Actions hurt `Band of Brothers'

Perhaps Edwards and the Kerry campaign believed that an emphasis on Kerry's four months in Vietnam was necessary to deflect focus from his dovish 20-year history in the U.S. Senate. Whatever the reason, Kerry offers his Vietnam service as prima facie, if not conclusive, evidence of his fitness to occupy the role of commander-in-chief. Portraying that service as sacrificial and heroic, Kerry has toured the country with a handful of vets he refers to as his "Band of Brothers," staking his candidacy on that controversial war.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are Navy veterans who, like Kerry, served aboard Swift boats in Vietnam. Their story, "Unfit for Command," is fundamentally a two-part book. The first part concerns Kerry's actions in Vietnam, and specifically the circumstances leading to his multiple decorations. The book's second part focuses on Kerry's anti-war activities upon returning home. This second part, largely ignored by the media, is infinitely more damning of Kerry because it consists largely of his own words and, for that reason, is far less susceptible to debate.

The book's initial notoriety was largely the product of buzz generated on the Internet, talk radio and cable news. Only when the Kerry campaign was forced to respond to a growing controversy surrounding this New York Times bestseller did the mainstream media show interest in the book's allegations. Even then, the coverage often amounted to a reflexive dismissal of the book without critical examination.

Typically, the press would quote John McCain, every Democrat's favorite Republican, who had called his fellow veterans "dishonest and dishonorable," as if his opinion mattered more than the hundreds of Swift boat veterans who had come forward. The absence of an honest examination of "Unfit for Command" is a shame, because many of its central allegations are now widely accepted as fact.

For example, Kerry's first Purple Heart (he received three in four months and was sent home) was awarded not only for an insignificant, self-inflicted wound, but was also the result of Kerry going around his commander, Grant Hibbard, who thought Kerry's request to be frivolous. Second, Kerry did not spend Christmas Eve 1968 illegally inside Cambodia, a memory he claimed in 1986 to be "seared, seared" in his mind as he used his record to criticize the Reagan administration.

Other of Kerry's claims, like the circumstances of the "No Man Left Behind" incident featured in his ads and convention, are contradicted by eyewitness accounts from veterans willing to testify under oath. Now it may be, as some suggest, that the truth is forever lost in the "fog of war." Kerry could certainly assist in clearing that fog by authorizing release of his military records, as George W. Bush has done. Fortunately, however, no authorization from Kerry is necessary to examine his post-war record. And "Unfit for Command" examines that record to startling effect.

A trademark campaign tactic for Kerry is to praise his Band of Brothers and, by implication, himself, as heroic men who answered the call to defend their nation. However, when it most mattered to these men and this nation, anti-war protester Kerry characterized them in an entirely different fashion.

Following his premature departure from Vietnam, Kerry aligned himself with the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, becoming its national spokesman. In that capacity, Kerry time and again labeled today's Band of Brothers as war criminals, testifying before Congress that these same veterans had "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs ..." and so on. According to Kerry, these were not isolated incidents, "but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Kerry's now largely discredited condemnation of U.S. soldiers came at a time when men like Paul Galanti, a Navy pilot held as prisoner of war for seven years, resisted torture intended to coerce similar war crimes confessions. In 1971 while North Vietnamese captors used testimony such as Kerry's to attack the will of Galanti and others, Kerry ran for Congress on the strength of his celebrity as the VVAW spokesman who had accused his brothers.

Kerry did not confine his questionable activities to U.S. soil. On at least one occasion, and possibly two, Kerry traveled to Paris to meet with Viet Cong leadership. Kerry subsequently advocated that the United States accept peace terms demanded by the Viet Cong. To this day one can find in Vietnam's "War Remnants Museum" a photograph of Kerry honoring him for helping the Communists defeat the United States. One can also find that photograph in "Unfit for Command."

Kerry's post-war words and deeds are not in dispute. He condemned men such as his current Band of Brothers as war criminals. He advanced the enemy's position domestically. He threw away his medals, or his ribbons, or someone else's medal, depending on which of his stories one believes. Ultimately, Kerry contributed to a national mindset that deprived Vietnam vets of the honor and gratitude they deserved. He now seeks to become our commander-in-chief based on his status as Vietnam War hero. If you believe the Swift boat vets, and I do, such cynical conduct reveals one truly "Unfit for Command."

This article was published by The Charlotte Observer

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