Posted on 10/15/2004 4:59:25 AM PDT by Mike Fieschko
The following statement from John O'Neil, member of Swift Boat Veterans and POW's for Truth, concerns a news segment that aired on October 14th on ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel."While I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ted Koppel and ABC News I was appalled to learn that ABC News would go to the lengths of traveling to Vietnam to interview three Viet Cong communists in yet a third attempt by ABC to corroborate John Kerry's version of the events that took place on February 28th, 1969.
"I would only ask the American people: 'Who do you trust more, three members of a communist regime that tortured and killed our American troops or a group of more than 280 highly decorated American veterans, who proudly served their country and are now responsible members of their respective communities.
"The number of veterans who support John Kerry's accounts of his military service would not fill one Swift Boat. But instead of sitting down to interview some of the 280 plus members of our Swift Boat organization, ABC News chose to travel to Vietnam taking extraordinary and highly suspect steps to find someone to corroborate John Kerry's story.
"ABC News Nightline has now dedicated three seperate programs to this one incident while ignoring John Kerry's now discredited Senate testimony that he spent Christmas in Cambodia, his receiving a purple heart after all three of the officers required to approve such an issuance rejected his application, or his constantly changing account of the circumstances surrounding his remaining medal, a bronze star.
"Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985. And, finally, why has Nightline found it of no interest to permit any POWs to come on their program to explain why they believe John Kerry betrayed their nation, caused them to be incarcerated for an additional two years and caused them tremendous additional hardship and suffering."
"Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his (ed. ABC-supported) efforts to win. We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that. I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.
By the way, if (as the US records establish) Kerry did indeed murder a wounded VC teenager after leaving his boat under fire on Dec 3, 1969, why would Nightline's featured tombstone show a (badly retouched!) 1916 birthdate of LUU_V_PHOM, who was killed on 12.1.1969?
Thanks for the ping, I was wondering about this story. Send O'Neills response along with some of the freeper comments to my email newslist.
Prairie
I absolutely love this guy.
Thanks for the transcript. It's SO refreshing to see someone show up and refuse to let the mediabot control and twist with impunity. I didn't see it, but from reading the transcript, it sounds like O'Neill made Koppel and ABC look pretty silly. Is that how it came across live?
MM
BUMP to read later
Koppel: My . . my . . my question has to do with what eyewitnesses to the event . . I mean, you can-you can impugn them anyway you want to. And I have-I have no way of vouching for their motives or their interest in either supporting John Kerry or doing damage to . . uh . . a group that, like your own, that I'm sure they've never heard of.
They started the show talking about how nearly impossible it was to do the show due to all of the bureaucratic headaches involved but he says a SBV was there ahead of ABC. Did the SBV sneak into this deep in the middle of communist hell village while eluding the authorities?
ABC could just ask Kerry to get the name of the guy from his Viet Cong buddies who most certainly would have been accompanying him, they would have passport records, pictures, etc.
Koppel seemed flustered, and rather like a broken record. The hypocrisy couldn't have been lost on anyone in his complaint about repetition and why can't you? The real question to Koppel was - why can't YOU? Why can't you get it through your head that you were had, and someone forgot to tell the Commies, and your staff, that O'Neill based this bit, this complaint at least, on Kerry's own testimony? So in your zeal to 'gotcha' old John O'Neill, you ended up contradicting Kerry's story. I think this is why Koppel seemed a bit stunned toward the end. I think he realized he stepped in it, rather in Rather fashion - almost exactly in Rather fashion for just the same partisan reason - get BOOOSH!
He politicized the reporting to tow the Commie line - in this case hook, line and fishing weir the Vietnamese Communist line. He just wanted to Get-Bush, who is the 'real criminal' as we all know. Just in that way, this is Rathergate again. Here you have false witnesses without the false documents. The testimony is unreliable because as O'Neill accurately stated, they have to be considered under duress. Vietnam is a ruthless, dictatorial society. People are not free to speak freely. Koppel knows this. When the guy can't even kid himself and looks like a man caught with a forgery in his hand as they go to commercial break, that's a low point in any man's career. He set himself up because he was so in for Kerry.
Unbelievable. What a transcript!
This actually is the opening for a forum to SHOW Kerry as the Vienamese HERO of the Vietnam WAR... unintended conquences of the Kopple Disinforamtion Hour.. and should be purseing doggily.. The absolute only way to reverse Kopples impact.. Looks like Kopple is in reality Ted Baxter... Kopple is begging for a seat next to Dan Blather in the plane ride to nowhere.. Just begging... "Somebody" needs to look under Kopples "RUG" that he protects his scalp with..
Rush is playing the audio right now.
(Koppel sounds unbelievably arrogant. O'Neill is so focused)
I'm listening ;-).
I'm listening to the soundbytes too. Stunning effort from O'Neill.
Prairie
Why would a vientnamese date use a gregorian year?
thanx...sure seems the date is accurate.
Even if they're NOT isolated, where are their diaries, their after-actions, ANY paper trail to back up what they're saying--or, as so many others have pointed out, proof of the photographic memories?
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