Posted on 08/20/2004 4:24:04 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
PORTLAND, Ore. - A Clackamas County prosecutor is taking part in the case against John Kerry. Alfred French, 58, a senior deputy district attorney, appears in an ad that attacks the Democratic presidential contender's war record.
The ad features 13 Vietnam veterans who say Kerry has lied about his war record. The 60-second spot aired for seven days this month in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
In the ad, French says: "I served with John Kerry. . . . He is lying about his record."
Kerry received a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts commanding a Swift boat in Vietnam. French, in an interview with The Oregonian this week, said Kerry lied about the circumstances that led to one of his Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.
French said he is relying on the accounts of three other veterans.
"I was not a witness to these events but my friends were," said French, who was awarded two Bronze Stars during the war. "I believe these people. These are people I served with."
One of the men is Larry Thurlow, a leader of the veterans group and one of Kerry's most vocal critics. Thurlow, who served alongside Kerry, has disputed Kerry's claim that the senator's boat was under fire in March 1969 when he pulled Lt. Jim Rassmann out of the water.
But according to Thurlow's military records, obtained this week by The Washington Post, the five-boat flotilla was under enemy fire that day.
French, relying on friends' accounts, said Rassmann would have been picked up by another boat if Kerry had not helped. And French said any shots that were fired came from U.S. soldiers providing cover as Rassmann and two others were rescued.
"It's not like he wouldn't have been saved if Kerry had not been there," French said. "I don't believe they were under any fire when that happened. None of the other boats were damaged."
Rassmann, who lives in Florence and is campaigning for Kerry, said the ad is motivated in part by some veterans' anger over Kerry's anti-war stance upon returning home - a charge French acknowledges.
Rassmann said the group's claims are false. "To come back 35 years later and conjure up fabricated stories is the lowest form of politics," Rassmann said.
"I honor these guys for their service," Rassmann said. "I know they were very courageous, along with John Kerry, and it saddens me that they are all at one another's throats."
French, a registered Republican, said he and Kerry served together in the same unit in January and February 1969, but he did not know him well.
French has spent most of his career in the Clackamas County district attorney's office. He is one of the prosecutors assigned to the double-murder case against accused child killer Ward Weaver.
So the MSM goes after Thurlow's records, but not Kerry's?
This crap is going to backfire...
This is a battleground state.
Rush was addressing this. Kerry wrote Thurlow's military record of the incident.
I'm guessing Kerry figured if he threw a few medals to everybody, they wouldn't mind him grabbing a few for themselves.
Here's the story from how I understand it..
A mine hit a boat (not Kerry's).. Kerry panicked, thought they were under attack and turned the boat around and fled for the mountains.. in his abruptness and haste, Rassman fell off the boat.
Another boat went after Rassman to pull him out, Kerry turned around and got him before the other boat could reach, knowing there would be questions directed towards Kerry on how the hell Rassman fell out and why he didn't pick him up (if the other boat got to him first).
This is criminal.
Rassman, having just gotten knocked into the water, was in no position/condition to observe what was going on around him -- he may have panicked or become disoriented.
"an ad that attacks the Democratic presidential contender's war record."
In fact the ad "disputes" Kerry's war record. I am as tired of the use of the word "attack" as I am of the phrase the "holy city of Najaf." Both are inaccurate. I guess what the Kerry campaign wants the Bush campaign to say is "John Kerry is a fine fellow and you really ought to vote for him for president." Anything short of that is an "attack."
To live your life on fabricated stories from 4 months 35 years ago is pathetic.
READ THIS TO THE END.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1195315/posts
Swift boat crew member glad to see nominee (Kerry) fighting back
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | August 20, 2004 | SHAMUS TOOMEY
Posted on 08/20/2004 5:35:56 AM EDT by Cincinatus' Wife
John Kerry was "way too much of a gentleman" when he let attacks on his Vietnam War record go unanswered, a former swift boat mate said Thursday while
praising Kerry's decision to fight back.
"I talked to him on Monday. It's eating him up," said Jim Wasser, now an electrician in Kankakee. "He said, 'This is hurting me. It's tearing me up.'
"I know the real John Kerry. And John Kerry is proud of what's he's done," Wasser said. "He waited too long. I'm glad he finally came out. I'm proud of him."
Wasser, an unpaid Kerry campaign worker who spent six weeks on the rivers and canals of Vietnam with the presidential hopeful in the late 1960s, was among the
local Vietnam veterans who have anxiously awaited Kerry's response to ads run by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The ads claim Kerry exaggerated his
combat record to win medals.
Wasser said that from what he witnessed, Kerry's wartime record is legitimate. Soldiers speaking out against Kerry were on separate swift boats and not close
enough to know what they're talking about, Wasser said.
Kimo Williams, a Vietnam vet and executive director of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, said he's been waiting for Kerry to fight back but
that exaggeration was part of the culture in Vietnam. "You'll hear this from any veteran who is upfront about it: When we were there, we were always trying to find
ways to take advantage of our situation," he said. "So when I look at John Kerry and the situation he was in, it's easy for me to say, 'OK, he may have done that.'
But I don't see anything wrong if Kerry not so much falsified it but exaggerated it to make sure he got his Purple Heart."
Other local veterans are far more skeptical and say they will never forgive Kerry for joining the anti-war movement when he got back to the United States.
"I'm a Democrat, but without a doubt, I'm voting for Bush," said Thomas Maher, a Vietnam vet from Mount Greenwood who has never voted Republican in a
presidential race. "If everything he did in Vietnam was totally correct, God bless him. . . . But you don't speak out against your own country."
Dennis Rombola, a Streamwood bus driver who was a gunner on Army helicopters in Vietnam, said he just doesn't believe Kerry.
"I got hit by some shrapnel and never took a Purple Heart," Rombola said. "To me, I think Kerry's a phony."
Contributing: AP
CK post #10 - It was O.K. to exaggerate! - that's the latest.
Read Post #10.
"It was O.K. to exaggerate!"
Well, it was just about, ummm, medals, after all. And of course everybody does it, don't they?
A good old LIBERAL fall back position.
Much depends upon your definition of the word "holy". In actual fact, if you are willing to grant some minor latitude in the spelling of the word, some of the structures in that city are quite holey now.
As a sidebar, he looks like a very poor legal mind to have not foreseen a demand to see his records. Who knows, maybe he has a 'nuance' up his sleeve?
LOL, I am more than willing to grant some latitude in the spelling of "holey".
It doesn't matter what the ad really does, it's all about the way the MSM portray's it! You all know that the press is not going to go investigate dem funded lies!
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