Kerry Boatmate: Vietnam Troubles Just Beginning

News Max ^ | 4.26.04

[hope]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Monday, Apr. 26, 2004 11:01 PM EDT

Kerry Boatmate: Vietnam Troubles Just Beginning

Sen. John Kerry's Monday morning meltdown on "Good Morning America" may be just the beginning of his troubles, according to one of his Vietnam boatmates, who is warning that more of the men who served alongside the Massachusetts Democrat are preparing to go public with their accounts.

Texas lawyer John O'Neill, who served on Kerry's swiftboat after he left Vietnam just four months into his tour, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday, "I was in exactly the same unit. There were many people who were there simultaneously with him who are all about to speak."

O'Neill gained brief fame in 1971 when he debated Kerry on the "Dick Cavett Show" and forced him to admit he never personally witnessed the war crimes he'd been accusing U.S. troops of committing.

Though he's been contacted by Kerry's opponents every time the Massachusetts Democrat has run for office in the 33-years since - O'Neill has refused to speak out. Until now.

Referring to reports this week in the Boston Globe questioning whether Kerry may have exaggerated his combat record, O'Neill told Malzberg, "This is just the first opening. They'll be many different people. But I'd prefer to let the people who were actually there speak directly."

O'Neill cited a Jan. 29, 1969 firefight that Kerry claims on his campaign web site that he and his boatmates were in.

"But according to the Boston Globe," said the swiftboat veteran, "Kerry was not even on the boat that night. The guy that was really on the boat was a fellow officer of ours named Ted Peck. He remembers well that fight because he was terribly wounded in three places."

"There was no Kerry anywhere around," O'Neill said. "And yet it appears on his web site as some pitched battle that Kerry was involved in."

Noting that the Democratic presidential candidate has made his Vietnam war experience the centerpiece of every campaign for office, O'Neill complained: "It's [Kerry's] self promotion that infuriates most of the people from his unit who actually know what he did."

"He would be a terrible Commander-in-Chief of U.S. forces in the world at a time of crisis," the Kerry boatmate warned.

Get Steve Malzberg's exclusive NewsMax.com column emailed directly to you at www.newsmax.com/malzberg.

Editor's note:

• Breaking: The Real Story About John Kerry`s Vietnam Record – Click Here!
  

  Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
  

  Sen John Kerry
  

108-108-108-108

[BlueLancer]

"...he was on A boat. he cleverly failed to mention WHICH boat..."

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip;
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship."

[1Old Pro]

He's melting faster than the wicked witch.

[L,TOWM]

I'm pretty sure the Gilligan's Island theme would'nt fit in this case.
Specifically:

The mate was a mighty sailor man
The Skipper brave and true...

Definately does'nt work.

[hosepipe]

[ This is a terrible mistake. Shut up, everyone! Stop tearing Kerry down ]

Hillary wants to be VeeP nominee anyways, and will be.. to position herself for 2008.. She herself will NOT allow Kerry to actually win.. That way Kerry looses 2004 opening the way for her in 2008 allowing much less money to spent in the 2008 primarys, if any at all. Kerry is a ringer, a shill, and knows it. The only ones that don't are the average democrat and most all republicans. But I'll bet Bush knows.

[general_re]

I'm pretty sure the Gilligan's Island theme would'nt fit in this case.

Yeah, but what about this bit:

If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
The Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
The ship took ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
With Gilligan,
The Skipper too,
The Millionaire,
And her Husband...

Or something - I'm working from memory here...

[TruBluKentuckian]

Wait wait wait people...

If this is the same John O'Neill that was on Dick Cavett with Kerry then he was NOT a "boatmate" of Kerry's. He was just in the same area of Viet Nam at the same time.

I watched the Cavett appearence when it was shown on CSPAN and it was made very clear that O'Neill and Kerry didn't serve together nor did they know each other in Viet Nam.

[kellynla]

Good for you.

You might post the name organization so that we all will be aware of it.

I have my doubts that the organization is really a Viet Nam organization with a large number of Viet Nam war veterans. So it might be a good idea to check it out and see if it is a legitimate Viet Nam war organization.

Like these bogus "veterans" outfits who try to get donations over the phone and it turns out they are scams.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[RinaseaofDs]

It will be with Edwards, not Hillary.

The fact is that Edwards, running against Bush from June to November stands a better chance of winning than Kerry.

If they pull this at the convention, if the convention opens up 'legitimately', it won't be a Toricelli. They could make it work.

But would the Clintons allow Edwards a shot at it to win?

[Poohbah]

If they pull this at the convention, if the convention opens up 'legitimately', it won't be a Toricelli.

Note to John Kerry: avoid meeting Senator Clinton at Fort Marcy Park.

[hobson]

I don't recall the name of the organization but if they call again I will make note of it.

[Positive]

"JK only spent 1/3 of a tour in Viet Nam not even completing his on year commitment? Wow, I have been on vacations longer than four months."

Anyone who got 3 Purple Hearts got sent home early. This of course is one of the reasons that Kerry worked so hard to get those Hearts issued for injuries less severe than I have suffered in my kitchen.

The big question is; were these injuries actually inflicted by the enemy? If he injured himself getting in or out of a boat or if he fell and scraped his knee running away from the enemy he would not get the Purple Heart...unless he made up a different version of events.

[Semper Paratus]

Kerry's Presidential candidicy will be the last casualty of the Vietnam War.

[Interesting Times]

If this is the same John O'Neill that was on Dick Cavett with Kerry then he was NOT a "boatmate" of Kerry's. He was just in the same area of Viet Nam at the same time.

John O'Neill was a Swift boat commander beginning two months after Kerry took his Purple Hearts and went home. He's now working with a number of Kerry's contemporaries to tell the truth about what they actually did in the Mekong Delta, as opposed to Kerry's tales of "atrocities." Many of the other veterans knew and worked with Kerry.

We'll be posting some of their stories at WinterSoldier.com in the near future.

[ASA Vet]

John F'n Kerry never was the commiecRATs intended candidate.
He is their throw away just killing time so Comrade Hillary won't
have to face President Bush until much later.
He will withdraw within the week before the commiecRAT convention.
Comrade Hillary, their savior, will step up to rescue the party.

[Ciexyz]

Time to "out" Three Bandaid Kerry for his Vietnam lies.

[Ciexyz]

There's no shortage of media shills that are pumping for Kerry and his team. Chris Matthews from Hardball was on late night TV (the one that follows Leno) slobbering about how wonderful Teresa Heinz Kerry is -- including her right to be called an African American!

[Ciexyz]

I believe we should continue attacking Kerry with the truth. Don't wait till after the Dem convention....it may be too late to stop his momentum by then. Bush is right to continue with the TV ads. The Republicans in PA waited too long in the governor's campaign to get their message out, and by the time they started to advertize, Democratic Ed Rendell was unstoppable.

[aculeus]

... a new one on Drudge:

On the Friday before his MEET THE PRESS appearance, Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry flew his Washington, DC hairdresser to Pittsburgh for a touch-up, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

$1000 HAIRCUT? KERRY FLIES IN HAIRDRESSER FOR TOUCH-UP BEFORE 'MEET THE PRESS'

[hellinahandcart]

$1000 HAIRCUT? KERRY FLIES IN HAIRDRESSER

I'd fly him in too. The hairdresser is a hairdressin' wizard. It wasn't just the botox that suddenly youthened him up.

[TruBluKentuckian]

That's all well and good, and I'm all for it, but we need to be careful here. Calling O'Neill a "boatmate" suggests that he was on the same boat at the same time and would be a very easy target for the Kerry Kronies to use to defuse the story.