Three more US soldiers have died in Iraq. For what?
The neo-con wet dream of a Three Stooges Reich. The US
military, over-extended and dis-illusioned, is TRAPPED
in a Mega-Mogadishu. The "liberation" of Iraq is a
foolish military adventure, predicated on LIES, perpetuated on the
cruelty, indifference and avarice of the Bush
Abmoination and enabled and sustained with the
complicity of the "US mainstream news media." The
Arab Street is ablaze with hate. The western alliance
has been seriously fractured. The US is isolated in
the world. US soldiers are taking the rap for war
crimes sanctioned by high officials in the Pentagon and
the White House. The CIA has been scapegoated both for
the the Bush abomination's pre-9/11 INCOMPETENCE and
their exaggeration, fabrication and deceit in the ramp
up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The US
economy is backsliding, and worse, slipping toward a
precipice. The huge Federal surplus that Clinton-Gore
left behind them has been gutted, and we have been
plunged into hundreds of billions of dollars in
Federal decific this year, all for an irresponsible,
ill-timed tax cut two-thirds of which went to those
very few Americans earning of $200K a year.The price
of oil is only going to go up. All the major economic
indicators are in a tail-spin. The drip, drip, drip of
real scandals -- Abu Ghraib, Chalabi (yes, that was
him next to Laura at the SOTU), Plame, Enron and the
phoney "California energy crisis," Medifraud
(fraudulent numbers, and bribery on the floor of the
US Congress), the prostitution of the EPA, and
ESPECIALLY and in particular, Halliburton (before and
after Bush-Cheney seized power) -- are eroding their
own base in the Neo- Confederacy. Yes, Kerry-Edwards is
ahead in Missouri and Ohio and within the statistical
margin of error in North Carolina. Last week, while
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong) took a few days off in
Ketchum, Idaho, his tar heel shark, Sen. John Edwards
(D-NC) began the politically wet work. The
increasingly unhinged and incredibly shrinking
_resident is "stacking the federal government with
friends and donors who are gutting regulations on U.S.
corporations," and putting "corporate interests ahead
of workers and the middle class." The logging and
timber industry gave more than $1.5 million to Bush
and got the right to log without the usual
environmental reviews. The coal industry gave $300,000
to Bush and got less protection against black lung
disease for workers. The chemical industry gave more
than $1 million to Bush and got reduced regulations on
chemicals exposed to workers. The auto industry gave
more than $300,000 to Bush and got eased rules on
reporting potential defects and a rule allowing
truckers to drive 11 hours a day. The restaurant
industry gave more than $1.2 million and got killed a
regulation intended to prevent their workers from
exposure to smoke. US citizens who want to attend
speeches of the increasingly unhinged and incredibly
shrinking _resident and his VICE _resident have to
sign loyality oaths. A FEMA worker and her husband are
handcuffed and taken away at a Bush-Cheney rally in
West Virginia because of what the message on her tee shirt.
A US Senator is routinely harrassed at airports. High government officials openly talk about cancelling the November election because of "terrorist
threats." MEANWHILE, the imagination of the "US
mainstream news media" has been captured by "Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth." OK. Let's talk about "Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth." The money for their ads
comes from the increasingly unhinged and incredibly
shrinking _resident largest donor from Texas (not that
Kenny Boy is too hot to handle), their P.R. handler
used to work for Ken Starr, their own military
records, in ways to blatant for even the NYTwits or
the WASHPs to avoid, refute their disgusting
distortion of JFK's heroism, and yet, the increasingly
unhinged and incredibly shrinking _resident refuses to
rebuke them...There is an Electoral Uprising coming in
November...There are no more red or blue states. There
are only red, white and blue states...We are moving,
as Barak Obama (D-IL) and Bill Clinton (D-AK) promised
at the DNC, toward "a more perfect union." E Pluribus
Unum.
Joseph Galloway, Knight-Ridder: Military records back
John Kerry's account of his service in Vietnam and
have backed at least two of his accusers into a
corner...Although the 15 veterans featured in the
attack ad all state "I served with John Kerry," none
of them served on the same boat with him. Those who
did, such as retired Chief Petty Officer Del Sandusky,
60, of Clearwater, Fla., praise Kerry for his
leadership and credit him with keeping them alive to
make it home...
Kerry released a stack of his military records -
including after-action reports, citations for his
medals, boat battle damage reports and his officer
efficiency reports. These records - and the military
records of at least one of his accusers - cast serious
doubt on some of the more inflammatory charges raised
by the group.
It didn't help the cause of the Swift Boat Veterans
group that some of them, including their leader,
retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, were on the record
praising Kerry for his service in Vietnam...
Another critic, Larry Thurlow, a fellow Swift boat
commander in the Mekong Delta in 1969, disputed
Kerry's claim that his boat and others in the
five-boat patrol came under enemy fire during a March
13, 1969, mission that earned Kerry a Bronze Star.
Thurlow said that although one of the Swift boats was
disabled by a mine explosion, there was no enemy fire
from shore, as Kerry and others testified, and that
Kerry's account was "a total fabrication." Thurlow
said in an affidavit: "I never heard a shot."
However, a citation for the Bronze Star with valor
awarded to Thurlow for that same mission stated that
his actions "took place under constant enemy small
arms fire which (Thurlow) completely ignored" while he
provided assistance to the damaged Swift boat and the
wounded aboard.
Cleanse the White House of the Chickenhawk Coup and
Its War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9455159.htm
Posted on Fri, Aug. 20, 2004
Military records support Kerry's account of Vietnam service
BY Joseph L. Galloway
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Military records back John Kerry's
account of his service in Vietnam and have backed at
least two of his accusers into a corner.
Kerry this week was forced to defend himself against
accusations by a group of fellow Navy veterans of
Vietnam that he was a liar and a coward. The charges
were made in a book and in an attack ad that polls
show have chipped away at Kerry's standing with
veterans in three critical states - West Virginia,
Wisconsin and Ohio.
The long-ago Vietnam War has suddenly become a central
issue in the presidential campaign. The attacks by the
group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have called into
account Kerry's conduct during the war, when he
volunteered for one of the most dangerous duties - the
so-called Brown Water Navy, which regularly penetrated
Viet Cong-controlled territory via the maze of
waterways in the sodden Mekong Delta.
Although the 15 veterans featured in the attack ad all
state "I served with John Kerry," none of them served
on the same boat with him. Those who did, such as
retired Chief Petty Officer Del Sandusky, 60, of
Clearwater, Fla., praise Kerry for his leadership and
credit him with keeping them alive to make it home.
"We are really upset at this stuff," Sandusky told
Knight Ridder. "They are calling us all liars. They
dishonor us and they dishonor all those who died over
there. They are getting awfully desperate. Last year
many of them were on board with us. Now they are
telling outrageous lies."
Kerry has said that members of the Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth lied when they said he inflated his role in
various combat actions in the Mekong Delta in 1968 and
1969 and had manipulated the award of three Purple
Heart medals for wounds and Bronze and Silver Star
medals for valor in combat.
Kerry released a stack of his military records -
including after-action reports, citations for his
medals, boat battle damage reports and his officer
efficiency reports. These records - and the military
records of at least one of his accusers - cast serious
doubt on some of the more inflammatory charges raised
by the group.
It didn't help the cause of the Swift Boat Veterans
group that some of them, including their leader,
retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, were on the record
praising Kerry for his service in Vietnam.
Kerry's commanding officer in Vietnam, George Elliott,
said in an attack ad: "John Kerry has not been honest
about what happened in Vietnam."
But during the Vietnam War, Elliott recommended Kerry
for the Silver and Bronze Star medals for valor in
combat and gave him the highest possible praise in his
officer efficiency reports.
"In a combat environment often requiring independent,
decisive action, LTjg Kerry was unsurpassed," Elliott
wrote in 1969. He went on to rate Kerry as "calm,
professional and highly courageous in the face of
enemy fire."
Elliott added: "(Kerry) emerges as the acknowledged
leader in his peer group." In 16 categories on Kerry's
officer efficiency report, ranging from professional
knowledge to moral courage to military bearing to
reliability, Elliott gave Kerry the highest possible
rating - "is not exceeded" - in 11 categories, and the
second highest, "one of the top 10" in five other
categories.
Elliott in 1996 supported Kerry in his re-election
campaign for the Senate and during an appearance in
Boston declared that Kerry had earned the Silver Star
"for an act of courage."
Another critic, Larry Thurlow, a fellow Swift boat
commander in the Mekong Delta in 1969, disputed
Kerry's claim that his boat and others in the
five-boat patrol came under enemy fire during a March
13, 1969, mission that earned Kerry a Bronze Star.
Thurlow said that although one of the Swift boats was
disabled by a mine explosion, there was no enemy fire
from shore, as Kerry and others testified, and that
Kerry's account was "a total fabrication." Thurlow
said in an affidavit: "I never heard a shot."
However, a citation for the Bronze Star with valor
awarded to Thurlow for that same mission stated that
his actions "took place under constant enemy small
arms fire which (Thurlow) completely ignored" while he
provided assistance to the damaged Swift boat and the
wounded aboard.
Thurlow said he had lost his medal citation for that
incident over two decades ago and stood by his account
that there was no enemy fire at the time.
His account was further called into question by a
battle damage assessment report on another Swift boat,
PCF-51, involved in the March 13 action. The report
listed three .30-caliber bullet holes in the
superstructure of the 50-foot patrol boat.
The Swift boat veterans also have cast doubt on
Kerry's account that a second mine explosion damaged
his boat, PCF-94, and blew an Army Special Forces
officer, Jim Rassmann, overboard. Kerry's Bronze Star
was awarded for his rescue of Rassmann, who credited
Kerry with saving his life.
Among the records was a battle damage report filed the
following day, March 14, which stated that PCF-94 had
three windows blown out, radios and radar inoperable,
the boat's auxiliary generator inoperable, screws
curled and chipped, aft helm steerage control not
working. The boat was judged incapable of executing
patrols without repairs.
In the TV ad Swift Boat veteran Adrian Lonsdale
declared Kerry "lacks the capacity to lead." Yet he,
too, appeared to support Kerry in 1996, saying of him:
"He was among the finest of those Swift boat drivers."
In a month when the Democratic nominee had hoped to
avoid running any ads to conserve funds for the final
sprint this fall, Kerry strategists instead prepared
to spend nearly $200,000 responding to the attack ads
of the veterans group in key states.
The bulk of the funding for the Swift Boat veterans'
group comes from wealthy Texas Republicans.
A new ad was scheduled to begin running shortly,
focusing this time on Kerry's testimony against the
Vietnam War in 1971.