Of course, this only concerns one allegation. When they do bother to cover this stuff, the media has a habit of conflating everything the Swifties say instead of taking their charges one by one.
How can they Thurlow's records and not be able to get Kerry's?
I thought Kerry's own after-action report did not mention enemy fire?
More proof of the media bias. Its a chink in the armor, but not fatal to the point of the UFC book in my opinion.
From the article:
Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire," he said. He speculated that Kerry could have been the source of at least some of the language used in the citation.
Read article at Yahoo, no registration:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20040819/pl_washpost/a13267_2004aug18
It shows the hypocrisy of the media, they are going after the records of others, instead of demanding that Kerry release his records.
"Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act"
Why doesn't the FOIA apply to Kerry's records?
This is actually very minor, the WP is just blowing it totally out of proportion and obfuscating the events.
Kerry suggests that the word of Vietnam Vet is, by that fact alone, is something special.OK, I'll accept that, to some degree. But doesn't that make all Vietnam veterans and their claims of equal dignity? I would think so.
"It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case," Thurlow said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation. "My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting."
Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire," he said. He speculated that Kerry could have been the source of at least some of the language used in the citation.
Oh, and I question the timing of this.
Paragraph after paragraph from the Wash ComPost in the effort to denigrate Thurlow but nary an objective comment about sKerry nor mention of the many other Swifties and their allegations.
The attack on the messengers continue while the bad guy gets to keep riding on his horse.
Prairie
Worst case, for the record, let's throw out that one allegation against Kerry.
How are they going to disprove the other several dozen?
The record is of Thurlow's Silver Star citation. Unlike Kerry, Thurlow did not author his own document. He still contends that the reference to small arms fire originated from Kerry.
I thought the Swifties were mainly disputing the first Purple Heart, from Dec. 2, 1968, which Kerry got for supposedly getting a shard of his own M-79 casing in his arm.
Until I read the fricking Unfit for Command book, I will continue to be confused.
WHERE can I buy a book? The local stores don't have it, and I'm not sure how long it will take Amazon to ship via mail.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the first story the Post has done about this whole affair? Speaks rather ill of them, it seems to me...
The media just confirmed that these guys served with Kerry. Shot down one of the Kerry campaign's objections, and they didn't even realize it!!!
In a telephone interview Tuesday evening after he attended a Swift Boat Veterans strategy session in an Arlington hotel, Thurlow said he lost his Bronze Star citation more than 20 years ago. He said he was unwilling to authorize release of his military records because he feared attempts by the Kerry campaign to discredit him and other anti-Kerry veterans.
The Post filed an independent request for the documents with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which is the central repository for veterans' records. The documents were faxed to The Post by officials at the records center yesterday.
Thurlow and other anti-Kerry veterans have repeatedly alleged that Kerry was the author of an after-action report that described how his boat came under enemy fire. Kerry campaign researchers dispute that assertion, and there is no convincing documentary evidence to settle the argument. As the senior skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow might have been expected to write the after-action report for March 13, but he said that Kerry routinely "duked the system" to present his version of events.
For much of the episode, Kerry was not in a position to know firsthand what was happening on Thurlow's boat, as Kerry's boat had sped down the river after the mine exploded under another boat. He later returned to provide assistance to the stricken boat.
Ok, if they can get this guys records without his permission, why can't they get Kerry's? And I wouldn't be too surprised if Kerry was involved in getting the 'under small arms fire' added to the report.
Further proof of the media bias is the great silence about Kerry's own diary stating that he had yet to have faced hostile fire written after his first supposed Purple Heart.
The confusion was when the PCF3 hit the mine, SOP called for the other boats to open fire to the banks - which they did... there was no enemy return fire. It probably sounded like they were under attack. John Kerry, meanwhile, was running away.
Thurlow admitted the fraud - will JFK? What will be the Kerry campaign response to this? I can't wait!