SwiftVets.com

[NavCPO (Ret)]

As a 20 year Navy vet who served during the Vietnam era (not in-country), I have been embarrassingly silent, non-committal and intentionally detached from discussions (public and private) of that most painfully caustic period in our nations recent history. For all U.S. citizens, vet or not, this was a psychologically painful period. Like most survivors of that era, (no matter what their stance on the war) we were hopeful of lessons learned and scars healed.

When John Kerry began picking at the old wounds I was initially embarrassed that a veteran would drape a mantel of medals around his candidacy for President. I would expect that information to come out in the media as a fact of historical reference, but I found it offensive that he would be so lacking in humility as to call himself a hero. But I hadn’t liked Kerry since he aligned himself with Jane Fonda so I wasn’t going to support him anyway and just attributed it to self-serving electioneering.

Then the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came on the scene challenging the tales of John Kerry. Initially, again, I was embarrassed and offended. How could these vets be so petty and disloyal as to challenge the service of one of their own? This was not the unassuming character of vets I had known and served with. I was saddened to see the political discussion in this most important of elections being overshadowed by seemingly irrelevant events from over 35 years ago. I spent time reviewing the claims and charges laid out on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website. Then I went to the John Kerry for President Website and scoured through the information presented there. I listened to interviews, statements, challenges and counter challenges from both sides. I’m still tormented by the fact that this election is being so affected by events that should have remained in the historical shadows.

Like the Swift Boat Vets, I had memories of feeling betrayed by John Kerry in his testimony to Congress and his anti-war activities, but unlike them I had no firsthand information with which to challenge him. As the charges flew between the two camps, one theme began to emerge – the vets were sticking to their story and providing verifiable documentation and Kerry (through intermediaries) began to hedge, waver and change his “recollection.” What was “seared” into his mind became an imprecise memory. Kerry (through intermediaries) acknowledged that events surrounding the rescue of Jim Rassman may have been “exaggerated”. The compounding of Kerry making his Vietnam service a testimony to his leadership, his wavering and story changes, the unchallenged documented facts that the SB vets were offering, and the restated stories from POWs who had Kerry’s fabricated congressional testimony used against them in interrogations has convinced me that this is not an issue that will, or should, go away. Character does matter. It is a telling testimony that the men who served with him do not trust or respect him.

For me, it all boils down to this:

Fact: John Kerry lied about being in Cambodia to further a personal agenda and with complete disregard for the repercussions to fellow vets both in, and out, of Vietnam.
Opinion: This fact alone should be sufficient proof of his absolute commitment to a personal political agenda which will tolerate no infringement of honor, honesty, or integrity. John Kerry swore to lies that became the cornerstone of POW interrogation and torture and the foundation for the screams of “Baby Killer” that is seared into the memory (to use Kerry’s own words) of all of us who served in that era. His statements resulted in direct injury to many and smeared the service of all. How any vet can support John Kerry is beyond me.

Fact: John Kerry lied about the circumstances surrounding the rescue of Jim Rassman with the intent of padding his resume at the expense of the other Swift Boat OICs and crews engaged in the same action. (The fact that he saved Rassman is not in question)
Opinion: That John Kerry would skew facts, lie about the actions of others, and misrepresent his personal involvement in an action that the other OICs considered just another day on the river is an indictment of his personal core principals. That he would develop a self-serving fiction about this event at the expense of his comrades-in-service, and then use this fiction as a foundation for seeking the office of President of the most powerful nation on Earth, provides an insight into a very dark, almost psychopathic, personality.

Observation: Military records and fitness reports selectively released by the Kerry/Edwards campaign at http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html reveal an intelligent, well spoken, young naval officer with great potential, exercising a well developed agenda to seek personal power through national office and personal aggrandizement through selective portrayal of military experiences.

Conclusion: There is no extreme to which this man will not go to achieve personal power.

Thanks to to the Swift Boat Vets for Truth for having the courage of their convictions. You guys knew the kind of mud slinging you were in for when you opened this door and you have stood up to it well. GWB has called for a ban on all 527s (misguided but honest) while JFK has called for a ban on only the one that's focused on him (narcissistic psychopathy).
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A lie told 1000 times is still a lie.