SwiftVets.com

[Truegrit]

Colbert King, a Washington Post columnist, appears to be reconsidering his earlier dismissal of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claims against Kerry -- based on what a good friend of his had to tell him about how the Vietnam Veterans felt. Here is a liberal who is having second thoughts.

I wrote to congratulate him. I have included the link to his column in the Sunday Washington Post at the end of my letter:

"Dear Mr. King,

I read with interest your op-ed in the Washington Post, and will mention your piece to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as something they should read. I participate in their online discussion groups and we share links.

I am a Vet, though of an earlier era than Vietnam. I believe the Swiftees got very unfair coverage by the mainstream media (which in our blogs is referred to as "MSM"). I have seen O'Neill's allegations referred to as "unsubstantiated claims" by journalists who should know better -- who should get the dictionary and look up the verb "to substantiate". And most recently in Time Magazine, I saw an article by Tumulty and Duffy refer to the Swiftees' claims as "reckless and unfair."

Simply not true. The documentation is substantial, and in fact, a close reading of Kerry's public interviews and statements over the years, and those parts of his diary that Douglas Brinkley has publicized, show inconsistencies that back up the charges of O'Neill and other of the Swift Boat vets.

But like your good friend who served in Vietnam, I am mainly upset about Kerry's statements after he returned from Vietnam -- what I call "Kerry's Smear Campaign" of 1971, when he opportunistically betrayed his fellow Vietnam Veterans with malicious, false accusations of massive war crimes. I knew one of the men who was tortured in Hanoi by the North Vietnamese and who described how hard he worked to get the men under him in Prison to take the torture (his name is Jim Stockdale, MOH recipient and CO of the prisoners). He got them to take as much torture as they could before giving any ground on "war crime" confessions. Their arms were bound behind their backs and they were suspended by their arms -- an excruciately painful form of torture.

I do not understand how the Democrats could bring this man, John Kerry, a man with no record of accomplishment in the Senate but a very tragic record of betrayal as a former Veteran, to the fore as their candidate. What were they thinking?

Ted Harwood, Ph.D."

To read his column in today's WP "Kerry's Unlikely Detractors" go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48884-2004Sep24.html
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Ted Harwood, Ph.D.
Enlisted, U.S. Army ('57-'60)

[Redleg]

Great to see that another tunnel vision columnist got their wake-up.
I was even surprised that Juan Williams today on FOX and he claimed that he believes that Kerry's recent attacks are a little too late for the presidential hopeful.

I believe that history will show that the Swiftees contribution to the '04 Presidential election was the turning point for the incumbent President. The true voice of the people (Vets) is mighter than the spin & shill. Vets are real persons who have walk the walk and have creditability with the public.

Unfortunately, (In my humble opinion) John Kerry is the new Democratic Party. Along with Ted Kennedy, KKK Byrd, Bill & Hillary Clinton and other who constantly take the negitory approach to issues and accomplishments of others, I do believe the party has taken a big turn for the worst and I'm not too sure what it will take to turn the party around. Perhaps a younger, more moderate generation of Dems is what's needed to get back to the basics of fighting for the improvment of the working class man's way of life and the true meaning of national unity.
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FIRE MISSION: Kerry campaign in line of sight.

[sixdogteam]

It's unfortunate that so many "journalists" have a commy bent to their ideas, but that's been going on for a long time. Up until recently all we had was talk radio to counter this (Which will go away if the Dem-coms get control of the government and bring back the fairness doctrain). But now with the proliferation of the internet, blogging, Satellite television, etc. things are looking up: the old adage "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one" , is no longer so pertinent, considering how easy it is to access the internet via a computer...
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HHC 212th CAB MMAF RVN '70-'71