Free Republic

When chief of staff Andrew Card knelt down and told George Bush “America is under attack” 15 years ago Sunday, the words he whispered in the president’s ear in a Florida classroom launched what was supposed to be a planned, orderly response to a national emergency. But what followed instead was chaos, a breakdown in communication and protocol that risked international conflict and could have made Sept. 11, 2001, a still bigger tragedy. There were live nukes on the tarmac at U.S. airbases, a failed communications system, and a security protocol for the president and his potential successors — the...

As an FBI agent who specialized in counter-terrorism, John P. O’Neill investigated the bombing of the American embassies in Africa, the USS Cole in Yemen, the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and the first attack on the World Trade Center. O’Neill came to believe America should kill Osama bin Laden before Al Qaeda launched a devastating attack, but his was often a lonely voice. A controversial figure inside the buttoned-down world of the FBI, he was forced out of the job he loved and entered the private sector – as director of security for the World Trade Center.

And the sergeant’s platoon is right to speak out against him, the Vietnam vet says. A former chairman of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth defended Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers from a White House charge that they are unfairly “swiftboating” the former Taliban captive by coming forward to criticize him. Bergdahl’s questionable conduct, he suggests, is analogous to that of Secretary of State John Kerry, whom the group famously opposed in the 2004 presidential election. “Those guys had friends who died in Afghanistan like we had friends who died in Vietnam, and to allow this kind of thing...

Incensed by the negative ads that have spoiled his campaign, Newt Gingrich recently complained he’d been “Romneyboated,” an allusion to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose ads helped derail Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. John O’Neill, the swift-boat captain who led the anti-Kerry movement, is none too pleased with the comparison. “To me, it reflects Gingrich’s very cynical hypocrisy, which he shares with Kerry,” O’Neill tells National Review Online. That hypocrisy “is the reason why he can appear with [Nancy] Pelosi in climate-change ads and why he can take money from Freddie Mac: If you’re part...

One of the core charges that John Kerry’s media-aided campaign made in 2004 and since to delegitimize the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is that its leader John O’Neill, who had opposed Kerry in 1971, was a creation of Richard Nixon’s White House. I was there, and know better. Until now, the central purported prop for the charge went unrebutted. Charles “Chuck” Colson has now spoken up. It’s time for reputable media, and even Kerry’s advocates if they have any integrity, to cease this charge. Like a dime-novel legend, based on little, this charge has been frequently repeated and embellished...

If John Kerry had been elected President of the United States in November 2004, especially with the incoming majority Democrat Congress, it is highly likely that Iraq would be in the midst of a civil war, Iran’s regional influence would have increased, Israel would be in more jeopardy than it is now, two Supreme Court seats would be occupied by clones of John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of by John Roberts and Samuel Alito, judicial decisions would have given even more “rights” to enemy combatants, domestic entitlements and earmarks would have skyrocketed, the Bush tax cuts would be...

MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell was recently cross examined by syndicated radio host and blogger Hugh Hewitt regarding statements O’Donnell made about Mormonism as a panelist on The McLaughlin Group. Here’s part of what O’Donnell said on McLaughlin: On “Big Love” the HBO series, that has been a real headache for Romney. Here’s the problem. He dare not discuss his religion. And he fools people like Pat Buchanan who should know better. This was the worst speech, the worst political speech of my lifetime, because this man stood there and said to you, “this is the faith of my fathers.”...

Phony Soldiers and Phony Senators by John E. O'Neill 10/04/2007 Recently, at least 41 Democratic Senators, joined by a howling mob including George Soros’ Media Matters, sought to silence Rush Limbaugh because of his reference to “phony” anti war soldiers. Limbaugh’s comments, taken in context, referred to Jesse Macbeth, a confessed and convicted phony, whose faked but graphic war crimes confessions received far wider media notice than his later confession. He had been discharged in boot camp after 40 days of service. Macbeth follows a grand tradition of fake soldiers whose “war crimes” confessions have been used by the Left...

Ross Getman Is Ayman Zawahiri Behind The Anthrax Mailings? April 13, 2007 at 6:26 pm · Filed under Vox Populi Is Ayman Zawahiri Behind The Anthrax Mailings? Analysis of the means, motive, modus operandi and opportunity of the anthrax mailings in Fall 2001 suggests that US-based supporters of Ayman Zawahiri were responsible for the anthrax mailings in the Fall of 2001. The Federal Bureau of Investigation appears to have pursued all possible leads and left no stone unturned. Attorney General Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 18, 2007 that FBI Director Mueller was very committed to seeing it...

Dispirited conservatives and Republicans rightfully appalled at the Cunningham, Abramoff, and Foley scandals should remember history as they contemplate not voting in the 2006 elections because of disillusionment. In early 1973, the Dow approached new highs in a booming economy. In the 1972 election, the new left was rejected in almost every state. The Paris Peace Treaty was concluded with North Vietnam memorializing its pledge not to interfere militarily in the affairs of South Vietnam. The nation was prosperous and at peace. Worst President Within a short time, the mainstream media were able to dismember and destroy the Nixon Administration,...

John Kerry recently volunteered that he was prepared to “kick [the Swift Boat Veterans’] ass from one end of America to the other” and that he would “demolish” us. He ought to take a Christmas cruise to Cambodia to calm down. Maybe he could take a side trip to tour “Genghis Khan” ruins. It is a little difficult to imagine Kerry (“I voted for it before I voted against it”) kicking the most decorated living serviceman, Bud Day, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or our salty commander, Adm. Roy Hoffman, anywhere. Perhaps Kerry had in mind using a “Rice...

For six years, John O'Neill was the FBI's leading expert on Al Qaeda. He warned of its reach. He warned of its threat to the U.S. But to the people at FBI headquarters, O'Neill was too much of a maverick, and they stopped listening to Him. He left the FBI in the summer of 2001 and took a new job as head of security of the World Trade Center.

Press Conference August 3, 2006to announce details of aNational Veterans Rallyto be held in Rep. John Murtha's hometown of Johnstown, PA! Johnstown PA... A press conference will be held on Thursday August 3rd at 11am to make public the details of a national veterans rally to be held in Johnstown, PA.  The press conference will be held in front of Congressman John Murtha’s office, 647 Main Street, Johnstown, PA 15901. Chief Swiftboater John O'Neill co-author of "Unfit For Command" is scheduled asmain speaker at this national rally! Local rally organizers will announce that the national veterans organization “Vets for the...

ANNE BRADLEY O'NEILL passed away on Saturday, February 11, 2006. Anne was born in Monroe, Louisiana on October 23, 1947 and moved to Houston when she was two years old with her parents, Dick and Louise Bradley. She was a graduate of Lee High School and Ole Miss where she was a Chi Omega and recipient of various honors. After working at Mitchell Energy, Anne married John O'Neill in 1976. The couple was blessed with two wonderful children, Katie (1977) and Bradley (1981). Anne was a member of the Junior League of Houston and River Oaks Garden Club. She was...

I've just learned that Anne O'Neill, John O'Neill's wife has died in Houston from an infection contracted during chemotherapy. Anne was a woman of courage and grace, and I consider it a privilege to have known her. I ask your prayers for John and for the O'Neill family.

John O'Neil Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, www.vvlf.org Dear Friend, ... I believed our mission was over. Regrettably, that has not been the case for a distinguished group of Vietnam combat veterans who stood shoulder to shoulder with us during last year's effort to tell the American people the truth about John Kerry and his anti-war activities. Their situation has become so critical that I felt compelled to inform you of this urgent matter. Several Vietnam POWs and the wife of a POW who joined with us to form Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth has become the target of...

Senator Kerry, supposedly defending Rep. John Murtha, said, "I won't stand for the Swift-Boating of Jack Murtha!" As one of the 254 members of Mr. Kerry's unit in Vietnam who belonged to Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, I found Mr. Kerry's comments most ironic. To us, Mr. Kerry's comments meant that no one should do to Mr. Murtha that which Mr. Kerry did to all of us and our fellow Vietnam veterans, living and dead. Mr. Kerry's disgraceful comments on many occasions in 1971 (while we were locked in combat), claiming falsely that we were "murdering" hundreds of...

NEW YORK — The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department () now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services (), which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June. New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam...

John O’Neill Houston, Texas Dear Friend, Last year, when my fellow Swift Boat veterans and I spoke out about John Kerry, you rallied to our side. We will never forget your faith in our cause and your belief in our honesty. It made all the difference. Together we made history. Like most of you, I believed our mission was over. We could all move on with our lives, return to our families and homes secure in the knowledge we had done the right thing for America, and for our children’s future. Regrettably, that has not been the case for a...

From John O'Neill: The November election is long past, but I want to tell you about some unfinished and urgent business with which I would like your help. When my fellow Swift Boat veterans and I made our ads to expose John Kerry’s record with respect to Vietnam during the presidential campaign, we were not alone in our mission. A number of veterans who had spent time in North Vietnam prison camps were eager to tell the American people about how John Kerry’s anti-war activities had affected their treatment. The two groups of veterans worked together as the Swift Boat...