Kerry Propagandist Brinkley Lies About Unanimity Of Kerry's Crewmen

Compiled | March 11, 2004 | Various

[Hon]

You have probably read the Time Magazine article, "The Tenth Brother," by Kerry's hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley:

Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004 The Tenth Brother
Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, interviews Kerry’s tenth warmate and gets a story sharply different from what the other nine crew members have had to say

Source

At first blush it is a surprising piece. Brinkley managed after a Herculean effort to unearth a former crewmember of Kerry's Swiftboats who doesn't think Kerry walks on water.

When writing my book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (William Morrow & Company) I interviewed all of Kerry’s crewmates—all that is, except Gardner. When first approached for interviews in late 2002 these Navy veterans told me they would enthusiastically campaign for their old skipper if he ever decided to run for president; they’ve lived up to their promise. Whether it’s PCF-94’s Chief Petty Officer Del Sandusky talking about Kerry’s undaunted courage on TV campaign commercials or PCF-44’s William Zaladonis explaining how Kerry never backed down, they’ve been a united front. Nobody has campaigned harder for Kerry than his crewmates. Kerry’s surprise victories in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary were, in part, a tribute to their unshakable conviction that Kerry was a born leader.

But we are soon brought back to reality. For it quickly becomes clear with Brinkley's careful guidance that Stephen M. Gardner is a crackpot. He uses coarse language. "He has some kind of weird grudge against Lieutenant Kerry.” And we are soon told why: politics. Gardner listens to Rush Limbaugh. He is a right wing fanatic.

So instead of being a piece about a crewmate who raises questions about Kerry, the piece is essentially more testimony about how wonderful Kerry is. Nine out of ten crew member agree--Kerry was and still is wonderful, and they will vote for him. And the tenth one is a right wing nutcase, which just goes to prove Brinkley's point.

The trouble is this is not the case. For another two of Kerry's crew members, James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis--both of whom are mentioned in Brinkley's article--are on record as having definite misgivings about John Kerry.

Kerry's '71 testimony on atrocities evokes debate

Some vets still hot over words; others say he echoed feelings of ex-Vietnam soldiers

By Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
February 15, 2004

WASHINGTON - On a spring day in 1971 a young Vietnam veteran with shaggy brown hair and clad in a field jacket bedecked with battle ribbons sat before the Senate Armed Services Committee and delivered riveting testimony.

"We had an investigation in which 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia - not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-by-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command," declared John Kerry, a 27-year-old Navy veteran...

"They told the 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 a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis, both crewmen two years earlier under then Lieutenant Kerry on his Navy Swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum craft that patrolled the waters of the Mekong Delta, were bitter and angry when they first saw television coverage of his testimony.

"Absolutely upset," said Wasser, who recalled no such atrocities. "I felt betrayed."

Said Zaladonis: "I didn't like the idea. I certainly didn't believe that all Vietnam veterans were baby-killing, women rapers. Most people I know agree with me. They didn't see it."

Source

Today, Wasser says he supports Kerry's Presidential campaign. But Zaladonis doesn't seem to so sure:

Today, Wasser and Zaladonis are no longer in agreement about their old skipper's postwar actions.

Wasser is now a strong Kerry supporter, often appearing on behalf of the Massachusetts senator at political events. His hawkish views on Vietnam have dissipated, and he now backs Kerry's involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the organization for which Kerry served as spokesman at the height of his antiwar activities.

"As I look back over the years, I feel he did the right thing," said Wasser, an electrician from Illinois.

Zaladonis has mixed feelings. "I thought he was a d--- good officer. I think I would very much like to see him as president," Zaladonis said, but he isn't sure whether he will vote for Kerry, partly due to political issues and partly because of Kerry's work with antiwar protesters.

"The more I hear about (the protests). - 'Did John say that? Did he do that?' " said Zaladonis, a retired telephone technician now living in Florida. "I'm still studying it."

So the question is, if Brinkely lied about Zaladonis' support of Kerry, how many other former crew members is he lying about? Anyway, we know it isn't 9 out of 10 for Kerry.

But the readers of Time won't know that. The Moor has done his job.

[Hon]

It's almost as if Time Magazine if on Kerry's side in this election.

[Howlin]

From this article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095461/posts


"Wade said Kerry used the word "crooked" to describe the personal attacks he has endured. Those attacks, he said, included doctored photos of Kerry falsely showing him protesting the Vietnam War with Jane Fonda and wrongly portraying him shooting a prisoner during his stint in the Navy. "

Apparently you're getting to him........LOL.

Good hunting.

[Paradox]

And the fact that the "outraged" family members of 911 were rabid Bush-haters never made the light of day, until we uncovered it here on FreeRepublic. And it STILL hasn't made it into the mainstream media, much less Time magazine.

[KQQL]

Gardner said yesterday that he wonders whether speaking critically about Kerry led to his losing his job as a home inspection field manager. The Brinkley story said Gardner "claims he works at Millennium Services." Within hours of the publication of the article on Time's website, Gardner said, he was fired from his job as a home inspection field manager. -----------------------------------

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/11/kerry_no_hero_in_ex_crewmans_eyes/

[Hon]

Well, as you mnow, I had nothing to do with the doctored photograph, since I thought the REAL one was telling enough.

But yeah, it does seem like Kerry is very touchy about people actually looking into his background. It's certainly understandable.

I don't think a man who actually negotiated with the enemy during a war has ever run for President before. (Just to cite one incident in his brilliant career.)

Kerry Met With Viet Cong And North Vietnamese In Paris In 1971
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1091943/posts

[Howlin]

Brinkley has a vested interest in HIS version of the story.

If I am not mistaken, since that book came out, there have already been a couple of things that have come out that are NOT in the book -- the one that springs to mind is some story about Kerry saving some guy from drowning? -- and I myself saw Brinkley on MSNBC saying he didn't know those stories.

Brinkly writing this Time article reminds me of Bob Woodruff and Carl Bernstein; every single time there is any HINT of scandal in the government, you can count on CNN to drag them out to pontificate about how "this isn't nearly as bad as Watergate.

Since they believe they OWN that story and a bigger scandal would threaten their place in what they perceive as "the" biggest story in the history of this country.

[KQQL]

KERRY : They (republicans and all who speak against him )are, "CROOKED and LIARS."

Kerry/DNC or his pals probably got GARDNER FIRED !

[syriacus]

More_{Kerry 2004}

Flimandflam

[Mo1]

PING

[Hon]

There is also nothing in Brinkley's book about the VVAW's plans to try to kill the hawks in Congress. It is fully covered in other books about the VVAW, including Nicosia's "Home To War."

Brinkley also left out Kerry's trip to Paris in 1971 to meet and negotiate and otherwise hobnob with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. Kerry even demanded that Congress force through the VC's Peace Proposals. (He said this to Congress when he got back.)

Funny Brinkley would leave out those two minor points. It's almost as if he wants to be made the Librarian Of Congress or something. LOL.

[KQQL]

As Gardner recalls it, he was in the "tub" above the pilot house with the twin machine guns, and Kerry was in command, when the Navy swift boat came upon a sampan in the darkness. Gardner flashed a searchlight and ordered the craft to stop. Then, he said, he saw a figure rise up over the gunwale with a semiautomatic weapon. Spotting tracers in the sky and fearing an attack, Gardner said, he laced the sampan with bullets, and other crew members fired as well. Gardner recalls a man in the sampan falling overboard, presumably dead.

After the shooting had stopped and Kerry had ordered a cease-fire, Gardner said, the crew found a woman in the sampan who was alive. There was also the boy, dead in the bottom of the boat. Gardner said there is no way to know which crewmate fired the shots that killed the boy, but he said Kerry was in the pilot house and did not fire. Kerry was livid when he emerged, Gardner said.

"Kerry threatened me with a court-martial, screaming at the top of his lungs: `What the hell do you think you're doing? I ought to have you court-martialed,' " Gardner recalled. "Thankfully, the whole crew was there in the middle of it . . . they verified there were weapons being shot at us. That was the end of it."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/11/kerry_no_hero_in_ex_crewmans_eyes/

---

Gardner said yesterday that he wonders whether speaking critically about Kerry led to his losing his job as a home inspection field manager. The Brinkley story said Gardner "claims he works at Millennium Services." Within hours of the publication of the article on Time's website, Gardner said, he was fired from his job as a home inspection field manager.

[Howlin]

Mort Kondracke is absolutely apoplectic about Kerry and all these outbursts. I mean he almost foams at the mouth when he starts talking about it.

He has said more than once that Kerry has shaped the debate so that if you look into or say anything about Kerry's background, you're basically calling him unpatriotic.

Mort said the mere idea of Kerry talking about "all these personal attacks on him" is laughable because, to this point in the election, the ONLY people throwing dirt are the Democrats and Kerry's minions.

IMO, there is something "there" that Kerry is desperately trying to divert attention from, as I am sure you already know.

The problem for Kerry is, the more he protests, the more people are going to want to LOOK at those medical/military records.

[Howlin]

BTW, yes, I do know you had nothing to do with that photo; I want to be clear about that.

[Just mythoughts]

Brinkley may regret the day he attached himself to the behind of the lying liberal JFKerry.


Seems like he has found a need to attempt to do a bit of cleansing.

Now what I would like to see are those movies that JFKerry made while "in country" during his days of Vietnam, reenacting his gun battles. The National Enquirer made mention of the fact that he lost follow up dates cause that is what he wanted to do with his dates, sit and watch his reenactments of those movies he made while in Vietnam.

Quite a mind of foresight making those reenactments.

[Howlin]

Oh, I like that one!

[Howlin]

Brinkley may regret the day he attached himself to the behind of the lying liberal JFKerry.

I agree! Sometimes he has that "deer in the headlights" look, doesn't he?

[Jim_Curtis]

It's almost as if Time Magazine if on Kerry's side in this election.
----
I would expect so but why would they make this story public? Usually the Dems simply ignore this kind of stuff out of existence.

And then there is an appearance of scandal with Mr.Gardner being fired from his job soon after the article was released which would be a further stirring of the pot...Dems always consider the reactions to their actions so none of this makes sense yet.

[Just mythoughts]

Yes, and just like Doris Kerns Goodwin, he may be about to get defrocked of his credibility. I use the word "defrocked" because of their "we are gods" politics.

Historian, my behind!