 |
SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
|
 Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 3:53 am Post subject: Swiftvet Article - Investor's Business Daily |
 |
|
Kudos to John O'Neill. This story ran today, though the link has since expired.
| Quote: |
Investor's Busines Daily
Ex-Navy Officer Pokes Holes In Kerry's Vietnam Resume
May 24, 2004
David Isaac
Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, chief of naval operations in Vietnam, prophesied that John Kerry's career there would come back to haunt him.
The prophesy has come to pass.
On May 4, a remarkable, though underreported, press conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington announcing the formation of a new group: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Its mission: To set the record straight about Sen. John Kerry's service in Vietnam and the accusations he made against his fellow soldiers after returning to the states.
Swift boats — small, mostly aluminum vessels — were used to patrol Vietnam's coastal waterways. The men who served in them say they don't like to be pushed around.
From their remarks last week, it's clear they feel that's just what one of their own, presidential nominee John Kerry, has done.
John O'Neill, co-chairman of the group, says for many the final straw came with Kerry's new biography, "Tour of Duty."
In it, Kerry repeats accusations he made when he came back from Vietnam after serving as a Swift boat officer. Upon returning, Kerry led the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and claimed U.S. forces committed war crimes on a daily basis.
Investor's Business Daily recently spoke with O'Neill, who by coincidence took over as skipper of Kerry's boat, PCF-94, after he left.
IBD: John Kerry's entire chain of command said he is unfit to be commander in chief. Do you feel it was adequately covered by the press?
O'Neill: No. Understand that having spent so many millions and millions of dollars in advertising to portray himself as a war hero, it's very hard for people to even sit and listen to the first-party testimony that we had and realize they've been taken by him.
But the truth is the mainstream press has simply been taken, by which I mean totally duped by him.
IBD: Did The Associated Press cover the event?
O'Neill: A reporter from The Associated Press attended the news conference and then refused to write a story on it.
AP received many inquiries asking, "Why have you not run a story on it?" They simply issued a statement saying they didn't believe it added anything to the dialogue between veterans and John Kerry.
IBD: What about the Kerry camp's charge that your effort was steered and paid for by Republicans?
O'Neill: It's ironic because they've paid for all the veterans supporting them. The people are literally on salary. . . . They're typically flown around on a plane. None of us have been paid by the Republicans; none of our bills or expenses. And in fact none of us has any serious tie of any kind with any party.
I debated Kerry back in 1971 on "The Dick Cavett Show" and I met with Nixon before that debate. I told Nixon I was a Democrat.
IBD: Why have you personally put so much time and effort into this?
O'Neill: I probably knew 15 to 20 people who were killed in Vietnam. When Kerry came forward with the war crimes charges in 1971, it just tore at the soul of all of us.
We went to such elaborate lengths to avoid injuring civilians. In our little unit we lost a number of people because we would go into canals and rivers with loudspeakers instead of shooting. . . .
When you had a guy who actually served with us condemning us en masse as war criminals — the injustice of that tarnished the souls of everybody there, particularly the people in our unit.
IBD: Only one person in your group actually served under Kerry's command. The others who did have joined him. Why?
O'Neill: First, you need to understand these were little boats that operate in clusters. Of the 23 officers who were on those boats with Kerry, 17 of them have signed the letter. We're not dealing with a situation where the only ones who know about him are the five guys on his boat. His little boat operated with these other boats always in joint operations.
With respect to the nine people who are surviving who served under Kerry, one came out in opposition to him, eight were favorable to him. But when you read his book, "Tour of Duty" you learn over half of them were embittered, hated him and wanted nothing to do with him as recently as three or four years ago.
IBD: What happened?
O'Neill: He met with them, assuaged them and they reached the conclusion that whatever their personal friendship was, that overcame the resentment at his activities in the early 1970s.
I guess none of the rest of us feel that way. And we don't begrudge them feeling that way. But it's clear that those people once were also very strongly opposed to him, even off his own boat. And my source for that is his campaign biography.
IBD: Grant Hibbard, one of Kerry's commanders, went into some detail about Kerry's first Purple Heart, received for a scratch on his hand. How could Kerry get a Purple Heart for something like that without his commanding officer knowing?
O'Neill: Those are part of the records Kerry's hiding. Kerry claimed he released all records. What he won't do is execute Standard Form 180. That removes Kerry as gatekeeper and lets the Department of Defense actually show up with the records. Kerry will never execute Standard Form 180.
Among the records that are missing are anything on his first Purple Heart except the certificate itself.
We know he made a request for that Purple Heart from Commander Hibbard, who turned it down. We know he appealed that in some fashion. We know there has to be paperwork on how it was granted. All that has now disappeared.
By the way it isn't only Commander Hibbard but also the doctor. Dr. Louis Letson was the doctor who actually treated him. . . .
Letson recalled treating him for that first Purple Heart. The reason he recalled it is that when the crewman came in, they told him he was running for president.
This was in 1969.
He looked at it and said, "Why are you here?" because it was a tiny splinter, and Kerry said, "I've been wounded by hostile fire and I need medical attention."
And the people began making fun of him and they told the doctor, "Look, he just wounded himself with his own grenade." What he'd done is shoot his grenade too close to his boat and a little tiny bit of shrapnel, an infinitesimal amount, came back and hit him.
Letson got tweezers and a small Band-Aid. Pulled the splinter out. Put the Band-Aid on and patted Kerry on the fanny and sent him on his way.
Each of the purported Purple Hearts are for scratches less than a rose ***** . . . Each one involves virtually no serious wound of any kind. He then used the three Purple Hearts to escape from Vietnam.
IBD: Your news conference was dramatic. How can people see it?
O'Neill: It can be downloaded at either one of two places, our Web site swiftvets.com and cspan.com. According to the Cspan records, it is the second most watched tape on Cspan in the past three years.
IBD: What effect do you think this will have on the elections?
O'Neill: First of all, my hope is he's not nominated. And my hope is it would have no effect on the election because he wouldn't be the Democratic nominee. . . .
Assuming that doesn't happen and he's nominated I don't believe his candidacy can survive the actual truth of what he did in the '70s. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
kate
Admin
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 1891
Location: Upstate, New York
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
thanks for the article,good to see the publicity.
There is a thread over on the Hannity forum, some Swifties were in Hannity's radio show today, they didnt say who though. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Richard
Ensign
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 53
Location: Gainesville, FL
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mikest
PO2
Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 377
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 3:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
When talking about John O'Neill, this always seems to be left out.
| Quote: | | "[Kerry] was an immediate celebrity. He was also an immediate target of the Nixon Administration. Years later, Chuck Colson--who was Nixon's political enforcer--told me, "He was a thorn in our flesh. He was very articulate, a credible leader of the opposition. He forced us to create a counterfoil. We found a vet named John O'Neill and formed a group called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. We had O'Neill meet the President, and we did everything we could do to boost his group." |
I wonder why that is? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
waltjones
PO2
Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 392
Location: 'bout 40 miles north of Seattle
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 3:17 pm Post subject: Why? |
|
|
mikest: I wonder why that is?
John O'Neill wanted to testify before the Senate Committee also, but was turned down. What matters is what he said in the article. Typical Kerry hack tactic: ignore the substance of what was said and cast doubt on who said it. What about the 220 Swift Boat Vets who signed the letter? Just another small fact Kerry hacks like to ignore. Tell you what, mikest (or anybody else): Why don't you see how many Swift Boat Vets you can round up to support Kerry? Might be tough, since most of the officers he served with and all his COs already say he's not fit to be CIC! Thatisall ....
_________________
Walt Jones (USMC, '65 - '69) It says much about the person who defends a man with no honor. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Richard
Ensign
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 53
Location: Gainesville, FL
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mikest wrote: | When talking about John O'Neill, this always seems to be left out.
| Quote: | | "[Kerry] was an immediate celebrity. He was also an immediate target of the Nixon Administration. Years later, Chuck Colson--who was Nixon's political enforcer--told me, "He was a thorn in our flesh. He was very articulate, a credible leader of the opposition. He forced us to create a counterfoil. We found a vet named John O'Neill and formed a group called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. We had O'Neill meet the President, and we did everything we could do to boost his group." |
I wonder why that is? |
Mike,
You forgot to mention where your own quote comes from. You can find it in a sycophantic article written by Joe Klein, in "New Yorker Magazine":
The Long War of John Kerry
Here is more of Klein drooling all over Kerry's shoes:
| Joe Klein wrote: |
"The Senator and I were sitting in wing chairs in his office, which is rather more elegant than those of his peers—the walls painted Chinese red with a dark lacquer glaze and covered with nineteenth-century nautical prints. There is a marble fireplace, a couch, a coffee table, the wing chairs: in sum, a room with a distinct sensibility, a reserved and private place."
"When he returned, we began to talk about his time in Vietnam. He served as the captain of a small “swift boat,” ferrying troops up the rivers of the Mekong Delta. He was wounded three times in four months, and then sent home—the policy in Vietnam was three wounds and you’re out. "
Kerry went on (reading from on old speach he gave at Yale):The Class Oration
In most emerging nations, the spectre of imperialist capitalism stirs as much fear and hatred as that of communism. To compound the problem, we continue to push forward our will only as we see it and in a fashion that only leads to more mistakes and deeper commitment. Where we should have instructed, it seems we did not; where we should have been patient, it seems we were not; where we should have stayed clear, it seems we would not. . . . Never in the last twenty years has the government of the United States been as isolated as it is today.
"The Class Oration says a lot about John Kerry, who will soon announce his intention to run for President of the United States. It is a nuanced assessment of American foreign policy at a crossroads—delivered at a moment when the political leaders of the country should have been questioning basic assumptions but weren’t. Kerry did, however—a year before the antiwar movement began to gather strength and coherence."
|
I don't need to quote any more fron Joe Klien. You get the point.
But what do you expect? Kerry puts his name on an anti-war organization so the Administration counters with a political organization of their own. It's not the organization, per se. It's what the members said and did.
Richard
_________________
The Public View |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mikest
PO2
Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 377
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Richard
You forgot the rule here at this site. It doesn't matter where things come from. And this example actually works. This is a quote from a top aide of Nixon's who actually went to jail for watergate. Whatever the article says, that is indisputabe. Hell, you can even hear O'Neill on the Watergate Tapes. When this group came out there were 78 hits for VV fo a just peace. Almost every one of them referred to the dick cavitt debate.
And as far as Kerry and VVAW, the FBI files and interviews with Kerry all show that he was a moderate in the group who kept the more radical members at bay.
So who should people believe between the two?
A man who was created by one of the dirtiest tricksters in political history or a man who even the FBI at the time gave praise to. And remember the FBI was tasked with discrediting and destroying the VVAW. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Richard
Ensign
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 53
Location: Gainesville, FL
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 5:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Mike,
Let's go over your reply. People can research and read and then make up their own minds who said or did what.
| mikest wrote: | | And this example actually works. This is a quote from a top aide of Nixon's who actually went to jail for watergate. Whatever the article says, that is indisputabe. |
I disagree. What you have given us is heresay. We have what Joe Klein said, not necessarily what Colson said. We don't have the source nor do we have the entire context of the quote. But I can say that I would not doubt the Nixon Administration supported the VV for a Just Peace. But then again, so what? You are trying to prove O'Neill guilty by association. Let's keep sight of the association but also keep it in context.
| mikest wrote: | And as far as Kerry and VVAW, the FBI files and interviews with Kerry all show that he was a moderate in the group who kept the more radical members at bay.
So who should people believe between the two?
A man who was created by one of the dirtiest tricksters in political history or a man who even the FBI at the time gave praise to. And remember the FBI was tasked with discrediting and destroying the VVAW. |
I have looked at a few of the FBI files available and I don't get that sense at all. Where do they say Kerry was a moderate? If they do, that is a subjective evaluation and I doubt the FBI would include that in their files.
Again, you say O'Neill was "created" by the Nixon Administration. I'm sure there is a connection, that would be credible. But I don't see any evidence at all [NONE] that VV for a Just Peace was a Nixon Administration controlled entity.
I would be interested in any evidence you may have to that end.
But let's get back to what the two men actually said and did. Senator Kerry most certainly did accuse veterans, up and down the chain of command, of committing or knowing of war crimes. He based that on his work with the Winter Soldier investigation. He also added credibility to that charge by admitting to acts of his own that violated the Geneva Convention. I am of the opinion that those charges came from fabrications and exagerations. Further, they were politically motivated.
On the other hand, I have not heard any charges from O'Neill that can be considered fabrications. At least I don't consider them as such. You may disagree, and that's fine. O'Neill did not have a political motivation that I can see. O'Neill still doesn't have a political agenda that I can see. You can take exception if you wish. But please give me some proof.
Richard
_________________
The Public View |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Doc Syler
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 1
|
| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 9:59 pm Post subject: IBD Article |
|
|
I just read the article today and went directly to your website and registered. I was not a swiftboater, but I would have been proud to have signed "The Letter". Keep up the good work!!
V/R
Doc Syler
HMCM USNR-RET
A/1/9 3rd MARDIV '66-67'
"The Walking Dead" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
