Rick Santoro said:
That isn't the truth. Almost all of the men who served with him do not think he was honest about his military record, including all of his chain of command.
The report that said they were under heavy fire was written and suBathmateitted by Kerry himself when physical evidence on the boats, and the tesitimony of all his fellow swift boat vets denied his claims. Rassman has no bearing in saying if he was under attack or not. The guy was in the water and his opinion on what happened out of the water and on the shore can be convoluted.
The men who had better views of the situation weren't in the water, they were on swift boats and they said there was no enemy fire.
You want to talk about people dieing? Kerry and Jane Fonda, by protesting the war, caused the deaths of thousands of American lives. They have killed more americans then "Bush's War for oil".
That first part isnt at all true, and your assessments are completely contradictory to official military record and the accounts of people who actually were ON Kerry's boat at the time of incident.
There is NO proof, that the boat was not under fire, Rassman himself said he had to come up for air, and when he did bullets were hitting the water and he had to go back under. Here's an excerpt from
www.factcheck.org
"And on Aug. 19, Navy records came to light also contradicting the accusers. One of the veterans who says Kerry wasn't under fire was himself awarded a Bronze Star for aiding others "in the face of enemy fire" during the same incident." Again NO proof that Kerry wrote the after action report.
Another excerpt concerning the funding of this smear campaign.
"Internal Revenue Services now shows its initial funding came mainly from a Houston home builder, Bob R. Perry, who has also given millions to the Republican party and Republican candidates, mostly in Texas, including President Bush and Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose district is near Houston"
I also gotta post this update b/c its completely non-partisan and factual.
Update: Two New Witnesses Contradict Kerry's Swift Boat Critics
08.22.2004
We have updated our Aug. 6 article on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad to include two new accounts that surfaced Aug. 22. One supported Kerry's account of the actions for which he was awarded the Silver Star, and the other supported Kerry's account of receiving enemy fire during the rescue for which Kerry was awarded the Bronze Star.
The Silver Star section has been updated to include the following:
On Aug. 22 an officer who was present supported Kerry's version, breaking a 35-year silence. William B. Rood commanded another Swift Boat during the same operation and was awarded the Bronze Star himself for his role in attacking the Viet Cong ambushers. He said Kerry and he went ashore at the same time after being attacked by several Viet Cong onshore.
Rood said he was the only other officer present. Rood is now an editor on the metropolitan desk of the Chicago Tribune, which published his first-person account of the incident in its Sunday edition. Rood said he had refused all interviews about Kerry's war record, even from reporters for his own paper, until motivated to speak up because Kerry's critics are telling "stories I know to be untrue" and "their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us."
Rood described two Viet Cong ambushes, both of them routed using a tactic devised by Kerry who was in tactical command of a three-boat operation. At the second ambush only the Rood and Kerry boats were attacked.
Rood: Kerry, followed by one member of his crew, jumped ashore and chased a VC behind a hooch--a thatched hut--maybe 15 yards inland from the ambush site. Some who were there that day recall the man being wounded as he ran. Neither I nor Jerry Leeds, our boat's leading petty officer with whom I've checked my recollection of all these events, recalls that, which is no surprise. Recollections of those who go through experiences like that frequently differ.
With our troops involved in the sweep of the first ambush site, Richard Lamberson, a member of my crew, and I also went ashore to search the area. I was checking out the inside of the hooch when I heard gunfire nearby.
Not long after that, Kerry returned, reporting that he had killed the man he chased behind the hooch. He also had picked up a loaded B-40 rocket launcher, which we took back to our base in An Thoi after the operation.
Rood disputed an account of the incident given by John O'Neill in his book "Unfit for Command," which describes the man Kerry chased as a "teenager" in a "loincloth." Rood said, "I have no idea how old the gunner Kerry chased that day was, but both Leeds and I recall that he was a grown man, dressed in the kind of garb the VC usually wore."
Also, the Bronze Star section has been updated to include the following:
On Aug. 22 the Washington Post quoted a new eyewitness in support of Kerry's version. The Post said it had independently contacted Wayne D. Langhofer, who manned a machine gun aboard PCF-43, the boat directly behind Kerry's, and that Langhofer said he distinctly remembered the "clack, clack, clack" of enemy AK-47 assault rifles.
Langhofer: There was a lot of firing going on, and it came from both sides of the river."
Kerry has had to make spilt-second decisions, Bush never has. He has always had an aid or advisor to help him. Thats why on 9/11 he didnt get up, b/c no one told him to. Also the Bush Admin has direct ties to the Swift Boat group, but they have now resigned in order to protect Bush. One of them even appeared in the ad.
In your last remark, you are saying that Kerry is directly responsible for deaths in Vietnam, which is irresponsible. How are they responsible? I have gone to protests against the Iraq War. Are you saying I am also responsible for deaths in Iraq? I think thats way over the line.