SwiftVets.com

[mjanay]

Who is Steve Gardner?

Swift Boat Vet "eyewitness" was not present for events leading to Kerry's medals or Purple Hearts

Stephen Gardner has been touted by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and by conservative hosts as a singularly authoritative critic with firsthand knowledge of Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) record in Vietnam because Gardner -- unlike all the other members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- actually served on a swift boat that Kerry commanded. Gardner has questioned Kerry's integrity; has claimed personal knowledge of the circumstances leading to Kerry's first Purple Heart; and has spoken with authority about the events leading to Kerry's Bronze Star. Fellow anti-Kerry Swift Boat Vets member Larry Thurlow has also cited Gardner as eyewitness support for his accusations against Kerry and against Kerry's first Purple Heart. Yet while Gardner did serve as a gunner under Kerry's command on PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) 44, he has admitted that he -- just like the rest of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claiming that Kerry is lying about his medals -- was not present for the incidents leading to Kerry's receipt of any medals or any of Kerry's three Purple Hearts.

Gardner admitted that "he was not on the boat with Kerry during the incidents for which Kerry got his medals," reported The Columbus Dispatch on August 6. And as a guest on Michael Savage's radio show, Savage Nation, on August 2, Gardner said that of Kerry's three Purple Hearts, he could only attest to the first; Gardner later admitted to Savage that he was "not on the boat with him [Kerry]" when that injury occurred.

Yet in repeated media appearances, conservative hosts have presented Gardner as an eyewitness to key Kerry events. And in at least two interviews, Gardner has falsely claimed that he was present for the incidents leading to Kerry's receipt of awards. On Savage Nation on August 2, Savage introduced Gardner as an "expert coming on this show eventually to talk about the phony John Kerry and his swift boat." On FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor on August 9, host Bill O'Reilly identified Gardner as "the only one who served directly under him of the 3,500 ... an eyewitness." As a guest on the August 20 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host and former U.S. Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL) introduced Gardner as "a vet who actually served on John Kerry's swift boat" who would provide "a firsthand account of what really happened in Vietnam." On that same edition of Scarborough Country, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan touted Gardner as the "first member who actually served aboard John Kerry's boat to speak since this controversy erupted," before he asked Gardner, "[W]ho is telling the truth?"

In an apparent attempt to substantiate his status as an eyewitness to key Kerry events, Gardner claimed on Scarborough Country, "[T]hat boat never left the dock that I wasn't aboard it with John Kerry, never. I was with that boat everywhere we went." Gardner went on to make assertions regarding the events that occurred on March 13, 1969, involving Kerry's rescue of Jim Rassmann, for which Kerry received the Bronze Star. Gardner claimed to know that Kerry fled the scene on the river that day while the other three boats stayed and that Kerry then "turned around and came all the way back to pick up Mr. Rassmann that he had thrown off his boat when he took off, when he fled down the canal." But later in the show, Gardner admitted to not being present that day. When Scarborough attempted to revisit the "March 13, 1969 incident," Gardner said, "I'm not going to deal with that. Because I wasn't there."

On the August 16 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Thurlow cited Gardner to substantiate his claim that Kerry's first Purple Heart "was fabricated and wasn't based on any factuality at all." According to Thurlow, Gardner said "that he [Kerry] received an injury due to a mistake he made when he fired an M-79 close aboard and was hit by his own shrapnel" and that "Kerry applied for a Purple Heart that he did not merit."

On the August 2 broadcast of Savage Nation, Gardner himself claimed that all of the wounds for which Kerry received Purple Hearts "were superficial wounds, and I mean very superficial, scratches. The very first one is the only one that I can actually attest to because I was there when that wound happened." But Gardner was not there when Kerry sustained that wound; as noted above, Gardner went on to admit: "I was not on the boat with him but I -- in the next three days following that, I was with him on the boat going to take our new position up down there on the seaward operations."

In addition, on the August 16 edition of the nationally syndicated radio show The Glenn Beck Program, Gardner falsely claimed that three of Kerry's other crewmates -- James Wasser, Drew Whitlow, and Steven Hatch -- "felt the same way that I felt about John Kerry" before they joined the Kerry campaign. As Media Matters for America previously reported, comments from Wasser in a March 9 article in TIME magazine written by Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley directly contradict Gardner's claim.

[efuseakay]

Refutation would be very welcomed with this article...

[baldeagl]

What is it that you're looking for? Gardner was not present for any of Kerry's medals. That's a fact.

What is also a fact is that Kerry's band of brothers includes a man who never served with him (Jim McDevitt), three men who have no knowledge of his medals because they served with him on PCF 44 (Drew Whitlow, Stephen Hatch and James Wasser), one man who may have witnessed one medal incident and has lied about being with Kerry when he wasn't (David Alston), one man who was with Kerry for one incident but couldn't have witnessed what he claims to have witnessed (Jim Rassmann), one Swiftboat commander who did not witness any of Kerry's medal incidents (Wade Sanders) and one who may have witnessed one (Skip Barker).

Furthermore, the media is to blame for asking questions of the wrong people. It's the media who asked Tedd Peck about incidents in February and March that Peck could not have possibly witnessed because he was in the hospital. It's the media's fault for not knowing that, just as they obviously don't know what Gardner saw or even what Kerry's Tour of Duty says, much less what Unfit For Command says, since they don't even bother to do any research.
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antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

[LewWaters]

I think Garner himself has debunked this.

On Larry Elders show today, he was interviewed and mentioned that no, he wasn't present for the first PH incident, but was on a mission a few days later with Kerry and Kerry had no visible wounds.

He can't mention the later incidents as he wasn't on Kerry's boat by then, he was on Kerry's first boat, the PCF-44, not the PCF-94 and makes no claims as to what happened on the other boat.

He speaks of matters that occurred on the PCF-44.
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Clark County Conservative

[baldeagl]

[bullseye]

Unfortunately, it's not just the liberal media. On tonight's Hannity, Dobbs claimed the 9 March story supported Kerry's and Rassman's claims and Hannity did not mention the "No man left behind" lie. I don't believe any of nitwits in the media have the mental capacity to absorb the facts of the story, and that frustrates the heck out of me. Especially since I think so highly of Sean.

[LewWaters]

Not to worry, or as Sean says, let not your heart be troubled

I bet within the next days, Sean will have him on to air his side.
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Clark County Conservative

[Herb]

[bullseye]

Correct my previous post to read 13 March. Sorry.

[ord33]

Herb,

Here is the link to the Video of Rassmann describing how all the boats fled on March 13th.

This video is from January 17th in Iowa before the primaries.

http://www.johnkerry.com/video/console.php?video=011704_reunion#011704_reunion

I dont have a transcript for the story, but you will find rather lengthy quotes from it in some of my previous quotes.
The Kerry Press Release of the speech can be found here
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0117d.html

Hope this helps!

[Herb]

[lobster]

Below is my transcript with Jim Rassmann and John Kerry's comments on the mine blast and subsequent recovery of Jim. Kerry said Jim was gone for quite a while, so it appears the boats had left together, as Jim explained , before they realized that Jim was left in the water. This differs markedly from the Washington Post account in that regard. I don't know what Larry Thurlow and the others have said on this matter.

Jim Rassmann: We got ambushed, one of our boats - one of John's boat's - was blown out of the water. We went over to help it and I got blown off the boat - I assume whatever blew me off injured your [Kerry's] arm. And I went to the bottom, because the next boats in line were going to come over me. I stayed on the bottom as long as I could and when the last boats were gone, they were gone. They were around the bend and out of sight. I started swimming under water as long as I could, coming up for air when I had to. I was getting shoot at - and I figured it was up - my number was punched. And the next thing I knew after coming up for air about 5 times was boats were coming to the rescue. There was a cargo net over the bow of John's boat that I was able to grab onto and pull myself up to the lift, but because of the angle I couldn't pull myself over. John didn't have to but he came to the bow, and he pulled me over. Had he not there was no question in my mind that I probably would have fallen back in the river. He could have been shot and killed at any time and so could I. So I figure I owe this man my life.

Kerry: I am overwhelmed by the - by just the memories that come back. (pause) But seeing this fellow here is amazing to me. And he, you know what, anybody would have done what I did - that's not a big deal - it really isn't a big deal. But he - this guy was living all alone. He was the Green Beret advisor - you heard him say that he was a Green Beret. That's why he was cable and knowing how to swim underwater and doing the things he was doing. And he was the Green Beret - I never knew that - I never knew you swam underwater like that to stay out of the way and everything.

Kerry continued:
But I'll never forget the sight (pause laughing) man we didn't know you were gone for a while. I suddenly looked back and see this figure in the water and I said oh my God. But he was living alone down there - that peninsula with the Vietnamese in a place where, you know, you couldn't tell who was Vietnamese and who wasn't - I mean who was Viet Cong and who wasn't. This is a brave, unbelievably patriotic American.

[Herb]

The "Tour of Duty" account is quite different from all the others too.

Remember it is from Kerry's journals, letters and personal papers.

If you are researching you must read "Tour of Duty" along with "Unfit for Command".

It's a prime source and we might find something the Swiftees have missed.

(After all, that 50 calibre LIE has been around since Kerry started showing his home movies and I believe I was the first one to note it just this week.)
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Herb