Swifties told truth about John Kerry
The following is a Counterpoint.
By Joseph E. Lyons
Leonard Pitts’ column (July 3) on the “mockery” of service of military men covers a lot of ground and a lot of individuals, and a lot of descriptions, among which is the term “swift boating.”
“Swift boating” is now revealed truth for the damage done to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. Swift Boat Veterans, as we remember, challenged the honor of Kerry’s naval service in Vietnam. Contrary to accepted wisdom, the swifties got it right and the record should be reviewed:
• Kerry was accused of lying under oath before Congress. This charge, first levied in 1970, was denied and later admitted by Kerry under the guise of “exaggeration.”
• For years Kerry claimed he “threw” away his medals. He later admitted he had not and they are in fact in his Senate office.
• Kerry claimed he was in Cambodia when he was not.
• His second Purple Heart was bogus, based on the requirements to be eligible for that award.
Kerry served in a war zone, not a full tour, but in combat nonetheless. Many thousands of us did, but most did not feel required to lie about it for personal gain. His actions roused the ire of his fellows at the time and would have passed unnoticed except for his attempt to claim some special privilege to be president by virtue of his service.
Moreover, based on evidence or lack of it, Kerry’s naval service was less than stellar and the details (contained in his fitness reports, never released) would undoubtedly show this. That is why they have never seen the light of day. Fitness reports are the most important documents written about a serving naval officer, reflecting as they do his commanding officer’s opinion of his service.
Awards citations, by contrast, are almost gratuitous and cannot cancel out mediocre fitness reports in front of a Promotion Selection Board. Most importantly, fitness reports rank-order the reported-on officer with his peers, in the opinion of the CO. Be assured if the release of his fitness reports would have furthered his political ambitions, Kerry would have released them long ago. You will look in vain on his Web site for Navy documents relating to his service.
My judgment as one who served in the same Navy in the same Mekong Delta in the same year is that Kerry was a bit of a fraud as a Navy officer, and he deserves the opprobrium brought down on him. In spades.
The writer lives in High Point.
Comments (12)
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You're living in the past, at least 4 years in the past...possibly more.
Posted on July 11, 2008 3:19 AM
I have never seen any evidence that Kerry did anything but served our country honorably & possibly heroically in Vietnam.
Let it go Joe. The Swiftboat attacks on Kerry & folks like Max Cleland were a shame on the people that perpetrated them and on our nation. They were & are a symptom of what's wrong with our our political culture.
Is justifying what happened in 2004 laying the groundwork for what the Reps have in store in 2008 for Obama (or Hussain as they like to call him). After all we all know that he's a Muslim, he took his oath of office on the Koran, he refuses to say the pledge of allegiance to the flag and other charges equally as valid as the ones the Swifties laid on Kerry.
Posted on July 11, 2008 4:28 AM
Your letter, Joseph, is nothing but opinion. Of course this blog, ltte, is called "opinion" so I guess it is in the right place. However, if you are going to take the time to write a ltte such as you have, wouldn't it have been wiser to provide some links?
I heard the fellow who originated the "swiftboat" idea on NPR admit he took journalistic liberties with the writing of such tripe. He said his claims had to have only a grain of truth to make it believable. When asked if he thought what he did was right and just he said he was doing what he was being paid to do so, yes, he was OK with what he did.
A friend and I were on the way home from church one Sunday when we heard this. Both of us found his cocky attitude to be highly offensive and it unbelievable that he was bragging about how clever he was.
Since the admission was straight from the ass's mouth, I tend to believe what he said, not Joseph.
Posted on July 11, 2008 5:07 AM
Great letter, Mr. Lyons. Also thanks to the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. They helped defeat a charlatan who enjoyed the backing of the CPUSA, due to his anti-war activism.
Posted on July 11, 2008 7:13 AM
Agreed, the Swifties did a great job exposing a charlatan, but I don't see the point in publishing this letter now, it should have been published 4 years ago.
Posted on July 11, 2008 7:38 AM
Mr. Lyons wrote: "Be assured if the release of his fitness reports would have furthered his political ambitions, Kerry would have released them long ago. You will look in vain on his Web site for Navy documents relating to his service."
Mr. Lyons is either an imbecile or a liar. John Kerry's fitness reports online, as discovered in 10 seconds on Google:
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/jkerry/ftnsrpts.pdf
Posted on July 11, 2008 10:38 AM
"Mr. Lyons is either an imbecile or a liar."
Why can't he be both?
Posted on July 11, 2008 11:22 AM
For "member name,"
The link posted for the fitreps does not work, at least for me.
For Yvonne,
I noted four documented incidents re Kerry's post-Vietnam service career. This is not opinion, its fact. What is opinion is my comments on the fitness reports, the link to which as observed, does not work. If anyone can download them, convert them to a Word File and send them along, then we'll all know what they say.
For Rahrah,
I remember the past because I was there. There is more about Kerry's naval career, carefully scripted based on the evidence for political reasons that I did not discuss. If his fitness reports are out there, they certainly were not during the 2004 campaign when when they would have been most useful during August 2004, the height of the Swift Boat controversy. All through that month Kerry and his handlers were silent on this issue, other than finding another sailor or two who knew him and said they liked him. If the charges were false, why was this? I don't know either.
For all:
Many of you it would appear hitched your wagon to the wrong star four years ago. Your candidate was inept and stood for a party that ran an inept campaign. Not my fault. Also not my fault that said candidate was a rich empty suit without a visible code of ethics. Political Ideologues often get caught in these little conundrums when reality does not match expectations.
Posted on July 11, 2008 3:27 PM
Mr. Lyons! Welcome to 2008!
Mostly, I was just pointing out that it seems a little odd to devote so much time to Senator Kerry when he's not our Senator and he's not running for President this year. If your point was merely that Professional Politicians are full of crap, that's cool. But are you going to write a letter next week about George W. Bush's military 'service'?
Posted on July 11, 2008 4:08 PM
Dear Mr. Lyons:
The link works fine for me.
Like "Membername" I googled "John Kerry fitness reports" and found them on the second link ( http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/docs.html ). Interestingly, on the first google link, they are discussed (disparaged actually) by a Swiftboats group ( http://www.swiftvets.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Fitreps ). Both sites indicate that they were last updated in 2004, prior to the election.
The fitness reports show that Kerry was consistently rated as excellent or superior by his commanding officers, in contrast to your contentions.
In light of this, the honorable thing to do would be to contact the N&R, admit your error, and retract the untrue allegations that stem from this. Of course, the truly honorable course of action would have been to check your facts before making your baseless allegations.
Posted on July 11, 2008 4:20 PM
Maybe the swiftboaters will dig up the propaganda film that John McCain did for the North Vietnamese & show that. Let's make a practice of trashing service to our country.
These guys are disgusting and the fact that they have so many supporters shows how sick our politics are.
Posted on July 12, 2008 6:14 AM
While Kerry was displaying his ineptitude (by ignoring the Swift boat attacks), I sent him a letter.
It suggested he purchase billboards. One one side would be an xray of his leg showing the genuine schrapnel he apparently carries around with him - the words would be "Kerry's War Records". On the other side would be dental xray and the words "Bush's War Records".
He ignored my good advice and instead displayed his ineptitude.
Posted on July 12, 2008 7:53 AM