SwiftVets.com

[NavyChief]

A long time ago I sent James Rassmann an email, asking for his official version of the 13 March 1969 incident. I was rather surprised that he wrote me back within a couple of hours and gave me his op/ed piece which he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. He was kind and respectful in his response to me so I've posted it here to share.

I came to know Lt. John Kerry during the spring of 1969. He and his swift boat crew assisted in inserting our Special Forces team and our Chinese Nung soldiers into operational sites in the Cau Mau Peninsula of South Vietnam. I worked with him on many operations and saw first hand his leadership, courage, and decision-making ability under fire.

On March 13, 1969, John Kerry’s courage and leadership saved my life.

While returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River, a mine detonated under another swift boat. Machine gun fire erupted from both banks of the river, and a second explosion followed moments later. The second blast blew me off John’s swift boat, PCF-94, throwing me into the river. Fearing that the other boats would run me over, I swam to the bottom of the river and stayed there as long as I could hold my breath.

When I surfaced, all the swift boats had left, and I was alone taking fire from both banks. To avoid the in-coming fire, I repeatedly swam under water as long as I could hold my breath, attempting to make it to the north bank of the river. I thought I would die right there. The odds were against me avoiding the in-coming fire and, even if I made it out of the river, I thought I’d be captured and executed. Kerry must have seen me in the water and directed his driver, Del Sandusky, to turn the boat around. Kerry’s boat ran up to me in the water, bow on, and I was able to climb up a cargo net to the lip of the deck. But, because I was nearly upside down, I couldn’t make it over the edge of the deck. This left me hanging out in the open, a perfect target. John, already wounded by the explosion that threw me off his boat, came out onto the bow, exposing himself to the fire directed at us from the jungle, and pulled me aboard.

For his actions that day, I recommended John for the Silver Star, our country’s third highest award for bravery under fire. I learned only this past January that the Navy awarded John the Bronze Star with Combat V for his valor. The citation for this award, signed by the Commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Vietnam, Vice Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, read, “Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY’s calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service”. To this day I am grateful to John Kerry for saving my life. And to this day I still believe that he deserved the Silver Star for his courage.

It has been many years since I served in Vietnam. I returned home, got married, and spent many years as a Deputy Sheriff for Los Angeles County. I retired in 1989 as a Lieutenant. It has been a long time since I left Vietnam, but I think often of the men who did not come home with us.

I am neither a politician nor an organizer. I am a retired police officer with a passion for orchids. Until January of this year, the only public presentations I made were about my orchid hobby. But in this presidential election, I had to speak out; I had to tell the American people about John Kerry, about his wisdom and courage, about his vision and leadership. I would trust John Kerry with my life, and I would entrust John Kerry with the well-being of our country.

Nobody asked me to join John’s campaign. Why would they? I am a Republican, and for more than 30 years I have largely voted for Republicans. I volunteered for his campaign because I have seen John Kerry in the worst of conditions. I know his character. I've witnessed his bravery and leadership under fire. And I truly know he will be a great commander-in-chief.

Now, 35 years after the fact, some Republican financed Swift Boat Veterans for Bush are suddenly lying about John Kerry’s service in Vietnam, they are calling him a traitor because he spoke out against the Nixon administration’s failed policies in Vietnam. Some of these Republican sponsored veterans are the same ones who spoke out against John at the behest of the Nixon Administration in 1971. But this time their attacks are more vicious, their lies cut deep and are directed not just at John Kerry, but at me and each of his crewmates, as well. This hate-filled ad asserts that I was not under fire; it questions my words and NAVY records. This smear campaign has been launched by people without decency, people who don’t understand the bond of those who serve in combat.

As John McCain noted, the television ad aired by these veterans is “dishonest and dishonorable.” Senator McCain called on President Bush to condemn the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush ad. Regrettably, the President has ignored Senator McCain’s advice.

Does this strategy of attacking combat Vietnam veterans sound familiar? In 2000 a similar Republican smear campaign was launched against Senator McCain. In fact, the very same communications group “Spaeth Communications” that placed ads against John McCain in 2000 is responsible for these vicious attacks against John Kerry. Texas Republican donors with close ties to George Bush and Karl Rove crafted this “dishonest and dishonorable” ad. Their new charges are false; their stories are fabricated, made up by people who did not serve with Kerry in Vietnam. They insult and defame all of us who served in Vietnam.

But when the noise and fog of their distortions and lies have cleared, a man who volunteered to serve his country, a man who showed up for duty when his country called, a man who the United States Navy awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts, will stand tall and proud. Ultimately the American people will judge these Swift Boat Veterans for Bush and their accusations. Americans are tired of smear campaigns against those who volunteered to wear the uniform. Swift Boat Veterans for Bush should hang their heads in shame.

I realize that this piece was probably talked about on the forum but what I found interesting was what the "document" was saying that you don't see in this op/ed piece.

To make sure the person who sent me the email was indeed James Rassmann, I checked the email address and the service provider. And sure enough, the email provider is OregonFAST.net. The email checked out as James Rassmann. I won't bother with the street address and phone number, I don't believe it's proper to post that info.

Next, I checked the document itself to see what secrets lie hidden there. The title of the saved file is: SBVTrebutwsj-final-Microsoft Word.

So, what did this tell me? Swift Boat Veterans for Truth rebuttal, final version written with Microsoft-97-2002. This was a good thing because Microsoft has a nice feature that lets you see who wrote the document and who edited the same.

The document was created on 9 August 2004. The author is Jim. And the real title was: I came to know Lieutenant John Kerry during the spring of 1969

So what, you say... So, Jim didn't send this document to the Wall Street Journal -- Tara McGuiness did.

Who is Tara?

Tara McGuiness is the Kerry-Edwards Campaign Press Secretary. Wanna know some more about her?

Tara McGuiness, Class of 2000 University of Pennsylvania did some women's political training in Nepal. She was working for NDI (National Democracy Org) and was working in the D.C. office for a year and then went to Bangladesh to work on their elections. She then went to Nepal through Sept 2003. She returned to find herself employed by Mary Beth Cahill (Senator Ted Kennedy's Chief of Staff) in November 2003. She then became the press secretary for the Kerry-Campaign Organization, Georgia.

And just as a side note: Former Senator Max Cleland was the co-chair of the Kerry campaign's National Steering Committee during the same time frame.

Back to the document... The email I received which James Rassman claims was written by him, is not technically correct. Rassmann certainly had a hand in the language in the document. But, the document itself was generated (for email purposes) by Tara McGuiness. Her email address and authorship of email was displayed: tmcguinness@johnkerry.com in the properties of the document.

Tara sent the document we just looked at back to Rassmann for corrections and then it came back to Tara. The document was edited 11 times and was opened for a total of 46 minutes while editing.

What does all this prove? Probably nothing, except an insight into the handling of Kerry's "Band of Brothers".

- Chief

[ord33]

Chief,

Thats very interesting!

I'd bet that woman editing Rassmann's piece added in the "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush" and put in words such as "smear", as these fit in exactly with their talking points and words Campaign Officials use to describe the SwiftVets.-- I'm sure she had a hand in clearing up other things they wanted to make look in their favor too, such as the second "explosion", but anyways thats interesting Chief, keep it up!

[Nomorelies]

And the very small world goes round and round and round. . . .
_________________
Nomorelies Make a donation HERE

[badbobusnret]

Nice mouse clicking Chief.

You have proven that we are right and the characterizations we ascribe to the Kerry crowd are correct. Not that we didn't "know". This is just another stone for the wall speaks volumes about the cynical, craven and self-serving nature of Monsieur Kerry.....

No doubt Rassman was carefully vetted long before he showed up spontaneously in Iowa. there are probably hundreds of emails setting up the "meeting".

What's Rassman pay off? Right now he is getting well paid. Billeted 1st class and ordering room service as he stumps for JK. Endstate: I'm sure he'll find a spot in a Kerry administration- VA, Homeland Security? Who knows.

Rassman's an ex SF operator and retired cop. He's shrewd, analytical and has seen it all I'm sure ..

He also knows a rainmaker when he sees it........

[Stevie]

Navychief,

That's wonderful that you got all that info out of that document! I'm glad you posted his (her) full article. What interesting stuff he (she) says....
So, that's his (her) official story on it! Even I could poke somes holes in that one!

So glad to see you back NC, was afraid aliens had kidnapped you and your posts! Glad it was only temporary!
_________________
Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

[Stevie]

but Rassman's time as a deputy was not unclouded. I think you might say he 'retired' early....
_________________
Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

[ASPB]

Chief,

If she sent you the word file try opening it in revision mode. You may find the edit redlining.
_________________
On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[Wing Wiper]

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

How do you do this "open in revision mode" thing?

I have MS Office 2000, including Word - does it have this capability?

I rarely use anything but Publisher and eXcel from the MS Office suite - I can barely set the margins correctly in Word.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[ASPB]

I don't remember about 2000 but Office XP has the ability to open a document as "original", "original showing markup", "final showing markup" and "final". It's available under the "view" menu. It also allows tracking for multple editors.

Tom
_________________
On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[NavyChief]

Nada. Are there any expert computer types that want to take a crack at it?

- Chief

[azpatriot]

Chief I have office 2000 as well and from what I’m seeing you can't do it in the version that we posses. It’ll need to be sent to someone with more current version.
_________________
Proud to be an American! and member of the PAJAMAHADEEN
FedEx Kinko's: When it absolutely, positively has to be forged overnight

[rhv5862]

Rassmann says "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush are suddenly lying about John Kerry's service in Vietnam". Lets see

1 Cambodia, Kerry Campaign now says he was not there Christmas Eve.
2 No man left behind, Kerry Campaign now says Kerry Boat left while others stayed, not the other way around as Kerry said.
3 1st P/H, Kerry Campaign now says was more than likely self inflected.

I guess Rassmann has not seen any of this. Also didn't Rassmann have a few stories about what happen that day? When you cannot dispel the truth try and destroy the messenger.

RHV

[You GottaBeKidding]

Navy Chief,

PM me and I'll give you my e-mail address. I'm running the latest version of Office.

However, I'm guessing that there won't be any revisions in that document. Releatively few people know how to use revision marking. It's more likely that the document was editing with none of the revision features in use.

Never mind about PMing me. I'll PM you. Duh.

[Beatrice1000]