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.
I think they are terrified of the "discharge story" and they are trying to defuse it.
Just got through reading the book yesterday. How Kerry supporters can say with a straight face they support that traitor is beyond me.
Is anyone really surprised that the RATS are trying to suppress the free speech they claim to champion?
I agree this is a hit piece but the Dem's don't need this bubbling about. They should be rightly concerned that voters that were originally turned off by the controversy but have since found Kerry at least tolerable, will be reminded of his questionable service and flip back.
This is going to get really nasty in the next few days and Kerry won't be able to debate his way up in the polls anymore. Its back to stumping (which he sucks at),and running false hit pieces against Bush(which have been happening for more than a year so again no big impact.) Kerry is hoping to coast home and anything that brings attention to his past is a minefield.
Am I reading this right? Is ABC actually trying to convince us that former VC are CREDIBLE sources???
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
There was a Swiftie over there looking for former friends who went to the War Crimes Museum and in the hall that honored people around the world who helped further the Communist Struggle was a picture of John Kerry.
And .. the public will shred Koppel if he doesn't treat John right .. just like they did when Matthews attacked him.
This is on NOW
Here comes the hit piece focusing on the Silver Star incident.
Now ABC has dug up their 'unimpeachable' witnesses...Viet Kong.
Ted Koppel has his bucket ready to carry water!
Yep
All I have to say is that Uncle Walter would be proud of Ted and ABC
BTW ... the story about the teenager .. it wasn't first reported by the SBV in their book
I believe it was the The Boston Globe that first brought the story to the public
It would have to be a real stunner of a set-up to make the risk worth their while. O'Neill makes a good impression, and will cost Kerry votes every time he gets a hearing.
There it is in a nutshell.
ABC was taken for a ride up a river to hear villagers tell them exactly what the Kerry campaign wanted them to tell them.
Said Kerry Shot a wounded teenager in the back as the boy was running away????
Note:
No hamsters were harmed in the making of this ABC report.
Something doesnt look right here ....Did the Vietnamese use IBM typewriters ?..Im saying something is wrong here ....
Lord..
Tonight in Kerry's Iowa appearance his last words were: "I've got your Back..(America)"
Except the four they killed to make Ted's wig.
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