Unfit for Command

Quote:

Kerry should forget about Vietnam and stick to stuff he's good at.

I must take exception to that comment.
Kerry was in fact very good at Vietnam.
See the museum that recognizes Kerry for his greatest accomplishment for Vietnam:
Vietnam Hall of Fame
...where "a photograph of John Kerry hangs in a room dedicated to the anti-war activists who helped...win the Vietnam War."...

Let them post that picture if they like. The truth is that it was Kerry and McCain that made sure we didn't have soldiers in camps still.

It was Kerry who went there with the agenda to prove there were no american POW's, even if there was.

Guess what? It is for an action that took place in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987," he noted.
"How could Kerry have received a citation from an official that would not be in office for 12 years? This was NOT just a case of providing a new copy of a citation for the office to replace one that was lost (destroyed/thrown over a wall). This effort by Lehman & Kerry actually changed Kerry's official Navy record, sometime in the 80s," he continued.
"What other portions of his record did Kerry have Lehman sanitize or spiffy up? Evidently, Kerry did not think his original Silver Star made him look 'heroic' enough, so he provided 'suggested' words for a new certificate. This certainly calls Kerry's entire Navy record into question."

There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages*. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.

Veteran shares perspective on Kerry story


Guest View

Doug Regelin

Special to The Augusta Free Press





The new version of Sen. John Kerry's Cambodia experience is also not true.

Sen. Kerry patrolled from An Thoi on the 94 boat and also from Cat Lo on the 44 boat. There was no way to enter Cambodia from the An Thoi patrol area. That patrol area started at the coastal fishing village of Ha Tien and ran parallel to the Cambodian border, but there was no way into Cambodia. Any good map will show this to be true.

From the Cat Lo patrol area around Sa Dec, it would have been possible for a boat to enter Cambodia, except there were concrete barriers, river-assault group boats and PBRs guarding the entrance.

Anyone entering Cambodia at that location would have known with complete certainty what they were doing.

It just never happened. Sen. Kerry is not being truthful, and it can be easily proven by interviewing his own selected band-of-brothers. The claim that there were so many rivers and canals, and that no one knew where they were, is ludicrous. We had detailed maps and overlays that showed everything right down to movements in fishing stakes.

I drove a swift boat for a year in 1969, and I still remember all the patrol areas.

Also, a single swift boat never went anywhere alone. It would have been way too dangerous. A second cover boat would have gone along. That means the crew of that boat would have also known they were going into Cambodia. Where are the crew members and officer of the cover boat?

Again, it just didn't happen.

Why has the old media let this slide? Sen. Kerry will say anything if it suits his personal political agenda. His Cambodia lie is just like his atrocity lie when he came back. They served his political purpose when he said them, but neither is true.

I'm not a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which can be verified. I also will not vote for either Bush or Kerry because I'm anti-war. I don't think we should be in Iraq. However, I am for the truth.

o.k. i'm not a dem, and not particularly liberal. voted repl in the presidentials 70's thru the late 80's. so don't go r/w on me.

what i see of the swifties is this; this is a very old feud between o'neill and kerry. having read the transcript of the '71 cavett debate between the two (on the swiftboat site), i noticed that o'neill made not one allegation against kerry's citations or p/h's. his entire complaint was with kerry's anti-war activity following his return to the states.

if, as he claims, he is telling the truth about kerry's citations, why wait 34 years to bring it up? considering his claim to have replaced kerry on the boat, wouldn't he have known about the allegations in '71? wouldn't he have used them to undermine kerry's position then? i sure as hell would have.

so why did o'neill wait till now to put this bunch together?

could it be, umm... P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S ??

[..] these guys are playing a very stupid and dangerous game. they have now opened the door to question every single citation ever awarded to any soldier. and that probably means a lot of you reading this right now.

and here's something else to think about. kerry could have avoided any service and vietnam in particular. using the same deferments that kept cheney, ashcroft, delay and, yes, clinton, et al cozy and safe at home. or even the national guard sidestep that worked so well for quayle and bush jr.

but he didn't. he volunteered for 2 tours of duty. and the idea that he went just to pad his resume is silly. would you step in front of a bullet just to get a job?

[..] bottom line; bush in 1968-69 - tejas. kerry in 1968-69 vietnam.

Tallahassee -- On the same day that the Bush-Cheney campaign repeatedly denied coordinating attacks with the anti-Kerry group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," the Bush-Cheney campaign in Florida was caught promoting a rally in Gainesville for the group.

A flyer being distributed at the Alachua County Republican party headquarters, which doubles as the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters for the county, promotes a weekend rally sponsored by "Swift Boat Vets for Truth, Veterans for Bush, Alachua Bush/Cheney Committee," and others.