SwiftVets.com

[fortdixlover]

The Wall St. Journal readers say it well.

From http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110005460

Re: "Shame on the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush"
by JIM RASSMANN
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What's in a Name?
Alex Watson - Petoskey, Mich.

It's Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth." Not for "Bush." But then you know that. I suspect it is no coincidence that the license you took with their name is straight from the Kerry campaign spin.





The War, Antiwar Hero
Carl Lynn - Misawa Air Base, Japan

It is not mutually exclusive that Lt. Kerry saved Lt. Rassmann and the medal hunting wanker that the swift boat vets say he was.

My main problem with John Kerry is that he wants to be both the Vietnam War hero and Vietnam antiwar hero. I do not think you can be both proud and ashamed of your actions. Mr. Kerry either earned the medals and is proud of them, or he is embarrassed about his actions that caused him to earn the medals he symbolically threw over the fence of the White House, he should not be able to have it both ways.





Real Heroes Don't Brag
Alysa Schermerhorn - Atlanta

Mr. Rassmann, every American thanks you and everyone else who answered their country's call to serve, regardless of which branch of the military they served. However, no one defamed those who served in Vietnam more than John Kerry. After his four month stint in the Navy, he was a one-man wreaking ball destroying not only the military leadership but most importantly those soldiers still in Vietnam. Those medals he's fighting so hard to hang on to now, he thought so little of at the time that he threw them away--no wait, they weren't his medals, they belonged to someone else.

Here's the bottom line, Mr. Rassmann: Again, thanks to you and all who served. We're in another war now. Vietnam is old history. John Kerry has made his four month tour of duty as a naval officer the focal point of his campaign for president. By doing this, it's fair game, open to scrutiny. It's his senatorial record we should be discussing because it deals with the now not what he did then!

True heroes don't go around with a bullhorn announcing, "I'm a hero!" Did you hear such talk from George H.W. Bush (the youngest and most decorated pilot in World War II)? Did you hear it from Bob Dole (highly decorated and carries the impairment to this day in his right arm)? No, of course we didn't because that's how true heroes behave. Remember, it wasn't that long ago we were told military service didn't matter and the military was loathed by the commander in chief.

If John Kerry's life ended over 30 years ago, then his military record would define who the young man was but we have more than a four month record to assess this man. It's time we looked at what he's done from then to now.





Attacking Combat Vets
Ian Suddderth - Chattanooga, Tenn.

"Does this strategy of attacking combat Vietnam Veterans sound familiar?" These are your own words from your own article. Now ask yourself the same question. You are also attacking "combat Vietnam Veterans." The same standards should apply to both sides. Both sides should have credibility and let the public decide who is being honest.





Kerry Left His Shipmates Behind
Richard Gordon - Fish Creek, Wis.

Mr. Rassmann's account of what went on is a great story, but I'd like to dig into this a little and hear all sides including those less biased, as I too would pretty much be praising anyone who pulled my behind out of such a situation.

The others were on the surface and saw what was going on so let's peel away any B.S. on either side of the coin as I have a real problem with any commander who turns in three medals for a trip home leaving his men well before his tour is up, which is definitely not a very good leadership quality.

There may be far more truth in what the others have to say than in "Fahrenheit 9/11" which should also have been labeled "shame on anyone" who doesn't denounce it, including John Kerry.





God Help Us
Renee Terry - Fenton, Mich.

I believe the Swift Boat Veterans, but it does not matter what they or Mr. Rassmann say. I could care less that Mr. Kerry saved Rassmann's life. It has nothing to do with how he will act as commander in chief. Instead I am looking at his voting record for the past 20 years; he has consistently voted against defense spending; has voted to weaken the CIA and FBI, and has voted for higher taxes.

John Kerry will take no pre-emptive action to defend our interests; instead he will let that miserable scandal-ridden failure, known as the U.N., decide America's security. God help us if John Kerry is elected.





I Can't Believe It
Jessica O'Connor - Bayonne, N.J.

Shame on you for running this piece. Mr. Rassmann conveniently overlooks John Kerry's slamming of the soldiers and sailors on the Vietnam war upon his rather quick return stateside. No discussion of Mr. Kerry's Vietnam career can be considered complete without including his star turn as a "Vietnam Vet against the War."

I really cannot believe OpinionJournal ran this piece, as it is, with no mention of "The Winter Solider," Jane Fonda, "the medal toss." What a shame. I'm very disappointed in you all.

If the media manages to inflict the Kerry presidency on us for four years, Wall Street and other business concerns better hold onto their hat and their wallet. I predict four more years of "malaise" Jimmy Carter style, possibly followed by total war of the Islamofacists against us.

I can't wait to see Oprah in a burkha.





Kerry's Leadership
Morris Buttnick - Mercer Island, Wash.

John Kerry's heroism is not being questioned. It is his veracity, credibility and fitness to lead an America at war that is highly problematic.





Kerry's Smear Campaign
Mark Shelton - Fremont, Calif.

Mr. Rassmann should explain the Mr. Kerry smear campaign against veterans while he was standing tall and proud and tossing his (or someone's) medals.





So It's Only OK for Kerry to Talk About Vietnam
Michael Fadus - Zurich, Switzerland

A handful of Democratic-financed swift boat veterans support Mr. Kerry: good.

A larger number of Republican-financed swift boat veterans support Mr. Bush: bad.

John McCain, John Kerry, and Jim Rassmann think that only their view of what happened in Vietnam is accurate and unassailable: good.

Swift boat veterans sign sworn affidavits (to date factually uncontested, even in Rassmann's opinion piece): bad.

Sorry, Mr. Rassmann, but every "argument" you've mentioned (lies, smear, hate-filled asserts) has been a talking point by Kerry operatives and Al Hunt.

So here's the deal, if Mr. Kerry stops bringing up his four months of service in Vietnam 30 years ago, we'll stop talking about it, too. But you and your ilk would rather talking about those four months long ago then the embarrassment of what has happened since: Mr. Kerry's empty 19 years as senator, with no hallmark legislation, and no leadership. And you think he's fit for command?





All the Veterans Have a Right to Be Heard
Brandon Davis - Sacramento, Calif.

"Some" Swift Boat veterans? How about most Swift Boat veterans. A couple of hundred or so Swift Boat vets, including Democrats, whose remembrance of Mr. Kerry is far, far different then yours and they shouldn't be allowed to speak out? According to you (and the Democrat Party)? Are you seriously suggesting that other members of the same Swift Boat squadron Mr. Kerry served with, including Mr. Kerry's commanding officer somehow didn't "serve with" Mr. Kerry? How did that work?

You are right in one thing though: Americans are "tired of smear campaigns against those who volunteered to wear the uniform." We're tired of those who would smear those veterans in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who honorably served their county 30 years ago, and seek to serve their country one more time by telling the electorate what they know to be true about the issue that John Kerry has seemingly based the core of his campaign on.

And your ad hominem attack against those many honorable men, Mr. Rassmann, is simply intolerable. Speak to the facts (you dare not), stick to the issues (you've sidestepped), and speak to their evidence (you cannot) and hence follow your own advice!

But don't dishonor their record of service with your distortions and smear tactics. And you sir, have insulted and defamed all those who served in Vietnam, by suggesting that their disagreement with your own recollections should be silenced. They fought for the right to be heard. They will be heard. They deserve to be heard.





Kerry Should Release His Records
Harold Hutchison - Chantilly, Va.

So, in other words, Mr. Rassmann, John Kerry is entitled to dictate to other how they should view his conduct from 1968-1972? These veterans served and bled, just as John Kerry did. They have just as much right to present their side of the story as you do. John Kerry can clear this up by releasing his records. Just as George W. Bush did when his service was called into question. Why won't he?





Too Tidy
Robert Whittier - Tsuchiura, Japan

You served your country, John Kerry served the country, and the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush served the country in that war. So how do we decide who is telling the truth? I suspect that the truth is complex, and your article sounds just too tidy, hitting as it does all the Democratic convention themes. I plan to read "Unfit for Command" and decide for myself whether it rings true.

My hope in the upcoming election is not so much to elect a hero of comic book proportions as it is to elect a man who--to paraphrase Kipling--can keep his head when all about him are losing theirs and blaming it on him.





One Act 30 Years Ago Does Not Make a President
Michael Becker - Phoenix, Ariz.

Mr. Rassmann, I can understand your fealty towards Sen. Kerry. It appears that, for a moment in time with you, John Kerry may well have done a heroic thing. He saved your life apparently at the risk of his own.

One heroic act does not make a hero. Mr. Kerry's account of his actions in Vietnam are seriously at odds with the accounts of several hundred men with whom he served. And not one of them will be enriched by this experience. In addition to the arguable conduct in Vietnam is Mr. Kerry's course of action when he came home. He gave "aid and comfort" to the enemies of the United States at a time when men were still fighting. Then there is the 20+ years of experience in the Senate. Why is it when anyone tries to get the senator to talk about his record, he switches to stories of Vietnam and cries foul?

I'm glad for you that you were fortunate enough to experience what is likely to be recorded as the only heroic moment of John Kerry's life. That doesn't change the fact that he is unfit for command.





Not Exactly an Objective Observer
John McDaniel - Weatherford, Texas

Mr. Rassmann's feelings of loyalty to Sen. Kerry are understandable, however misplaced they may be. The fact that on one mission and one occasion, Mr. Kerry might have done something worthy of the word "heroic," is of course totally negated by Sen. Kerry's record after he returned from Vietnam, but let's stick to facets of Mr. Kerry's 1/3 of a combat tour for now.

As to the issue of the "intensity" of the combat going on during Mr. Rassmann's rescue, I'll bet it was very intense from the perspective of a guy stranded in the water with no apparent way out. It seems to me it is pretty reasonable to assume the perspective of someone in a fire-belching swift boat, with experience in this kind of engagement could be quite different. Hardly the stuff of controversy, unless the guy in the water insists he has the most objective point of view.

Mr. Rassmann has revealed that he is either a dupe or willing accomplice, in attacking those who feel they have legitimate cause by apparently going on point for Mr. Kerry and regurgitating DNC spin. So what if some Republican's like what the Swift Boat Vets are saying and are now providing financial support? It's not as if the Swift Boat Vets are changing their tune of the last 30 plus years, when they had no financial backing at all!

The Swift Boat Vets who find Mr. Kerry unfit for command have experience with the man that far exceed that of a single combat mission. So far, and "so far" means only since the 1970s, their story rings true--and Mr. Kerry's still rings hollow.





Kerry Could End This
James Green - Palmdale, Calif.

As has become standard, Mr. Rassmann refuses to deal with the substance of the Swift Boat Veterans' assertions. That Mr. Kerry pulled Rassmann from the water is not under discussion. That he received five medals is not under discussion. Declaring their assertions fabrications does not make it so.

Mr. Kerry could end this by producing all his military records. One signature on Form 180, and the Swift Boat Vets are shown to be charlatans. Or maybe not.





Let's See Kerry's Service Records
John Russell - Washington

Mr. Rassmann can help Sen. Kerry out of this mess by urging his hero to fill out a standard Form 180 and authorize the Defense Department to release all of Mr. Kerry's military records from A to Z.

If Mr. Rassmann and the ranks of Kerry apologists believe the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have lied, release the records and prove them wrong.

The saying "put up or shut up" applies here. Over 250 Swift Boat veterans have stepped forward to denounce John Kerry. They have nothing to gain by such actions.

I maintain that if the book "Unfit For Command" were aimed at Swift Boat Commander George W. Bush, the veterans coming forward to tell their story would be hailed as "real American heroes" and would be the toast of the TV talk shows.

I believe the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Their charges deserve to be examined in detail.





What Kerry Did Upon His Return
Joe Bray - Meridian, Idaho

Mr. Rassmann speaks as I might speak if someone pulled me out of the water after I thought I was left for dead. But he ignores what Mr. Kerry did upon his return to America--which is what this is all about.





Heroic But Not Heroes
Tim Sousley - Columbia, Tenn.

Actually, I don't recall anyone--including the "swift boat" veterans--questioning Mr. Kerry's heroism in saving Mr. Rassmann. Most of the questions seem to revolve around his killing an enemy "soldier" and his three Purple Hearts. There is absolutely nothing terribly unusual about the inconsistency of heroism and self-interest residing in the same person. Benedict Arnold defeated the British at Saratoga and defected to them at West Point. Charles Lindbergh gamely flew the Atlantic, then turned a blind eye toward the Nazis. Both suffered deserved loss of prestige for their vanity

[Theresa Alwood]

Great editorials. Just shows that word is getting out and people are paying attnetion. Gives me hope!!!
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Born to raise a little hell!