Bush increases veterans benefits
President Bush, in a speech in Wisconsin, said that America needs to
provide more benefits to 9-11 veterans. Bush’s plan would equalize
benefits for any reservist or member of the National Guard who has
been mobilized for service in the war for more than 90 days after
September 11, 2001 with those of the regular services.
Bush also proposed spending $10 million to help the one in four
military families a year that move to another base in the United
States and help "address the special needs of students of military
personnel."
Swiftee Thurlow fires back
at Boston Globe/Kerry Campaign
Kerry campaign officials are now finally acknowledging that while
Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the other boats on the river ever
left the damaged swift boat. This is a direct contradiction to
previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in the Oregonian newspaper and
a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left Behind" theme during the
Democratic National Convention.
Swift Boat veteran Larry Thurlow was the subject of a smear attempt
today by the Boston Globe/ Kerry Campaign, as evidenced in the
unthorough Boston Globe article concerning Thurlow's receiving a
bronze star [LINK]
for the same incident Kerry received a purple heart. Thurlow charges
there was no basis for Kerry's receiving a purple heart. The Globe
article did not investigate who recommended Thurlow for the bronze
star, nor who recommended Kerry for the purple heart. Kerry has been
identified by Thurlow as the possible source of these recommendations
and of submitting a false after action report as the basis of these..
Now, Thurlow is firing back through a press release issued by the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth organization. : [LINK
to press release on swiftvets.com] Here is the release:
I am convinced that the language used in my citation for a Bronze Star
was language taken directly from John Kerry's report which falsely
described the action on the Bay Hap River as action that saw small
arms fire and automatic weapons fire from both banks of the river.
To this day, I can say without a doubt in my mind, along with other
accounts from my shipmates -- there was no hostile enemy fire directed
at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that
day.
I submitted no paperwork for a medal nor did I file an after action
report describing the incident. To my knowledge, John Kerry was the
only officer who filed a report describing his version of the
incidents that occurred on the river that day.
It was not until I had left the Navy -- approximately three months
after I left the service -- that I was notified that I was to receive
a citation for my actions on that day.
I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for my
efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number three and
to conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking. My boat
and several other swift boats went to the aid of our fellow swift boat
sailors whose craft was adrift and taking on water. We provided
immediate rescue and damage control to prevent boat three from sinking
and to offer immediate protection and comfort to the injured crew.
After the mine exploded, leaving swift boat three dead in the water,
John Kerry's boat, which was on the opposite side of the river, fled
the scene. US Army Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who was on
Kerry's boat at the time, fell off the boat and into the water.
Kerry's boat returned several minutes later -- under no hail of enemy
gunfire -- to retrieve Rassmann from the river only seconds before
another boat was going to pick him up.
Kerry campaign spokespersons have conflicting accounts of this
incident -- the latest one being that Kerry's boat did leave but only
briefly and returned under withering enemy fire to rescue Mr. Rassmann.
However, none of the other boats on the river that day reported enemy
fire nor was anyone wounded by small arms action. The only damage on
that day was done to boat three -- a result of the underwater mine.
None of the other swift boats received damage from enemy gunfire.
And in a new development, Kerry campaign officials are now finally
acknowledging that while Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the
other boats on the river ever left the damaged swift boat. This is a
direct contradiction to previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in the
Oregonian newspaper and a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left
Behind" theme during the Democratic National Convention.
These ever changing accounts of the Bay Hap River incident by Kerry
campaign officials leave me asking one question. If no one ever left
the scene of the Bay Hap River incident, how could anyone be left
behind?
Swift Boat Wars II
The Washington Times is continuing with a series on the book, "Unfit
for Command." The Times is going to run another part tomorrow.
The article today suggest that John Kerry was right about war
atrocities – his own:
"Kerry seemed to believe that there were no rules in a free-fire zone,
and you were supposed to kill everyone," Swift Boat veteran William E.
Franke of Coastal Division 11 told us. "I didn't see it that way. I
will tell you in all candor that the only baby killer I knew in
Vietnam was John F. Kerry."
The evidence shows John Kerry was a ruthless operator in the field,
with little regard for life. One example is the sampan incident in An
Thoi in January 1969.
Website war record
Sen. John Kerry has put self-selected parts of his war records on his
campaign website. However, he still has not provided his medical
records that would prove whether he actually deserved his purple
hearts. This is what enabled Kerry to bug out early from Vietnam.
There is a problem with Kerry’s putting his records on his website,
however. An Air Force officer made the following comments:
"I looked at that Web site and the first thing I looked at was Kerry's
Silver Star citation. Guess what? It is for an action that took place
in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman.
Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987," he
noted.
"How could Kerry have received a citation from an official that would
not be in office for 12 years? This was NOT just a case of providing a
new copy of a citation for the office to replace one that was lost
(destroyed/thrown over a wall). This effort by Lehman & Kerry actually
changed Kerry's official Navy record, sometime in the 80s," he
continued.
"What other portions of his record did Kerry have Lehman sanitize or
spiffy up? Evidently, Kerry did not think his original Silver Star
made him look 'heroic' enough, so he provided 'suggested' words for a
new certificate. This certainly calls Kerry's entire Navy record into
question."
Boston Globe & Washington Post
The Boston Globe has obtained portions of the service records
of one of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Larry Thurlow, under a
Freedom of Information request. The Globe reports:
In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who
commanded a Navy swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly
disputed Kerry's assertion that his boat came under fire during a
mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory March 13, 1969. Kerry won a
Bronze Star for his actions that day.
But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released
yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act,
contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons
fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won
his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for
providing assistance to a damaged swift boat "despite enemy bullets
flying about him."
Buried deep in the story, Thurlow responded to the Globe saying that
he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire
was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire."
As the senior skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow might have been
expected to write the after-action report for March 13, but he said
that Kerry routinely "duked the system" to present his version of
events.
For much of the episode, Kerry was not in a position to know firsthand
what was happening on Thurlow's boat, as Kerry's boat (PCF-94) had
sped down the river after the mine exploded under another boat
(PCF-3). He later returned to provide assistance to the stricken boat.
The
Washington Post offers up Thurlow’s citation and affidavit.
What is not clear is whether Kerry is responsible for writing the
after-action report that enabled Thurlow to receive his Bronze Star.
The public also has to wonder why the Globe and the Post are not
giving us the details of who submitted that 'after action' report. It
is also clear that Kerry doesn't want the public to know. If he did,
he would release that information on his website.
Kerry’s allies
Sen. John Kerry continues to send the message that America has to get
permission before it can make any moves to protect itself.
"The president's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in
the war on terror. It in no way relieves the strain on our
overextended personnel. It doesn't even begin until 2006, and it takes
10 years to achieve," said Sen. John Kerry.
Kerry said addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in
Cincinnati. "This hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our
intentions and our commitment than it provides real answers.
"With al Qaeda operating in 60 countries, we need closer alliances in
every part of the world to fight and win the war on terrorism," said
Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat. "As president, I will be a
commander in chief who renews our alliances based on shared interests
and a common vision for a safer world," Kerry said.
Kerry’s lover
One of Sen. John Kerry’s former lovers, Lee Roystone, has a book or
two you can buy and a
website. It is probably not the source of the most pleasant of
conversations between Kerry and his wife. However, if you like
salacious little quotes, it will keep you entertained.
Roystone has an online scrapbook of a kind. These are her comments
about an Earth Day party:
This was our baby. More than 300,000 showed up for the event. It was
also the day he met Teresa Heinz. Earth Day brought me to him and
Earth Day brought her to him. I feel that since we both met him
through the same cause, perhaps she is a kindred spirit. (I applaud
his choice.) Perhaps she will remind him of the importance of that
day. Our rich environmental resources made us wealthy as a nation;
they need to be protected. We also need cancer-free water and air.
Environmental pollutants are changing us as a species, especially the
brains of developing children. Our country needs to get back on track!
Oh by the way, she says you should vote for Kerry.
War wrong
In a four-page letter to constituents who have asked about his
position on the war, Rep. Doug Bereuter [R] of Nebraska, a 13-term
senior member of the House International Relations Committee, said the
failure to find weapons of mass destruction has destroyed the case for
war.
Mr. Bereuter is retiring Aug. 31 to become president of the Asia
Foundation.
More Moore books
Michael Moore is pushing out two books before the election, according
to Simon and Schuster.
The Official 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Reader" is a companion book to the
scheduled DVD release of Moore's documentary about President Bush, the
terrorist attacks and the Iraq war.
The other book is a collection of letters written to Moore from U.S.
troops in Iraq, "Will They Ever Trust Us Again?"
FrontPageMag.com interview with Scott Swett:
What I'm
seeing is a growing wave of outrage at Kerry's actions, partly for
gaming the system to obtain unearned medals and create his war hero
myth, but primarily focused on his efforts on behalf of Hanoi. After
all, the North Vietnamese tortured American prisoners to obtain
confessions of "war crimes." John Kerry supported their atrocities
propaganda for free.
[The following is the transcript of the new interview of Scott
Swett by FrontPage Magazine]
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Scott Swett, the primary
author of
WinterSoldier.com, a central repository of information for
writers and researchers on the role of John Kerry, Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, and others in the "war crimes" propaganda campaign
that successfully undermined public support for America's defense of
South Vietnam. He is also the webmaster at SwiftVets.com, home base
for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Their recent ad in three
battleground states ignited a political firestorm that has the Kerry
campaign firing lawyer letters to the nation's TV and Radio stations.
You can get the full story about the controversy over John Kerry's
service in Vietnam in the best-selling book Unfit for Command for only
$19.95 from the FrontPage Magazine Bookstore.
FP: Mr. Swett, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
Swett: Thanks very much for inviting me. I've been a fan of
FrontPage Magazine for quite a while.
FP: Tell us a bit about the role of the Swift Vets'
much-maligned PR firm in planning their May 4 debut at the National
Press Club. You were present for the planning meeting, tell us what
happened.
Swett: I had been working with John O'Neill to pull together
some presentation material for the press conference, and he invited me
to come over to the Comfort Inn where they were staying. The planning
meeting was held in a conference room downstairs, and it lasted for
several hours. A number of the Swift Vets had attended various reunion
events over the years, but many hadn't seen each other in more than 3
decades, so the first part of the meeting was spent getting everybody
reacquainted. I passed around my copy of "The New Soldier," Kerry's
hard-to-find 1971 book on the Washington protest that made him famous
so the veterans could see his "other band of brothers" throwing away
their medals and pretending to murder civilians on the steps of the
U.S. Capitol. Then O'Neill asked each "Swiftee" to stand, introduce
himself, and give his own reasons for speaking out against John Kerry.
Those statements were very similar to what they said before the
cameras the next morning.
Next, O'Neill introduced communications specialist Merrie Spaeth,
widow of his former law partner, and her assistant. They offered tips
on dealing with the media and helped organize the timing of the event,
mostly by trimming the Swift Vets' speeches down to around 90 seconds.
It was obvious that each man's statement was what he intended to say,
rather than the product of some sort of external manipulation. After a
while there was a break for Chinese carryout and soft drinks, then
they all went back to work. By the end of the evening they had
hammered out the contents and the sequence of their presentation.
The next morning at the National Press Club, 18 combat veterans
stepped up to the microphones in turn to deliver devastating
assessments of John Kerry's honesty, integrity, and capacity to lead.
There is no doubt in my mind that every one of them said exactly what
he believes.
FP: Enlighten us as to what you know about the mounting
evidence that Kerry grossly inflated his combat record in Vietnam.
Swett: That's a subject that could fill a book, and in fact
has. I'll just point out that multiple witnesses have signed
affadavits testifying that John Kerry's claims about the major events
of his Vietnam tour bear little resemblance to reality. They state
that Kerry's claim to have transported troops into Cambodia is
complete fiction, that his first Purple Heart was self-inflicted and
that his commanding officer refused to sign off on it, that his
account of rescuing Jim Rassmann in the middle of a firefight is
untrue -- three eyewitnesses say there was no enemy contact whatsoever
during the event -- and so on, and so on. Many more details on all of
this are available at SwiftVets.com, and in the new book Unfit for
Command.
FP: Kerry’s false charges against the U.S. military have
tarnished the reputations of a generation of American soldiers, helped
Hanoi win the war, and paved the way for the communist genocide that
followed. Do you agree? Give your angle on this.
Swett: I'd say that sums it up pretty concisely. The contempt
which awaited returning Vietnam veterans was a real anomaly in
American history. The country has now returned to its normal practice
of holding those who fight to defend it in high regard, which forces
Kerry's defenders to perform remarkable verbal gymnastics as they try
to explain that he really loved and respected America's troops even
though he claimed they routinely murdered civilians.
The usual counter-attack from the leftists is, "So you're saying no
atrocities were committed in Vietnam?" Of course we aren't -- there
are atrocities in all wars. The issue is whether they were frequent or
rare, aberrations or a matter of policy. Atrocities are regularly
committed in Boston. Now, most people comprehend that a large number
of people live in Boston, and that isolated events cannot reasonably
be used to characterize the entire city. This is the nature of Kerry's
lie about America in Vietnam -- he took rare incidents among 2.6
million troops fighting a guerrilla war over a period of ten years and
used them to smear the entire U.S. military, testifying before the
Senate that atrocities were "not isolated incidents but crimes
committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at
all levels of command."
The charge that it was really American troops who committed genocide
in Southeast Asia rather than the communists is the leftist Big Lie
about Vietnam. It was started by the Soviet KGB, dramatized and
"documented" in America by people like Kerry and Jane Fonda, amplified
by a sympathetic media, and enshrined in the popular culture by
Hollywood, but it is still a lie -- a claim as grotesque as insisting
that American troops rather than Nazis caused the Holocaust. It is
precisely that lie that we are targeting at WinterSoldier.com, by
showing how the purveyors of the lie organized and operated, and by
providing accurate information to help people inform themselves about
what really happened.
FP: The DNC and the Kerry Campaign immediately pulled out a
lawyer letter targeting the nation's TV and Radio stations one day
after the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth aired their ad. How come?
Swett: Because they understand that they can't win unless they
can silence their opposition. The obvious thuggishness of this move,
which risks alienating the very media outlets they count on to support
them, is an indication of the seriousness of the threat they face. The
Democrats just bet the farm on an attempt to sell John Kerry as a
larger-than-life war hero, partly because they know they are perceived
as weak on defense, and partly because they realize that few of their
core positions -- increased taxes, bigger government, gay marriage,
racial quotas and the like -- resonate all that well with the public.
They intend to use their domination of the establishment media to
denounce the motives of the Swift veterans, ignore their testimony,
and sell their own myth of a heroic John Kerry to an unwitting
citizenry. We're about to see how that plays out.
FP: Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris and Susan Estrich all vigorously
denounced the ad. Why in each case do you think? What are they afraid
of?
Swett: I'm a bit reluctant to assign motives, but after
watching Susan Estrich's virulent attack on Swift veteran Van Odell on
Fox News, it seems likely enough that her response does come from fear
-- fear that the Swift vets' comprehensive dismissal of Kerry's war
hero myth will harm Democratic prospects in November.
Many other observers are responding to the Swift charges with
skepticism, which I think is perfectly appropriate. If you're going to
come forward during an election year to claim that a Presidential
candidate has massively falsified his personal history, then the
burden of proof is, and should be, on you. The Swift Boat veterans are
supporting their claims with detailed documentation that includes
official reports and eyewitness accounts backed by affadavits, but
this isn't yet widely understood. For example, I doubt that Bill
O'Reilly and Dick Morris took the time to read the cover letter that
the Swifts provided to TV station managers along with the "Any
Questions?" ad.
FP: What is the difference, do you think, if John Kerry wins
the election rather than George W. Bush? What will it mean for Iraq
and the War on Terror?
Swett: President Bush has taken decisive action in the wake of
the 9/11 attacks against international terrorists and the regimes that
support them, or in the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, used to support
them. John Kerry has consistently opposed American interests during
his entire career, supporting first Hanoi, then the Sandinistas, and
voting against all the military and intelligence programs requested by
President Reagan during his ultimately successful effort to win the
Cold War. It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast between
candidates in the area of national security.
It seems most unlikely that President Kerry would continue the
military support required to stabilize Iraq, or that he would
authorize action against terrorist elements in Iran, Syria or
elsewhere should that become necessary.
FP: David Horowitz, the editor-in-chief of this magazine,
helped organize the first campus demonstration against the war at the
University of California, Berkeley in 1962. As you know, he abandoned
the political faith and has commented on the tragedy of the anti-war
movement. I would like to take a moment to run a brief quote by him.
In his "An Open Letter to the `Anti-War’ Demonstrators: Think Twice
Before You Bring The War Home," he recalls how the antiwar movement
prolonged the war itself and how:
"Every testimony by North Vietnamese generals in the postwar years has
affirmed that they knew they could not defeat the United States on the
battlefield, and that they counted on the division of our people at
home to win the war for them. The Vietcong forces we were fighting in
South Vietnam were destroyed in 1968. In other words, most of the war
and most of the casualties in the war occurred because the
dictatorship of North Vietnam counted on the fact Americans would give
up the battle rather than pay the price necessary to win it. This is
what happened. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, and
tens of thousands of Americans, is on the hands of the anti-war
activists who prolonged the struggle and gave victory to the
Communists."
Could you comment on this reality and how you think it applies to the
role of John Kerry?
Swett: I recently had the privilege of presenting a session on
the Winter Soldier Investigation with Dr. Jerry Corsi, co-author of
Unfit for Command at a four-day conference in Boston titled "Examining
the Myths of the Vietnam War." Former Senator and retired Admiral
Jerimiah Denton made the same point in his keynote remarks that David
Horowitz did above. As the leader of American POWs in the Hanoi
Hilton, Denton was brought before a gathering of the top North
Vietnamese leadership after the December 1972 bombings of the North.
They wanted to know what Denton would say about his imprisonment after
he returned home; in particular, they wanted to hear that he would
report that torture of Americans had ceased in 1969 after the death Ho
Chi Minh. It was clear to Denton that the North Vietnamese leaders
considered themselves on the brink of defeat, and were hoping to
obtain lenient treatment from the American victors rather than facing
trial on war crimes charges.
There seems little question that had we simply lived up to our treaty
obligations to our South Vietnamese allies and provided air support
after the North Vietnamese invaded in late 1974 and early 1975, we
could have prevented the genocide that followed. But by that time
Nixon had left office in disgrace, Congress had cut off all aid to our
former allies at the behest of Senator Kennedy, and there was no
political will to oppose the communist invasion.
FP: Do you believe that opposition by veterans to Kerry's
candidacy is growing?
Swett: Yes. What I'm seeing is a growing wave of outrage at
Kerry's actions, partly for gaming the system to obtain unearned
medals and create his war hero myth, but primarily focused on his
efforts on behalf of Hanoi. After all, the North Vietnamese tortured
American prisoners to obtain confessions of "war crimes." John Kerry
supported their atrocities propaganda for free.
The next major event in the emerging veterans revolt against John
Kerry is the "Kerry Lied" Rally, which will be held in Washington,
D.C. on September 12. The attendance at that event should give us a
sense of how that wave is coming along.
FP: Mr. Swett, our time is up. Good luck on your courageous and
honorable work. Take care and we hope to see you again soon.
Swett: Thanks very much. Permit me to return the compliment,
and I hope we can talk again about these remarkable events as they
unfold.
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