SwiftVets.com

[manofaiki]

What the Kerry camp needs to do to effectively counter the Swift Vet charges:

1. Sign form 180 and release all of John Kerry's military records.

2. Provide damage report and wound reports from the No Man Left Behind incident that provides details about just how many bullet holes were shot into the 5 boats involved, and how many of the over 20 men involved suffered a gunshot wounds during this intense firefight. By effectively demonstrating that there was enemy fire during this incident, and that some of the sailors did indeed suffer gunshot wounds, Kerry's campaign can counter the claim there was no enemy fire.

3. Have statements from the other crewmembers of Kerry's boat to the effect that Steve Gardner is lying about the 'Sampan Incident' where he claims he shot a father and a little boy to death, and in which they took a mother and infant girl aboard. Have Kerry's other crewmembers state that the after-action report Gardner called attention to is completely accurate: 4 VC were killed and two VC were Captured in Action.

4. Provide statements from other crewmembers of Kerry's boat to the effect that they do remember being in Cambodia with John Kerry, either on Christmas Day or later on while dropping off Special Forces operatives.

5. Have other crewmembers of Kerry's boat sent out to appear in interviews to counter Gardner and other Swift Vets instead of professional political hacks. Gardner was there, he was an eyewitness and so are many of the Swift Vets to the events they are making claims about. Lanny Davis, James Carville, and John Hurley were not there. Neither was Tad Devine. You can only effectively counter eyewitnesses with other eyewitnesses.

6. Have Kerry address the specific charges being leveled about his medals. If the SwiftVets are claiming the first Purple Heart wound was a 'scratch' not worthy of the medal, have Kerry come out and talk about how bad the wound was, where it was located on his arm and show any scar that still remains. Let him show the scars on his leg where the shrapnel supposedly still resides.

It must be noted that thus far, even though the Swift Vet story is building steam every day, John Kerry and his campaign managers have refused to do any of the six things listed above.

1. Kerry adamantly REFUSES to sign Form 180. Whenever he or his spokespersons are asked they insist they have released ALL records, but they clearly have not. Paperwork for Kerry's first Purple Heart has manifestly NOT been released, among several other documents. If Kerry has in fact released all of his available military records, as he claims, then there is no reason NOT to sign a Form 180.

2. Kerry's camp keeps referring to the medal citations that he and Larry Thurlow received for the No Man Left Behind event, and the after action report which Kerry wrote, which describes enemy fire coming from the banks during this action. The medal citations are based on the after action report, and since no other officer involved in this event has ever said there was enemy fire, Kerry must have written it. The most effective way to counter the over 12 eyewitness accounts that claim there was no enemy fire would be to produce the damage reports to the 5 boats involved in this incident from gunfire. It would be to produce medical reports about gunshot wounds treated due to the alleged enemy fire. Kerry's camp has NOT produced any such documentation. The Swift Vet eyewitnesses claim the 4 other boats were stationary around PCF 3 for more than an hour doing repair and recovery operations, as well as treating the crewmen of that boat that were injured when the mine went off. That was plenty of time for these sailors and their boats to be hit by enemy small arms fire if indeed there were any. Instead, Kerry's campaign keeps insisting that since the medal citations and the after-action report written by Kerry mentions enemy fire, the matter is closed and no damage or medical reports need to be produced.

3. None of Kerry's other crewmembers have shown up on any of the networks as a counterpart to a Swift Vet for Truth spokesman during a debate. All the spokespeople for Kerry's camp have been professional poltical people, not Vietnam eyewitnesses to the specific events being discussed. Another Kerry boatcrew member would be the most effective challenger to Steve Gardner's account of the 'Sampan Incident'. Such a person could say "Steve, I was there, we did kill four VC and capture two just like the report says." Instead we get John Hurley sputtering that Gardner is making it all up. Kerry's camp has had two weeks to get their eyewitness out there, including Kerry himself. They have not done so.

4. Kerry has pretty much given up on the Christmas in Cambodia, but has also 'floated' the idea that he was there later on dropping off Special Forces. All Kerry has to do is produce crewmembers of his own boat who can look into a camera and say "I was in Cambodia with John Kerry". They have NOT done so.

5. Once again, the best counter to an eyewitness is another eyewitness. Kerry claims to have up to 13 eyewitnesses on his side versus over 60 for the Swift Vet's For Truth. The Swift Vet's eyewitnesses can be seen on TV and heard on the radio almost every day for the past two weeks. They have been on Hardball with Christ Matthews, Hannity and Colmes, The No Spin Zone, Rush Limbaugh, and more. Kerry's eyewitnesses have been............................nowhere. Unseen and unheard. Whenever John O'Neil, Larry Thurlow, Steve Gardner or another Swift Vet is going to appear, the Kerry Campaign has had opportunity after opportunity to put one of Kerry's boat crewmembers on the show as well. They have NOT done so. As a matter of fact, the one statement I can find where one of Kerry's Swift Vet backers discusses the Christmas in Cambodia controversy, Meideros says he doesn't remember ever being in Cambodia with John Kerry.

6. Kerry has refused to address the specific charges regarding the wounds that resulted in his first and third Purple Hearts. Not once has he said that the wound to his arm that resulted in his first Purple Heart was a 'substantial' or 'serious' wound. He has not stated how many stitches were required to close it or how much blood he lost due to it. Numerous eyewitnesses, including his commanding officer, state the wound was a mere scratch. He has not produced a SINGLE MEDICAL RECORD that discusses the nature of the wounds for which he got his first and his third Purple Heart, and I am not sure about the second one, I will have to check. All the eyewitnesses besides himself state these first and third Purple Heart wounds were so slight they had nothing but contempt for Kerry as they watched him try to wrangle medals out of them. After Kerry's attempt to get his first Purple Heart for the slight scratch on his arm, the one where his C.O. Grant Hibbard threw him out of his office, Kerry was assigned to take his boat to An Thoi with another swift boat commanded by Lieutenant Tedd Peck, who told him "Kerry, follow me no closer than a thousand yards. If you get any closer, I'll teach you what a real Purple Heart is."

Instead of doing these six things that would effectively counter the Swift Vet's For Truth ads and book, Kerry has:

1. Filed a complait with the FEC claiming that Swiftboat Vets for Truth is funded and coordinated as a part of the Bush-Cheney campaign and not a real 527 organization.
2. Claimed all the Swift Vets For Truth, over 200 of them, are all Republicans who are lying.
3. Put pressure on TV stations and bookstores not to air the ads and to not display the book.
4. Asked Regenry, publishers of Unfit For Command, to cease publishing the book.
5. Claimed that President Bush is using the Swiftboat Vets For Truth to attack his war record and challenged the President to 'Bring it on!'.

Every step that Kerry has made on this issue has been a mis-step. He has changed his story, not provided any eyewitness to counter the specific Swift Vet charges, and has instead attempted to censor the charges by having the ads and the book pulled instead of answering the charges. He then makes every effort to tie the Swift Vets to the Bush campaign, the strategy being if he can prove Bush is funding and directing SBVFT the organization is instantly and automatically discredited and no one need look seriously at the charges that are being leveled against him.

Thus far, Kerry's defense has been misdirection and avoidance and attempts at censorship.

Can he really keep this up for the next two and a half months?

I don't think so.

manofaiki
_________________
"If any man has not the stomach for this fight, let him depart from us.! We would not die in that man's company!"

You bugged out in Vietnam - so we don't need you commanding us in the War on Terror!

So get lost, John Kerry!!!!!

[LewWaters]

If Kerry could destroy the Swift vets claims so easily, he would have already done it. If they were untruthful, simply opening his full military record would have done so.

He won't and keeps refusing, even after Bush was pressured into opening his. Instead, he sics his attack dogs on them.
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Clark County Conservative

[srmorton]

Manofaiki, that was very well thought out and presented. It should
appear on the front page of every major newspaper in the US -
especially the NYT!
_________________
Susan R. Morton

[manofaiki]

Thank you for the kind words, Susan.

Kerry really CAN'T do any of the six things I point out because if he tried to he would end up being exposed.

The only thing that can save Kerry at this point is putting out eyewitnesses to counter the Swift vet's eyewitnesses, and producing documents that Kerry has thus far resisted releasing.

He won't call on the eyewitnesses (interestingly, they may NOT want to be called on), and he won't release the documents.

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Kerry spent the last few days huddling with his band of brothers trying to talk them into backing him up on Cambodia and the other charges, but since these guys knew it would mean going onto interviews with John O'Niel and lying, they wouldn't do it.

So Kerry's filing with the FEC and shouting 'linked to Bush' is what he is reduced to.

Oh, and asking Regenery to stop publishing a book now in it's fifth printing.

manofaiki
_________________
"If any man has not the stomach for this fight, let him depart from us.! We would not die in that man's company!"

You bugged out in Vietnam - so we don't need you commanding us in the War on Terror!

So get lost, John Kerry!!!!!

[RocketFett]

Manofaiki, excellent post! Everything you said is exactly the point of the SBVT issue. All the things kerry could do to put it to rest he CAN'T do because it's all true, and the lies he's been telling and changing the past 35 years would be exposed and he'd be finished. That's why the SBVT and the ads and the book and everything have been growing and spreading and getting more and more attention nationwide, because they're believable, have no reason to lie, and the sheer number of them all saying the same thing, is impossible to just discount without any kind of facts, which kerry doesn't have on his side.

[Vic Francis]

manofaiki .

Great post.

Vic Francis
Viet Nam
67-68

[twinkleUSA]

Excellent post Manofaiki!!!

Per the reasons you stated... that is precisely why Kerry has changed his switched gears from meager attempts to defend his record to blaming SBVT/Bush collaboration for the whole thing. Lucky thing for us this new line of attack will only further implode the Kerry campaign with a new rampage of lies, along with exposure of his litigous & bullying nature.

[rhv5862]

Editorial in the Bostom Herald today by Deroy Murdock columnist for Scripps Howard News Service.
He says "thanks to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (gives web address) Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam sojourn faces fresh scrutiny".
"Kerry easily can answer their claims that he has exaggerated or falsified details of his four months in combat. Kerry should sign the Pentagon's Standard Form 180 to assure that his military records are fully public. Total transparency would help voters decide if Kerry should become Commander in Chief".
Without going into the entire piece he brings up:

Swiftboat veterans 4 May 2004 open letter to John Kerry urging him to instruct the Navy to release all his records.

John E. O'Neill's Unfit for Commond best seller.

Dr. Louis Letson's use of tweezers to pull splinter from Kerry's arm 3 Dec 1968. Telling how it was just a scratch and Cmdr Hibbard's answer to Kerry's request for a Purple Heart. He raises the question "How did Kerry score a Purple Heart after Hibbard's rejection"?

Brings up the Cambodia story, "Did Kerry willfully venture five miles into Cambodia that 24 Dec as he claimed for decades: carelessly straddle the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia as the Kerry campaign suggested last 11 Aug, or merely relaxing 50 miles away in Sa Dec as his contemporaneous journal indicates"?

The 28 Feb 1969 Silver Star misson.

There are several other points that I have not listed.

He ends by saying " there is a stright forward way to judge whether Kerry is correct, forgetful or a talented teller of tall tales. John Kerry himself can answer many of these questions by signing the Standard form 180 to demonstrate that his whole record is open and untouched".

MSM paper running editorial asking for Kerry to sign the 180. Granted the Boston Herald leans a little to the right at times but what the hack one request at a time and maybe Kerry will be forced to sign it.

Since this columnist is with Scripps it may have appeard in other papers around the country.

RHV

[greentracer]

I am afraid that Quick John will keep baiting us by pretending he is afraid of the "180" when he actually has people working on changing the records and at the appropiate time he will say ok, I give, lets open the files and guess what? "See I was telling the truth, it's all here in the records!

[thorrell]

He can't change the records. If a politican could change his records, Bush might well have had more 'proof' against the stupid 'AWOL' thing. Republics often play dirty too.

I disagree with the original post though... Kerry's strategy is evident. Keep accusing the SBVT of being Bush attack dogs.

We need to get McCain and other Republic Vets to say "Answer the charges made against you, open up your records to public scrutiny, or ignore them if you will; but stop making unfounded accusations that these 60 vets are lying. Put up or shut up!"

Now that is a sound bite I'd love to start hearing.

[greentracer]

I hope that's right about him being unable to change the records, but I would bet there is more than one person trying to do it right now. I agree about the "put up or shut up slogan" but I do not believe McCain would ever do that. In fact I believe his position is to stand up for a fellow senator rather than the "Swiftee's"

[lolajl]

[eziek]

We may all have to wait until some true journalism is undertaken, but we know what history will prove out. Unfortunately we will continue to produce pyschically scarred vets who are suffering every day while we allow a fickled citizenry to entertain themselves with sound bites while not being willing themselves to give blood for their beliefs. Sooner or later we will exhaust this precious resource which allows us our freedoms.
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Bravo 3/60th '68-'69

[kingfish]

Kerry probably is loath to have the true records exposed. Once a lie is promulgated, other lies must soon follow. The best politicos(most are lawyers) must have fantastic memories, because one must remember what lie they told, and to whom, or it will bite them in their posterior regions.
[Truth is a Formidible Enemy to a Liar][/quote]
_________________
kingfish-usn 64-68 once in country(12mo), 3 times uss ticonderoga (CVA-14)

[Tom Poole]

Never underestimate your enemy. Even if Kerry does have only one strand of DNA, his pals are very smart and they have endless wealth. They may already know his record contains nothing significant or helpful to the Swiftee cause. They may be tormenting us to build the demands into a great crescendo. When at a peak, they may say OK. Put your eggs in many baskets and stay the course, determinedly.
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'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2