SwiftVets.com

[NavyBrat]

[Malvern]

CCWEB wrote:

[USAF66-70]

emailed to BOR--

Hi Bill. Love the show. I had been nonplussed by your initial & perfunctory dismissal of SBVT. But it seems you've reconsidered and now given the SBVT their due. Thanks for the great O'Neill interview.

Is it possible that you originally miscalculated the validity of the SBVT evidence? That the SBVT are honorable intelligent guys and not all that partisan, unlike like the slime merchants that have attacked you?

Do you think you should somehow acknowledge the miscalculation, perhaps even remorse, for your original dismissal of the SBVT? Regardless, you've a great show. And good luck on getting Kerry on your show.

[USWORHOCKEY]

Everyone should be proud, BOR was someone who trivialized the situation but it seems that he is beginning to understand. He has done a jk 180 if ya ask me.
_________________
NEVER RELENT WHEN THE ENEMY IS ON THE RUN!
3 generations of soldiers in family.......

[ArmyWife]

[MJB]

Here's what I sent to both BOR email addresses -

Dear Bill,

Thanks for the interview last night with John O’Neil, author of Unfit for Command. As a former Air Force intelligence officer, I have found the Swift Vets website and book compelling, well-researched and documented, and devastating to Kerry’s claims.

You askd John a number of good questions last night, but there are several more critical questions you need to ask about this situation in order to make your inquiries “fair and balanced” (and your research staff should have picked up on these as well) –

Why won’t John Kerry sign a form 180 and authorize the complete release of ALL his military and medical records? The records he has on his web site do not validate a number of his claims regarding medals and military actions, nor is it a ‘complete record’ as Kerry and his campaign have claimed.


Why has John Kerry failed to answer ANY of the Swifties’ claims, except to say “it’s not true”? Kerry has failed utterly to counter any of the Swifties charges…except to change his stories numerous times.


What is the significance of Kerry’s posting three unique citations for his Silver Star medal? His claim of “losing his copies” is ridiculous. If he had lost his copies and requested new ones, he would have received photocopies of existing records. There is no honest way for him to have multiple copies of the same citation – unless new ones were produced for him. Hummm…let’s find any other veteran who could say the same thing happened to him or her…. The Navy finds this interesting enough to have apparently started an investigation. Haven’t heard that mentioned in the mainstream media, however.


Why has Kerry failed to conduct a press conference, or sit down with you or any other respected interviewer in the mainstream media and answer any of these questions?


If you look at the timeline of medals received, Kerry basically received medals for actions occurring within a 21 day time frame. How common was this and are there any other vets from Viet Nam who received theirs in such a short time period? Also, I believe the record will show that Kerry made a total of 18 swift boat missions while in country. That works out to about 1 medal for every 3.6 missions. Don’t you find that rather astonishing?? How many other vets have a similar record?


Why did Kerry lie about being at a meeting of the Vietnam Vets against the War where assassination of US Senators was discussed?


Why has Kerry failed to produce ANY evidence of the “war crimes” he claims were committed on a “daily basis?”


During last night’s interview, you stated that “no one could know” if there was any shooting from the banks during the Rassman incident. However, several factors lead one to quite reasonably conclude there was NO enemy fire: the canal/river was only 75 feet wide – you could hit the broad side of a barn at that distance! When the mine went off, all 4 remaining boats opened fire on the banks – they had large guns for boats that size, and they were (as noted) close to the banks. Who would have survived to keep shooting? No bullet holes were noted in the boats, nor was anyone wounded by gunfire – again no mean feat in such a narrow area. The rescue of boat 3 and her occupants, and the process to get boat 3 moving again took over 90 minutes! Surely Viet Cong snipers would have taken advantage of the situation if they had been able, no?


I could go on….

Please don’t write this off to ‘youthful misconduct” on Kerry’s part. His Vietnam story is just the opening chapter in a life story that lacks character and integrity. It is a sign of things to come, as one can see by his behavior after Vietnam. It’s a pattern of lies, exaggeration, mischaracterizations – all done so he looks good, like the hero. Even if half of what he claims is true, it’s all presented in a way that makes Kerry the center of the action.

This issue is bigger than John Kerry – the Swift Vets, and all of the other Vietnam vets, both living and dead, deserve a full accounting of what this man did and how he impacted the nation’s view of Vietnam to this day. Kerry is a disgrace to the Navy and the US military. Honor and dignity are what the Swifties are fighting for – and a correction of the record.

I urge you to not let up. The vets deserve a full accounting and full measure of appreciation for their honorable service in Vietnam.



MJB
USAF '88-'92

[ArmyWife]

[MJB]

[USAF66-70]

Just got a return email from BillOReilly.com (although I’m not a Premium Member):

[jrsdad]

[jrsdad]

[jrsdad]

FWIW, this is what I sent O'Reilly at oreilly@foxnews.com:

Bill --

Caught your piece with John O'Neill tonight. A number of things caught my attention.

First - why should this be important? Because it is not about mistakes made 30 years ago. I could accept that. But Kerry's philosophy against the military and intervention has been the one constant in his career - from Vietnam to Nicaragua to Kuwait to Iraq. His dishonesty in fabricating stories to win political points, as in his "Christmas in Cambodia" fantasy, are not just exaggerations but windows into his character today.

You seemed to lump all people who have written you supporting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as "right wing ideologues." I don't know the content of your email, obviously, but I think you may have gotten caustic pieces from those who do not fit that description.

I'm a registered conservative Democrat whose positions are often in line with what you outlined in "The No Spin Zone" book. I probably should register as an independent, because I'm not comfortable with any of the parties' positions today (not just their platforms but how they implement them - not much difference there). I'm not a veteran or affiliated with the Swift vets aside from posting in their discussion groups. I'm a California Democrat who voted for Gore and tried to defend Clinton right up to 9/11. I voted for Nixon in 1972, and straight Dem since then.

I never had a problem with Kerry's service. I assumed that he had served, and served with distinction. For me, it was irrelevant, as his Senate record was more germane. However, I was intrigued by the issues. A big part of what I do is research, so I started researching the claims. I've spent waaay too much time on this. I've read the Kerry bios and highlighted them. I read as many quotes going back 30 years as I could. I read the excerpts from his journals that the Boston Globe ran. I read everything I could from the Swift vets (I haven't finished "Unfit for Command" because my research has turned up pretty much everything in it so far). I read and highlighted his 1971 Senate testimony, including the Q&A which most overlook. I printed out and read all of the documentation on JohnKerry.com. I studied the codes and statutes that relate to the awarding of medals and the changing of citations.

I had to laugh when you went on about what your "research" had uncovered. All of this was in Tour of Duty or Unfit for Command - if your research staff is saying this is new stuff, they are jobbing you.

My uncle was carried off the beach at Iwo Jima with Japanese machine gun bullets in his belly. My father-in-law fought the Japanese in the jungles of the Philippines. My brothers-in-law fought Muslim rebels in Mindanao. They earned their medals, they shed real blood.

As a journalist, I wonder at you taking Hack's word on medal inflation. He is not exactly the most reputable source today. Indeed, I have corresponded with him on this matter of the Swift boats, and he really is not that informed other than to say they were all heroes.

If I had your resources, when Hack says there was medal inflation, I would look into how many medals of what type were given in Coastal Division 11 in 1968 and 1969. I'd look into why Jack Chenoweth received no medal on 13 March 1969 for doing *more* rescues than Kerry (Chenoweth remained in the "ambush zone" assisting the damaged PCF-3 and pulled three sailors from the river).

Here are some questions a real reporter interested in the *story* would ask:

1. Why do you repeatedly claim you have released all of your records when you have not released critical records like your medical reports, the after action report for 2 December 1968 when you received your first Purple Heart, and the application for that PH? Did you not ask President Bush to release his records? Shouldn't you do the same?

2. Why was that PH first turned down by LTCMDR Grant Hibbard, but awarded two months later when all who had witnessed the event were rotated stateside? Who applied for the award? Since it would normally require an after action report showing enemy fire, and none was produced for the 2 December incident, how could you have received the award?

3. Why was your reserve commitment over in 1972, but your discharge read 1978? Where are the records of your Ready Reserve drills for 1971-1972? Did you miss any drills?

4. How can you explain that, according to your report, the 5 Swift boats (including one that was dead in the water and three that were aiding it) had no bullet damage after what you report as heavy small arms and automatic weapons fire, and there were no bullet wounds reported? This, with 5 50-foot boats in a river that was 75 yards wide?

5. Were you wounded by shrapnel while in your boat or while on land on 13 March like your diary and James Rassmann state? If you were wounded on land, in the absence of enemy fire, doesn't this mean you did not qualify for your 3rd Purple Heart?

6. Were you still under oath as an officer of the US Navy when you met privately with representatives of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in Paris in 1971? Does this is any way violate your oath?

7. Since your records show you received SERE training, weren't you aware that your words in protests and before the Fulbright Committee would be used by the North Vietnamese to torture POWs? Isn't this a part of SERE training?

8. Are you paying any of your "Band of Brothers" any compensation?

9. Why did David Alston state that your campaign was limiting the interviews they could give? Why have you used professional mouthpieces like Lanny Davis and Hurley instead of your "brothers"?

10. Why was your citation for the Silver Star amended substantially on two occasions? Navy regs are very specific about the circumstances under which they can be altered, and your case does not seem to fit. Please release the paperwork requesting the changes in the citations.

Mr. O'Reilly, I know this is not pithy, but I'm not interested in being read on your show. I want to stimulate the journalist buried under the entertainer.

At some point, this will break open. There are too many issues waiting in the wings - the recent revelations of subborning perjury in the Winter Soldier Investigation, the FBI records of Kerry in the meeting he denied attending where the Phoenix Project (to assassinate Congress members) was discussed, the FBI records of Kerry's meetings with the Communists in Paris while still an officer in a time of war, Kerry's disappearing Band of Brothers including David Alston who has already been shown to have lied about his experience wit Kerry.

You say Chris Wallace "disproved" a number of Swift vet claims, but that is not true. There is contradictory evidence, but even if you accept the statements in the reports Kerry wrote (compare William Rood's recent statement to the after action report for 28 February 1969 with the statements on all three of Kerry's Silver Star citations) you still have the majority of physical evidence, and the body of testimonial evidence, going against Kerry.

I hope you decide that you would rather lead this investigation than make excuses as more things break over the next few weeks.

To save your research staff some time, and to help form the questions, I submit the following FAQ I developed for the Swift vets:

(inserted my FAQ on the sticky Research topic)

[USAF66-70]

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," Sept. 7, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!"
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: The book "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," is No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Co-author John O'Neill has been all over TV and radio promoting the book. But I didn't want to talk to him until I read the book and investigated his charges independently.
And now, that's been done and Mr. O'Neill joins us from Los Angeles. All right, you know, you've given hundreds of interviews and let's make this one a bit different. I'm going to read you what we've found out in our investigation and you tell me whether it's true or not, OK. And I think that will advance this story a little bit.
First of all, you didn't know John Kerry in Vietnam, even though you took over his boat. Your paths didn't cross over there, right?
JOHN O'NEILL, "UNFIT FOR COMMAND," COAUTHOR: That's true, Bill. The book, of course, is based on more than 60 people who served directly with him. Many of them were there when I got there.
O'REILLY: You didn't know him there. And you met up with him on the Dick Cavett Show, where you debated his antiwar position once he returned to the United States, correct?
O'NEILL: I met him on the Dick Cavett show. Of course, I was there because of his war crimes claims against our unit and others.
O'REILLY: OK. You know, I'm going to try to get that broadcast upstairs. Let's see if we can get that. That would be interesting to see. Now, in Vietnam, at the time John Kerry was in command of the swift boat, there were two things going on. One, there was medal inflation in the Navy. They were giving out medals like crazy to boost morale and to encourage more aggressive action.
And number two, the swift boat commanders didn't keep daily logs. Both of those things true?
O'NEILL: Not quite, Bill. I don't think there was medal inflation like crazy.
O'REILLY: Really?
O'NEILL: I don't know of any other Purple Heart incidents like the ones involved with John Kerry.
O'REILLY: All right, let me just quote you from David Hackworth -- you know David Hackworth. He's a very famous Army analyst, and he says that "the Army grossly," and Navy, "grossly inflated awards, and it sunk to a new low at that period in time."
So there's a disagreement, but some people believe there was medal inflation.
O'NEILL: We don't know of any, for example, Purple Hearts in the absence of hostile fire for self-inflicted wounds, other than the three that John Kerry...
O'REILLY: All right, would you cede that it was easier to win a Silver Star in Vietnam than during World War II?
O'NEILL: I think that that probably is fair, Bill.
O'REILLY: OK.
O'NEILL: I think that's probably...
O'REILLY: That's all we want to be is fair, and we want to set the record straight if we can.
O'NEILL: Sure.
O'REILLY: We have found out that John Kerry was anti-Vietnam War before he even got to Vietnam and we base this on his address that he gave to his Yale graduating class, where he questioned the war and he questioned the intervention there. So before Kerry even got to Vietnam, he was antiwar. Did you find that out?
O'NEILL: We found out exactly the same thing, Bill, that's true.
O'REILLY: OK, good, all right, nine out of 10 people on Kerry's boat still support him. Did you find that out?
O'NEILL: I believe it's more like eight out of nine. One is dead.
O'REILLY: Steve Gardner, yeah, OK. Steve Gardner is the lone dissenter, correct?
O'NEILL: Right. And I think it's important, when we say support him, they support him for president. They don't necessarily support him on these stories, like the one in Cambodia, and all that.
O'REILLY: No, but they think he's an honorable man. So we've got nine out of 10 on his boat think he's an honorable man. Gardner is the dissenter. Now, do you know this man Michael Bernique? Do you know who he is?
O'NEILL: Michael Bernique is one of the officers who served, you know, at An Thoi. Of the people at An Thoi, 17 of the 23 officers who served with John Kerry have joined with our organization and condemned Kerry as unfit. Michael Bernique is one of the people who's taken no position.
O'REILLY: Right. He is the most highly decorated swift boat commander in Vietnam, and he basically says, quote, "Kerry was a great American fighting man, but," Bernique says, "after he came back from Vietnam, he diminished that by his unfair criticism."
Would that be what you know about Bernique?
O'NEILL: Michael Bernique is certainly a very highly decorated guy.
O'REILLY: Yeah, he's a true war hero.
O'NEILL: No question about it, hands down. I'm not sure if he was the most decorated, but he's certainly among the most decorated.
O'REILLY: Yeah, from what we know, he is the most decorated. All right, so what I'm trying to get across here...
O'NEILL: He wasn't with Kerry on the deals we discussed in our book, he wasn't there. But I think generally, his position has been that Kerry served honorably, but that he diminished everything, behaved dishonorably when he came back.
O'REILLY: That's true, absolutely true. Now, why I peppered you with all of those things is because I want you and I to have some common ground, and the common ground is this: From what we found out -- and yeah, he might have inflated his heroism, and yeah, the medals probably weren't what they were in World War II -- but he did perform heroically and he did go way overboard when he came back and unfairly besmirched Vietnam veterans. So it's kind of a dual thing here. Now, I'm going to let you go ahead.
O'NEILL: Bill, I agree with the second. You know, a lot of good people protested the war in Vietnam. I have no problem with them. One of them was my professor at the Naval Academy, who sacrificed his career. Where John Kerry was different than anybody else was meeting with the North Vietnamese while he was still a Naval officer, by claiming that we were the army of Genghis Khan and the like.
With respect to his service in Vietnam, we've always thought that that was less important. And I do believe that, on occasion, Kerry showed courage in Vietnam. I do believe that he inflated his medals specifically to get out of Vietnam, in a very short period of time. He was the only one in the history of our unit to leave, in his case, four months, including a month of training, with no serious wounds.
O'REILLY: Do you think he did that on purpose, he took advantage of the three Purple Heart rule or was it just happenstance? I don't think there's any question, from our investigation, that John Kerry... two things. He went in with looking not to support the war. He went in antiwar. And then, when he got there, he had an agenda and the agenda was to perform heroically and then come back here and capitalize on that.
I think that's true. I do believe that that's true. He might have exaggerated on occasion, but I don't see him as that calculating. In your book, he comes across as so, so unbelievably calculating.
O'NEILL: I don't think that he wounded himself intentionally and we don't say that. He didn't...
O'REILLY: OK.
O'NEILL: ... to the best of my knowledge. I do think that he had very minor scratches. He had made a decision he had been there long enough, and he decided to go home and he used the three scratches to go home.
O'REILLY: Would you have done that same thing?
O'NEILL: Not in a million years. Bill, I never knew anybody that would do that.
O'REILLY: What do you think of James Rassmann? He was the guy that Kerry pulled out of the water to get the Bronze Star. Do you respect Mr. Rassmann?
O'NEILL: Absolutely. He was a Special Forces guy over there. I have nothing but respect for him. I do think that his vantage point from being in the water, after being dumped off the Kerry boat and watching Kerry disappear, was different, and not as good as the people who were on the other boats, trying to save the number three boat.
O'REILLY: Now, but Larry Thurlow was on another boat, who also got the Bronze Star there, he changed his story a little bit. But Rassmann told us on "The Factor" that he was getting shot at, had to dive to the bottom of the river to avoid the small arms fire. And this has become a real bone of contention here in your book and the debate throughout the country, that maybe Kerry wasn't under small arms fire, or whatever. Do you see Rassmann's position? I mean, if I'm in the water...
O'NEILL: Oh, sure.
O'REILLY: ... you know, I kind of know if people are shooting at me by the pings on the top of the water.
O'NEILL: Well, here's the problem. The first problem, honestly, Bill, is the story told at the Democratic Convention was that all five boats fled and Kerry came back. What really happened is all the other boats stayed, Kerry left, Rassmann fell off...
O'REILLY: ... he came back.
O'NEILL: ... Kerry ultimately came back. Now, the question is, when Kerry came back, was there still fire? Here's the problem with Rassmann's vantage point. When the mine went off under the number three boat, every single boat opened up. They opened up completely. Rassmann was in the water. For a minute, Rassmann sitting and watching fire everywhere...
O'REILLY: Everywhere.
O'NEILL: ... I mean, these boats, these boats had tremendous...
O'REILLY: Friendly fire can take you out as well as hostile fire, you know that.
O'NEILL: And that's why Rassmann says all boats left. Well, really, what he saw was the Kerry boat leave. The other boats stayed. Everyone admits they couldn't leave...
O'REILLY: I mean, I think to be fair, that to come back and Kerry to drag him out of the water deserved some kind of medal. I don't know about the others, but I believe Rassmann there. So what we have here is basically you saying that Kerry exaggerated his exploits in Vietnam. I think that possibly could have happened.
He was craven when he came back to the U.S. by besmirching all the fine soldiers in Vietnam. I think that's true. And then, the details, people see different things in battle. You know the fog of war better than anyone, Mr. O'Neill.
O'NEILL: It's true, Bill. People can reach different results. I will say, as you know from that book, there are a number of occasions when, for example, in the sanpan incident, it simply is Kerry's account in his book and then the actual report to the Navy.
O'REILLY: Yeah, that was a screw up.
O'NEILL: That's no longer fog of war.
O'REILLY: That sanpan thing was screwed up... oh, boy.
O'NEILL: And the Cambodia story.
O'REILLY: Yeah, but remember -- and I'm not making excuses for Senator Kerry -- it was 35 years ago. He was a young guy, he was an ambitious guy, he's there with an agenda, he's embellishing what happened to him, you know.
O'NEILL: Well, the problem, Bill, is the biggest thing for us has always been, you know, classifying, you know, 58,000 of our friends, 55 of our friends that we left back there, as the Army of Genghis Khan...
O'REILLY: I agree with you. What if Kerry made an apology for doing that? Would that...
O'NEILL: If he had apologized 35 years ago, I wouldn't be here, to tell you the truth, Bill. Neither would the 260 swift boat guys. The problem is, it's just a little late now.
O'REILLY: It is a little late, but everybody does stupid things when they're younger. And I think that people have to own up to those things. If I do talk to the senator, I'm going to ask him about this, of course, whether he overdid it. I enjoyed your book. I think that it's been taken by the ideologues to a degree that I didn't like.
I think you tried to do what you felt was right and I think people should read it and then they should listen to Kerry and his guys and make up their own minds. Would that be fair?
O'NEILL: It is, Bill. It's fair. And I thank you for having us and, earlier, Steve Gardner, on your show. I've always admired your fairness in allowing us to speak. And when we wrote that book, there were more than 60 of us that participated in it. We wrote it for the guys we left back there and for the guys that are in the military right now. That's why we wrote that book.
O'REILLY: All right, Mr. O'Neill, thanks very much. We appreciate you coming on the program.
O'NEILL: Thank you, sir.

[Theresa Alwood]

I guess my main problem with BOR is that fact he even he admits the John Kerry "embelleshed" the truth. I call in a BOLD FACE LIE! BOR is still spinning because he did not get "on the boat" when he should have.
_________________
Born to raise a little hell!

[mtpNY]

Bottom Line: Unfit For Command will sell thousands of more copies and remain on the best seller list a little longer.
O'Reilly has a huge audience and his recommendation will give the book a boost and keep it in the limelight (increasing awareness and donations).

Prediction: answers a letter on air by saying "Read the book. I did.".