Posted on 07/02/2008 2:27:45 PM PDT by Interesting Times
AN INCIDENT ON THE BAY HAP RIVER
Instead of "No Man Left Behind," the true story of that day is "One Man Left."
— John O’Neill
A war hero candidate
On January 17, 2004, two days before the crucial Iowa Democratic primary, the Kerry campaign staged a dramatic “reunion” between the candidate and Jim Rassmann, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer who said Kerry had saved his life in Vietnam 35 years before. The tearful meeting of the two men was presented as spontaneous, though the campaign had paid Rassmann’s way to Des Moines and informed NBC anchor Tom Brokaw in advance of the carefully managed event. The images of Kerry and Rassmann embracing were widely credited with propelling Kerry to victory in the Iowa caucuses. “No Man Left Behind” would form the story line for tens of millions of dollars of TV advertising over the next few months, becoming the prime exhibit in a strategy of marketing John Kerry to the American public as a war hero. A campaign press release told of a dramatic rescue by Kerry after he was wounded by enemy fire:
On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore. Kerry was hit in the arm, while a mine blew Rassmann’s boat out of the water. With enemy fire coming from both sides of the river and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann.
“We were still under fire, and he was wounded at the time,” recalled Rassmann. And with his boat’s gunners providing suppressing fire, Kerry extended his wounded arm into the water and the two lieutenants locked arms.
The old media enthusiastically embraced this tale of combat heroism. On February 8, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Rassmann’s river patrol of Swift Boats had been blown out of the water in a barrage of fire from Viet Cong AK-47s and rocket launchers. . . . Then miraculously, sailing back through a hail of artillery, was Kerry.”
More exciting details appeared on March 13 in a front-page Los Angeles Times story which claimed the patrol had been “led by the 25-year-old Kerry”—which would have been a surprise to LTJG Larry Thurlow, the actual task force commander. Rather than merely encountering a mine and an ambush as in the Kerry campaign’s press release, the unfortunate patrol was now “on the run, being chased down the Bay Hap River by enemy soldiers firing guns and rockets.” The Times wrote that Rassmann had been blown off a boat and was left behind by the Swift Boats while snipers shot at him from both banks. Rassmann was certain his “time had come” until the convoy turned around. “Kerry had ordered the boats back to pick up the man overboard.”
On April 13, USA Today reported:
Rassmann . . . says he is alive today because of Kerry’s courage during a vicious battle in March 1969. . . . Swimming in the river while being strafed from both banks, Rassmann was convinced he was about to die before Kerry’s boat returned. . . . “He was frankly nuts coming up to the bow and exposing himself to the barrage of bullets and mortars,” Rassmann says.On July 29, Democratic National Convention attendees were treated to a nine-minute biographical video of Kerry, titled A Remarkable Promise. Up on the giant convention hall screen, Jim Rassmann told the delegates:
We had gone up a canal and the boat to our left hit a mine; simultaneously we came under fire from both banks. John was wounded and I was blown off the boat into the water. By the time I surfaced the boats were gone and I was all by myself. John turned around; all of them came back for me. I grabbed a hold of the net and started climbing upside down and couldn’t get over the lip of the bow. I was just hanging there and all these rounds kept coming in, and John ran up and dropped down on his hands and knees and pulled me over. And had he not come out on that bow like that I’d be dead.
The video seemed to show actual footage of Kerry’s boat with bullets striking the water. However, as director James Moll later admitted, the film was merely “illustrative.” The New York Observer reported, “bullets in the water were not from the actual event.”
Distorted beyond recognition
The evidence that emerged in 2004 formed a very different picture of the event than the campaign and media versions. The January 17 press release had implied that Kerry had been wounded by enemy gunfire, which was not the case. Nor had the attack involved land mines, artillery, mortars, or rockets, as news reports had variously claimed. Most eyewitnesses said there was no enemy fire of any kind, just a single command-detonated water mine that exploded under the hull of Navy LTJG Richard Pees’ PCF-3.
For the Swift Vets, the most egregious distortion was the claim that other Swift Boats left the area while Kerry alone bravely returned into an ambush to save Rassmann. They said that in reality Kerry’s PCF-94 was the only boat to leave the scene, fleeing downriver while the other crews worked to rescue their fellow Swift Boat sailors and to stabilize PCF-3. Kerry only returned after it was clear there was no ambush, picking up Rassmann just before another boat arrived. Nor had Kerry towed PCF-3 to safety as he claimed. Instead, he abandoned PCF-94 and its crew, riding back on board another boat.
-- continued at link...
As I recall, Kerry put Rassmann in the water when he goosed the boat to flee - the only boat to do so. Thus, Kerry put him in the water before taking him out of the water.
No pun intended.
Semper Fi.
L
This is covered in the chapter linked above. (hint, hint...)
I hope the blogs will pick up on this, since the old media is only interested in Kerry's side of the story.
Actually, the Swift boat campaign changed the minds of large numbers of people, as documented by several polls taken in 2004. That’s why they were so effective.
"While returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River, a mine detonated under another swift boat. Machine-gun fire erupted from both banks of the river, and a second explosion followed moments later. The second blast blew me off John's swift boat, PCF-94, throwing me into the river. Fearing that the other boats would run me over, I swam to the bottom of the river and stayed there as long as I could hold my breath."
Ok, going there next ... I typed two transcripts of Kerry’s crewman refuting the story way back when, one from Hannity, the other from Savage, so I went looking for those first.
I have a lot of respect for you guys. You’ve done a great job, and you should be proud of yourselves.
The Swift Boat Vets have basically become a four letter word for the Democrats and their operatives. They try to act like you’re some sort of organized rumor mill. Their media shills should know better, but advance this party line anyway.
I try to take folks to task who slander you. They can do it, but I want them to know that they do it at the expense of their own credibility.
Take care. Keep up the good work. Keep us in the loop (as if you wouldn’t anyway).
Thanks.
D1
So Brokaw went along with the deception, no surprise there.
BTTT
outstanding!!
Thanks to the Swift Boat vets we were saved from 4 years of disaster under Kerry. :)
That's because the aforementioned media shills are essentially an organized leftist rumor mill...
I try to take folks to task who slander you. They can do it, but I want them to know that they do it at the expense of their own credibility.
That's what it takes. The evidence of what really happened is available to anybody who cares about the truth.
Take care. Keep up the good work. Keep us in the loop (as if you wouldn’t anyway).
Thanks, D1. Will do...
Thanks, amigo. Next time somebody makes noises about “swift boating” around you, throw this link at ‘em...
“Actually, the Swift boat campaign changed the minds of large numbers of people, as documented by several polls taken in 2004. That’s why they were so effective.”
The truth is always a powerful weapon. Kerry chose to lie, and truth was simply put out to be heard.
The lesson is; don’t lie in the first place.
I heard John Kerry was a Vietnam vet.
As I observe the classic propaganda technique of simply telling lies over and over louder than the opponents can speak, I remind myself that John Kerry is not, nor will he ever be, President of the United States. The Swift Boat Veterans for truth saved us from that and nothing Kerry or his apologists can say or do will change it.
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