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.
Oneill rips him, so please watch!! Good stuff. Just shows how Liberal ABC is!!
The MSM believes, IMO, that if they get sKerry elected they are home free...it is back to business as usual in terms of their having control and they will make their lemmings look at the New Media are just a bunch of quacks to be laughed at or ignored.
Good e-mail, but I disagree with this part--"Mr O'Neil exposed you tonight as having been 'had'"
They weren't had, they wanted us to be had-- that failed miserably. John O'Neil is really special. The way he took Ted apart was really inspiring. He was being charitable when he said Ted had been had, because I think he knows that Ted was a willing participant in a plot to deceive the American people.
And the next step will be to regulate the internet
We're even wondering if the east coast early broadcast will be rebroadcast as-is in an hour on the left coast.
AmarilloMorning
Since Oct 15, 2004
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HAHAHA .. Great catch
I just check the tape of the show and yep .. that's what it says .. it also has something about 1916
Like Rush always says .. the old media is not used to being challenged. They believe when they say something it should just be accepted as "the truth" .. which is exactly what Koppel was trying to do.
What made them even think of going to Vietnam?
Why did they think there was even a chance the village still existed and the inhabitants would remember the incident, that one day out of years of war?
Why did they chose to focus on that once incident and make that the sole purpose of the trip?
Why would they go all they way to Vietnam and not bother even checking Kerry's 2 official bios?
Why wouldn't they at least interview the men on Kerry's boat?
Has the MSM become that sloppy that they can't even manage to fabricate a story that will last more than an hour after it airs?
Are they really trying to throw the election to Bush ;)
You make an excellent point. Are the Vietnamese even allowed to have guns? She's kept them hidden in her garden for 35 years, but as soon as an American film crew shows up she blabs it to the world??
They all, the press and their antiwar fictional characters, did so very well out of all that, and those of us who believed, and still believe, that we were fighting for the right side, just shut up because no one was listening anyway. What you saw ABC do tonight was no different from what they did in the 70's, believe everyone who validated their own prejudices and attempt to marginalize those who knew better.
The Dems and the media wanted Vietnam all over again, and they're getting it, but this time they don't own the playing field. What can you do about it? You're doing it, my friend, right now.
Good point - they weren't "had" they wanted us to be "had." You are so right! I stand corrected.
bump
Well said. Thank you for your service. Freegards.
I missed that part, shhhhhhh.....t....!!!
12.1.1969 would be January 12, 1969.....
I wonder how "A-VC" is gone spin that....
Someone else caught it first
GIDYUUP
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1245613/posts?q=1&&page=1#33
I just had to repeat it on every nightline thread. :)
I recall there were several glowing profiles written up about him in the American communist press.
I wonder why they wouldn't at least go to the Cambodian border to see how easy it would be to get lost in all the canals.
Because they probably did and found out that on that river it crosses the river at 90 degrees. You can bet money if their was anything else they could have shot holes in they would have used it.
dannyboy72 .. I may have misunderstood your point .. I thought you were suggesting we go after Niteline like the Dems threaten Sinclair
I have no problem holding the MSM accountable .. but I don't feel comfortable in doing what the dems did
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