Text 1224, 112 rader
Skriven 2004-08-11 07:58:00 av RICHARD JOHNSON (1:10/345)
Ärende: SBVLiars for Commander Codpiece
=======================================
Once again they are proven to be cowardly, craven liars of the first order. 
They are conservative republicans, they come by the failing naturally.


From Capitol Hill Blue

CHB Investigates. . .
GOP Viet Vet Says Kerry Attackers 'Lying...Without Decency'
By WILLIAM D. McTAVISH
Capitol Hill Blue Staff Writer
Aug 11, 2004, 06:21

Jim Rassmann -- a Republican veteran that Democratic Presidential Nominee John
F. Kerry rescued under fire in Vietnam to win the Bronze Star -- says a
campaign launched by the GOP-backed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad was
"launched by people without decency" who are "lying" and "should hang their
heads in shame."

"I am a Republican, and for more than 30 years I have largely voted for
Republicans," says Rassmann, a retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department. He adds that Kerry "will be a great commander in chief."

Rassmann's account of his rescue flatly contradicts Kerry accusers who have
attacked the candidate in a TV ad and a new book, Unfit for Command, released
today by right-wing publishing house Regnery.

"This smear campaign has been launched by people without decency," Rassmann
said. "Their new charges are false; their stories are fabricated, made up by
people who did not serve with Kerry in Vietnam."

Rassmann gives this account of the events in Vietnam:

"Machine-gun fire erupted from both banks of the river and a second explosion
followed moments later. The second blast blew me off John's swift boat, PCF-94,
throwing me into the river. Fearing that the other boats would run me over, I
swam to the bottom of the river and stayed there as long as I could hold my
breath.

"When I surfaced, all the swift boats had left, and I was alone taking fire
from both banks. To avoid the incoming fire I repeatedly swam under water as
long as I could hold my breath, attempting to make it to the north bank of the
river. I thought I would die right there. The odds were against me avoiding the
incoming fire and, even if I made it out of the river, I thought I thought I'd
be captured and executed.

"Kerry must have seen me in the water and directed his driver, Del Sandusky, to
turn the boat around. Kerry's boat ran up to me in the water, bow on, and I was
able to climb up a cargo net to the lip of the deck. But, because I was nearly
upside down, I couldn't make it over the edge of the deck. This left me hanging
out in the open, a perfect target.

"John, already wounded by the explosion that threw me off his boat, came out
onto the bow, exposing himself to the fire directed at us from the jungle, and
pulled me aboard."

Rassmann said he recommended Kerry for the Silver Star for that action, and
learned only later that the Bronze Star had been awarded instead.

"To this day I still believe he deserved the Silver Star for his courage," he
said.

Rassmann's account is the latest blow to the credibility of the Swift Boats
campaign, launched earlier this year by longtime GOP operative John O'Neill and
financed by two Texas millionaires with strong ties to President George W.
Bush.

O'Neill's co-author of Unfit for Command, conservative Jerome Corsi, has come
under fire for his homophobic and anti-Catholic posts to a right-wing Internet
bulletin board and several of the veterans quoted in the book and TV ad have
been discredited for conflicting statements, inaccuracies and distortions.

˙These are malicious fabrications in the heat of the election,ö says historian
Douglas Brinkley, who has investigated Kerry’s service record extensively for
his highly-acclaimed book, Tour of Duty.

Brinkley says the claims in Unfit for Command are nothing more than the
grumbling of ˙malcontents who have never forgiven Kerry for his actions in
speaking out against the war.ö

Brinkley points out that O’Neill’s primary source for Unfit for Command,
Retired Admiral Roy Hoffman, has changed his claims against Kerry and has told
conflicting stories.

˙They seek retribution by fabricating stories to destroy Kerry,ö Brinkley says.
˙Hoffman, in particular lacks credibility.ö 

On May 6, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Steve Schultze, interviewed
Hoffman and wrote ˙Hoffmann acknowledged he had no first-hand knowledge to
discredit Kerry's claims to valor and said that although Kerry was under his
command, he really didn't know Kerry much personally.ö

On August 5, however, Hoffman told Sean Hannity on his ABC radio show that "I
knew him (Kerry) well, because I operated very closely with him and, uh, many
of the operations, uh, most of the operations were-were conducted with multiple
boats."

Another prominent figure in the anti-Kerry book as well as the ad denouncing
Kerry, retired Lt. Commander George Elliott, recanted his statement last week
in interviews with at least two news sources and then recounted his recant.
Elliott also supported Kerry in his 1996 campaign and told a Boston audience
that he felt the Senator "deserved the medals he won in Vietnam."

O’Neill further destroyed his credibility by appearing on CNN after assuring
the network he had not spoke out publicly about Kerry this year. CNN later had
to retract their claim of an ˙exclusiveö interview after they learned O’Neill
appeared on C-Span to discuss Kerry in March.

˙ Copyright 2004 Capitol Hill Blue

 
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