Posted on 08/10/2004 5:02:27 PM PDT by Jenya
To speak out against the Swiftboat Vets. This ought to be a Barf-O-Rama.
When you email O'Reilly, A couple of suggestions. As to Kerry being "mistaken" about being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve: There was a context when he described this "adventure". First, that the president (later misrepresented to be Nixon) was telling the American people there were no troops in Cambodia. Second, that he was being shot at by Cambodians and Khmer Rouge as well as Vietnamese. This context adds substance to his statement of merely being in Cambodia and puts into question that he merely was "mistaken".
More importantly, Kerry gave an interview to the Washington Post in which he mentions being in Cambodia on a special mission with the CIA. The following points about this interview are important: (1) it appeared in the Washington Post on June 6, 2003; (2) it directly quotes Kerry as being in Cambodia on "a special mission" for the CIA; (3) Kerry showed the reporter a green camouflage hat (which he put on) that he said was "Given to me by a CIA guy as we went in for a special mission in Cambodia"; the use of a prop (the hat) with descriptive words by Kerry takes his assertion out of the realm of the "mistaken" and puts it into the category of a direct lie.
I served under Lehman. I wonder will he cop to that account?
direct challenge and risky to involve Lehman
My dad (USN subrescue diver in the early 50s) left the Democrat party in 1998 after forty years when, while watching the Clinton videotaped testimony, he told me to 'go get me that goddamned form.'
RELEASE THE JOURNAL! SIGN THE 180!
Lehman is going to deny it.
That doesn't make it false.
thank God, someone has finally said what's needed to be said: release the damn records.
I just heard John O'Neill say Rassman spent two days on Kerry's boat. So, my point is still valid: How does someone who spends less than 48 hours with Kerry become an authority on his qualifications to be Commander in Chief, and the guys who were with him day and night, aren't?
it does carry the story forward, but risky when another denial and cover for Kerry is provided
I agree Lehman is likely to duck this and has great clout as Secretary of the Navy. I doubt they'd level the charge without proof though.
In Assman's editorial in the Wall St Journal (today or yesterday), he claims they were under fire.
Man.
I can sure see why the Lefties are panicky and the media is running their cover.
O'Neil is really really good. He will do well under any grilling.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
at least Kerry is going to come out of this having trouble fitting into his fatigue jacket....like Matt said....he is the real life Manchurian Candidate.
I like the fact that O'Neill makes no money from this. All profit goes to military relief.
Lets compare that to Moore and Moveon.orgs motivations.
Rassman is a paid consultant for Kerry.....nobody likes to mention that.
"I just heard John O'Neill say Rassman spent two days on Kerry's boat. So, my point is still valid: How does someone who spends less than 48 hours with Kerry become an authority on his qualifications to be Commander in Chief, and the guys who were with him day and night, aren't?"
Yes it is. So why is everyone so quiet about Rassmann and his story?
I have been sending this around for months to the media, Congress, SBVFT, etc. There is more to the Lehman connection, which needs investigation.
Did he or didn't he? After reviewing Kerry's service records, as released by him, I find it hard to believe the media have not picked up on the John Lehman connection. It should set off all kinds of alarm bells, especially considering the recent flap over whether he threw his medals away or not.
A very curious question arises over Kerry's multiple Silver (3) and Bronze (2) star citations. Two of the five were signed by John Lehman who was Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration 5 Feb 1981 - 10 Apr 1987. There are three Silver Star citations supplied by Kerry. One was signed by ADM Zumwalt, one by ADM Hyland, and one by Secretary Lehman. The Bronze Star citations were signed by Zumwalt and Lehman. Specifically,
Zumwalt: ADM Zumwalt served as Commander, US Naval Forces Vietnam from Sep 1968-May 1970. The Silver Star citation is more than likely the original citation taken from the award submission. Normally, as part of the nomination form, the nominator must provide a synopsis of the award (citation) that can fit on a single page suitable for framing with the certificate. Zumwalt's citation covered two pages. I suspect that Zumwalt forwarded the award to CINCPAC, ADM Hyland, for the final signature, including the citation. It is worth noting that the requirement to go to CINCPAC applied only to the Silver Star, hence only the Zumwalt and Lehman citations for the Bronze Star, i.e., Zumwalt as the final approving authority and Lehman for the replacement/reissue.
Hyland: CINCPAC probably edited the Zumwalt Silver Star citation to make it fit on to one page and to clean it up a bit to fit the existing format. ADM Hyland was CINCPAC 30 Nov 1967 - 05 Dec 1970
Lehman: Except for the last sentence, the Silver Star citation is the same as Hyland's. What makes this curious is that Secretary Lehman signed the citation at least over 12 and up to 18 years after the events occurred. Kerry served in Vietnam from November 1968 to April 1969. I doubt, in any event, that the final approval authority for Silver Stars had to go to SECNAV for approval. We also have photographic evidence that Kerry had the Silver Star medal pinned on in 1969. Kerry also acknowledges that he received them. My take is that Kerry requested replacement medals and due to the fact that Kerry was no longer an active duty service member, administrative requirements mandated that SECNAV's office had to approve the issue of the replacements once it was verified from official records that Kerry had actually earned them.
The bottom line is that Kerry probably did throw away his medals and then requested replacements in the 1980s. Someone needs to raise this issue with Kerry, i.e., why did Secretary Lehman sign duplicate Bronze and Silver Star citations at least 12 years after you left Vietnam? Kerry needs to release all of his military records including the nomination forms, which will give us the chronology and the approval chain of command.
Kerry's reaction on Good Morning America fits his MO. He wants it both ways. When he discovered that throwing away your medals was politically a negative, he came up with the story about his ribbons and someone else's medals. Kerry realized that he couldn't walk away from the story entirely, especially since he has the medals displayed prominently in his office. However, the fly in the ointment is that we now have the citations, released by him, signed by Lehman. If he indeed requested replacement medals, he has a real problem, i.e., he was telling the truth initially, lied in the 80s, and is lying now.
I recognize that confronting Kerry on his military service is fraught with problems politically, but I believe there are plenty of inconsistencies that need to be made public. His antiwar activities and associations (Fonda, Ramsey Clark, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, et. al) also need to be exposed fully. The fact that Kerry was a member of the inactive Naval Reserves (1970-2) subject to involuntary recall and could meet with the Communist Vietnamese in Paris (per his sworn Congressional testimony) while our forces were engaged in hostilities is disgraceful. In fact it has recently been learned that Kerry met twice with the Communists in Paris.
Kerry is frozen in a time warp when it comes to his service in Vietnam. His preoccupation with his medals borders on being an obsession. If you check Kerry's released military records, you will notice that Kerry amended his DD214 with a DD215. Among other things, Kerry burnishes his Vietnam Service medal by adding four bronze service stars to reflect various campaigns. This was done in March 2001!!! Why anyone would go through that effort to make some meaningless changes is beyond me. Hundreds of thousands of veterans, including myself, could do it, but beyond self-gratification and ego, what is the point?
Does anybody have a good e-mail on Roger Ailes....the ones I've sent have been returned.
I thought it was as a result of Kerry taking off in his boat and Rassman falling off. But I'm wondering if Kerry's boat was involved in hitting the mine in the river, and then Rassman fell off as a result of the mine. Does anybody know for sure?
John O'Neill said tonight that Rassman was on Kerry's boat for two days.
I was white hot and Bill Bennett knew it!
Bennet did say that it was a political issue because John Kerry chose to make it one, by making it the center piece of his presidential campaign. I told him that we aren't gonna back off regardless of what the Bush campaign, or anyone else may say.
I had a couple guys call me right after and they were ALL SMILES! They said 'Hey man, you lit the radio on FIRE! Any vet who heard that is ready to go stomp a hole in Kerry right now!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.