A Must Read: Unfit For Command

Investors Business Daily ^ | August 28, 2004 | bookreview

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Campaign '04: The media finally have discovered Swift boat veterans. Not to tell their story, mind you. But to attack them for daring to criticize John Kerry. That's why "Unfit for Command" is such an important book.

To listen to the mainstream media, you'd think nothing of note came from "Unfit for Command," the book written by former Navy commander John O'Neill that sums up the case made by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In fact, it's full of damning detail about Kerry's career in Vietnam and his anti-war activity afterward. The overall picture that emerges isn't one that should be comforting to Kerry supporters.

Some in the media have tried to discredit the book's author, or to impeach the rock-solid testimony of the dozens of former Navy men who have stepped forward to question Kerry's record, or to even suggest somehow it's all just a plot by President Bush and his evil political hit man, Karl Rove, to steal yet another election.

We've seen supposedly objective media try to deep-six the book by making false claims about its contents and calling on Bush to "repudiate" its message — as if that would make the charges less true.

Bush, for his part, has played the gentleman, giving candidate Kerry a pass. But the charges in "Unfit for Command" are too numerous to ignore. There are literally dozens, all attested to by individuals who served alongside Kerry.

Despite Bush's gracious gesture to a faltering political foe, the allegations deserve a serious hearing by the media — just as they picked apart Bush's National Guard records this year and in 2000.

We've read the book front to back and have been impressed with not only its thoroughness, but also the extraordinary number of people who contributed to it. This is not one man's story, but the accounts of dozens of credible witnesses.

Yes, as with virtually all books, minor inaccuracies have crept in. But the larger message still holds: Kerry appears to have exaggerated his wartime heroism for political gain, distorted his record by filing false reports, and lied repeatedly about his presence in Cambodia in December 1968.

After the war, in his 1971 testimony before the Senate and again in his book "The New Soldier," Kerry lied about atrocities he claims he saw others routinely commit while in Vietnam.

His later actions as an anti-war activist included meeting with North Vietnamese communists and the Viet Cong during the Paris Peace Talks. And after the talks were through, he sided with the enemy.

These aren't mere quibbles, or beer-bar disputes. They go to the very heart of the qualifications of a person who seeks the presidency. It's a question of believability, of integrity, of character.

It would be easier to discount "Unfit for Command" if it were just the work of O'Neill, whom Democrats have portrayed as a kind of GOP stooge set in motion 33 years ago by President Nixon. But O'Neill is merely the most public face of a large group of men — more than 250 — who have mostly verified O'Neill's details.

These men are Democrats and Republicans. They include enlisted men and admirals. They are honorable men, eager to set the record straight. Yet they've had their honor and honesty questioned by journalists eager to exonerate Kerry.

The Kerry campaign can't understand the fuss. Why the sudden anger over things that are, after all, decades old? And why are veterans so angry?

The answer to both is that these issues never got a fair hearing before. And many of the nation's 28 million veterans care less about what Kerry did during the war than how he betrayed them in word and deed afterward.

If Kerry really wants this to go away, he could start with an apology to the vets he slandered 30 years ago. Then he can come clean on what he did, and didn't do, during the war.

A man who would be president can do no less.

[onyx]

When you come on at night,
it tells me I am up past my bedtime. LOL!

Nite all.

[Jim Robinson]

"His later actions as an anti-war activist included meeting with North Vietnamese communists and the Viet Cong during the Paris Peace Talks. And after the talks were through, he sided with the enemy."

"These aren't mere quibbles, or beer-bar disputes. They go to the very heart of the qualifications of a person who seeks the presidency. It's a question of believability, of integrity, of character."

Bump!

[mewper]

"If Kerry really wants this to go away, he could start with an apology to the vets he slandered 30 years ago."

... then withdraw his candicacy.

[monkapotamus]

Too bad the Barnes & Noble and Borders and all of the small stores in my city have no copies.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Yes, as the Mainstream Media realizes that John Kerry is finished, they will turn on him big time. If Kerry and the Democrat Party have any brains, Kerry will withdraw from the race. Otherwise, it will be a slaughter that the Democrat Party will not recover from for twenty-five years!!! The man is both a liar and traitor and should be tried for treason!!!

[StACase]

...as the Mainstream Media realizes that John Kerry is finished, ...

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. It's a long time and there will be debates before the election.

[kingattax]

Isn't it amazing that John F'n Kerry had the freedom after his late 60s cambodian christmas tour to run all over america, including the US Senate spewing his lies and anti-American venom. Now we fast forward 33 years and the widespread opposition and attempt to stop the swiftvets from exercising a first amendment right to speak the truth should be extremely alarming to any true and freedom-loving American. President Bush and John McCain are clearly wrong on this issue, and beyond the principle, NO WAY does Hanoi John deserve a pass on this. Quite the contrary. The swiftvets fully deserve continued prayer and financial support. HTTP://WWW.SWIFTVETS.COM

[backhoe]

I have no idea what would be involved in this- or even if it's practical- but getting "Unfit for Command" online in downloadable form, would be the fastest way to distribute it.

I have not seen one copy in my small Southern city.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Goodnite.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***"His later actions as an anti-war activist included meeting with North Vietnamese communists and the Viet Cong during the Paris Peace Talks. And after the talks were through, he sided with the enemy."

"These aren't mere quibbles, or beer-bar disputes. They go to the very heart of the qualifications of a person who seeks the presidency. It's a question of believability, of integrity, of character."***

A street vendor walks past a souvenir shop selling T-shirts in downtown Hanoi Friday. The question of whether presidential candidate John Kerry was a coward or a leader during the Vietnam War might be raging in the United States, but on the streets of Hanoi people hope for just one result from the American election -- the exit of George W. Bush.(AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam)

August 2002 - Kerry stand upsets some Vietnamese ***The bill would also establish an intergovernmental monitoring commission similar to one in China to report human rights violations and release political and religious prisoners. For expatriates such as Ngo, a 55-year-old real estate agent in Bethesda, Md., the bill represents recognition that the government controls religious and political freedoms in Vietam. ''As I sat in the House [during the vote], I cried with joy. Every vote was `Yes, yes','' Ngo said. ''But Kerry refuses to let it pass to vote.''***

_______________________________________

August 2004 This bill has passed the House 410-1 again and Kerry is again doing what the communist government of Vietnam wants, he's blocking it in the Senate.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Order from Amazon.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But I know you've seen shelves of Bush-bashing books.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That would be the honorable thing to do.

Kerry would never do that.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

I know, just hoping the bastard implodes!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry's Lost Opportunity - He could have healed the wounds of Vietnam. Instead, he tried to exploit them

Long but well worth it.

[L.N. Smithee]

"Bumpsy-bumpsy-bump! BUMP CITY!" -- Tower of Power

[IrishRainy]

Finally got mine yesterday, from B&N, after a 2-week wait. I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona, BTW.

I'd already read some of it, the stuff that was posted on online or talked about on cable, but to read it from front to back, slowly...it was worth the wait.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[MountainYankee]

Amazon just notified me of a delay in filling my order.