It's another shell game.
Posted on 08/21/2004 4:04:42 PM PDT by neverdem
THE MILITARY RECORD
A Vietnam veteran who had served with Senator John Kerry in a Swift boat group broke a 35-year silence this weekend to back Mr. Kerry's version of events from their mission together, and to chastise veterans critical of the senator as having "splashed doubt on all of us."
The veteran, William B. Rood, is now an editor at The Chicago Tribune, which ran a first-person article in which he recounted the day on its Web site yesterday. His account added to a growing debate over the most serious claims from the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. And it ensured that questions swirling around the group, the veracity of its claims and some of its prominent backers' connections to the White House would dominate the campaign for yet another day.
In his article Mr. Rood directly disputed claims that Mr. Kerry had received his Silver Star for chasing down a lone Vietcong teenager "in a loincloth" who may or may not have been armed.
Mr. Rood was the skipper of one of the three boats involved in the mission with Mr. Kerry to conduct a sweep through a tributary of the Bay Hap River for enemy.
"I have no idea how old the gunner Kerry chased that day was," Mr. Rood wrote, but "he was a grown man, dressed in the kind of garb the VC usually wore."
He added, referring to John O'Neill, a co-author of "Unfit for Command" and a leader of the Swift boat group critical of Mr. Kerry: "The man Kerry chased was not the 'lone' attacker at that site, as O'Neill suggests. There were others who fled. There was also firing from the tree line well behind the spider holes and at one point, from the opposite riverbank as well."
Mr. Rood also noted that Roy F. Hoffmann, a retired rear admiral who was the Swift boat group's commander, lauded the operation at the time in glowing terms. Mr. Hoffmann is one of the group's leading members.
Mr. Rood said Mr. Kerry had called him and others and urged them to come forward. He acknowledged that Mr. Kerry's calls did affect his decision to do so but "what matters most to me is that this is hurting crewmen who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for what they did."
Calls to representatives for the Swift boat group were not returned yesterday afternoon, but Mr. O'Neill is quoted by The Tribune as standing by his version of events and as saying that Mr. Hoffmann's earlier note praise for Mr. Kerry was based on a description of events that was more intense than those that actually occurred.
Mr. Kerry's campaign continued to put pressure on President Bush yesterday to repudiate a recent advertisement from the group accusing Mr. Kerry of lying to obtain his war medals. The group's initial financing has come from people who have been associated with the president's family and with his top political aide, Karl Rove, in Texas.
Mr. Kerry's campaign produced a crudely printed flier from Alachua County, Fla., promoting a "Pro-U.S.A. Rally" this weekend that listed "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" and "Alachua Bush/Cheney Committee" as being involved. Mr. Kerry's campaign said a volunteer picked up the flier at the office of the local Republican Party committee, where some volunteer's for Mr. Bush's local campaign committee work.
Mr. Bush's campaign, which has said it has no involvement with the group, said it had nothing to do with the flier either, and described it as unauthorized.
Mr. Kerry's campaign also sent out an Internet advertisement featuring a segment of a debate between Mr. Bush and Senator John McCain of Arizona during the 2000 primary in which Senator McCain took Mr. Bush to task for playing host to an event at which the leader of a "fringe" veterans group questioned Mr. McCain's military service in Vietnam.
"That fringe veteran said John McCain had abandoned the veterans - I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts," Mr. McCain is shown as saying to Mr. Bush at the debate, held in South Carolina. "You should be ashamed."
The spot includes an on-screen heading that says, "George Bush is up to his old tricks."
Mr. Kerry's aides said they were also developing a new television advertisement addressing the controversy.
At a campaign event yesterday, Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, renewed a call for Mr. Bush to repudiate the advertisement.
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said, "The president has made clear that he regards John Kerry's service as noble service."
He renewed Mr. Bush's calls for Mr. Kerry to join him in a call for all outside groups to cease advertising, and said Mr. Kerry failed to do so as outside groups, some with connections to people in Mr. Kerry's campaign, ran advertisements against Mr. Bush in the spring.
Isn't this the same guy being written about over and over by different newspapers?
He's a media guy so he's automatically the final authority? Kerry ASKED him to say what he has said.
The Irony -- they are talking about the Feb 28 Mission where Kerry got his Silver Star. The Hulabaloo is over the March 13 mission where he got his bronze Star.
This is nothing but a blatant attempt by the DNC CONTROLLED MEDIA to muddy the waters and confuse the debate.
Have you watched any broadcast news today? They are all over this. It is all about defending Kerry. They won't show the ad in question. They will only defend against it. It's appalling. I hate the media.
Saw it during the golf match.
Don't you know that if a democRAT repeats a lie enough times --it turns into the truth?
Rood is an employee of the Chicago Trib. THis is already old news. O'Niell already has answered Rood's assertions - and it is in the original Trib article.
Not a big deal.
Yes one person out 0f 250 supports kerry and now we should all change our minds on the swiftvts
we will see this article in every paper but kerry not heeding the warning about logan airport for 9-11 cannot be found
Riddle me that
ciao
w2004
If you notice, the guy didn't really refute anything that the swift boat veterans for truth have said. The media guy just said that he backs Kerry. Let's have some details, some first hand accounts, if he is going to back Kerry. Otherwise his account is meaningless.
I haven't watched specifically because that's what I'd figured would be happening.
I'm trying to keep my BP under control, LOL.
I don't have lots of faith in the average American TV viewer, but Kerry is in meltdown and I think all their explanations will only go so far.
He did strange things yesterday by trying to ban the book and filing the FEC complaint. The public knows this much that Bush has not fought back against his smear campaigns, and there must be a reason Kerry is overreacting.
IMHO, the debates will be what finishes him off!!!
Read:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196460/posts
and
http://beldar.blogs.com/beldarblog/2004/08/chitribs_willia.html
Sorry, as I understand it from the Kerry supporter perspective, it doesn't count unless you were ON THE BOAT with Kerry..... but nice try.
"The veteran, William B. Rood, is now an editor at The Chicago Tribune...and first in line as Ambassador to France under a Kerry administration."
Yes, they produced it all right!
He is no worthy protector of the First Amendment. That's the only thing he has proven through all of this.
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