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JOHN O'NEILL ON NIGHTLINE TONIGHT (Dems are e-mailing Ted Koppel to stop it!)
Nightline e-mail ^ | 10/14/04

Posted on 10/14/2004 1:55:15 PM PDT by areafiftyone

The Swift Boat Controversy: New Witnesses

October 14, 2004

John Kerry's service in Vietnam has become a campaign issue. The group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth alleges that Kerry has distorted the truth about what happened during the war and questions whether he deserved the medals he received. Tonight, you'll hear from eyewitnesses who have not spoken before: the Vietnamese who fought against him.

We've had the debates and the race is a virtual dead-heat. This is the part of a campaign when there are daily fires--issues that rise, flare, and then go away, only to be replaced by a new one the next day. But for a while, this campaign was dominated by Vietnam, a war that ended, at least the fighting, thirty years ago. John Kerry made his service in Vietnam a major part of his campaign. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth fired back. They have alleged that Kerry was not truthful about his actions in Vietnam. Then questions were raised about the group's connections to people linked to the GOP. And so the story just kept spiraling in different directions. But the polls clearly showed that Kerry was hurt by allegations that he was not candid about his actions in Vietnam.

Which brings us to an old expression: the fog of war. People, in general, are not always great eyewitnesses. Memories fade, especially as the years go by. Two people standing next to each other may have very different recollections of something that happened right in front of them. But in the whole Swift Boat controversy, there is one group that hasn't been heard from at length: the Vietnamese. Producer Andrew Morse went to Vietnam, to the coordinates taken from the U.S. military after-action report from Kerry's battle for which he won the Silver Star. And there Andrew found several people who had either witnessed the events of that day, or in some cases, had actually fought against the swift boats. And it is their accounts that you will hear tonight. Do their accounts favor one version or the other? Can these questions be definitively settled? You'll have to judge. One of the surprising stories we were told? One of the Vietnamese men in the area says he was visited by a man claiming to be a swift boat veteran and a cameraman. He says the veteran was disparaging towards Kerry's conduct in the war, and asked him in an interview about the events of that day. We do not know who that man is, or whatever happened to that tape.

Ted will be anchoring tonight, and he will be joined by John O'Neill, a leader of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the author of Unfit for Command, a book critical of Kerry. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff,br> Washington D.C.


TOPICS: Announcements; Breaking News; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: abcnews; johnoneill; kerry; kerrylies; lurch; mediabias; napalminthemorning; nightlie; nightline; oneill; propaganda; saveamerica; sbv; sbvft; swiftboat; swiftboatveterans; swiftboatvets; swiftvets; tedfloppel; vietnam
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To: Mo1

How many U.S. casualties? You got to give Kerry some credit I guess but this battle sounds pretty one sided without any extra-ordinary heroism needed.


121 posted on 10/14/2004 8:56:01 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: funeralcom
Maybe this isn't a Kerry support news cast?

It's coming.

122 posted on 10/14/2004 8:56:23 PM PDT by Nov3 (They knifed babies, They raped girls, They forced children to drink their own urine)
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To: Barlowmaker
It's incoherent. They are disputing the idea that the kid Kerry shot in a fierce firefight was a young teenager all alone.

But nobody knows who Kerry is. Nobody saw Kerry get off his boat and shoot some big Viet Cong guy behind a hooch.

But we're supposed to believe that they all know that this was the day. This was the place and this was the firefight that earned Kerry his Silver Star.

It's asinine.

123 posted on 10/14/2004 8:56:54 PM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: dead
Nobody saw me kill him either. Where's my Silver Star?

You forgot to fabricate the After Action Report touting your heroics.

Didn't Kerry go back and visit the site with his video camera?

124 posted on 10/14/2004 8:56:59 PM PDT by DrewsDad
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To: txradioguy

John O'Neill is ripping into Ted


125 posted on 10/14/2004 8:57:30 PM PDT by Mo1 (The President's job is not to pass a global test, but to protect the American people.)
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To: HalleysFifth
Freep this address:

niteline@abc.com
126 posted on 10/14/2004 8:57:36 PM PDT by HalleysFifth
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To: dead
You would think the VC would have noticed a metrosexual running around their turf.

The Vietnamese also said they shot at the swift boats but didn't hit anything. Sounds like an embellished story or they just told ABC what they wanted to hear. I would be surprised if an enemy didn't say they shot at Americans as we were leaving any area.
127 posted on 10/14/2004 8:57:38 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult ("I hate going to places like Austin and Dubuque to raise large sums of money. But I have to," Kerry)
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To: woofie

"they have no reason to LIE, that war ended 30 years ago!"

I can hear my mother already....


128 posted on 10/14/2004 8:57:46 PM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard ("the borders are more leaking" -- John "Silvertongue" Kerry)
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To: areafiftyone

I think it will be mostly this:


What Happened in Kerry's Vietnam Battles?
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2004/story?id=166434&page=1

They interviewed a bunch of people in Vietnam, who knew EXACTLY what happened on a particular day some 30 years ago, and exactly what Kerry did and so testified.

And if anyone believes this, I have lots of bridges to sell.

I think ABC is going to try to paint O'Neill as a liar, confronting him with the "strong evidence", the testimony of a bunch of people in Vietnam, who have no reason to remember one particular day versus another 30 years later.

ABC is willing to take the word of those people, but are not willing to take the word and evidence presented by 60 US true war heroes.


129 posted on 10/14/2004 8:58:00 PM PDT by FairOpinion (FIGHT TERRORISM! VOTE BUSH/CHENEY 2004.)
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To: DrewsDad

John O'Neil ROCKS!!!!!


130 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:18 PM PDT by Nov3 (They knifed babies, They raped girls, They forced children to drink their own urine)
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To: HalleysFifth
John O'Neill RULES!!!
131 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:20 PM PDT by HalleysFifth
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard

integrity integrity inegrity..or something like that


132 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:22 PM PDT by woofie
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To: FairOpinion

Holy cow! O'Neill is going all out on this!


133 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:24 PM PDT by BladeLWS
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To: Mo1

O'Neill is mad.


134 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:27 PM PDT by DaveMSmith (One Day at A Time || Blue Angel in PJs)
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To: FairOpinion

I knew this would be a hit piece...Ted cant even vouch for them and they present this as a news report.


135 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:31 PM PDT by pitinkie (revenge will be sweet)
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To: Nov3

This is getting good. O'Neill calls Koppel "pathetic".


136 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:43 PM PDT by zeebee (John Kerry- whichever way the wind blows)
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To: funeralcom

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR


TED IS TAKING THE WORD OF COMMIES OVER A VIETNAM VET


I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS CRAP!


137 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:46 PM PDT by Mo1 (The President's job is not to pass a global test, but to protect the American people.)
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To: areafiftyone

Wow, I've never seen O'Neill this cranky ! He's really going after Koppel !


138 posted on 10/14/2004 8:59:51 PM PDT by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
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To: areafiftyone

John O'Neil is a great American


139 posted on 10/14/2004 9:00:10 PM PDT by MJY1288
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To: MJY1288

what are they saying!!!!!


140 posted on 10/14/2004 9:00:33 PM PDT by knak
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