[Shermy]

Ping.

For sure no one else saw a flying dog...

[Thebaddog]

The libs are boiling it all down to this one point. They think they won! Now's the time for Bush to roll out the next ball for Kerry and his dogs to chase.

[vbmoneyspender]

"There was always a firefight" after a mine detonation, he said.

That should be easy to refute or confirm -- assuming of course that the part outside of the quotes is what this gentleman actually told the Kerry media outlet employee.

[fso301]

Kerry paniced when the #3 boat struck a mine. He gunned his engine and struck an underwater obstacle, probably the fishing weir. The boats impact with the underwater obstacle knocked Rassman off the boat and into the water.

In his after action report, Kerry feared the consequences should he say he struck the fishing weir with his boat so he blamed the damage to his boat as being from a near miss from a mine.

[tomahawk]

This guy won a bronze star based on there being enemy fire, based on the action report Kerry wrote.

I doubt he wants to give it back, based on there not being enemy fire.

[Bob]

"I thought we were under fire, I believed we were under fire," Lambert said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Why wouldn't he just say: "We were under fire."? Why would he use those weasel words?

I don't think he's quite as certain of his statements as is being implied.

[RS]

"I thought we were under fire, I believed we were under fire," Lambert said

"thought" and "believed" does not mean you were

[Lil'freeper]

Somebody on shore blew that mine.

Is this a correct statement? I don't know much about mines, but I had the impression that they didn't need to be 'blown' by someone on shore because they detonated upon contact with a ship's hull. I'd appreciate input on this topic from a knowledgeable person.

[Chaguito]

Mr. Lambert is very uncertain of what happened. He needs to spend some time facing O'Neill or Thurlow with all parties given time to present their POV and ask questions. No Chrissy allowed.

[FesterUSMC]

"I thought we were under fire, I believed we were under fire," Lambert said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press

BULLS*** If there was 5000 meters of fire even 500 meters of fire from both banks! He wouldnt be saying " I thought, I believed" LOL what a crock!

[NonValueAdded]

A minor point in the scheme of things ... Kerry depositing Rassmann in the water before he decided to remove him, being the only boat to leave the scene, rice in the butt and a bruised arm parlayed into a purple heart, abandoning his crew to "medevac" himself for minor injuries. If there was enemy fire, it wasn't in the vicinity of the rice cache, and it was light enough not to cause any damage (OK, give them the 3 bullet holes in a boat, that's three rounds of small arms) or be memorable. Indeed, if the report about Kerry's boat being so damaged after the mine incident is true, then it looks worse not better for Kerry in that he left his boat in such a terrible state (but still good enough to tow the 3 boat back??? If it was so bad, props peened over etc., why didn't one of the other two boats do the tow? sorry, smell test not passed).

But watch the sudden interest by the MSM to blow this minor detail into a full blown SBV "flip-flop" even though the essential story elements hold up. No way is this the same scale as XMAS in Cambodia.

[sirchtruth]

In Nov. nobody is gonna care about this crappola. They are certainly not gonna base their vote upon whether there was a firefight in VN 30 years ago.

Let the SBV dispute Kerry's account with their book, but to keep hammering on this is going to cause nothing but trouble for republicans and Bush.

Only if the SBV have irrefutable POOF should they continue this push, otherwise get out of the eye of the campaign.

[QQQQQ]

Timeline : The end of Kerry's tour in Vietnam

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1198486/posts


13 Mar 1969 - Five Swift Boats are sent to raid a Vietcong village: Kerry PCF-94, Droz PCF-43, Pees PCF-3, Chenoweth PCF-23, and Thurlow PCF-51. Special Forces Lieutenant Rassman goes along for the ride on Kerry's boat. They depart the LST anchored offshore at 7:30 am, cruise about 11 miles up the Bay Hap River, then about 3 miles up the Dong Cung Canal, and get to the village at 8:15 am.

1. The village is deserted. As they are returning to the boat, Kerry and Rassmann decide to blow up a five-ton rice bin. They climb on top of the huge pile and dig a hole in the rice. On the count of three, they toss their grenades into the hole and run. Kerry doesn't run fast enough. He gets hit in the butt by some pieces of rice.

2. As the five boats are returning down the Bay Hap River, they come to a fishing net stretched across the middle of the river. As PCF-94 is going around the fishing net to the right and PCF-3 is going around it to the left, a mine explodes under PCF-3.

3. Simultaneously: (a) Kerry goes to full throttle, which causes Rassmann to fall overboard, and flees down the river with all his guns firing at the shore, and (b) the other three boats go to help PCF-3 with all their guns firing at the shore.

4. After 40 seconds, PCF-43, PCF-23 and PCF-51 cease fire, but Kerry keeps on firing and fleeing down the river.

5. PCF-43, PCF-23 and PCF-51 work together to rescue the crew of PCF-3 and keep PCF-3 from sinking.

6. Kerry finally turns around, comes back, and fishes Rassmann out of the water.

7. As PCF 23 is leaving the area to take the three seriously injured men from PCF-3 to the Coast Guard cutter offshore, Kerry jumps in PCF-23 and goes with them.

8. PCF-94 (without Kerry) tows the badly damaged PCF-3.

9. Kerry writes the after-action report that portrays him as a hero. He does not mention the fact that he abandoned the other boats and fled from what he thought was a battle, or that he abandoned his own boat and rode home with the wounded.

13-17 March 1969

1. Kerry's after-action report is used to request that he be awarded the Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart.

[Use It Or Lose It]

Check phone records. Wonder if Komrade Kerry (or Komrade Hurley) called him like they have a habit of doing. It's turning out to be their M.O.

[bamaroots04]

THE KERRY DIARIES
"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley.

[gg188]

A swiftboat crewman decorated in the 1969 Vietnam incident where John Kerry (news - web sites) won a Bronze Star says not only did they come under enemy fire but also that his own boat commander, who has challenged the official account, was too distracted to notice the gunfire. Kerry's own diary contracdicts this.

[Lady GOP]

Swifties

[crazyhorse691]

5 minutes after a firefight it is hard to remember who did what to whom and how many times they did it. Add 35 years and a JFK into the mix you end up with the MSM happily glorifying anyone who agrees with what they perceive as the correct truth. You hold the wrong truth then you are something slugs leave behind.
But, the Swiftees just keep motoring along delivering energy-sapping punches. I see the haymaker acoming.

[DustyMoment]

A swiftboat crewman decorated in the 1969 Vietnam incident where John Kerry (news - web sites) won a Bronze Star says not only did they come under enemy fire but also that his own boat commander, who has challenged the official account, was too distracted to notice the gunfire. (Bold added by me)

This is, without a doubt, the dumbest statement I have ever read. No one - NO ONE - in their right mind in a WAR ZONE ever becomes too distracted to notice that they have come under enemy fire. This is so disingenuous as to make the entire article completely void of credibility.

What a MAROON!!!!!

[rineaux]

we should be hearing from the VC who supposedly shot at the swiftboats that day. the goats and the monkeys on or near the shore have told the DNC they do not want to speak about it. you get it.