SwiftVets.com

[The bandit]

CNN, April 25, 2001

Kerrey explains why his Bronze Star is mistake

Kerrey's wartime heroics have been central to his political biography, but he now says an incident that earned him a Bronze Star for "heroic achievement" was actually a tragic mistake that has haunted him for 32 years.

"We expected it to be a very difficult mission, and we met some people we believed were the outpost and we killed them," Kerrey said Wednesday on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports.

"(We) went on and took fire where we expected this meeting to occur, and we returned very lethal fire. And when the firing was over, all we had was women and children that were dead."

Kerrey was describing an incident that happened in the Mekong Delta on February 25, 1969, when a squad of Navy SEALs he commanded came under fire on a moonless light and returned fire into the darkness.

The citation that accompanied his Bronze Star reads: "The net result of his patrol was twenty-one Viet Cong killed, two hootches destroyed and two enemy weapons captured"

Kerrey now says the Bronze Star citation was wrong.

Larry Thurlow says his Bronze Star citation is wrong because it repeats Kerry's own exaggerated version of events (Kerry wrote the official action report) that could not possibly be true.

Silly media still hasn't learned their lesson; medal citations are only as accurate as the people who prepare the reports for which they are based upon.

Of course, Bob Kerrey has far more of a serious problem because of the after-action reports and the fact he accepted a reward for "heroic achievement," which no sane human being can envision any "heroic achievement" in killing woman and children, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
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[jrwhite85]

Bob Kerrey is not John Kerry. But you already know that, right?
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JEFF WHITE