[-V-]

Larry Thurlow, one of the veterans who says Kerry lied about his war heroics said he wouldn't allow his own records to be released, but the Washington Post got them and him.

Thurlow described Kerry's Bronze Star citation as "totally fabricated," saying "I never heard a shot and said. "It is sickening and disgusting."

It turns out that although Thurlow was not in Kerry's boat he was in another boat and won his own medal in the same skirmish under the same fire.

Thurlow's records, include references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at all five boats in the flotilla that day. In his Bronze Star citation, Thurlow is praised for helping a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him." The records said Thurlow's actions "took place under constant enemy small arms fire,"

[svp]

the new swifboat liars comes across to me as confessions as to their motive for the lies, i.e. we want revenge for Kerry outing the war crimes some of us did in Vietnam!

Click the last video ad on the page:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5771731/

[JSCram3254]

Well, regardless of what their motive may be, it's important to remember that Kerry wasn't making any statement in that hearing that said he felt the soldiers in Vietnam were war criminals. He was making a statement detailing the allegations made at the Winter Soldier hearings. Saying that Sen. Kerry alleged war crimes were being committed is just another example of the truth being twisted by the right wing political machine.

[svp]

Please clarify JS. What was the Winter Soldier hearings and what was Kerry's part in them?

[JamesP]

It ocurred to me today when Bush called for an end to ads by outside groups that the whole crude "Swift-boat" slander thing was really just a clever Rove scam intended to back Kerry into a corner so that he would have to agree to Bush's call for the silencing of such effective anti-Bush groups as Move-on.org. Move-on and Michael Moore have obviously impacted the electorate and gotten the serious attention of the Bushies. They may seem like the Beverly Hillbillies, but the Bushies have some clever, diabolical and ruthless characters among them.


"SAN FRANCISCO (Aug. 23) - "Bourne Supremacy" star Matt Damon, "Lost in Translation" actress Scarlett Johansson and other celebrity artists are donating their talents - not just their cash - to an online effort to unseat President Bush.
The Internet political group MoveOn.org on Tuesday premieres 10 new anti-Bush ads created by award-winning directors and starring popular Hollywood actors. An independent group not connected directly to Democratic candidate John Kerry, MoveOn has promised an unconventional approach to the election.

[JamesP]

Here's the kind of credibility attached to the SwiftBoat gang:

Excerpt from the Associated Press report today:

The charge and countercharge saw both sides produce veterans whose accounts differ on the incidents that led to Kerry's war commendations.

In Oregon, several pro-Kerry veterans called on a Clackamas County district attorney's office employee to resign after he appeared in an ad sponsored by an anti-Kerry group. Alfred French said in the ad and swore in an affidavit, ''I served with John Kerry. ... He is lying about his record.'' French subsequently acknowledged he relied on the accounts of other veterans and did not witness Kerry in combat.


08/24/04 13:40 ET

[JSCram3254]

The Winter Soldier hearings were an informal meeting in Michigan sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Basically, it was a forum for former Vietnam soldiers to speak their mind and say exactly what was happening over there that they didn't agree with. John Kerry was testifying as to that forum when he testified before Congress. Charges of war crimes weren't made by John Kerry. He was merely relating the charges that his fellow veterans were making.

[afb37206]

I went reluctantly to a Vietnam veterans reunion over the weekend in Kokomo, IN. There were few anti_Kerry items, and one t-shirt anti-Bush! While holding it several vets said they were finally glad to see the other side represented. Mostly we just ignored the barking dogs; I think vets are like all others, about equally divided. I'm not the only Vietnam veteran who was against that war or this one.