"Swift Boats" stories continue to flounder......

[mddem2004]

Former Swift Boat Commander Backs Kerry on Vietnam

By Carol Giacomo

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - An American journalist who commanded a boat alongside John Kerry in Vietnam broke a 35-year silence on Saturday and defended the Democratic presidential candidate against Republican critics of his military service and integrity.

Weighing in on the bitterly divisive issue, William Rood of the Chicago Tribune said the tales told by Kerry's detractors are simply untrue.

"There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago -- three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on February 28, 1969," he wrote in a story on the newspaper's Web site.

"One is John Kerry ... who won a Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other."

Before now, wanting to put memories of war and killing behind him, Rood refused all interviews. "But Kerry's critics, armed with stories I know to be untrue, have charged that the accounts of what happened were overblown," he wrote.

"It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there," he added.

Kerry, a former Navy lieutenant, is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, and his war service is essential to his challenge to President Bush as commander-in-chief when America is faces terrorism and other threats.

Increasingly, veterans opposed to Kerry and allied with Bush, led by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, have tried to undermine Kerry's record and credibility.

Many veterans are bitter that after returning from Vietnam, Kerry became one of the war's most prominent critics.

After a new CBS poll showing Kerry's support among veterans slipping since the Democratic convention, the Massachusetts senator launched a counterattack.

On Friday, he accused the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth of collaborating with the Bush campaign and asked the Federal Election Commission to force the group to withdraw its ads.

Bush spent the war in the United States serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Some Democrats accuse Bush of going absent without leave from the guard, citing gaps in his attendance record.

AGGRESSIVE AND UNUSUAL COUNTERATTACK

In the Chicago Tribune article, Rood said Kerry urged him to go public with his account.

While "I can't pretend those calls had no effect on me ... what matters most to me is that this is hurting crewmen who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for what they did," Rood wrote.

Members of Kerry's swift boat crew have played a prominent role in his campaign, appearing at the Democratic National Convention and many other events.

Rood said he was part of the operation that led to Kerry receiving the Silver Star and had no firsthand knowledge of events that resulted in his Purple Hearts or Bronze Star.

In that February 1969 operation, he said Kerry came under rocket and automatic weapons fire from Viet Cong soldiers and Kerry devised an aggressive ad unusual attack strategy that was praised by their superiors.

In their book, "Unfit for Command," Kerry critics John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi accuse Kerry of exaggerating wartime events. They said Kerry's attack on the Viet Cong ambush displayed "stupidity, not courage."

"The only explanation for what Kerry did is the same justification that characterizes his entire short Vietnam adventure: the pursuit of medals and ribbons," they alleged.

Rood said while ambushes were common, the difference in this fight was that Kerry, who had tactical command of the operation, had talked to Rood and other commanders beforehand about not responding the way they usually did to an ambush.

"We agreed that if we were not crippled by the initial volley and had a clear fix on the location of the ambush, we would turn directly into it, focusing the boats' twin .50-caliber machine guns on the attackers and beaching the boats," Rood said.

He said the first time they took fire Kerry ordered a "turn 90" and the three boats roared in on the ambush.

The plan worked. "We routed the ambush, killing three of the attackers. The troops, led by an Army adviser, jumped off the boats and began a sweep, which killed another half dozen VC, wounded or captured others," Rood said.

Rood said then-Capt. and now retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, the task force commander, congratulated the three swift boats, saying the tactic of charging the ambushes was a "shining example of completely overwhelming the enemy."

Hoffmann has become a Kerry critic and now says what the boats did that day showed Kerry was impulsive to a fault.


 

[mddem2004]

"It doesn't matter. The first ad has already worked...."

Truth DOES matter my friend from across the aisle, even in politics.....

I can't believe you guys can't see that Bush is being, well, rather stupid in all this....

Can't you see that all this does is raise the profile of BOTH candidates military records? Something that I doubt they REALLY want to have happen?

Kerry:
- Volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam after graduation from Yale.
- Decorated Vietnam Combat Vet.
- Dared to tell the truth to the nation about war operations upon return.

Bush:
- Advanced to head of waiting list for Texas Air National Guard with help from Daddy Congressman.
- Failed to show up for Annual Flight Medical Exam in April 1972 disqualifying him to fly.
- Can't adaquately explain large gap service in summer/fall of 1972.

Two very different chosen paths and records.

Bush/Rove Inc. know that Kerry has made a potential inroad into the Veteran Vote, a block that Bush can't afford not to have at least a 20% advantage over his challenger.

Their sleezfest with the "Swifties" signals to me, Kerry has hit a nerve....and their scared.

[mddem2004]

He served as a fighter pilot, which is a rather dangerous specialization (i.e. above average fatality rate versus many other specializations).

Is that why he failed to show for his Flight Physical Exam in April 1972?

Just curious......

[mddem2004]

Simple question for you.

Was John Kerry in Cambodia on Christmas of 1968?

Simple question for you.....Does it really freakin matter?

You want to know what does?

- The 4 million more uninsured Americans since Bush took office.
- The fact that under Bush we have less jobs in this country than when he was selected.
- The fact that Bush has led us into a quagmire in Iraq for erroneous reasons, and the majority of the country now view it as a grave mistake.
- The mountain of additional Red Ink that has accumulated under
the fiscal policy's of this president, debt that will be left to be paid by my children long after Bush is but a distant night mare of a memory.

These are the things that matter in this election......

I'll leave you in that still unwinable war in the jungles of Vietnam.

[mddem2004]

No......not at all carlhaden,
Kerry probably wasn't in Cambodia on Christmas in 1968.
He probably wasn't there until a few weeks later.

Big woop....

His point is the same, our forces shouldn't have been there in that time period, yet they were.

Interestingly, I saw on CNN last night, an audio tape of Mr. O'Neil in the Oval Ofice talking with Nixon, where he states that he was in Cambodia in that time period.

Yet of course Mr. O'Neil states today that it was impossible for Kerry to have been in Cambodia.

And of course the news today that Bush's top outside council was giving these guys legal advise, as well as the old fella that appeared in the second ad was Bush's  chairman of the campaign's veteran's committee, and the groups PR lady actually met in the office of the VP back in May, - the presidents claim that they have nothing to do with this committee is truly quite comical.

Think they over played their hand maybe???

Face it - These guys stories are being shot up so badly with every passing day you should do yourself a favor for your own credability and quit defending these Swift Boat Liars For Bush stories as Truth.......its really pretty sad because ya know, every now and then you do make sence - not on this issue though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trederick - fair enough statement,
However by Kerry pointing to his service record as a means of highlighting his lifelong service to this country, something Bush doesn't have, certainly points to the two very different paths these two chose in their early lives.

Actually Kerry is only running with something that worked for him since Iowa. Once Rassman showed up and began campaigning with Kerry in early Jan in Iowa - it finally put a personal face on Kerry's campaign and it obviously worked.

PR wise its not a bad package either - Kerry goes to Vietnam after Yale - Bush didn't after leaving Yale. Kerry is a combat Vet, knows what its like to kill  - Bush doesn't. May make a difference to those who have loved ones overseas in Iraq where Bush's policys are obviously in trouble. And the tag line Kerry has - "we didn't care if we were rich or poor, or what our backgrounds were, we were literally in the same boat", ain't a bad campaign theme and dove tails nicely with Edwards picture of two Americas - something that I fear A LOT of Americans feel these days.

So no, I can't blame Kerry for taking the theme he has. In fact, I think that the viciouness of the attacks against him show that the Right are damn scared they may lose some of the vet vote. As you know Bush has to have a double digit lead in that normally Republican block. We'll see if that happens.