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.
Brilliant. Thank you.
I don't know how O'Neill stayed calm...MY adrenalin was flowing just from watching. O'Neill slayed the dragon imho.
anyone know if Kerry wrote the after action report for this incident?
Thats right, and theres a pile of people that watches Nightline across this great country. I think he raised a few eyebrows tonight!! I thought he did great and made Ted look uninformed!! Just my opinion!!
LOL
Exactly - so we are to believe that the Communist Vietnamese let a swift boat vet in and he went up river with a camera but they denied ABC News the right to enter and weeks later changed their mind? And this mysterious vet told them about Kerry running for President and medals? Come on!
Oh I am so pissed! ABC needs to be held accountable for this disgusting political hit attempt. Thank God O'Neil is so good and had the facts at his fingertips!
Has anybody bothered to interview the Vietnamese boat people in S. California to find out what they think of Kerry? I hear its about 98% Bushies! There is a community there that even shut out a resturaunt for flying the VC flag. There were riots if I remember right.
They are real humans .. many just have no control over their lives ... others think that it's ok to be controled
Glad to see you got out of the kind of life
Did John really say that? Good for him. He probably knew going in that Ted was gunning for him. The bias of the media is totally revolting. Can anyone imagine how rosy the media would portray Kerry's term? Free Republic would be the few islands of truth..
amazing what can happen when you have the truth on your side.
Can anyone with a Tivo get a screen shot of that tombstone?
We need to check the date.
A lot of folks will say, 'I couldn't have heard that right.'
So I wish there would be just a short ad with just that information on it about Kerry being honored by the Communist Vietnamese as one of THEIR war heroes who cause America to lose the war.
Tried to email but niteline @abc.com is not a valid email address.
Does someone have one?
vaudine
"MY adrenalin was flowing just from watching"
===
ME TOO! I've never yelled at the TV before!
Kerry probably did. I don't know.
Do you think the Swift Boat Vets should pull their ad dollars from ABC? I think it strange they put out this hit piece on John O'Neill and all the Swiftboat Vets soon after the SwiftBoat Veterans for Truth bought some prime ad space during the Monday Night Football game.
First the Vietnamese won't let them in. Then they let them in with a government minder to watch over them who presumedly was present for each interview. How could any news organization use testimony obtained under such circumstances? Is that ethical?
I e-mailed pretending to be a Kerry supporter and screamed at them for causing Kerry to lose the election.
It would be an island of truth until the Kerry camp figures out how to shut down "hate" sites.
Mr. O'Neill, please stop holding up the PROOF!
John O'Neill was ready for this shoddy ambush journalism!
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