Free Republic

Sorry [not really] about the vanity, but something happened last night on Hannity & Colmes that really burned me up. Swiftie Van Odell was on and when Colmes got his turn, he claimed that some Vietnamese civilians had come out and taken Kerry’s side about the incident where Kerry had pursued and killed either a teenager or a young man … the “loincloth” incident, and that the Swifties’ accusation was therefore false. Odell, very calmly, pointed out that their charge was not based on anything a Swiftie was saying, but came from Kerry’s own words in Tour of Duty. Odell...

I've been trying for some time to obtain an interview with one of the members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. I most wanted to talked to one of the enlisted men who served personally with Kerry, and after much trying, I finally managed to get a phone interview late last week with Van Odell, who served as a gunner's mate in the same unit as John Kerry and who served with him longer than anyone else did in Viet Nam. Van runs his own small business in Texas as a professional woodworker, making custom furniture and speciality jewelry...

Van Odell interviewed on Fox just responded that he'll take a lie detector test "any time". He suggested we give the test to Kerry too. Note that he didn't condition his test on Kerry testing also. He did a great job answering directly all their questions, which is always easy to do when you're telling the truth. I liked his explanation about the alleged enemy fire. He said it would be absurd for the enemy to fire from both sides of the river. They would be shooting at each other.

Considering the fact that George W. Bush never got closer to Vietnam than the Air National Guard, it is a testament to the shrewdness of his allies that they have managed to turn this presidential campaign into a referendum on the guy who actually went to war. It probably doesn't matter that John Kerry's antagonists in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are demonstrably fact-challenged; as evidenced on the TV talk shows yesterday, they lack documentary proof for their most serious assertions, and, in many cases, their current ire toward Kerry has been undercut by their past praise. What does...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Van Odell, a member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that has spearheaded a campaign against Kerry's service record, said his was one of seven eyewitness accounts and he was not being directed by President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign. He has charged that then Navy Lt. Kerry, a...

Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied Sun Aug 22, 2004 07:08 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Van Odell, a member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that has spearheaded a campaign against Kerry's service record, said his was one of seven eyewitness accounts and he was not being directed by President Bush's campaign....

Here is a closed captioned transcript of Van O'Dell (SVFT) and Chris Wallaced hosted O'Dell and ..... but seemed to take on O'Dell a little too much if you ask me.. Image #1Image #2Transcript coming...pending first break... G

Clearly Jim Rassmann's account of being under fire when he was in the water differs from that of the Swift Boat Vets. But after reading this statment from Swift Boat Vet Van O'Dell is it possible that what Rassmann thought was enemy fire was really the suppression fire laid down by all the Swiftboats? Given O'Dell's description of the "black billowing smoke" from the blown up swiftboat, and Rassmann's understandable disorientation from having been blown out of a ship, it seems possible he could have been mistaken.

Statement by Navy Veteran Van Odell, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, in Rebuttal to Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, August 19, 2004 A courageous, soft spoken man of the Midwest, Larry Thurlow has a heart bigger than the great plains and a commitment to truth and honesty that is boundless. He is under attack, because John Kerry is feeling the heat of truth at the hands of this honest man and others like him. The Kerry Campaign is attacking the truthfulness of this man and the Bronze Star he so richly deserves for his actions on March 13, 1969. I was...

Judson Cox: Who are you, and who are the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Van Odell: I served in the U.S. Navy from October 1966 to October 1972. I was assigned to Coastal Squadron 1 on Swift Boats as a Gunners Mate in Vietnam, on January 9, 1969. During the period January 9, 1969 through July 1969 I served in Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi, RVN. While assigned to Cos Div 11 I served on PCF's 93, 35, and 10. I was on many of the river patrols that John Kerry was also assigned. During this time I observed...