Kerry ''Defends'' Vietnam War Record

Commentary on the News Thursday, August 19, 2004 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

John Kerry 'came out swinging' as the media terms it, in 'defense' (another media choice) of his Vietnam War record. Except that Kerry didn't address any of the charges leveled against him.

Instead, Kerry announced that the SWIFT Boat Veterans had received 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' from a Republican donor in Texas, and that the Swiftees were bought-and-paid-for liars who were doing the White House's 'dirty work'.

Of course, if that were true, then Kerry wouldn't be saying it to an audience, he'd be telling it to the Federal Elections Commission. Because if the White House is connected to the ad in any way, it is a violation of campaign reform laws.

The fact Kerry is making the charges publicly instead of to the FEC is a testimony to the fact Kerry KNOWS what he is saying isn't true, but nobody can prove it's not true, anymore than he can prove it is true. To Kerry, lying is only lying if somebody can prove you are lying.

And just in case you get caught, the best 'defense' is to attack your accusers and hope everybody will forget the substance of the accusation.

Kerry made much of the Swift Boat's funding coming from Republican contributors in Texas.

"They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know: he wants them to do his dirty work," Kerry told a convention of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Kerry's thundering revelation is more than a bit disingenuous. Of course the Swiftees could expect funding to come from Republican donors. Where else? The Democrats?

Besides, how does George Bush know whether the charges are true or not? As Kerry points out at every available opportunity, Bush wasn't there. But the Swiftees, unfortunately for the Senator, were.

In any case, if the Swiftees got hundreds of thousands from Republican donors, Moveon.org is funded to the tune of millions from the shadowy billionaire Democrat George Soros. So are a number of other anti-Bush advocacy groups.

Soros' first bet, in spring of last year, was to commit $3 million over three years to an anti-Bush policy shop headed by ex-Clintonite John Podesta.

He followed up with a $10 million grant to launch America Coming Together, a get-out-the-vote effort to help the Democratic presidential campaign.

Next he promised $2.5 million to MoveOn.org, which entertains TV viewers in swing states with anti-Bush commercials, like the one showing Bush morphing into Adolf Hitler.

Before Soros came along, there were plenty of people who hated George Bush. But there was nobody willing to back their hatred with that much cash. Enter George Soros.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said the president did not support the Swift Boat ads. "John Kerry knows his statements are false. John Kerry knows the president said his service in Vietnam was noble," said Schmidt.

In today's 'rebuttal' of the Swift veterans charges, John Kerry re-issued a challenge to President Bush. ""Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: 'Bring it on!"'

If Kerry really wanted to debate about his service in Vietnam, then why not sit down with Admiral Hoffman, or John O'Neill? But Kerry has refused every debate offer O'Neill has made since their first one on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971.

But Kerry challenged George Bush to debate about Vietnam, instead. Why is that, Senator? Is it because they were there, living in the same hooches, patrolling the same rivers, participating in the same actions? Bush wasn't there -- what could he possibly bring to a debate about Vietnam thirty years ago? (As I recall, it was you who brought the subject up)

But you refuse to debate the Swift Boat veterans who were actually there, instead accusing them of all being liars.

Why should we take your word and that of a handful of men travelling with your campaign over every single living officer in your chain of command?

You have openly accused virtually all the men you served with in Vietnam as disloyal liars. But you've given no credible reason for why so many of them would lie so despicably, just to ruin your career.

What did you do, Senator, to make that many of your comrades in arms hate you so much they would all abandon their personal honor just to lie about you?

For Immediate Release August 19, 2004

Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Member Larry Thurlow

I am convinced that the language used in my citation for a Bronze Star was language taken directly from John Kerry's report which
falsely described the action on the Bay Hap River as action that saw small arms fire and automatic weapons fire from both banks of the
river.

To this day, I can say without a doubt in my mind, along with other accounts from my shipmates-there was no hostile enemy fire
directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day.

I submitted no paperwork for a medal nor did I file an after action report describing the incident. To my knowledge, John Kerry was the
only officer who filed a report describing his version of the incidents that occurred on the river that day.

It was not until I had left the Navy-approximately three months after I left the service-that I was notified that I was to receive a citation
for my actions on that day.

I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for my efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number
three and to conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking. My boat and several other swift boats went to the aid of our
fellow swift boat sailors whose craft was adrift and taking on water. We provided immediate rescue and damage control to prevent
boat three from sinking and to offer immediate protection and comfort to the injured crew.

After the mine exploded, leaving swift boat three dead in the water, John Kerry's boat, which was on the opposite side of the river,
fled the scene. US Army Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who was on Kerry's boat at the time, fell off the boat and into the water.
Kerry's boat returned several minutes later-under no hail of enemy gunfire-to retrieve Rassmann from the river only seconds before
another boat was going to pick him up.

Kerry campaign spokespersons have conflicting accounts of this incident-the latest one being that Kerry's boat did leave but only
briefly and returned under withering enemy fire to rescue Mr. Rassmann. However, none of the other boats on the river that day
reported enemy fire nor was anyone wounded by small arms action. The only damage on that day was done to boat three-a result of
the underwater mine. None of the other swift boats received damage from enemy gunfire.

And in a new development, Kerry campaign officials are now finally acknowledging that while Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the
other boats on the river ever left the damaged swift boat. This is a direct contradiction to previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in
the Oregonian newspaper and a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left Behind" theme during the Democratic National Convention.

These ever changing accounts of the Bay Hap River incident by Kerry campaign officials leave me asking one question. If no one ever
left the scene of the Bay Hap River incident, how could anyone be left behind?

Statement by Navy Veteran Van Odell, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

in Rebuttal to Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, August 19, 2004

A courageous, soft spoken man of the Midwest, Larry Thurlow has a heart bigger than the great plains and a
commitment to truth and honesty that is boundless. He is under attack, because John Kerry is feeling the heat of truth
at the hands of this honest man and others like him.

The Kerry Campaign is attacking the truthfulness of this man and the Bronze Star he so richly deserves for his actions
on March 13, 1969. I was there. I saw what happened.

The mine's detonation lifted PCF-3 completely out of the water just yards ahead of me. All boats commenced
suppression fire in case enemy small arms fire ensued. None did.

All boats came to the aid of PCF-3, except one: John Kerry's boat. Kerry fled.

Larry Thurlow piloted his boat straight toward the mine-damaged PCF-3 from which thick, black smoke billowed. He
jumped aboard and personally led damage control operations that saved the boat and rescue operations that saved
the lives of badly wounded men. Larry's leadership was in the highest traditions of the naval service. His leadership
allowed the other men and boats of the mission to exit the river safely. This single act of meritorious service -- the
chief requirement of the Bronze Star -- should be honored, not ridiculed, by the Kerry campaign and its allies in the
mainstream media.

To reiterate, only one enemy weapon was deployed that day -- the command-detonated submerged mine that disabled
PCF-3. Larry Thurlow's citation contained references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire," because that
was the language chosen by John Kerry who penned the spot report on the action that day. There was no "enemy
small arms and automatic weapons fire" received that day. John Kerry's report was fiction -- a hoax on the entire chain
of command. Larry Thurlow's heroism and meritorious service, however, is real.

To me Larry is one of the heroes of our country. He is a man who served his country when called and who returned
home to be a productive citizen. Larry and men like him are the strong backbone of our society. I am proud to have
served with him.

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