Home > Why All Veterans MUST Reject The "Swift Boat" Partisans

Why All Veterans MUST Reject The "Swift Boat" Partisans

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 21 August 2004
15 comments

Twenty-one years ago a group of prominent Japanese veterans funded by wealthy,
ultra-conservative descendants of World War II era military families attempted
to enact official legislation that would provide all Japanese schools with new
History books that completely re-wrote the factual record of WWII. The new
history intended to be taught to all Japanese children included twisted but
skillfully written revisions that described the "retributive" Japanese "strike"
on Pearl Harbor as a totally "defensive" response that "necessarily" followed a
series of unprovoked, brutal and merciless air and naval attacks by the United
States on Japanese territory." The new textbooks would also state that Japanese
Intelligence had uncovered "a massive plot" by the United States to launch a
"horrific invasion on the Japanese homeland which the Pearl Harbor strike
thwarted by four years." Needless to say, this revised history intended to
whitewash and justify the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was fictitious.
International pressure convinced the Japanese government to condemn the lies and
cancel publication of these textbooks.

What the well-funded group of Japanese revisionists attempted to do in Japan
twenty-one years ago is now being attempted by a group of American veterans here
in the United States. And like the veteran’s organization in Japan that wanted
to rewrite Japanese history, a group of American veterans funded by wealthy
ultra-conservatives is attempting to make Americans march to the beat of their
drum and subscribe to their version of history... a revised history that has
been proven completely false according to irrefutable military documents and
previous statements made by some in the group now attempting to rewrite American
military history for the benefit of their political candidate.

This small group of highly partisan veterans funded by political party loyalists
want all Americans to ignore established, fully documented history and replace
undisputed facts with a newly written version they have adopted to suit their
political goals. If the "Swift Boat" vets opposing their former fellow unit
member had their way they would have every medal lawfully awarded to John Kerry
rescinded and wiped from every military record. And if they had the power to do
so, they would viciously strip John Kerry of his Honorable Discharge and replace
it with a discharge of dishonor... and therefore render him unelectable. Any
witness to the level of partisan hatred the "Swift Boat" vets have vehemently
expressed for John Kerry would undoubtedly come to this conclusion. And this is
why every American veteran, regardless of our political affiliation, must
decisively reject and oppose the partisan campaign of the "Swift Boat" vets.

To support the "Swift Boat" vets in their wholly un-American effort to falsely
and maliciously revise factual history solely for the purpose of gaining more
votes for their political candidate would be to put at risk the personal
military history of every American veteran who chose not to agree with a
political candidate who had immensely deep pockets to fund a vindictive,
personal campaign of destructive hate. Twice in recent history we have seen the
same well-funded partisan program at work to decimate the patriotism and history
of an American veteran who chose to disagree with George W. Bush.

Back in 2000... to portray George W. Bush — who never flew in combat or against
an enemy target — as a superior pilot compared to John McCain, the same
partisan machine produced reams of factless propaganda alleging that John McCain
became a prisoner of war solely because of "pilot incompetence" and "political
ambitions" To denigrate and devaluate John McCain’s record of courage and
determination as a Prisoner of War the well-financed machine that contributed
heavily to George Bush’s campaign claimed that John McCain cooperated with his
captors to the degree of betraying his fellow captives. Sadly, there were a few
former POWs to be found and bought who would come forward with completely
unsubstantiated statements agreeing to John McCain’s "disservice" to his fellow
POW’s and to our flag. By the time the Bush Family machine was done with John
McCain a large number of Americans were in no doubt that John McCain had
purposely staged his own capture solely for the purpose of using his POW
experience in later years to seek high political office. Not surprisingly, the
"Swift Boat" vets are making similarly false accusations against John Kerry.

Of course, the slanderous lies spread about John McCain were eventually proven
false... but only long after John McCain was forced to abandon his campaign for
the presidency in favor of the man whom the malicious propaganda was intended to
benefit. Today that same well-funded partisan machine is at work once again to
divide the American veteran community with a false history of John Kerry based
on doctored memories, a brief opportunity for fame, upcoming personal or
profitable enrichment, and a jealous desire to have their names written in
history with equal mention of a man who would be president.

The danger the "Swift Boat" vets pose for all American veterans is unmistakably
similar to the evils American military men and women fought against in all of
our wars: totalitarian, dictatorial, partisan domination. The new ’military
code’ the "Swift Boat" vets want to impose on both the American veteran and
military community is this: "If you challenge our candidate or oppose our
political Party we will do everything in our power to destroy you. We will
revise history, we will twist facts and we will buy witnesses against you."

Earlier I said that if the "Swift Boat" vets were given official power they
would no doubt rewrite John Kerry’s military records to suit their hatred and
political desires. They would cancel his medals and insert cowardice. This
sadistic and vengeful power should frighten every American veteran lawfully
awarded a military medal... and this is why.... in 2002 George W. Bush issued an
Executive Order re-writing the National Defense Service Medal Act to actively
and retro-actively award this medal to individuals whom the creators of the
original Act determined should not be included based on type of service, not
character of service. Deliberately, the new version of the NDSM Act approved by
George W. Bush enabled his own non-active military service to become eligible
for this medal. Obviously, if a president finds it in his desire to re-write the
eligibility rules of a long-standing military medal regulation to make his own
military service eligible he can or might do the same for other medals... that
is, to make himself eligible or remove the eligibility of others. No previous
president in American history prior to George W. Bush has ever rewritten a
military medal regulation that automatically rendered him eligible for.

Today, millions of aging American veterans are now deeply concerned about the
future legitimacy of their medals. Frightened veterans are making the decision
to change their support from John Kerry to George Bush because they fear the
unsympathetic power of the monolithic Department of Veteran Affairs and the
possibility that one day they might find themselves hated and victimized by
those who have the power to harm their benefits, question the validity of or
rescind their medals and or VA eligibility to deprive them of needed services.

Fear, threat and persecution of all American veterans accompany the attack of
the "Swift Boat" vets on the honorable military record of John Kerry. Through
the "Swift Boat" vets vicious and slanderous attack on John Kerry every American
veteran is being forewarned by the "Swift Boat" vets and their powerfully rich
backers that if you publicly oppose George W. Bush in person, or in polls traced
to your telephone number, you risk terrible revenge should George Bush be
re-elected and those who support him... the "Swift Boat" vets... are rewarded
with high positions of influence over the VA benefits or employability of those
who served in our Armed Forces. All veterans, and particularly those who served
during the Vietnam War era, well understand how monolithic and totalitarian
influence can harm their rightful and earned access to military benefits. To
this day, many Vietnam Era veterans fearfully refuse to seek VA assistance
because they well remember how an influential group of ultra-conservative
veterans blocked their access to VA reception and services in the 1960’s, 70’s
and 80’s.

Americans have always gone to war to oppose Orwellian dictators and their
well-funded henchmen who twist facts, rewrite history, reverse their previously
documented statements, launch destructive personal attacks, and sway public
opinion against anyone who fails to swear their votes and show public support
for those who have the power to make their lives miserable.

George W. Bush has repeatedly made the threatening statement: "You are either
with us or against us!" Which means if you choose not to swear loyalty to George
W. Bush you will be considered an expendable enemy of George W. Bush... who also
said... "I reject the politics of personal destruction." George Bush now rejects
that latter statement by his refusal to condemn the "Swift Boat" vet’s "politics
of personal destruction." Through the "Swift Boat" vets George W. Bush and his
wealthy funders are communicating a subliminal threat of personal destruction to
any American veteran who supports John Kerry. The "Swift Boat" vets are letting
all veterans know if they can successfully go after a veteran who is highly
visible they can easily come after us who don’t have John Kerry’s money,
visibility or media access.

American veterans must remember that in previous wars when facing similar
threats from dictators we made the courageous and correct decision that if we
permanently remove the dictator we permanently remove the dictator’s threats. By
rejecting the lies and partisan propaganda of the "Swift Boat" vets American
veterans will send a patriotic and determined signal to future dictatorial and
totalitarian wannabes that they cannot and will not succeed.

The above was submitted for publication by an Identity Redacted Vietnam
veteran and is not copyrighted.

Otis Willie,
Associate Librarian
The American War Library

http://www.amervets.com

16907 Brighton Avenue
Gardena CA 90247-5420
(310) 532-0634

Forum posts

  • The ’small’ group of Swift Boat Veterans totals over two hundred fifty and includes EVERY senior officer associated with John Kerry’s 4 months of limited service in Vietnam. Kerry’s band of brothers totals less than a dozen. One that served on a swift boat with Kerry for more than a month at the time of the fictitious trips into Cambodia, has repudiated the candidate and denounced him. Even if Kerry’s record is accurate it never amounted to anything heroic (a band aid and a rump-shot).

  • I was in the medical service Corps in Viet Nam and can only say how amazing to recieve 3 purple hearts, and never be carried out on a strretcher. And in his little movies I see him twirling his m16 around like a toy,,,,,,,,,,,,,,rather reckless and careless, and totally consistent with some dope junior officer pretenting he is a gunslinger, only tohave a firearm accident that leads to self inflicted wound. Real vets see this for what it is, the Swift Boat Vets for Truth are telling the truth.

    • I’ve seen this kind of internecine bickering before in veterans groups and it nearly destroys them. It does nothing for their credibility on other issues. What is certain here is all veterans are going to be hurt by it. These right-wing "not too swift" boat vets are fighting the Vietnam War all over again, because they still can’t accept they were wrong and we should not have been there. John Kerry has the medals, and the endorsements, which are not so easily awarded and vouched for as these Swift Boat Vets for (UN)truth would have us believe. These liars have done great harm to all war veterans and they should slink back under the rock from whence they and chicken hawk George W. came from. What Bush and Karl Rove associates have done to Kerry they did to McClelan and McCain and it is disgraceful. Shame on them!

      Hank Roth
      former Commander, Jewish War Veterans (Post 780)
      See NOT TOO SWIFT - http://g0lem.net/PhpWiki/index.php/NotTooSwift

  • Unlike McCain, Bush, and Gore,,,,Kerry has adamantly refused to authorize the release of his military records. Most think it’s because of his phony battle medals. I think the real reason is below. He was not granted an Honorable Discharge until March 2001, almost 30 years after his ostensible service term had ended!

    This is very much out of the ordinary, and highly suspect.

    There are 5 classes of Discharge: Honorable, General, Other Than Honorable,
    Bad Conduct, and Dishonorable. My guess is that he was Discharged in the ’70s, but not Honorably. He appealed this sometime while Clinton was doing trouser-tricks in the Oval Office. Political pressure was applied, and the Honorable Discharge was then granted.

    His file is probably rife with reports of this, submissions and hearings on the appeal, reports of his "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy, along with protests that were filed with respect to his alleged valor under fire. This will blow up in his face before October 15th.

    * On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry signed a 6 year enlistment contract with the Navy (plus a 6-month extension during wartime).

    * On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry also signed an Officer Candidate contract for 6 years — 5 years of ACTIVE duty & ACTIVE Naval Reserves, and 1 year of inactive standby reserves (See items #4 & $5).

    * Because John Kerry was discharged from TOTAL ACTIVE DUTY of only 3 years and 18 days on 3 Jan. 1970, he was then required to attend 48 drills per year, and not more than 17 days active duty for training. Kerry was also subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

    Additionally, Kerry, as a commissioned officer, was prohibited from making adverse statements
    against his chain of command or statements against his country, especially during time of war. It is also interesting to note that Kerry did not obtain an honorable discharge until Mar. 12, 2001 even though his service obligation should have ended July 1, 1972.

    * Lt. John Kerry’s letter of 21 Nov. 1969 asking for an early release from active US Navy duty falsely states "My current regular period of obligated service would be completed in December of this year."

    * On Jan. 3, 1970 Lt. John Kerry was transferred to the Naval Reserve Manpower Center in Bainridge, Maryland.

    * Where are Kerry’s Performance Records for 2 years of obligated Ready Reserve, the 48 drills per year required and his 17 days of active duty per year training while Kerry was in the Ready Reserves? Have these records been released?

    * Has anyone ever talked to Kerry’s Commanding Officer at the Naval Reserve Center where Kerry drilled?

    * On 1 July 1972 Lt. John Kerry was transferred to Standby Reserve - Inactive.

    * On 16 February 1978 Lt. John Kerry was discharged from US Naval Reserve.

    * Below are some of the crimes Lt. Kerry USNR committed as a Ready Reservist, while he was acting as a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War:

    1. Lt. Kerry attended many rallies where the Vietcong flag was displayed while our flag was desecrated, defiled, and mocked, thereby giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

    2. Lt. Kerry was involved in a meeting that voted on assassinating members of the US Senate.

    3. Lt. Kerry lied under oath against fellow soldiers before the US Senate about crimes committed in Vietnam.

    4. Lt. Kerry professed to being a war criminal on national television, and condemned the military and the USA.

    5. Lt. Kerry met with NVA and Vietcong communist leaders in Paris, in direct violation of the UCMJ and the U.S. Constitution.

    Lt. Kerry by his own words & actions violated the UCMJ and the U.S. Code while serving as a Navy officer. Lt. Kerry stands in violation of Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Lt. Kerry’s 1970 meeting with NVA Communists in Paris is in direct violation of the UCMJ’s Article 104 part 904, and U.S. Code 18 U.S.C. 953. That meeting, and Kerry’s subsequent support of the communists while leading mass protests against our military in the year that followed, also place him in direct violation of our Constitution’s Article 3, Section 3, which defines treason as "giving
    aid and comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare.

    The Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, states, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President ... having previously taken an oath . to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

    • Excellent!

    • Kerry is the one who rewrote history. When called the Vietnam Soldiers war criminals.

    • Kerry campaign provides military records http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4790712/

      John Kerry’s Official Naval Records http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html

    • Kerry will only release 6 out of 100 documents -that is NOT releasing his military records. When pushed to sign the same 180 for a full release that Bush did, Kerry has consistently responded that the documents made public is all the public needs to know.

      What I want to know is the discrepancy on his discharge dates. Kerry signed a six year contract with the Navy in 1966 -five years active, one year reserves. His discharge date should have been in 1972 -yet there is NO document showing he received a discharge at that time -honorable or any other kind. In fact once he was discharged from active duty (early) he appears nowhere to fulfill his six year commitment and instead is traveling around the country as an anti-war protester and meeting with the N. Vietnamese at least twice. The ONLY document showing an honorable discharge date made public is for 1978 -and only after he signed up for the reserves in 1972 (no doubt when he realized he would need one in order to run for office). Obviously he did not fulfill his original commitment and had to sign up for the reserves in order to get one.

      I believe the fact that Kerry received no honorable discharge until 1978 because he failed to fulfill his commitment is the reason Kerry refuses to release 94 out of the 100 documents the public will never see.

      Unlike Kerry, Bush has never tried to make his service appear to be anything other than what it was. The Democrats have created a myth about both Bush’s and Kerry’s service -and both are a lie.

  • I’m a Vet and I have read both sides of the arguments of what Kerry did or did not do in Vietnam

    Kerry has said repeatedly that on Christmas or Christmas Eve of 1968 his swift boat moved into Cambodia on a covert and illegal mission. He was shot at by Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge and by "our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas."

    He wrote in 1979 that "the absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real." He said the memory of the Cambodian Christmas "is seared—seared into me."

    When challenged by the Swift Boat vets on this claim ... he and his supporters could not substantiate it and retracted it!

    Maybe he was "near the boarder", maybe he was "50 miles away", maybe he confused it with another time when he was actually in Cambodia.

    One lie refuted , more to go.

    What ever the merits of his actual service in Vietnam, he has distorted his record for political gains.

    If you want to understand the man, just listen to or read his statements to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations on April 23, 1971 and make up your own mind. You don’t need commentators, partisans, or columnists to help you understand him. His own words condemn him.

    Kerry “They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.”

    jgfox

  • For all of you questioning Kerry’s service, where is your outrage at GWB’s LACK of service? Why not question HIS missing records? Why not question HIS lack of courage to face the enemy directly? Whether you like him or not, Kerry was there

    • Bush is draft dodger no doubt. But he didn’t hold his comrades up to 35yrs. of scorn and contempt to further his political aspirations. He also didn’t meet with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, who only 6mos. earlier were trying to kill me and my buddies.

    • I’M A "DRAFT DODGER" TOO....

      Rather than wait for the call, I joined the Marine Corp, went to flight training and became a Naval Aviator and served for 12 MONTHS in Nam as a USMC helicopter pilot. If GW is a draft dodger, so is Kerry, since he "volunteered" to escape the draft too.

    • Evidently you haven’t been on this planet. GWB’s record has been questioned to a point of absurdity. He did apply to fly missions in Vietnam. It isn’t his fault that he wasn’t chosen. He found a way to end his service by contributing his time to a political campaign which was approved by the military. The fact that you want him to have a bad record says more about you than it does about GWB. We need patriots not politically motivated idiots.

  • Kerry stated on the floor of the senate in 1986...

    “Mr. President, I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the President of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.”

    You have to admit, the guy can tell some real whoppers. Amazing!

  • I do not believe that I have ever read more blatent lies then what you have written here. It is fully documented that John Kerry committed treason durring a time of war. He aided and abetted the enemy durring the Veitnam war when he went and met with the Viet Cong. For this he should be put on trial for treason. This is not a threat but is something that should occer. Because of the foolish obsession of the liberal media with getting rid of a decicive president durring such a dangerous war, we have the oppertunity to put in his place an incompetant coward. One who so wishes to paralize the United States by making it so we have to get permission from the UN before we do anything. That same UN that gets the vast majority of its funding from the US, and refuses to help protect our interest and the intrest of the vast majority of the peoples of the world. I serously doubt that you will post this, but my hope it that you might have some moral charactor in you so as to remove your own blatent lies.