[palmer]

Didn't see this posted. Is that because we aren't allowed to post articles from the Chicago Tribune?

[TN4Liberty]

Wow, a pro-Kerry journalist. Who'da ever imagined?

[Drango]

What does Rood think about Kerry's behavior after the war? Attacking the brave military who served in Vietnam, besmirching their honor and character?

[JennysCool]

There is a "Bill Rood" who posts stuff like this on Usenet:

Funny, I was one of the 200,000 or so on the Mall on January 18. I didn't
see a single Iraqi. All I saw were Americans, and maybe a few Latin
Americans. I saw young, old, middle class and poor. I saw white, black and
brown. I saw a banner from the Rochester, MN, Mennonite Church that read,
"War is not pro-life."

Before I went, I read an article claiming ANSWER is a front for Workers of
the World Party. Now we're hearing they're Iraqi spies. Which is it? Oh,
I get it. Any slander is OK in attempting to discredit and fragment your
enemy.

[financeprof]

Whole lotta nothin'. Basically disagrees with O'Neill's view on the right tactics to follow when under fire. O'Neill criticized Kerry's beaching the boat. Rood agrees with the tactic. Rood disputes that the VC that Kerry capped was "young"--Rood says he was a grown man. BFD.

[soozla]

Rood, I'm sure is an honorable man, though I'd like to know about the "personally contacted by Kerry" to "speak out" claim he makes...................I'm sure we'll never know what was said, but the Kerry spin machine is working overtime........and why didn't Mr. Rood tell Kerry just to sign the Form 180, release the records for ALL to see?????? Why put people like Rood on the hot seat for an account of something Rood has chosen NOT to bring up for 35 years, by the man's own admission??? It still makes Kerry out as a manipulator, in my mind, going so far as to manipulate people for his OWN best interests....and that's really not that hard to believe, is it????

[inkling]

I've been Googling William Rood and am shocked that a veteran journalist with three+ decades experience has so few hits. My wife worked as a journalist at an Arizona business newspaper for three years and her massive Google search nearly chokes my modem.

Of the links I found, Bill Rood (apparently he usually goes by "Bill") is quoted in Kerry's puff-piece bio "Tour of Duty" in an innocuous way (in 'Nam, he called Kerry "Ichabod") Link

This link discusses interviewing Bill Rood for an anti-Vietnam war documentary that apparently Kerry was involved with.

More interestingly, one link (search for "Rood") leads to a letter wrote by a Bill Rood to antiwar.com, equating Iraq with Vietnam

Another link is an anti-Rumsfeld posting that quotes MoveOn.org as a news source.

If these are all the same Bill Rood, this certainly shows partisanship and motive.

[Recovering_Democrat]

William Rood, an editor on the Chicago Tribune's metropolitan desk, said he broke 35 years of silence...

Imagine that...a friend of Kerry's as an editor of a major metropolitan newspaper. I'm shocked. Shocked, I say.

[schaketo]

Contribute to and support the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at http://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/index.php

Just sent them $25.

[Chi-townChief]

So why is this on the Trib's front page instead of its editorial page?

[12B]

Ambushes from Viet Cong fighters were common because the noise from boats, powered by twin diesel engines, practically invited gunfire. Ambushes, Rood said, "were a virtual certainty."

Oh, so that's why Swiftboats were used to insert Navy seals and CIA men in Cambodia. I always kind of wondered about that.

[jimbo123]

William Rood
WRood@tribune.com

His handlers:

George de Lama
gdelama@tribune.com

Tim Jones
TXJones@tribune.com

[jimbo123]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2096936

Page 302: Bill Rood, another officer, called Kerry "Ichabod," as in Crane.

[Condor51]

I just sent a STRONG letter to Editor Wood - as a stockholder (and soon to be EX stockholder).

I stated that either the Trib sue to obtain all of Kerry's records - like they did with Jack Ryan, have Kerry sign off on SF 180, or that Wood resign as he is NOT impartial and as such has no business working for the Trib as an Editor.

it was really difficult NOT cussing :-)

[gilliam]

Kerry Spot is on it (with a little help from their friends):

http://www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerryspot.asp

[hole_n_one]

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (news - web sites), left, and William B. Rood, right, are shown in this undated photo at the Swift boat base at An Thoi shortly after the action for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star and Rood was awarded the Bronze Star in early 1969 during his service in Vietnam. Both men are holding weapons captured in the mission. Rood, a night city editor with the Chicago Tribune, who served with Kerry during the Vietnam War as the commander of a Navy swift boat on the 1969 mission ischallenging the attacks on Kerry's account of the incident. (AP Photo/Chicago Tribune, Courtesy William B. Rood)

[TC Rider]

Unless he was in the same boat with sKerry, his testimony is worthless. Also, what party does he belong to? I question the timing of this revelation!

/sarcasm

[spunkets]

Here's why the story's bogus and so is Root for obfuscating for Kerry:

JOE PONDER (wounded 1968): The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam were just devastating ..."

KERRY: "... randomly shot at civilians ..."

PONDER: "... more than any physical wounds I had."

KERRY: "... cut off limbs, blown up bodies ..."

KEN CORDIER (former POW): "That was part of the torture, that you had to sign a statement that you committed war crimes."

KERRY: "... razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan ..."

PAUL GALANTI (former POW): John Kerry gave the enemy for free what I and my comrades in the prison camps in North Vietnam took torture to avoid saying."

KERRY: "... crimes committed on a day-to-day basis ..."

CORDIER: "He betrayed us in the past. How could we be loyal to him now?"

KERRY: "... ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam ..."

GALANTI: "He dishonored his country and, more importantly, the veterans he served with. He sold them out."

[Question_Assumptions]

Important points about the article.

First, it says John O'Neill claims that Rood's version "is not substantially different from what appeared in his book". What was the full version from Rood that was conveyed to John O'Neill?

Second, all of the accolades were, again, the result of that same report of what happened. Yes, they all sound the same because they were all based on the same report. What's being questioned is the truth of that report. This is just sleight-of-hand.

Third, a second ambush is not part of the awareds or the controversy. Why are they even mentioning it? More sleight-of-hand?

[TeleStraightShooter]

Rood's account omits, as delineated in Unfit for Command {page 82} that Doug Reese, a pro Kerry Army Vet, disagrees with Kerry's version.

Reese & his South Vietnamese troops disembarked on beaching & killed the enemy.

When Reese's {transport?} boats {not a swift boat?} beached much earlier in the battle, he and his South Vietnamese troops killed the enemy.

In his report Kerry took credit for it when he wrote that he "personally led a landing party" and dispatched the enemy - Kerry forgot to mention Reese's actions.

[Coop]

Oh. Well, if the media is now taking Kerry's side, then I'm convinced. :-D