John Kerry's Swift Boat pals to T. Boone: Cough up $1 million

We're in the thick of a pretty intense presidential campaign, but that doesn't mean all the scores from the 2004 election have been settled.

Veterans who served with John Kerry during the Vietnam War released a letter and documents this week that they hope will put the lie to claims that Kerry's Navy service was anything less than exemplary.

The missive was delivered Thursday to Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who said in November that he would pay $1 million to anyone who could disprove even a single claim made against Kerry by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

That group launched a series of television ads against the Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee that undercut a crucial piece of his biography -- that he was a courageous war hero. Many Democrats felt the accusations helped kill Kerry's chances of defeating President Bush, so much so that they created a new verb form for unfair political attacks -- "Swift boating."

In their letter to Pickens, 10 of Kerry's comrades in arms said they were providing conclusive proof that the opposition group "lied about our skipper's and our service in Vietnam and in so doing, damaged our reputations and attacked the quality of our service to country."

The 15-page letter and 42 pages of Navy reports and other documentation focus principally on a 1969 engagement in which three boats under Kerry's supervision counterattacked after an ambush on a tributary of the Bay Hap River.

Kerry won a Silver Star for his actions, but critics contended he had exaggerated the incident and his own heroism. In this week's response, Kerry's crew offers details, after-action reports and the medal citation to prove that Kerry led with valor.

One of the most telling rebuttals to the anti-Kerry camp came from Bill Rood, who commanded one of the other swift boats that day. Rood, who went on ...

... to a long career as a journalist, had remained silent for years about the ambush. He told media colleagues it would be inappropriate for a journalist to get in the middle of a political snit.

But he finally came forward with a dramatic Chicago Tribune story in August 2004, rejecting the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" take down of Kerry. Rood said the anti-Kerry ads and other tales from the campaign group had "splashed doubt on all of us."

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

Before and since that article, Rood has declined to say any more. Those who worked with him at the Los Angeles Times years earlier (including this reporter) recognized and appreciated Rood's just-the-facts style.

But some background information he did not share in that story give his account even greater credibility: Records at the time indicated that Rood was a registered Republican. And those who worked with him at The Times recall that Rood was no great fan of John Kerry.

He told fellow journalists at The Times that many swift boat veterans were furious at Kerry for returning from Vietnam and testifying before Congress about atrocities the young Navy lieutenant said had been committed there. The veterans felt Kerry's statements unfairly sullied all their reputations.

That made them no different than some of those who sent the letter to Pickens this week. "You should know that even some of us on his crew differed with John Kerry when he spoke out against the war," they wrote in the letter.

But the disagreements over Kerry's post-war conduct should not be an excuse for smearing his record in Vietnam, the veterans wrote.

The men asked to meet with Pickens, who helped pay for the attack ads against Kerry. They predicted the oil man would find the truth "unavoidable," adding that they planned to donate the $1 million to a veteran's charity.

A spokesman said Friday that Pickens was not prepared to respond because he had not yet seen the letter.

--James Rainey

Photo Credit: AP

Comments

[TruthIsTreasonComplianceIsPatriotic]

This is the story the government and the mass media does not want you to see:

http://www.documentarywire.com/911-in-plane-site/

[Bingo]

"Kerry's crew offers details, after-action reports and the medal citation to prove that Kerry led with valor."

Are they offering a Kerry-signed form SF180 authorizing T. Boone Pickens full and unrestricted access to Kerry's military records? Now THAT would be newsworthy.

Otherwise, just more Kerry smoke and mirrors inre his military records. Don't you media folks get it yet?

[for parity]

In 2004, the voice of another witness to the Kerry Vietnam issues, was added by one of Kerry's commanding officers, Ret. Admiral Willaim Schachte.

It's interesting to note, that Schachte was not a party to the Swift Boaters effort in 2004. It's more important to note, that while our national MSM wasted forests full of tress for paper and barrels of ink and used up massive amounts of air time both defending Kerry and conducting a full frontal attack on the Swift Boaters, which still persists to this day, (this includes the LA Times); they completly ignored the retired Admiral's voice.

Something tells me that the media sensed he was both a credible witness, and had a credable story; therefore the media protected Kerry here by simply ignoring Schachte. Censorship is always a powerful tool of the media. Attacking the witness and his story just might have resulted in the truth becoming public knowledge; and our liberal media seldom allows that to occur. Even Don Frederick still thinks that James Raidy's story was not improtant to national politics. What a difference the landscape would have been if only the public really knew.

Here are two links. One an interview on NBC. The other, a column written by Ret. Admiral William Schachte:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5840657/
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document200408280010.asp

[matchpoint]

Bingo said:

"Kerry's crew offers details, after-action reports and the medal citation to prove that Kerry led with valor."

Are they offering a Kerry-signed form SF180 authorizing T. Boone Pickens full and unrestricted access to Kerry's military records? Now THAT would be newsworthy.

Otherwise, just more Kerry smoke and mirrors inre his military records. Don't you media folks get it yet?

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

And Bingo knows all about smoke and mirrors!

Like a true Sleaze Boater, he deflects away from the actual point - that, unlike the Slow Boaters, these men are supporting their claim with facts.

[matchpoint]

parity:

I hope you're joking when you say the media "ignored" Schachte in 2004. A simple Google search shows that to be completely untrue.

As far as being credible, Mr. Schachte told the Boston Globe in 2003 that Kerry was hit in a "firefight." Nothing about him being on the boat, nothing about him shooting a grenade launcher and wounding himself, and nothing about arguing against his Purple Heart.

Yet he did nothing to correct the article that came out, and said not a word about the Purple Heart or his version of events. He waited a year and a half - until the middle of a presidential election - before he said anything. Why?

I t doesn't say much about his credibilty, that's for sure.

[matchpoint]

Oh, and by the way, Schachte is outright lying in that NRO article you linked to.

Kerry has never said he was hit by hostile fire, in the Brinkley book or anywhere else.

[matchpoint]

See, Bingo would like you to think that Kerry's the only one who can release things like after action reports, medal recommendations, and citations, when he knows perfectly well those records are public. Yep, a FOIA request is all it takes.

But that's not as much fun as blaming Kerry for his laziness !