Unfit for command

townhall.com ^ | 8/21/04 | Paul Crespo

[kattracks]

To deflect attention from his glory days as an anti-war protester, John Kerry incessantly reminds us that he served in Vietnam. To buttress his war veteran image, the Democrats shamelessly brag about Kerry the "war hero" and cynically deploy, as campaign props, a few select veterans he refers to as his "band of brothers."

The hidden truth is that as soon as he left Vietnam John Forbes Kerry disowned the uniform he wore, publicly discarded his medals and betrayed his fellow American servicemen still serving there. This is why so many military people don't like Kerry. The vast majority who actually served with him in Vietnam consider him an unprincipled opportunist, and have said so publicly.

While Kerry greatly exaggerates his abbreviated four-month Vietnam tour, many Vietnam veterans recall more painfully his later dishonest anti-war activism. During the infamous 1971 "Winter Soldier" investigation and congressional hearings, Kerry maliciously maligned all American servicemen in Vietnam as "war criminals" -- falsely claiming that they regularly committed atrocities.

His group, Vietnam Veterans against the War, produced numerous "veterans" who testified against their fellow soldiers. The problem was that Kerry never witnessed any war crimes during his brief stint in Vietnam (except maybe his own). It was also proven that many of Kerry's Vietnam "veterans" were not veterans at all, and their tales of so-called atrocities were mostly fabrications.

Kerry brazenly lied and his disloyal efforts hurt our troops and POWs, aided the enemy and even made Kerry a "hero" in Communist Vietnam. He has never apologized for helping create the false image of all Vietnam veterans as "baby killers."

To further divert attention from Kerry the "anti-war hero," Democrats early on pre-emptively smeared President Bush's National Guard service as a jet fighter pilot. Some even outrageously accused Bush of being AWOL and a "deserter."

The Kerry camp conveniently ignores that George W. Bush faithfully flew F-102 Delta Dart supersonic jet interceptors for three years in the Texas Guard (after completing eighteen months of full-time active duty flight training), before his civilian job (a Senate race) took him to Alabama for his fifth and final non-flying year.

Despite Democrat claims, flying jet fighters in the Air Guard was in no way "easy" or "safe" duty. Just strapping yourself into the cockpit of one of those single-engine rockets was dangerous business. At least six pilots were killed in the Texas Guard flying the obsolescing F-102 fighters during those years. The aging jets were being phased out of the Guard during Bush's final year.

In the 1970s the Texas Guard, part of the North American Air Defense Command, also regularly scrambled fighters to intercept unknown bogies headed toward the US over the Gulf of Mexico. Then, as now, Homeland Defense was critical since Soviet bombers routinely flew into and out of communist Cuba. Vietnam was only one theater in our global Cold War against Soviet communism. Bush served our country honorably.

Meanwhile, many of those who served with Kerry in Vietnam have pointedly questioned Kerry's brief service there -- including the medals he received. In the new book, "Unfit for Command," fellow Swift boat commander John O'Neill argues that Kerry should have been reprimanded rather than commended for one incident where he killed a lone, wounded Vietnamese soldier.

O'Neill and other Kerry colleagues also accuse Kerry of lying about operating illegally inside Cambodia (the infamous incident Kerry claims was "seared" into his memory never happened), and that many of his other so-called "heroics" were self-promoting frauds.

The minor (in one case some say self-inflicted) scratches he used to justify his three Purple Hearts also have provoked special scrutiny. Kerry quickly used these medals to end his Vietnam tour eight months early. These are serious allegations and Kerry has yet to come clean. Unlike Bush, Kerry has refused to release his full military and medical records to quell the serious doubts surrounding his awards and service.

Consequently, more than 250 veterans who served with Kerry in Vietnam (including all but one of his commanders and the vast majority of those who served in his Swift Boat Coastal Division 11) created a nonpartisan group called: "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." They have publicly denounced Kerry as deceitful and "unfit to be commander in chief."

Twelve out of the nineteen officers shown in a photo with Kerry in Vietnam also have demanded he stop using that photo in his campaign, since only one of those men actually support Kerry.

Despite his deceptive "war hero" campaign rhetoric, Kerry has earned mostly contempt from those who served with him. Many veterans, including most of his real Vietnam "band of brothers" won't be voting for Kerry on Election Day.

Paul Crespo is a former Marine Corps artillery and intelligence officer. He served in numerous countries on three continents during twelve years on active duty and in the Reserves. A version of this column also appears in Tiempos del Mundo.

[Lexinom]

Is O'Neill missing?

[Redcoat LI]

"The hidden truth is that as soon as he left Vietnam John Forbes Kerry disowned the uniform he wore,"

Well, he did wear his pickle suit in those Senate hearings.

He used it as a prop to lend himself credibility, just like he's using his Band-Aid Brothers today.

[bobo1]

Well, he did wear his pickle suit in those Senate hearings.

And he just wore a bunny suit also.

blessings, Bobo

[Redcoat LI]

And he just wore a bunny suit also.

He's had it since his parents shipped his annoying little ass of to boarding school at age 12, it makes him feel safe.

Where was his "lucky" hat?

[bobo1]

Doesn't he carry it in his suitcase? The media ought to ask him about that, if they were doing their job. I would enjoy seeing the lying moron pulling is out on national tv and saying bang!

The secret life of Hanoi John Mitty.

blessings, Bobo

[Mia T]

excellent bump

UNFIT #9-JOHN KERRY: DEADLY OPPORTUNIST
SELF-CONFESSED WAR CRIMlNAL MORPHS INTO SELF-PROMOTER WAR HERO

(viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)
NEW! compleatjohnkerry.blogspot.com

NEW! unfitforcommand.blogspot.com

johnkerryisdangerousforamerica.blogspot.com

 

 

getting kerry's goat
john kerry lacks presidential temperament

"bombastic ass" is not the antidote to "boorish ass"
(or why Keith Olbermann Cannot Do Cleanup for Chris Matthews)

UNFIT #19:
JOHN KERRY'S "MORE SENSITIVE WAR ON TERROR"

THE COMPLEAT JOHN KERRY
WHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA

Kerry, NOT Bush, paralyzed by 9/11 attacks
Hear Kerry admit he could not think

THE DEMOCRATS ARE GONNA GET US KILLED (kerry, clinton + sandy berger's pants) SERlES ³
UNFIT #10: 9/10 mindset

THE DEMOCRATS ARE GONNA GET US KILLED (kerry, clinton + sandy berger's pants) SERlES ₂
KERRY-DEMOCRAT CONTEMPT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY[annotated]

THE DEMOCRATS-ARE-GONNA-GET-US-KILLED (kerry, clinton + sandy berger's pants) SERlES₁

dox in sox on lummox in box on fox

THE REAL "REAL DEAL"
(what Kerry's commanders and crewmates REALLY think of him--with transcripts)

Did John Kerry pick a running mate or hire a lawyer when he selected John Edwards?

THE MAN FROM HOPE: been there, done that

"Hope is on the way!" (the scoop)

THE TERRORISTS' USEFUL IDIOTS
all the usual suspects

A Vote for Kerry is a Vote for the Terrorists

ELECTION BOTTOM LINE:
TERRORIST SYMPATHIZER or TERRORIST ANNIHILATOR

JOHN KERRY IS UNFIT SERIES: 8/10/04 UPDATE!
taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief

JOHN KERRY IS UNFIT SERIES:
taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief

UNFIT #9-JOHN KERRY: DEADLY OPPORTUNIST
SELF-CONFESSED WAR CRIMlNAL MORPHS INTO SELF-PROMOTER WAR HERO

UNFIT #6: The Deadly Kerry-Hollywood Axis
HOW CAN YOU PUT YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES IN ITS HANDS?

UNFIT: taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief
#1-making the tough choices in a post-9/11 world
UNFIT: taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief
#2-understanding the job description

UNFIT: taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief
#3-sang-froid and the "nuclear" button

UNFIT: taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief
#4 - Kerry champions tolerance for terrorists

sanitizing evil
Kerry Cabal Censors Nick Berg Decapitation

"Loose Cannon" Kerry's AWOL/PURPLE-HEART FRAUD

pro-islamofascist-terrorist radical chic

USEFUL IDIOTS

MOORE IS LESS--THE MOVIE

The Cycle of Violence:
NOW WITH HYPERLINKED INSTRUCTION MANUAL

JOHN KERRY'S RECKLESS TET-OFFENSIVE-GAMBIT REPLAY:
the left's jihad against America is killing our troops, aiding + abetting the terrorists and imperiling all Americans

bill clinton, boy "genius," unwittingly bares all on BBC

deconstructing clinton… "just because I could"

vetting missus clinton...

The Parallel Universe of Jamie Gorelick

nepotism + tokenism = a nancy pelosi
(or a hillary clinton)

Kerry's Belated Condemnation Focuses on Process
Kerry Lacks Moral Authority to Condemn Content

"CRY BUSH" + Iraqi-Prisoner "Abuse"
What are the Dems up to?

DON'T BELIEVE YOUR LYING EARS (The Perjurer Returns)
(Clinton: Claims I Turned Down Bin Laden are 'Bull')

The Mary Jo White Memo:
Documentation of clintons' and Gorelick's willful, seditious malfeasance

What is the REAL Reason for Gorelick's Wall?

giant sucking sound
KERRY MAKES DUKAKIS LOOK CONSERVATIVE, SMART + JUDICIOUS

Q ERTY6 ^{utter failure}_BUMP

Lib Author Regrets Voting (TWICE!) for clinton
"Sickened" by clinton's Failure to Protect America from Terrorism

MUST-READ BOOK FOR DEMOCRATS:
How clintons' Failures Unleashed Global Terror
(Who in his right mind would ever want the clintons back in the Oval Office?)

The Man Who Warned America
(Why a Rapist is Not a Fit President)

UDAY: "The end is near… this time I think the… Americans are serious, Bush is not like Clinton."

 

 

MORE

[Mia T]

The following bears repeating:

Despite Democrat claims, flying jet fighters in the Air Guard was in no way "easy" or "safe" duty. Just strapping yourself into the cockpit of one of those single-engine rockets was dangerous business. At least six pilots were killed in the Texas Guard flying the obsolescing F-102 fighters during those years. The aging jets were being phased out of the Guard during Bush's final year.

Arguing that Bush's service was not lethally dangerous is a favorite canard of the left.

The F-102 fighter jet is basically flames attached to a large fuel tank. 
Many a courageous Guard pilot died in training or in the course of everyday flying.  
I actually know one.

 

Why is this point never made by the Bush camp?

[timestax]

Here is ole sKerry yesterday!!

[timestax]

Here is the very, very latest pic of sKerry, upon hearing of the SwiftBoat Truths!

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cincinatus' Wife]

***Although the ad makes it appear as if Kerry is recounting atrocities he witnessed, he in fact was reciting claims made by soldiers that year during an anti-war gathering in Detroit. "They had personally raped, cut off heads, cut off ears," he told senators.

Reflecting on those comments this year, Kerry said they were too harsh. "I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. ... The words were honest, but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in April. *** Source

___________________________________________________________________

Unfit for Command [Excerpt] Kerry's testimony to the Fulbright Committee was a carefully orchestrated piece of political theater. Fulbright wanted a presentable, young Kennedy-esque face to put on the antiwar effort, and Kerry wanted a national forum from which to launch his climb to political celebrity. Ted Kennedy helped arrange Kerry's testimony with Senator Fulbright at a private fundraising event held at the home of Democratic senator Philip A. Hart of Michigan.

………Once Kerry learned that he would have the chance to give testimony before the committee, he recruited the assistance of Adam Walinsky, a speechwriter noted for his work with Robert Kennedy. Walinsky drafted the speech and coached Kerry on its delivery. The only image Kerry wanted us to see was a myth: a young man with a burning passion for the truth, the leader forced to sleep on the ground, the man answering his country's call to be where he was urgently needed, before a committee of the United States Senate where the senators and America were urgently waiting for his firsthand criticism of the war. He porceeded to level his charges: [End Excerpt]

___________________________________________________________________

I'm beginning to wonder how long this political theater was in the making.

____________________________________________________________________

Kerry's World: Father Knows Best****……….As early as prep school, John Kerry showed signs that he shared his father's suspicions about America's cold war foreign policy. In a debate at St. Paul's in the late '50s, he argued that the United States should establish relations with Red China. During his junior year at Yale, he won a speech prize for an oration warning, "It is the specter of Western Imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." And, when he was tapped to deliver a graduation speech in 1966, he used the occasion to condemn U.S. involvement in Vietnam, intoning, "What was an excess of isolationism has become an excess of interventionism."……….***

_________________________________________________________________

John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by William Fulbright, in April 1971. Photo UPI

_____________________________________________________________

New Swift Boat Ad

A frame grab shows Vietnam war-era Swift boat veteran Ken Cordier speaking during a television commercial over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry 's war record. Kerry asked the Federal Election Commission August 20, 2004 to force Republican critics to withdraw the ads challenging his military service, and accused the Bush campaign of illegally helping coordinate the attacks. Photo by Swiftvets.Com/Reuters

[Chieftain]

Freeper N. Theknow says:
"It’s faster than a checkbook, more powerful than a Democratic demagogue, able to lay waste to a liar Kerry with the single click of a mouse. It's a little bird of truth, it's plain to see Kerry's unfit... it's... it's...SuperFReep!

Want to join in the fun? Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!

[timestax]

[timestax]

bttt

[nicmarlo]

BumPing!

[lonestar]

bump to read later

[MeekOneGOP]

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From the article:

To deflect attention from his glory days as an anti-war protester, John Kerry incessantly reminds us that he served in Vietnam. To buttress his war veteran image, the Democrats shamelessly brag about Kerry the "war hero" and cynically deploy, as campaign props, a few select veterans he refers to as his "band of brothers."

The hidden truth is that as soon as he left Vietnam John Forbes Kerry disowned the uniform he wore, publicly discarded his medals and betrayed his fellow American servicemen still serving there. This is why so many military people don't like Kerry. The vast majority who actually served with him in Vietnam consider him an unprincipled opportunist, and have said so publicly.

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Exactly right !!! Thanks for the ping! :^D

Watch this TV AD!

Swiftvets who served with John Kerry talk about
UNFIT, DISHONEST John Kerry

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DRUDGE:ANTI-KERRY VETS GATHER FOR ASSAULT;
BOOK CLAIMS KERRY WAR 'FABRICATIONS'

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Excellent anti-Kerry video laying out the VietNam case against him...

Great to forward and spread to the public.

http://www.stopjohn.com/movies/hanoi-john.htm

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Drudge 08-08-2004
Exclusive: Swift Officers and Vets:
Kerry lied about spending Christmas in Cambodia

Kerry: I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared--seared--in me.

DRUDGE has learned from the accounts of Swift Boat officers and Kerry’s crewmembers that Kerry was never in Cambodia. UNFIT FOR COMMAND authors charge that Kerry made it all up.

“Despite the dramatic memories of his Christmas in Cambodia, Kerry’s statements are complete lies,” according to John O’Neil, co-author and the Swift Boat commander who took over Kerry’s boat. “Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War. . . . he was more than fifty miles away from Cambodia.”

Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo. Coastal Division 13’s patrol areas extended to Sa Dec, about 55 miles from the Cambodian border. . . . Tom Anderson, Commander of River Division 531, who was in charge of PBRs (small river patrol crafts] confirmed that there were no Swifts anywhere in the area and they would have been stopped had they appeared.

All the living commanders in Kerry’s chain of command . . . deny that Kerry was ever ordered to Cambodia. They indicate that Kerry would have been seriously disciplined or court-martialed had he gone there. At least three of the five crewmen on Kerry’s boat, Bill Zaldonis, Steven Hatch, and Steve Gardner, deny that they or their boat were ever in Cambodia.

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Kerry Fitness Reports in Vietnam Show Him Unfit for Command
(Explodes Central Kerry Campaign Lie)

Kerry’s FITREPs are awash in dings, and some of the reports border on the adverse, particularly his combat FITREPs. The FITREPs convey significant performance problems and suggest problems in conduct, so much so that it is surprising that the campaign chose to release them. This may suggest that the FITREPs held from public view are even more adverse.

In what would customarily be an opportunity for a glowing “swan song” FITREP, the Commanding Officer of USS Gridley (DLG-21) tacitly blasts Kerry on his departure for Swift Boat duty by ranking him significantly below the norm in desirability for virtually every Navy assignment possible -– command, staff, whatever. He is a ship handler who is dinged in ship handling. He is in line for command, but his CO doesn’t want him near the bridge. He is slammed in all performance areas –- most notably and significantly in initiative and reliability. The “nice” narrative emphasizes performance in collateral duties, but in the grades and marks, the CO is telling the selection board and detailer loud and clear that this officer is lazy, unreliable and not suited for command. 3 SEP 68 (W.E. HARPER).

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WinterSoldier.com

[MeekOneGOP]

As Grampa Dave says: "Christmas, 1968: Kerry with his Swift Boat Crew
in Scambodia. Kerry is wearing his CIA hat that came from Richard Nixon
a month before Nixon was sworn in as President."

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