John Kerry the Betrayer: Unfit to Command, part 3

[The Mad Monk]

This just in: Kerry has been phoning individual Swift-Boaters

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE AUG 24, 2004 11:09:31 ET XXXXX

KERRY PHONES SWIFT BOAT FOES

**World Exclusive**

Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry personally phoned anti-Kerry swift boat vets, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Kerry reached out to Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN (RET) Sunday night, just hours after former Sen. Bob Dole publicly challenged Kerry to apologize to veterans.

Brant was skipper of the #96 and # 36 boat and spent time with Kerry in An Thoi. Kerry and Brant slept in the same quarters, and Brant used to put Kerry back to bed at night when Kerry was sleepwalking.

Brant received a call from Kerry at his home in Virginia while he was watching the Olympics on TV.

The call lasted 10 minutes, sources tell DRUDGE.

KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"

BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there."

[Brant had two men killed in battle.]

KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.

Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam and what happened when Kerry came back.

Developing...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2004
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

"I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Yeah. That makes it all better.

[Jon Miller]

what did he say?

Jon Miller

[Ramo]

His testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee of what he heard in the Winter Soldier investigation, I presume.

Yeah. That makes it all better.

So he had his foot in his mouth. That certainly never happens to Dear Leader.

[Jon Miller]

link?

JM

[Ramo]

http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Ramo
His testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee of what he heard in the Winter Soldier investigation, I presume.

Yeah. That makes it all better.

So he had his foot in his mouth. That certainly never happens to Dear Leader.

It shows his mindset hasn't changed in the intervening decades.

[Ramo]

No, it shows that his foot was in his mouth.

[notyoueither]

It is quite the disconnect.

1972... Vietnam is bad, all bad. We are like Ghengis Khan.

2004... Vote for me, I'm a war hero!

[notyoueither]

Seriously, in what drug induced fantasy would someone ever think they could pull that off?

[notyoueither]

I'm with Mike the Brit. This is all just too much.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Ramo
I find it remarkable that the Republicans would nominate Bush in the first place: a baby-raper.

They don't really have a clue.

Ramo, your comparison would be apt if Bush were both a convicted baby-raper ala Michael Jackson and the Republicans simulataneously promoted him as a boy scout leader, a man with whom you could trust your children.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by rah
SO my whole problem with this is not what happened, since I really don't care. He served his country and came home alive. That's enough for me.

BUT, it does make me question his decision making abilities if he could be convinced that Pushing the WAR HERO thing was a good idea.

It actually makes me question something else:
His balls and his willingness to say something that might displease people.

This campaign seems to be completely devoid of platforms because Kerry refuses to put daring ideas on the table, in order not to alienate any undecided voter. Kerry emphasized on the one aspect of his personality that should make everybody like him (the war hero thing).

It was a stupid move, and I think it is the greatest proof of the "flip-flopping" allegations.

[Guardian]

As WorldNetDaily reported, Galanti appears in a new television ad by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a group of 254 vets who served with Kerry(...)

Ahem... (*cough*) According to what I've heard, about 250 of these guys did not "serve with Kerry" and a good lot of them were in fact not even anywhere near him at the time.

Also, I find it somewhat interesting that they somehow mysteriously keep failing to document their "truths"...

If the truth is so fundamentally different from what Kerry's been saying and they're 254 against 1, you'd think they'd be able to actually prove some of their claims...

As for the allegations of Kerry being a traitor because he spoke up against the way the Vietnam war was being fought... well, excuse me, but I was under the impression that the US was supposed to be a democracy with freedom of speech as one of its' core values. Alas, this does not seem to be the case anymore.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Cambodia was not our ally when the bombing began. Cambodia was nuetral, but unable to keep the VC and NVA from using their territory. The bombing began before the U.S. had Sianook overthrown and replaced with Lon Nol. Then we began bombing the crap out of Cambodia, killing about half a million people, and driving hundreds of thousands more into the cities. It sapped the country's able to cope and left the country side open for the KR to recruit organize and overthrow the military dictatorship.

And then it all went to hell.

Actually Sianhouk ever enamored of playing both sides was wringing as much military (financial) aid from the Americans (but not allowing them to operate in Cambodia), while simultaneously making deals with the NVA. By the time of the incursion (it really wasn't an invasion is we didn't penetrate very far into the country and never planned to) communist supplies were landing in Pnom Penh on boats and being delivered by truck in convoys to the Parrot's beak area (along the border between Vietnam and Cambodia near Saigon). The entire border area for miles inland (almost one third of Cambodia) was under the control of the NVA and / or its local allies (later to become the Khmer Rouge).

We did not have Sianhouk replaced according to every account I have read, but in fact greenlighted a coup by military officers who were disgusted by him for surrendering 1/3 of their country to North Vietnam while contiuing to kiss their ass. I don't blame them, or the U.S. government for their feelings or actions.

As for the bombing, I find the casualty numbers stated on this thread (5-600,000 KIA) hard to believe given the lack of metropolitan areas in the area of operation. We didn't kill nearly that many in North Vietnam which was more urban and bombed on and off for many more years. I imagine that the numbers are estimates and include people displaced / killed by the military actions of the Cambodian government forces, NVA, U.S., ARVN and Khmer Rouge over the years.

The Cambodian bombing was aimed at interdicting the Ho Chi Minh "trail" which in fact as an ever expanding swath of territory which was made up of numerous roads, trails bases and supply depots. As the "trail" expanded the indiginous population was forced away by the NVA for security reasons, as they couldn't allow anyone to monitor activity on the trail for fear of their convoys being targeted by bombers. Aside from this, they also saw no advantage to allowing witnesses to the fact that they were operating on a huge scale in a neutral country.

[Ned]

Just a small point about the Bronze Star incident, the AAR focuses solely on Kerry's boat and almost totally ignores the actions of the other Swiftboats. This has lead Thurlow and the other boat commanders who where there to conclude that Kerry wrote the AAR.

As to Rassmann's rendition of the story, he said that all boats initially fled. In fact, all stayed to help the crippled and sinking #3 boat -- all but one: Kerry fled. Rassmann's account looks like it was written by Kerry or a Kerry associate to be consistent with his AAR.

Therefore, when you hear that the AARs or the Medal citations which quoted from them are consistent with Kerry's version of events, you have to also understand that Kerry himself wrote the AARs.