Anti-kerry Vets Gather For Assault; Book Claims Kerry War 'fabrications'

[SteveStromberg]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE AUG 03, 2004 21:35:02 ET XXXXX

ANTI-KERRY VETS GATHER FOR ASSAULT; BOOK CLAIMS KERRY WAR 'FABRICATIONS'

**Exclusive**

A veterans group seeking to deeply discredit Democrat John Kerry's military service will charge in the new bombshell book UNFIT FOR COMMAND:


Two of John Kerry's three Purple Heart decorations resulted from self-inflicted wounds, not suffered under enemy fire.


All three of Kerry's Purple Hearts were for minor injuries, not requiring a single hour of hospitalization.


A "fanny wound" was the highlight of Kerry's much touted "no man left behind" Bronze Star.


Kerry turned the tragic death of a father and small child in a Vietnamese fishing boat into an act of "heroism" by filing a false report on the incident.


Kerry entered an abandoned Vietnamese village and slaughtered the domestic animals owned by the civilians and burned down their homes with his Zippo lighter.


Kerry's reckless behavior convinced his colleagues that he had to go -- becoming the only Swift Boat veteran to serve only four months.

The Kerry campaign is planning to vigorously counter the charges and will accuse the veteran's groups of being well-financed by a top Bush donor from Texas, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

"They hired a goddamn private investigator to dig up trash!" charged a top Kerry adviser traveling with the senator late Tuesday. "This is pay for play, and the dirtiest of all dirty tricks ever played on a candidate for the presidency. How low can they go?"

Kerry supporters are comparing the effort by the veterans to the Arkansas State troopers tell-all against Bill Clinton.

UNFIT FOR COMMAND will not be released until August 15.

The names. The details. All on the record.

Beginning tomorrow, the DRUDGE REPORT will break the embargo.

This book is going to be interesting.

[lendaddy]

Comeon Mark, these guys only served with him and give first person accounts of what happened. Peshaw I say.

Anyway, Nostralenus will make another prediction, this one has a strong aura.....ah yes it's coming to me now....Got it! "At least he served", I don't know how or by whom, but it will come up in this thread, wait there's more............"AWOL".... this term will also come up often. There I am psychologically drained now and must rest...

[RickM]

Why the surprise? These guys brought this up months ago.

[lendaddy]

Rick,

Supposedly, they are going to be giving first hand accounts of what went on with Kerry. Such as how he got the Purple Hearts etc... They claim a ton of new info. Drudge will be releasing some of the info today, but the book does not come out till the 15th.

[cmccuist]

This has to be taken with a grain of salt because there is money to be made by the authors. I think that Kerry's war record is fair game, however for the very fact that he has made it the centerpiece of his campaign.

Every single time he opens his mouth we learn that he did in fact serve valiantly in Vietnam - a decorated war hero. If you are going to run on that fact and try and convince people that you are the best man for the job because you are battle tested, then there will be scrutiny.

If he had run on his record as a Senator, then that would also be thouroughly discussed and debated. My point is that he is the one who keeps brining it up. It's only fair that the accuracy of the claims be vetted for this reason.

W is running on the strength of his succeses battling terrorism and that is why the Democrats are constantly pointing out the failures - fair enough I say. Let each man convince us. Don't just give Kerry a pass because he says he's the hero.

[jm951]

Craig- If the profit motive makes books suspect, then what about all the others being published right now by folks on both sides of the aisle? Clinton (both of them), MM, Corn, Hastert, and others. I don't see these as profit motivated, but rather motivated by attempts to steer the debate or to get some information out.

[cmccuist]

I'm with you on getting the debate started. I am glad that somebody is raising the issue about Kerry's war record. Especially since there has been nothing but negative reporting on W's service. But the profit motive has to be factored in and dealt with.

Look at the freak Joe Wison's book - "The Politics of Truth". How ironic and "novel" (pun intended) was that. He completely whored himself based on his hatred of Bush and the chance for 15 minutes and a paycheck. His motives queered his accuracy.

I have just said that Kerry is running on his 4 months in Vietnam and is charging around like John Wayne, Sargent York and Audie Murphy all rolled into one. So if that's what he wants to be known for, there needs to be some scrutiny and his exploits are fair game.

Just get ready for the authors to be held up as liars who are funded by the right wing conspiracy.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by cmccuist
Look at the freak Joe Wison's book - "The Politics of Truth". How ironic and "novel" (pun intended) was that. He completely whored himself based on his hatred of Bush and the chance for 15 minutes and a paycheck. His motives queered his accuracy.

Not only did his wife lobby for his adventure in sedition (which he denied in his book), but he lied about it to boot.

“Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassador’s [Wilson’s] trip to Niger, disseminated in March 2002, did not change any analysts’ assessments of the Iraq-Niger uranium deal. For most analysts, the information in the report lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports on the uranium deal, but the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analysts believed that the report supported their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq.” -- Senate Intel Committee

It typical Democrat form, he blamed the Republicans.

“This is a premeditated defamation campaign being carried out by the Republican National Committee, which is sending blast-faxes out to everybody three or four times a day. It is a smear campaign.” -- Joe Wilson

[Moneyguy1]

Heck, I look at the books from all sides as people's attempts to grab their 15 minutes in the limelight.

http://www.nationalreview.com/document/vets200405041615.asp

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released the following letter to John Kerry, signed by 189 fellow veterans of the Navy vessels featured so prominently in the senator's campaign ads. The group's organizers explain that the veterans who have signed to date represent the large majority of those who served with Lt. Kerry in Vietnam. Scores of others are expected to join up in the days ahead.

May 4, 2004

Senator Kerry,


We write from our common heritage as veterans of duty aboard Swift Boats in the Vietnam War. Indeed, you should note that a substantial number of those men who served directly with you during your four month tour in Vietnam have signed this letter.

It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam, you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us, without regard for the danger your actions caused us). Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts as to your own conduct in this war.

We believe you continue this conduct today, albeit by changing from an anti-war to a "war hero" status. You now seek to clad yourself in the very medals that you disdainfully threw away in the early years of your political career. In the process, we believe you continue a deception as to your own conduct through such tactics as the disclosure of only carefully screened portions of your military records. Both then and now, we have concluded that you have deceived the public, and in the process have betrayed honorable men, to further your personal political goals.

Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as Commander-in-Chief of the military services.

It is vital that the American public have as much information as possible about candidates for President of the United States. In various ways, you have rightly called upon President Bush to be fully accountable and to provide full disclosure. In the same spirit, now that you are the presumptive nominee of your Party, we believe it is incumbent upon you to make your total military record open to the American people.

Specifically, we the undersigned formally request that you authorize the Department of the Navy to independently release your military records (through your execution of Standard Form 180), complete and unaltered, including your military medical records. Further, we call upon you to correct the misconceptions your campaign seeks to create as to your conduct while in Vietnam. Permit the American public the opportunity to assess your military performance upon the record, and not upon campaign rhetoric.

Senator Kerry, we were there. We know the truth. We have been silent long enough. The stakes are too great, not only for America in general but, most importantly, for those who have followed us into service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call upon you to provide a full, accurate accounting of your conduct in Vietnam.

Respectfully,

Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann, USN
Captain Charley Plumly, USN (ret)

Mr. Alvin A. Horne

Mr. Bill Lannom

Mr. John O'Neill

Mr. Wey Symmes

Mr. William W. Franke