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The Officers-in-Charge of Swift boats PCF-51, PCF-23, PCF-43, and PCF-3 state that they were not receiving enemy fire after the mine explosion.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush rejected on Friday arguments from Democrats that a series political ads by the group Swiftboat Veterans for Truth constituted an unfair attack on Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War record. "I don't think [their allegations] are a smear," Gov. Bush told radio host Sean Hannity. Story Continues Below "In fact, what ought to happen is, there ought to be fact checks. Every ad that goes out ought to be looked at by the press in an objective way and people can make their own determination whether they're accurate or not." The comments by the Florida governor marked...

Retired Gen. Tommy Franks' command of The New York Times best-seller list will be brief, because of the intense interest in what some other veterans have to say.After two weeks at No. 1, Franks' "American Soldier" will drop to no. 2 on the list to be published Sept. 5, when "Unfit for Command," the account of the Swift boat vets against John Kerry, takes the top slot.The book's rise is remarkable since the Sept. 5 list is based on sales last week, when copies were unavailable in many stores.Demand had depleted Regnery Publishing's initial printing of 85,000 copies. It'll have...

***KERRY CAUGHT IN ANOTHER FIB (NOW ALMOST DAILY) - HEAR THE AUDIO - IN KERRY'S OWN WORDS***

My piece on Kerry and the Swift-boat veterans generated some 200 e-mails, a far greater number than from anything else I have ever written. About two-thirds of the responses were complimentary. Some pointed out an error: Sen. Max Cleland was not awarded a Purple Heart for the very reason I quoted from his autobiography. (His wounds, serious as they were, did not result from enemy action.) Mea culpa. Others took issue with my argument that the Swifties should have avoided attacking Kerry's record in Vietnam and focused their attention on the real story: what he did when he returned....

NEW YORK -- Retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. said Thursday in his first on-the-record interview about the Swift boat veterans dispute that "I was absolutely in the skimmer" in the early morning on Dec. 2, 1968, when Lt. (j.g.) John Kerry was involved in an incident which led to his first Purple Heart. "Kerry nicked himself with a M-79 (grenade launcher)," Schachte said in a telephone interview from his home in Charleston, S.C. He said, "Kerry requested a Purple Heart." Schachte, who also was then a lieutenant junior grade, said he was in command of the small Boston...

French Suspended By Nick Voll (August 27, 2004) Oregon City - The Clackamas County Prosecutor who appeared in an ad against John Kerry has been suspended from his job, but not for speaking out. Al French has been the target of local protests after his appearance in a political ad questioning the the Democratic candidate's war record. On Thursday he was placed on leave by the Clackamas County District Attorney's office. It wasn't for his statements against Kerry, but for lying about an extra-marital affair. Reports say French misled his former boss ten years ago to avoid getting fired. French...

"...Over most of the campaign year, John Kerry has not faced much adversity. From the media preordaining him as "the" candidate earlier in the year, to his sudden and swift winning of the nomination, to his further coronation experience at his nominating convention, things have pretty much gone his way. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have exposed something that I think is far more damaging about Kerry than they realized at the time. Vietnam - blah, blah, blah - you hear the two sides go at it and so it goes ... But last Thursday, John Kerry gave the...

Friday, August 27, 2004 Swiftboat veterans expose something new Posted: August 27, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Kevin McCullough © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Something struck me today that jolted my thinking on the whole swiftboat veterans issue. As I was reading the reports of John Kerry sending campaign staff to Crawford to ask President Bush to denounce the swiftboat ads, something just smacked me in the face. Over most of the campaign year, John Kerry has not faced much adversity. From the media preordaining him as "the" candidate earlier in the year, to his sudden and swift winning of the nomination, to his...

BRIT HUME, OF FOX NEWS CHANNEL (CHILDHOOD SCHOOLMATE OF JOHN KERRY) BUSTS KERRY ON LIE TOLD TO AFRICAN AMERICANS IN 2003 - HEAR THE AUDIO/CLICK HERE

We formed Swift Boat Veterans For Truth for one purpose: to present to the American public our conclusion that John Kerry is not fit to be commander in chief. Why have we come forward? As explained in "Unfit For Command," Mr. Kerry grossly exaggerated and lied about his abbreviated four-month tour in Vietnam. He disgraced all legitimate Vietnam War heroes when he falsely testified to Congress that we were war criminals, daily engaged in atrocities that had the full approval of all levels in the chain of command. So, once Mr. Kerry decided to apply for the commander in chief's...

BRIT HUME, OF FOX NEWS CHANNEL (CHILDHOOD SCHOOLMATE OF JOHN KERRY) BUSTS KERRY ON LIE TOLD TO AFRICAN AMERICANS IN 2003 - HEAR THE AUDIO/CLICK HERE

Vietnam Vet Questions Kerry on War Record Thursday August 26, 2004 8:01 PM AP Photo MNJM101 By JERRY SCHWARTZ AP National Writer Twice in 33 years, John O'Neill looked up from a hospital bed and saw John Kerry on television. Each time, he was stirred to action. In 1971, while recovering from leg surgery, O'Neill watched his fellow Vietnam veteran tell a Senate committee that U.S. soldiers had admitted committing war crimes there. Infuriated, O'Neill debated Kerry on national television. He accused him of libel and spreading ``the big lie.'' This year, in intensive care after donating a kidney to...

Seeking the thoughts of the group... Perhaps I'm way out there, but it occurs to me that Mr. Kerry has committed at least one of three felonies... 1. As he testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he was involved in the commission of war crimes 2. He said he was aware of pther people committing war crimes...but there is no indication he ever reported any of them, which is a felony offense in and of itself. 3. If both or either of these things he testified to are actually untrue, then he committed perjury in his testimony before a...

Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ] RASSMANN GOT A PURPLE HEART, TOO? ON THE SAME DAY? [08/26 01:52 PM] Has it been reported elsewhere that Jim Rassmann, the man John Kerry fished out of the river, was awarded a Purple Heart “for wounds received in connection with military operations against a hostile force” on the day he was rescued by John Kerry? Have any of the accounts of that day listed an injury on the part of Rassmann? The descriptions, including Rassmann‘s own, don‘t mention this injury. The Kerry Spot is not charging Rassmann with not being injured; but...

March 13, 1969 1. On March 13, 1969, did you wound yourself in the hip with a rice grenade? 2. Why was the above wound reported to the Navy for a Purple Heart as coming from a water mine? 3. On March 13, 1969, did you suffer a contusion (minor) (i.e., bruise) on your arm, as opposed to a bleeding wounded arm? 4. Did you claim your third Purple Heart and leave Vietnam eight months early on the basis of this bruise? 5. On March 13, 1969, did the boats other than yours stay behind and come to the aid...

(Sample question, one of many) Bethlehem, Pa.: Mr. O'Neill, you are questioning the validity of medals awarded to John Kerry by the U.S. government. Aren't you also by implication questioning the competency of the medal eligibility determinations made by U.S. military brass? If so, aren't you in reality calling into question the authenticity of every medal awarded to every U.S. serviceman? If so, how do we differentitate the "good" medals from the "bad" medals? John E. O'Neill: A portion of the book deals with the incidents in which John Kerry obtained medals. With respect to John Kerry’s first Purple Heart...

ANOKA, Minn. - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) on Thursday lashed out at "the lie that's been put out there" about his Vietnam War service as Republicans and Democrats fiercely debated his military record, sensing a political advantage in keeping the issue alive. The debate started when a group of critics, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, raised questions about the Democratic presidential candidate's command during the Vietnam War. It has escalated into a tit-for-tat advertising war amid accusations from each campaign that the other side is improperly using independent groups to front their attacks. Responding to a...

In April of 1971 John Kerry gave the following testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "I called the media .... I said 'If I take some crippled veterans down to the White House and we chain ourselves to the gates, will we get coverage?' 'O, yes, we'll cover that.'" Then, on August 25, 2004, John Kerry sends Max Cleland, a veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam to accost George Bush at the gates of his Crawford ranch. It was a sad and pathetic spectacle, especially for people like myself who have known and loved Max Cleland for so...

John O’Neill commanded the same Swift boat during the Vietnam War that John Kerry did. One of 254 Swift boat veterans who holds a negative view of the Democratic presidential candidate, O’Neill is co-author of the current best-seller Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (Regnery Publishing). To learn more about this group of highly-decorated veterans, visit SwiftVets.com. John O’Neill is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Texas Law School. He was law clerk in 1974 for Justice William Rehnquist at the United...