Posted on 08/12/2004 7:28:05 AM PDT by ride the whirlwind
Allegations that presidential hopeful John Kerry embellished if not outright lied about his behavior in Vietnam to gain Purple Hearts and awards for bravery in just four months are afloat like something rude in a punch bowl.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, including all but a handful of Kerry's former comrades from Coastal Division 11, assert Kerry lied to gain those some of those medals and is unfit to be commander in chief of U.S. military forces. As a 527 organization, named for the section of the IRS code that governs such groups, they're making that point in a television ad in West Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin, and also in a book called "Unfit for Command."
Kerry's campaign folks say it's all a lie, that the Swifties, as they call themselves, are little more than GOP-funded political hitmen. They have yet to pick apart the vets' claims point by point. And while it's true a Kerry supporter and participant in one questioned event from the war appear on television to say it ain't so, the Democrats' defense has in the main consisted of bluster and smoke: threatening communications to television stations running the ad, filing legal action through support organizations to stop its airing, diverting attention by pointing to socially insensitive remarks by a co-author of "Unfit for Command," indignantly pointing to a prominent Texas GOP supporter for contributing money for the ads (ignoring prominent Democratic contributors to unofficial pro-Kerry organizations) and sending spinmeisters to voice outrage or disdain on television shows.
What's true and what's false? Who is basically accurate in their assertions, and whose pants are on fire? And does it really matter more than 30 years after the United States extricated itself from a costly and unpopular war?
"John Kerry was in the Navy, his superiors recommended him for medals, he was honorably discharged. Let it go," John A. Brieden III, national commander of the American Legion, told UPI in summing up his organization's position on the issue. "George Bush was in the National Guard. He was honorably discharged. Let it go."
Wish we could. But Kerry has made his military service a key sales point in his quest for the presidency. He reinforced it at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, when he approached the microphone, saluted and intoned: "John Kerry reporting for duty." Prior to that performance, Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, virtually threw the gauntlet down. If anyone had any questions about Kerry's ability to lead the nation in wartime, then ask those who served with him in Vietnam, Edwards said on national television.
Kerry's former comrades point to a number of questionable incidents, including what they say are awards for very minor and accidental, self-inflicted wounds, and present documentation -- including official Navy paperwork -- to back up their claims.
A major bone-picking occurs over events on March 13, 1969, on the Bay Hap River, for which Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart. According to Kerry's recollection in the authorized "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War," Kerry braved enemy fire and disregarded his own wounds to help an Army Special Forces officer who fell off Kerry's river patrol boat after a nearby vessel was damaged by a mine. The Swift Boat vets there at the time say Kerry raced away from the scene and returned on his boat only a few minutes later when it was clear the Americans were not under fire from the surrounding riverbanks.
The group says Kerry wrote an after-action report that said there was heavy enemy fire for about 5,000 meters (more than 3 miles) along the riverbank. The Swifties, who on three other boats immediately surrounded the stricken vessel and pulled crew members from the water, said they received no incoming enemy fire.
In a Navy document presented by the Swifties, Kerry also indicates he was wounded in the buttocks with shrapnel from a second exploding mine (a battle wound that could qualify for a Purple Heart) and also bruised his arm. The Swifties say there was no second explosion and that Kerry's buttock wound happened earlier in the day when he threw a grenade into a rice cache and didn't get clear. Even that account, they note, appears in Kerry's biographies.
The third Purple Heart was Kerry's ticket home under Navy regulations in place at the time.
Another charge is that Kerry is lying about being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968. On March 27, 1986, Kerry stated on the floor of the Senate that it was seared into his memory that he was in Cambodia then. The Swifties say no one was allowed in Cambodia at that time; Steve Gardner, a gunner on Kerry's boat, told UPI they were in Vietnam, at a village some 50 miles from the border.
Not all major media organizations are paying attention to the charges. And many that are address the issue only in the context of dubious or inappropriate attack ads against the Democratic standard-bearer. Why no media feeding frenzy? It could be the political bias of editors, but there is another angle: most senior editors are of Vietnam age.
For those too young to remember or who weren't even born yet, the Vietnam War tore America apart. Anti-war protests by leftists and students spread across campuses and into suburbia as more and more Americans died in what seemed a futile and misguided conflict. Those in school full time were granted draft deferments; others found different ways of avoiding putting on a uniform. Many took part in anti-war protests out of conviction or as a social lark. Maybe they now don't want to be reminded or asked questions with no comfortable answers.
Whatever the reason, Kerry's Swift Boat detractors deserve to be heard, and their questions deserve straight answers.
Richard Tomkins is a White House correspondent for UPI, a sister news service of Insight.
Rather suspicious, isn't it?
When someone gets a straight answer out of Kerry is the same day Castro defects to the U.S..
Somebody needs to investigate the quid pro quo that Kerry's crewmates may have received for presenting a flattering story.
Kerry is wishing he bought off a few officers now.
So...which side is going to crack first?
Oh boy, who knows what lurks in that lock box? Rassmann, for instance, is an enigma to ome - why is he so quick to call sKerry a hero?
They have yet to do anything but mount personal attacks on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Look at how the media gobbled up the GWB Nat'l Guard story, based on the accusation by Terry Mcauliffe.
Now, over 200 Swift Vets sign on to the fact that Kerry's Vietnam service is a fraud, and not a peep out of the mainstream media. If this doesn't show the media bias, I don't know what does.
I believe even Rassmann agrees that Kerry got hit in the butt by rice.
I do not believe that the American Legion, the DAV, AMVETS, and the VFW are non-partisan. I am a member of DAV and an ex-member of both the Legion and the VFW. They do some really good things.
I've detected a distinct lean toward the Dem Party at the upper echelons. Be careful with any of their pronouncements.
This seems pretty telling to me! I was in Viet Nam on Christmas Eve of 1968, and even though I had been drinking I still knew where I was. Then again, maybe my 1 year tour was only a dream and I was really in Oz.
Yesterday, I read right here on FR that four or six(?) of them ALSO were put in for Bronze Stars by LtJG Kerry, and they received them. And yes, these guys are part of his 'Band of Brothers' dog and pony show.
Oh and it turns out that the Black Rev who is part of Kerry's B.o.B. - DID NOT serve on Kerry's boat as previously claimed by Kerry and his attack dogs. How he got in that one pic on the boat is now under scrutiny. This was also posted yesterday.
Actually, both are probably true. Schools of journalism were (and are) completely infested by leftwinger types. Any "journalists" that are "of Vietnam age" are likely to have anti-war protestor roots.
$$, fame, influence; you know, the usual corruptions.
I thought there was a crewmate who hadn't joined the party--if so, that'd be the logical place to begin investigating.
I do remember the protests!
I hated them!
I remember the drugs and sit-ins. The long nasty hair and shacking-up. I remember the ugliness of the college students dancing in the streets and hating any rules and shedding their clothes. They wanted to break-up this Country and almost did! They used music and almost ruined the patriotic heart of America!
The Vietnam Vets coming home were sneared at and marched against and made to feel not only, not appreciated.......they were accused of atrocities and spit at and treated with derision! College kids and those that had nothing else to do, did it!
Any person that did that, was scum as far as I was concerned!
HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!!!!??????????????
They didn't deserve to shine the shoes of these Vets coming back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY DON'T DESERVE IT NOW, EITHER!!!
DO NOT VOTE FOR ONE OF THESE SCUMS! KERRY IS ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE HAVE THESE SAME KINDS OF PEOPLE IN OUR GOV. NOW!!!
THEY ARE DEMS AND RINOS!!!!!!!
And yes.........I'm screaming. This is sickening to me!!!
Anyone that comes out against these TRAITORS are being drug through the mud.
Don't let that happen to these Swift Vets!
They are speaking the truth!
No wonder he has no clue about the anger of VN vets.
"Brieden is a United States Army veteran where he served as an Infantry Officer from 1972 – 1977. During his time in the Army he attended Ranger School, Airborne School, Jungle Warfare School and Artic Warfare School. He was selected to serve in the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry when the U.S. Army was first going back to the concept of Ranger Battalions."
Rest assured, Kerry will never address these issues. It is a page from the Clinton playbook. Attack your accusers at every chance.
We will elect Kerry as President and begin a terrible descent as Kerry pulls out of Iraq (again, following the Clinton playbook of pulling out of Somalia when American soldiers were killed) and kills the economic recovery (by raising taxes). Essentially, Kerry wants to pick up where Carter left off. This is the real tragedy - at least half of America learned nothing from the Carter years or, like all liberals, believe that somehow it can be done correctly this time.
Did anyone see "Blackhawk Down?" It is an excellent, yet tragic movie about the military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia. What the movie left out was why the U.S. went into Mogadishu without armor support. The answer? Clinton, wanting to play ball with the U.N., had to rely on Pakistan for armor support. Despite repeated pleas for armour, the Clinton administration said no and ultimately stopped responding altogether. Here is a brief summary of the problems related to 1) having a liberal president and 2) relying on the U.N.:
"Mission creep" was endemic for the American command there. Eventually the National Command Authority decided that no progress would be made in Somalia until the tribal warlords were subdued, especially Mohammed Farah Aideed. American forces in Mogadishu were sniped at the their base camps came under frequent mortar attack. Troops were killed and wounded with no apparent progress being made.
In September 1993, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staf, Gen. Colin Powell, asked Aspin for approval to send Abrams tanks and other armored combat vehicles to Somalia. Aspin refused the request for reasons that are not clear to this day.
The next month American Rangers and soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division became embroiled in the now infamous battle detailed in Mark Bowden's bestseller, Black Hawk Down. In an attempt to capture Aideed and other key Somali figures, 18 American soldiers were killed, dozens wounded, one helicopter pilot captured, three choppers lost and American dead dragged through the streets of the city.
When word reached (or was leaked to) Congress that the American combat commanders on the ground had been compelled to beg a Pakistani unit to send an armored column to rescue the Rangers, the stuff hit the fan. Twenty-five Republican members of Congress called for Aspin's resignation or dismissal from office (although none threatened impeachment, as the habitually overwrought Rep. Charlie Rangel has done regarding Rumsfeld). The mantra quickly became that Aspin's rejection of Powell's request for armor had led to the unnecessary deaths of American soldiers.
THIS IS WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO LISTEN TO VIETVETS AGAINST KERRY! THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN UNDER KERRY!
What I can't believe is the proposal of a second reason that editors are not ripping Mr. Kerry a new one, that the Vietnam war tore the country apart way back when and we don't want unearth those sentiments again blah blah ad nauseum. Or something to that effect. TOO BAD. My brother was KIA in SVN when I was 6 yrs old. He was drafted, they made him a medic, and he served. His Purple Heart and Bronze Star hang in a frame on my mom's mantel. I thought my dad was going to have apoplexy when Carter granted amnesty to the draft dodgers residing in Canada in the late 70's. I want the the truth from this guy. Not that I care myself, he's a pro-abort and therefore has no credibility in other matters. The American people deserve to know.
W04.
Does anyone have access to the articles (many posted here) from the past 5 or so years about the politicians who had long claimed to be Navy Seals and, when proven they had lied, resigned?
KERRY: APOLOGIZE AND RESIGN!!
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