Home > Slow Boat Veterans for Lies
by Paul Craig Roberts
Now it is out: "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is just a political dirty trick operation financed by multimillionaire supporters of President George W. Bush. According to the August 20 New York Times, "a series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush’s chief political aide, Karl Rove. Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family."
The last thing dirty tricksters are interested in is truth.
This group of frauds claims that Kerry’s heroics were nothing but a PR operation and his wounds exaggerated or self-inflicted.
Think about that for a moment. The scurrilous attack on Kerry is an attack on all decorated veterans. If the US Navy handed out fraudulent Silver and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts to Kerry, how do we know if anyone’s medals are good?
And how exactly does a person go about self-inflicting shrapnel wounds?
The way I figure it, the Republican dirty trick meisters believe if President Bush can lie about war, they can lie about Kerry.
Just where do the Republicans think they are taking us? If they succeed in destroying the concept of truth and the shame of being a liar, how will our society differ from the great tyrannies of the 20th century?
Former Swift Boat commander Larry Thurlow claims that no boat was under fire when Kerry turned back to rescue Green Beret Jim Rassmann, who was blown into the water. Yet, the Washington Post reports that Thurlow’s own Bronze Star citation says that all five boats were under "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire." Jim Rassmann backs Kerry’s account and says he expected to be killed by Viet Cong fire.
When confronted with the words on his own citation, Thurlow claims never to have read his citation and that it is wrong. Does anyone really believe that a person awarded a Bronze Star wouldn’t read the citation accompanying the medal?
Did you know that Kerry’s critics were not even present at the action for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star? Writing in the Chicago Tribune on August 21, 2004, William B. Rood excoriates Kerry’s critics for "stories I know to be untrue."
Listen to Rood:
"On Feb. 28, 1969, I was officer in charge of PCF-23, one of three swift boats—including Kerry’s PCF-94 and Lt. j.g. Donald Droz’s PCF-43—that carried Vietnamese regional and Popular Force troops and a Navy demolition team up the Dong Cung, a narrow tributary of the Bay Hap River, to conduct a sweep in the area.
"The approach of the noisy 50-foot aluminum boats, each driven by two huge 12-cylinder diesels and loaded down with six crew members, troops and gear, was no secret.
"Ambushes were a virtual certainty, and that day was no exception.
"The difference was that Kerry, who had tactical command of that particular operation, had talked to Droz and me beforehand about not responding the way the boats usually did to an ambush.
"We agreed that if we were not crippled by the initial volley and had a clear fix on the location of the ambush, we would turn directly into it, focusing the boats’ twin .50-caliber machine guns on the attackers and beaching the boats."
Kerry’s innovative tactic was used twice that day with such success that it got the attention of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who, Rood reports, "flew down to our base at An Thoi off the southern tip of Vietnam to pin the Silver Star on Kerry and assorted Bronze Stars and commendation medals on the rest of us."
SBVT operative John E. O’Neill wasn’t on the scene, but that didn’t stop him from coauthoring a diatribe against Kerry titled "Unfit for Command," a collection of lies on which the TV political ad is based.
Here’s what the Green Beret who Kerry pulled out of the river has to say about SBVT: "This smear campaign has been launched by people without decency. Their charges are false; their stories are fabricated, made up by people who did not serve with Kerry in Vietnam."
The New York Times’ conclusion: "on close examination, the accounts of ‘Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans is undercut by official Navy records and the men’s own statements."
One thing is certain: Kerry was there on that boat in Viet Nam. Where was George W. Bush?
Forum posts
23 August 2004, 18:19
Kerry stated on the floor of the senate in 1986...
“Mr. President, I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the President of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.”
Wow. This guy tells some real whoppers.
23 August 2004, 23:31
As a Citizen of the US I am appalled at what I read here. No one in France has the right to even be involved in a discussion in which, in my opinion you know very little about.
You don’t vote here or get involved in the day to day activities of the government at any level. How could any of you set in judgment of presidential candidates on either side.
You seem to be encouraged by the antics of Michael Moore and his 911 propaganda.
To be sure this wind bag from Michigan would never pick up arms to help defend your country in a time of crisis.
I for one would be glad to see him deported to an area of the world who shares his views and contempt of the citizens of this country. Maybe Iran or Syria or even France would privileged to have such a delightfully pleasant soul. Good ridden’s.
It is unbelievable to me that so many in France view the Citizens of the USA with such contempt and disdain. After having mobilized millions of soldiers in WW1 and WW11 and having sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives in the defense of France, the honor of these veterans has been discredited and disgraced by the people of France. Apparently humility is a lost virtue in France. If it were ever there to begin with it has since been replaced with arrogance.
I for one, regret the fact that even one US solider died in these war’s defending you. You certainly did not deserve their sacrifice. It’s obvious to many in the US, especially those in the Southern States, that France would never come to the aid of the citizens of the US.
With friends like you who needs enemies.
I for one am sick of the French poo pooing this country I hope that in the future that We The People of the US will never again set foot on French soil to defend such a contemptuous nation of people.
D.C.
24 August 2004, 16:30
It is curious that noone seems to remember that it was George W, Bush who launched a totally viscious attack against Gov. Dukakis in his campaingn for the presidency by maligning Mr Dukakis’ wife’s bout of depression.The attack was so viscious that even his father then Pres, Bush sr was appalled and demanded it stop.This was reported by 20/20 and other main media sources.This swift boat smear so smacks of that self same tactic that it is a clear indice of the man’s character.How can as great a nation as America elect a man who never held a job that daddy didn’t get for him? And does not the fact that Kerry’s service record was not an issue until Bush’s non-record came into question speak volumes? One can only be amazed that any right thinkink fair minded person would still call themselves a republican!!!
24 August 2004, 21:03
What in God’s name does any of this have to do with France? What do you, as a southern American, have to offer the discussion except as a brainwashed minion of the warmonger neo-fascist you so readily hail as a champion of democracy. Dissent is patriotic. It is my flag, too...and to protect the values it stands for, we need this man and his regime ended and done with, by any means necessary. And by the way, today’s France would beat the hell out of the Germany that my father helped to defeat in World War II...and that’s where this country is headed right now under the current administration, Mr. Brown Shirt.
Steven Paul Lavoie
Descendent of the FIRST European settlers of this continent.
24 August 2004, 16:19
Unbelievable how BACKWARDS you can get things if you truly try.
Impugning Kerry’s self-serving medal collecting DOES IN NO WAY taint the medals of others. Rather, it returns value to them that was stolen by the few people like Kerry. For guys who served MULTIPLE tours of duty in Vietnam and lost limbs and mobility, how should it make them feel to know Kerry was on the "Purple-Heart-A-Month" Plan? Go pick any 100 Vietnam vets at random and ask them what diminishes their medals more—Kerry’s accolades or the questions against him.
This article is clearly written by a non-military vet. I’m no 20-year retiree, but even my 4 years brief service had some awards attached to it. No military member I have ever known had any interest in reading their own citation. Why would you? It is read and droned on when it is presented, then everything either goes into a box or framed and put on a wall. Most military members disdain the flowery language that goes into those things. To suggest it odd not to read it reflects utter ignorance.