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.
O'Neill is sharp. He clobbered Koppel. The old media's not what it used to be.
Wait 'til you hear Koppel's closing cheap shot... you know it's coming!
O'Neill SLAYS KOPPEL. Says he's been HAD by a couple peasants from a communist country. Repeatedly states that KERYY HIMSELF said there was just one man. Says he hopes Koppel will give OUR GUYS the same chance to tell the story he gave the communist peasants.
Boo-YA!!
Ted just got a good old Texas ass waxing.
Ted is a liberal biased joke. He doesn't believe the own records of folks that were there..
I am not taking the other side but try to look at it objectively. O'Neill has been MUCH better in other interviews.
HAAAAHAAHAAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!!!!!
This closing is making me want to puke - "we're in the business of reporting what we learn, not concealing."
UGH!
YOu and that STFrancis guy must be watching a different show. Everything thing being reported on here say 100% completely opposite of what you're trying to say.
How Kerry-esque of you.
We don't need them anymore. If they don't cover us, someone else will...
LOL....he did pick the books up a couple too many times...BUT he was trying to drive home a point that TK didn't want to hear.
Koppel wants to believe ONLY the VC Nightline interviewed instead of the Boston Globe biography, Kerry's approved biography, the Swift Boat crew, etc.
Asking the communists is "setting the record straight" according to Koppel and ABC. LOL!
This is now the point we all need to make about this Nightline/VC abomination. Get this point out -- which you have said so succinctly -- to RNC, Hannity, Rush... likely suspects. Short, simple, direct truth. (My two cents.)
That's one of the problems I have with this story and a point O'Neill finally made at the end of the interview....
Teds lying. The VC testimony is totally inconsistent with the after action report and Kerrys own bigraphy. They couldn't even get the story straight.
That would be hilarious if it weren't so true...............and scary.
was this live? I can't believe they would air it if it was taped (at least without a whole lot of editing).
Ted looks like a fool.
Come on, JO'N was terrific. These rare moments on MSM are so exhilarating.
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