response to this and another article that appeared in the Delaware Capital Review on August 16, 2004 about Capt. George Elliott of Lewes, Delaware and the Swift Boat Veterans behind the recent book and associated commercials marketing "Unfit for Command."

I urge all to read the comments in this article by SUSAN C. SWAN, director of the Kerry campaign here in Sussex County in regard to Capt. Elliot, who incidentally was John Kerry's commander for a time and served honorably in Viet Nam.

This woman actually had the audacity to say that "I was in grade school in 1969, and I probably know as much about what happened as Mr. Elliott because neither of us was there to actually witness the events."

She also shows her lack of respect for Captain Elliot's service by constantly referring to him as "Mr. Elliot." The man served a full career in the military and retired honorably with the Naval rank of Captain and should be referred to as such. His title is not Mr. Elliot or Dr. Elliot but CAPTAIN ELLIOT!!! My hunch is that not affording Captain Elliot the respect he deserves is more a display of arrogance rather than ignorance on her part. Whatever the case, she is a poor reflection on Sussex County democrats and a poor choice to lead Kerry's campaign in Sussex County.

I knew the liberal left typically conveys a condescending, snotty attitude with regard to vets in general but this quote takes the cake. Here's a person, who never served a single day in the armed forces, comparing her knowledge and experience of the war in Viet Nam as a young girl in grade school to that of a distinguished Viet Nam vet who did indeed have first hand knowledge of Kerry's exploits - both through first hand observations of Kerry as his commander and first hand accounts told to him in debriefings by crew members aboard Kerry's vessel and fellow Swift Captians working in tandem with Kerry's vessel. How dare she compare her knowledge of what happened in Viet Nam to that of Captain Elliott's.

Ms. Swan, have you no shame?

You owe every person who ever served in Viet Nam an apology for your arrogant and condescending remarks that you know as much about what happened over there as those who served. I doubt that even your liberal collegues here in Sussex County would defend this most audacious of statements.

You are not fit to be a county leader of a national campaign. Your arrogance and disdain for our veterans (all except John Kerry apparently) cannot veil the truth about your candidate that is steadily emerging.

I thank God that we don't have arrogant panzies like you defending our nation and am thankful for Captian Elliot's service to his nation and for coming forward with the truth.

Susan Swan is a joke!

Since she is in a leadership role in our county, the duties of which are to have Kerry win the upcoming presidential election, one should take a look at her, the head of Kerry's campaign in our own back yard, to see what today's democrats are all about. As Kerry's spokesperson here in Sussex County, her comments and views are supposed to reflect those of her candidate. If this is what is representative of the current state of democratic party politics and John Kerry, then Delawarians need to say NO to John Kerry in November, NO to Susan Swan and NO to others like them who rather than address the issues on the merits, sleazily attack the messengers of truth who served honorably and have every right to speak their minds based on their first hand experience and knowledge about Kerry and the Viet Nam war.

Should anyone else find SUSAN SWAN'S remarks toward our veterans and Captain Elliot in particular as insensitive, arrogant and condescending as I did, please contact her and let her know just how you feel. She can be reached by phone at 302-644-7414 or by email at sussexcountyforkerry@earthlink.net or write her at Susan Swan, #15 The Plantations, Lewes, DE 19958.

It's time to call these sleazebags on the issues and the facts that they never address - the days of Kerry's smoke and mirrors campaign that rely on attacking a good man like Captain Elliot and others like him rather than face up to the truth are at an end. If Kerry and his minions like Swan had nothing to hide, they would attack the issues instead of attacking our honorably discharged and retired veterans.

Shame on you Susan Swan. You are an embarrasment to Sussex County.

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