John Kerry's Former Commanding Officer Retracts Criticism

Oops

Kranish has an interesting relationship with Kerry.

 

He said he regrets signing the affidavit. What's your point Brian?

 

To descend into the muck of this disgraceful sideshow for a second:

Wow, I see affidavits all day long, and that might be one of the most wishy washy, ****-tiest, sleaziest ones I have ever seen.

Now, an affidavit is where you swear, under penalty of perjury, that something is true with respect to your personal knowledge.

Here's the operative statement of this affidavit:

"For example, in connection with his Silver Star, I was never informed that he had simply shot a wounded, fleeing Viet Cong in the back."

First off, this statement doesn't exactly make Kerry look culpable -- to the contrary, it makes the people trying to discredit him look worse. If he wasn't informed of it contemporaneously, does that make it more or less likely for it to have happened? Easy.

Second, it is an inherently empty statement. I could easily swear out an affidavit under penalty of perjury that says more or less the same thing. Similarly, I could swear out a statement saying "I was never informed that Kerry worships Satan and murders baby koala bears in his spare time" under penalty of perjury and be completely, 100% comfortable with that statement.

It's a classic implication by negative inference, something that you have no personal knowledge of -- yet verbally crafted so that you can swear to it in an affidavit without fear of perjuring yourself.

Very, very slimy; In my opinion, an affidavit like this, while citable for a political huckster like O'Neill, would be inadmissible on most issues in any court of law that I've ever been in.

How am I not surprised that tricked out affidavits are being used in this disgraceful, shameful episode of the campaign.....

It's really too much, have you no sense of deceny sir?

oh, and by the way, in case anybody is distracted by this...., THE ECONOMY IS SHOWING WORRISOME SIGNS OF SLOWDOWN, THE MARKETS ARE TANKING, THE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT IS AT RECORD LEVELS, THE SHIITES HAVE BEGUN ANOTHER REBELLION IN IRAQ, AND AL QAEDA IS STILL ACTIVELY TRYING TO ATTACK US
...now back to your regularly scheduled diversion.

 

Sometimes i wonder why these guys would sign the affidavit in the first place. It wasn't asif it were testimony under oath that they had no choice but to give. I would have thought there would be an unspoken rule for vets that you don't criticize another vet for his time in combat. Sort of a military version of the What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Not that they would necessarily support his campaign -- but that they would at least support his time in the military.

But i guess not.

I guess everyone loves a microphone.

 

I hate em! I can act my ass off in front of a house of 2500 people (I've done it before) but you put a mic in my hands and I freeze like a baby koala bear!

 

LOL.

No, I have no sense of deceny.

Well, I know all that, but I thought the discussion was about the supposed backtracking of one of the Kerry bashers and I thought the relationship between the person reporting the supposed backtracking and the Kerry campaign was of interest, contextually speaking.

If you would like us to begin shutting down and/or deleting topics that are irrelevant, say the word.

 

Heh, I already knew that, and neither do I, but that's beside the point -- I was talking about the SBV's and referencing what's-his- name's famous line to Senator McCarthy back in the day...

I agree, I was referring to the spectacle of the SBV's as a whole, rather than you or this thread specifically; The only reason why I quoted you was because you had the link to the affidavit.

I would, but you could make me a moderator instead! I'd be fair and balanced!

 

We can't have moderators with political leanings. They have to be 100 percent objective, like me.

I think this country needs to make up its mind whether it thinks military service is a qualification for the office of the presidency, or not. Half the country thought it was of crucial importance in 1992 and 1996 but in 2000 and 2004 decided that not only didn't it matter, but it was probably made up if it happened anyway.

Meanwhile the other half of the country continually dismissed military service as a relic of a bygone and irrelevant era, something many young Americans were smart enough to avoid in 1968. That is, until their party nominated Vietnam veterans in 2000 and 2004. Suddenly, the erstwhile defenders of draft avoidance became hawkish prosecutors of it, attacking even half-productive overseas-service evasions such as volunteering for the National Guard.

It's been interesting to watch.

 

how's this:

as his press release makes clear, "Kerry volunteered for the United States Navy after college and served from 1966 through 1970 rising to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Afterwards, Kerry continued his military service in the United States Naval Reserves through 1978.".

then, this, which the NYTimes wrote about, last april in a piece titled "Kerry's Antiwar Past Is a Delicate Issue in His Campaign":

"Two weeks later, he married Julia Thorne, and on a trip to Europe with his new bride, Mr. Kerry, the 26-year-old ex-lieutenant took a taxicab from Paris to a suburban villa. The son of a diplomat, Mr. Kerry had managed to arrange a private meeting with North Vietnamese and Vietcong emissaries to the peace talks."

so, while a lieutenant in the Naval Reserves, John Kerry conducted surreptitious talks w/ the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, with whom we were at war (the times article is incorrect about Kerry's status at the time). Seems borderline treasonous to me...

 

Nobody got mad when bj and hawkeye did it...

 

ahh basso's selective editing strikes again

more about Kerry's Paris trip you selectively forgot to include:

 

From Media Matters...
_____________

While much has been written about the identity and history of John E. O'Neill -- one of the authors of the forthcoming Regnery book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (whose links in the GOP go back to his days as "protégé of Nixon-era dirty trickster Charles Colson") -- little has been said about his co-author, Jerome R. Corsi, PhD.

• Corsi on Islam: "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion"

• Corsi on Catholicism: "Boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press"

• Corsi on Muslims: "RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together"

• Corsi on "John F*ing Commie Kerry": "After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?"

• Corsi on Senator "FAT HOG" Clinton: "Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she?"

Unfit for Command has received wide media coverage recently, in part because of hype on The Drudge Report and the website Human Events Online, which is offering a sample chapter via e-mail, and in part as a result of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's new attack ad on Kerry's service in Vietnam. The book has skyrocketed to the top of the Amazon.com "Top Sellers" list, as of August 6.

Corsi received his PhD in political science from Harvard University in 1972; his dissertation was titled Prior Restraint, Prior Punishment, and Political Dissent; a Moral and Legal Evaluation. Previously, he co-authored a report on the 1967 riots in Cleveland, titled "Shoot-out in Cleveland: Black Militants and the Police," published in 1968 by the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.

In addition to Unfit for Command, Corsi has written books on a variety of subjects, and is currently the vice president of development and senior editor of U.S. Financial Marketing Group. Recently, he has been contributing articles to the website wintersoldier.com on the subject of Senator John Kerry's record as an anti-war activist following his service in the Vietnam War.

In this series of articles, Corsi has accused Kerry of "violating the legal provision against negotiating with foreign powers (18 U.S.C. 953) and the constitutional prohibition against giving support to our nation's enemies during wartime (Article III, Section 3)"; asserted that Kerry's actions as an anti-war activist amounted to treason; and claimed that "Kerry and the VVAW consistently coordinated their efforts with Communists." Corsi asserted that, in 1971, Kerry's anti-war activism amounted to a proclamation by him that "Communists were right in maintaining that American values were corrupt and that the only solution was for America to capitulate so Communism could continue to spread." As Media Matters for America has noted, Kerry was quoted expressing exactly the opposite sentiment in a December 12, 1971, Boston Globe article: "I don't like Communists," Kerry said. "In fact, I hate them. I hate all totalitarians. I'm totally dedicated to representative, pluralistic, free democracy."

On August 6, Salon.com's Joe Conason documented links between Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the conservative online forum www.FreeRepublic.com. Conason noted that the designer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website is Robert A. Hahn, a director of the Free Republic Network, a conservative activist organization affiliated with FreeRepublic.com. Scott Swett, who is listed as the webmaster of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website, swiftvets.com, also appeared on FOX News Channel host Sean Hannity's August 5 radio show to discuss the group. Swett posts frequently to FreeRepublic.com, using the pseudonym "Interesting Times," and is also a director of the Free Republic Network. The wintersoldier.com website to which Swett has contributed articles is a project of the Free Republic Network.

Corsi is also a frequent participant in FreeRepublic.com's online forums, posting under the pseudonym "jrlc" since 2001. (Click here to read a full set of Corsi's posts; click here to read the post in which "jrlc" admits to being Jerome Corsi.)

On FreeRepublic.com, Corsi has, among other things, said that "ragheads" are "boy buggers"; referred to "John F*ing Kerry"; called Senator Hillary Clinton a "Fat Hog"; referred to her daughter as "Chubby Chelsie" Clinton; referred to Janet Reno as "Janet Rhino"; called Katie Couric "Little Katie Communist"; suggested Kerry was "practicing Judaism"; and expressed the wish that a small plane that had crashed into a building in Los Angeles had instead crashed into the set of NBC'S The West Wing, thereby killing actor Martin Sheen.

Following are some examples. [Spelling and punctuation are Corsi's own.]

On Catholics and the Pope

CORSI: Maybe while he's there he can tell the UN what he's going to do about the sexual crimes committed by "priests" in his "Church" during his tenure. Or, maybe that's the connection -- boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press. (03/03/2003)

CORSI: So this is what the last days of the Catholic Church are going to look like. Buggering boys undermines the moral base and the laywers rip the gold off the Vatican altars. We may get one more Pope, when this senile one dies, but that's probably about it. (12/16/2002)

On Islam and Arabs

CORSI: Let's see exactly why it isn't the case that Islam is a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion? Where's the proof to the contrary? (04/24/2004)

CORSI: Islam is like a virus -- it affects the mind -- maybe even better as an analogy -- it is a cancer that destroys the body it infects... No doctor would hesitate to eliminate cancer cells from the body. (11/26/02)

CORSI: Islam is a peaceful religion as long as the women are beaten, the boys buggered, and the infidels killed. (11/22/2002)

CORSI: How's this as an analogy -- the Koran is simply the "software" for producing deviant cancer cell political behavior and violence in human beings. (02/15/2002)

CORSI: Think the liberal press will ever let out that these 2 were lovers -- typical Islamic boy-buggering -- older man, younger man -- black Muslims? I doubt it. Not a pretty picture, but one certain to be hidden by PC media. (11/08/2002)

CORSI: Isn't the Democratic Party the official SODOMIZER PROTECTION ASSOCIATION of AMERICA -- oh, I forgot, it was just an accident that Clintoon's first act in office was to promote "gays in the military." RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together. (11/18/2001)

On Senator John Kerry

CORSI: First let's undermine the US in Vietnam. Then we can go for gay marriage. When you get to be Pres. JFK-lite, there will be no end to how much of America we can destroy. (05/17/2004)

CORSI: Just don't let anybody put a tablet with the Ten Commandments in front of the school where that girl wants to wear a Muslim scarf -- OH, No --- then the RATS would complain. Anti-Christian, Anti-American -- just like their Presidential Candidate -- Jean Francois Kerrie. (03/31/2004)

CORSI: After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal gradparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry? (03/04/2004)

CORSI: Kerry has a long history of Communist supporters. (03/12/2004)

CORSI: Kerry offers a clear choice. Anti-American hatred. (02/08/2004)

CORSI: John F*ing Commie Kerry and Commie Ted [Kennedy] discuss their plan to hand America over to our nation's enemies. (02/04/2004)

On former President Bill Clinton

CORSI: When is this guy going to admit he's simply an anti-American communist? Won't he and his leftist wife simply go away???? Enough already. (02/24/2002)

CORSI: Hey, Bill, didn't you steal enough when you had the chance? (02/15/2002)

CORSI: Clinton doesn't get it. Afganistan, and other Moslim countries, are not poor because they lack money. The culture itself is anti-modern. But then, maybe Slick did get it and he just wants to create another bork barrel from which he and his wife can draw slop. (02/15/2002)

CORSI: Clinton was more interested in gays in the military than going after OBL. Clinton had Janet Rhino pushing the FBI to deport a child to Castro's nondemocratic Cuba, not searching out OBL sleepers in the USA. Clinton was too busy getting BJs in the Oval Office to do more than Wag the Dog after the Cole was hit. (05/16/2002)

On Senator Hillary Clinton

CORSI: HELL-ary loves the Arabs so much (kiss, kiss Mrs. Arab*RAT) -- wonder how she would look in a Burkha? (05/21/2002)

CORSI: Mullah Ali'Gore-ah is very proud of his new Bin Laden beard and he hopes others in the Democratic Party will follow his lead. Hell-ary is disappointed she cannot grow a beard, but her press secretary reminds us she can still enroll in flight school. (01/07/02)

CORSI: Let the FAT HOG run!!! [regarding a possible presidential bid] (08/30/2003)

CORSI: Hellary should resign and go away. What ever happened to the people she ran over with her car at Westchester Airport? Can't anybody sue this b*tch? (11/17/2002)

CORSI: Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she? (06/08/2003)

On Chelsea Clinton

CORSI: According to Talk Magazine, Chubby Chelsea had a very great adventure on 9/11 in NYC and Hell-ary had the details wrong -- oh, it was terrible. (12/07/2001)

CORSI: Did the Journalist see Chubbie Chelsea among the wives. Little Katie Communist [Katie Couric] on the NBC Today show interviewed Hillary this morning and mom is worried sick about Chelsea. She was last seen in Kandahar at a Starbucks. But now, as Little Katie Communist sighed, "Who Knows?" Even British disinformation planted reports such as this grocery crap will be useful. Anyone with information about Chubbie Chelsea's whereabouts should post it now. Mom wants to know her daughter is out of harms way. Mom also wants to be at the center of the story. (11/29/2001)

CORSI: But the real question is: WHERE IS CHUBBIE CHELSEA? Is she in Kabul in danger, looking for a Starbucks? Waldo wants to know. Please, Little Katie Communist, HELP US FIND CHELSEA. THE SITUATION MAY BE URGENT. (11/29/2001)

CORSI: HILLARY SAYS CHELSEA IS MISSING AND JANET RHINO DOESN'T KNOW WHERE SHE IS? (11/28/2001)

On former Vice President Al Gore

CORSI: Gore isn't available for television. He is growing his regulation length Bin Laden beard. Mullah Ali'Gore-ah, as he now wishes to be called, is focused on his new career as a pilot. "Want to fly like bird," he says after his stint as a professor at Columbia. "No need to learn take-off or landing, just soar like bird and look at buildings." As to Florida, Mulllah Gore-ah says, "No big buildings," dismissing the importance of the state to his future plans." (12/15/2001)

On the Media

CORSI: Time to FREEP Chris Matthews of MSNBC. MSNBC is beginning to stand for "More Sh*t, Nothing But Communism." (05/16/2002)

CORSI: I didn't realize Little Katie Communist of the NBC Today Show knew how to hack a website. Finally something impressive from the little wimp. [responding to news that USA Today's website had been hacked and that the hackers were mocking President George W. Bush's Christianity] (07/12/2002)

CORSI: COMMUNISM -- it's simple NBC = NOTHING BUT COMMUNISM. (04/19/2004)

CORSI: Susan Estrogen -- even the voice grates. But then with supporters like her and Ted Kennedy, who needs enemies. Let Susan BLAH BLAH screatch -- only Chrissy Matthews whines better. (04/13/2004)

Assorted

CORSI: Perfect Liberal -- lesbian, self-absorbed, hates America, anxious to impose her values on everybody else. [on Martina Navratilova] (06/26/2002)

CORSI: And now we get Pooh-LEFTY pushed on us by the RATS as Minority Leader in the House -- here come the SanFrancisco liberals -- hope the RATS go back to focusing the debate on gay marriages and other pro-choice topics close to Pelosi's heart. (11/18/2002)

CORSI: Too bad the plane didn't crash into the TV set of the NBC show "THE LEFT WING" -- especially when Martin Sheen was "acting." (06/07/2003)

— D.B.B.

http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200408060010

 

Republicans' Dishonorable Charge
Now even John McCain has condemned the Swift Boat Veterans' outrageous attack on John Kerry's Vietnam record.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Joe Conason



Aug. 6, 2004 | "Dishonest and dishonorable" is how John McCain described the attack ad now appearing on television in several swing states, courtesy of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Dishonest because the men who appear in the ad make false claims about John Kerry's wartime conduct and decorations. Dishonorable because these men have waited three decades to publicize their slurs, with partisan motives, during a presidential campaign.

With his passionate denunciation of the swift boat commercial and its sponsors, McCain again displayed the dignity and self-respect that once elevated him above other politicians. Calling on President Bush to repudiate the ugly anti-Kerry ad, McCain took a step back from his awkward embrace of the Republican ticket last month. "I can't believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt," he told reporters, while acknowledging that he didn't know whether Bush strategists were involved.

The response of the Bush spokesmen was bland but telling. They saw no reason to disavow or endorse the swift boat ads. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that the president has never questioned Sen. Kerry's military service (as if he is in any position to do so). Although he suggested that all the "unregulated soft money" advertising should cease, he pointedly refused to condemn the swift boat ad. "The Bush-Cheney campaign has never and will never question John Kerry's service during Vietnam," echoed campaign press secretary Steve Schmidt.

When the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign declined to follow his lead, the Arizona senator could hardly have been surprised. Nobody who understands American politics as well as McCain has any illusions about the game that the Republicans are playing here. It is a strategy that dates back to the racially inflammatory Willie Horton ad aired by an "independent" group in 1988, and that was used against McCain himself in 2000 when another "independent" group aired ads against him during the Republican primaries.

The Republican orientation of the Swift Boat Veterans organization is transparently obvious, despite the inclination of some journalists to pretend otherwise. From stern to bow, they're strictly GOP.

As previously noted in this space, the group was organized last spring with the assistance of Merrie Spaeth, a Republican public relations executive from Houston whose late husband, Tex Lezar, ran for Texas lieutenant governor on George W. Bush's ticket in 1994.

Its guiding spirit is John E. O'Neill, a partner in Lezar's law firm and an early protégé of Nixon-era dirty trickster Charles Colson. (O'Neill's latest contribution to the cause is a book titled "Unfit for Command," selling fast thanks to promotion by the Drudge Report.) Its Web site was put up courtesy of William Franke, a St. Louis businessman with longstanding ties to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Missouri Republican Party. Its chief financiers, according to the group's last quarterly IRS filing, are Houston builder Bob J. Perry and the Crow family, both major Republican donors from Texas.

Last November, the Dallas Morning News profiled the mysterious Perry. During the past four years, he has given more than $5 million to candidates and causes, nearly all of them Republican and extremely conservative. The article didn't say whether Perry himself ever served in the military. The Crow family, a clan of megadevelopers based in Dallas, are close Bush friends as well as generous backers. Harlan Crow is also a trustee of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

In short, the financial supporters of the Swift Boat Vets are not exactly strangers to George W. Bush and Karl Rove.

Among the other leaders featured on the Swift Boat Vets' site are Alvin A. "Andy" Horne; Weymouth D. Symmes, also listed as the group's contact on its IRS filings; and Bill Lannom. Horne is a former Houston prosecutor who was once short-listed by former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, for an appointment as U.S. attorney. Symmes is a retired banker from Missoula, Mont., who along with his wife has donated more than $5,000 to Republican candidates and committees since 2000 (including $1,000 to Bush-Cheney 2004).

Lannom works for Iowa athletic-wear company owned by his staunchly Republican family. As his mother once explained to a local historian, "We've all been active, all my sons have been active in politics." She charmingly recalled that the Lannoms' antagonism toward Democrats dates all the way back to FDR.

The hired help employed by the Swift Vets committee is thoroughly partisan, too. Aside from Spaeth and Thomas Rupprath, the private detective she recommended to provide research services, the group's IRS filing names several experienced Washington political operatives. The June 30 filing shows payments to Robert A. Hahn, a right-wing Internet activist and Web designer who also runs something called the Free Republic Network (apparently an affiliate of the extremist Free Republic Web site); and to Tom Wyld, a Navy veteran and former director of public relations for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association.

The White House has deniability, to be sure, if charged with complicity in this campaign. The question is whether its deniability is plausible -- or risible.

As for the accuracy of the Republican veterans' accusations, they can be tested against the testimony of the men who served under Kerry's command -- all of whom but one have repeatedly endorsed his courage, his decency, and his candidacy. Denigration of Kerry's record should also be measured against the sterling evaluations that he received during the actual time of his service, including by Adm. Roy Hoffman, who now chairs the Swift Boat Veterans group.

No doubt the Republicans hope that attacking Kerry will distract from important issues they would prefer not to discuss or debate. But their campaign is backfiring, as drawing fresh attention to Vietnam does not flatter the candidate who avoided service there.


- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer
Joe Conason writes a twice weekly column for Salon. He also writes a weekly column for the New York Observer. His new book, "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth," is now available. Join Joe Conason along with Ann Richards, David Talbot and others on the Salon Cruise

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/08/06/mccain_on_swift_boat_veterans/print.html

 

i heard frank and hotlips were pissed, and trapper john was so mad he just left and got his own series.

 

Not so fast...

link to story of misquote of detraction...

Aug. 7, 2004, 12:44AM
Vet: Retraction of Kerry claim was a misquote
Cox News Service


WASHINGTON - The controversy surrounding ads questioning John Kerry's war record grew Friday when a key figure in the veterans group airing the ads was quoted in the Boston Globe retracting one of his central allegations.

But later in the day, retired Lt. Cmdr. George Elliott issued a statement saying he had been misquoted.

The ad, sponsored by an anti-Kerry organization called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, features 13 Vietnam veterans accusing the Democratic presidential nominee of betraying his shipmates and telling lies to win medals in Vietnam.

Elliott, one of the 13 accusers in the ad, was one of Kerry's superiors in Vietnam when Kerry was awarded medals for heroic actions, including the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.

"John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam," Elliott says in the ad.

In a signed affidavit he provided to the ad sponsors on July 21, 2004, Elliott suggested Kerry did not deserve his Silver Star.

At issue is an event in which Kerry killed a fleeing Viet Cong guerrilla while on patrol on the Mekong River. According to accounts provided by Kerry and his swift boat crewmates to Kerry's biographers, Kerry left his boat and pursued the guerrilla because he was armed with a Russian-made rocket launcher capable of penetrating armor.

Kerry has denied shooting the guerrilla in the back.

Republican Sen. John McCain, also a Vietnam veteran, called the attack ad dishonorable and dishonest, and urged the Bush administration to also denounce the ad. The administration distanced itself but did not condemn the ad.

link to story of misquote of detraction...

 

This guy is a bigger flip flopper than Bush or kerry. The funny thing is that on MSNBC they showed this guys reports on Kerry back during Nam, and he wrote glowing reviews of what Kerry was doing, saying that they had never seen such brave actions and things like that. Even in '96 he spoke on behalf of Kerry and supported him in his election and introduced him at some speaking functions.

Now for some reason he has changed his mind, changed it back, and changed it again.

I think what it comes down to is that these guys are upset by what Kerry did after the war and their bitterness has lead them down this road of claims that not one of them can back up.

 

Flipflopper?...I see the word made famous by Kerry's actions has inspired you to use this wording to paintbrush actuality (otherwise known as the truth)...and the truth is he was misquoted...

Even if he wasn't misquoted....which he was!....You have multiple persons in a gathered Vietnam photo shoot, claiming their concern, and apprehension about Kerry's motives as it relates to how they cannot stand by and see someone so unfit for command seek the highest office...

Kerry threw some medals or ribbons he disregarded...A proud moment for him...but regardless of this, the point of these men speaking out, have to do with the truth...They knew him. They gathered with him. They spent time with him...and nearly all in that now-famous photo have severe reservations about his command...Why? Don't tell me this is about Kerry's proud moment!...If it was one or even two bitter individuals jealous or envy of Kerry's rank or ease of gathering 3 purple hearts so rediculous in merit, as it seems...I would be cautious in examining the speak...But this ill-speak towards Kerry comes from just about every hero in that now-famous black and white photo...

Too many sources...too much agreement...I will be so interested in the testimony in the book from these men...Either we have lots of Vietnam heroes who are liars...or we have the truth from multiple source which all point the finger squarely at Kerry,...clearly unfit for command...

 

If those veterans writing the book voted truthfully in a poll, I bet 90% of them would be Republicans.

That's politics folks, and that's why politics suck.

 

ahhh, the retraction that wasn't. dowdification lives!

http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_aff.html

--
Anti-Kerry Vietnam Veterans Hold Strong

The following statement from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is in response to an article appearing in the morning edition of the Boston Globe (“Veteran Retracts Criticism of Kerry”) which implies that one Vietnam Veteran wishes to retract an affidavit he signed regarding John Kerry’s actions during and after Kerry’s time in Vietnam. The signed affidavit can be seen below.

"Captain George Elliott describes an article appearing in today’s edition of the Boston Globe by Mike Kranish as extremely inaccurate and highly misstating his actual views. He reaffirms his statement in the current advertisement paid for by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Captain Elliott reaffirms his affidavit in support of that advertisement, and he reaffirms his request that the ad be played. [See both affidavits below.]

“Additional documentation will follow. The article by Mr. Kranish is particularly surprising given page 102 of Mr. Kranish’s own book quoting John Kerry as acknowledging that he killed a single, wounded, fleeing Viet Cong soldier whom he was afraid would turn around.

“Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 supporters who are revealing first hand, eyewitness accounts of numerous incidents concerning John Kerry’s military service record. The organization will continue to discuss much of what John Kerry has reported as fact concerning his four-month tour of duty in Vietnam.”