Kerry 'Unfit to be Commander-in-Chief', Say Former Military Colleagues

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 5/03/04 | Marc Morano

[kattracks]

(CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed letter that he is "unfit to be commander-in-chief." They will do so at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical in dimension," John O'Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com . The event, which is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief," O'Neill said.

O'Neill, currently a Houston, Texas, based attorney, is no stranger to Kerry. O'Neill served in the same naval unit as Kerry and commanded Kerry's swift boat after Kerry returned to the United States. Kerry's command of the PCF boat lasted four months and ended shortly after he received his third Purple Heart. According to naval regulations at the time, any soldier who received three Purple Hearts could request a transfer out of the combat zone.

Kerry and O'Neill engaged in a nationally televised debate in 1971 on The Dick Cavett Show over Kerry's allegations that many Vietnam soldiers had routinely engaged in atrocities such as raping and cutting off ears and heads of Vietnamese soldiers and citizens. Kerry was the then spokesman for the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

"We are going to be presenting a letter that deals with Kerry's unfitness to be commander and chief that has been signed by hundreds of swift boat sailors, including most of those who served with Kerry," O'Neill explained.

"The ranks of the people signing [the letter] range from admiral down to seaman, and they run across the entire spectrum of politics, specialties, and political feelings about the Vietnam War," he added.

Among those scheduled to attend the event at the National Press Club and declare Kerry unfit for the role of commander-in-chief are retired Naval Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman, who was the commander of the Navy Coastal Surveillance Force, which included the swift boats on which Kerry served.

Also scheduled to be present at the event is Kerry's former commanding officer, Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard. Hibbard recently questioned whether Kerry deserved the first of his three Purple Hearts that he received in Vietnam. Hibbard doubted both the severity of the wound and whether it resulted from enemy fire.

"I've had thorns from a rose that were worse" than Kerry's wound for which he received a Purple Heart, Hibbard told the Boston Globe in April.

Organizers are confident that Tuesday's event and the letter with hundreds of signatures will educate people about Kerry.

"It is one of the largest outpourings of concern about him being commander-in-chief that anybody could have in a presidential campaign and it is by the people who know him best," O'Neill said.

'Unfit Commander-in-Chief'

Swift Boat Veterans For Truth maintains that Kerry's fellow Vietnam veterans are almost uniform in their disdain for his military service and anti-war protests.

"Not only a majority of the people who served with him feel that way, but a vast and overwhelming majority," O'Neill said. He added that more than "ninety percent of the people contacted by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth responded to the request to sign their name, with only 12 declining to sign.

"Comrades who actually served with him, almost all of them, are opposed to him, and believe he would be an unfit commander in chief and intend to bring the truth of his actual record to the attention of the American people," O'Neill said.

O'Neill hopes the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth can reveal to the American people what he sees as Kerry's flawed character.

"In the military, loyalty between commanders and the troops serving them is a two-way street. We have here a guy (Kerry) that with all of us in the field [in Vietnam] -- actually fighting the North Vietnamese -- came home and then falsely accused all of us of war crimes at a time when the people in uniform couldn't even respond," O'Neill said.

"And he did that knowing that was a lie," he added.

'Real John Kerry'

B. G. Burkett, author of the book Stolen Valor and a military researcher, believes that Tuesday's event will not be dismissed easily by Kerry's campaign as a "partisan" attack.

"There are probably just as many Democrats amongst sailors who sailed swift boats as there are Republicans. What Kerry fails to realize is this has nothing to do with politics -- this has to with Vietnam Veterans who served, who have a beef with John Kerry's service, both during and after the war," Burkett told CNSNews.com.

"The American people do not know John Kerry and hopefully the swift boat crews and other Vietnam veterans will make sure that the American public knows the real John Kerry," he added.

Jim Loftus of Kerry's press office referred questions about Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's event on Tuesday to spokesman David Wade. Wade did not return CNSNews.com's requests for comment.

See Related Articles:
Kerry in 1971: 'Our Democracy is a Farce'
Kerry Still Backpedaling on Presence at 1971 Anti-War Meetings (03/24/2004)
Kerry Lying About Anti-War Past, Supporter Alleges (03/18/2004)

E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

[onyx]

You guys really have those targets?
He makes a good one.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I'm starting to worry that we will "kill off" Kerry
as a viable candidate before the D. convention and
prompt a Toricelli Switch routine.

[FranklinsTower]

I seriously expected the mud slinging about Kerry's Vietnam record would begin after the convention. It looks more and more like it is going to happen sooner rather than later.

I too have been thinking about this. My current thinking is that it is far better to do this now! First of all to do this after the convention will smack of a "late desperate smear job" -- see how that worked against Arnold and Pres. Bush.

Furthermore, to do so then will make it that much harder to get Pres. Bush's positive message out.

Finally, if the dims do switch horses mid stream, the party as a whole will be significantly weakened. Not only will we be able to paint Kerry as a waffling flip flopper. We'll be able to paint the WHOLE DIM PARTY as indecisive flip floppers who cannot pick a viable candidate who can lead in a time of war.

That is the kind of political damage to a party that could be FATAL! Thus, I really am not worried if they decided to pull a switch.

[Grampa Dave]

"Band-aid of Brothers" will probably be run 100's of time on ABCNNBC BS for free until the election is over.

[Kate of Spice Island]

This just in from the DNC...

We were all for Kerry before we were against him!

They are all staying up swapping maly stories and in the morning they are all making waffles!

I would like the Belgian waffle with whipped cream and cinnamon apple compote on the side.

[driftless]

I'd be happy to be wrong, but I have to agree with your assessment. Big Media always hushes up or totally ignores any news that doesn't corroborate or further its leftist agenda.

[No Dems 2004]

This is astonishing, though I guess it shouldn't be. I think there's more to his Vietnam service than meets the eye and I bet more will come out. There must be something about his service or character that's being hidden if all these officers are against him being president. No way would all those officers do it for the sake of being blindly Republican.

[MeekOneGOP]

Bullseye !

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Is that the sound off a fan I here starting up?

I don't think Kerry comes away from Boston with the RAT party nomination.

[tgslTakoma]

'Sounds like it might be...

[maica]

I too have been thinking about this. My current thinking is that it is far better to do this now!


###


I think so too. Consider "why this week?"

Possibly because Kerry is smothering the airwaves in the battleground states with "positive ads" promoting his image.

I am writing this on Tuesday - and have not heard one word on radio or tv about yesterday's press club appearance! The meeedia are protecting Kerry, but the word will continue to seep out, slowly and surely, until most voters become aware. It won't hit their awareness like a 'right-wing' barrage (as if there could ever be such a thing.)

[maica]

Oops, I am a day off! Doh!! Guess I did not miss it after all!

[OKSooner]

Bump for later read.

[Condor51]

Ok, stoo-pid question here.
This article was posted an hour earlier by someone else yesterday and there's a thread going. Yet this one has waaaay more comments.

So my question is what's the SOP? Do both stay active? Does one get closed? And which one, the last posted or the one with the least number of comments? Or does nothing happen and they both remain 'active'?

Anyone? ... Bueller? ... Moderator?

---

In the mean time... like I posted yesterday (on the other thread), I said this could/would should be HUGE and it would be pretty hard for the LSM (lame-stream-media) to ignore this.

And I see today that the New York Daily News and the NY Post IS picking it up. So IMO Kerry's preemptive $25 mil War Hero ad campaign will go for naught.

So as Nelson Would Say... HA-HA!

[Teplukin]

Hello bring back the draft.

I was looking at your profile. Didn't Lombardi grow up in New Jersey? Always thought so.

Glad that you are out of the hospital safe & sound..

[mwl1]

Kerry will be the Democratic nominee for President. Everyone can stop worrying about that.

The problem is that this election is not Bush vs. Kerry. It's Bush vs the media.

MSM will cover up O'Neil's good work. They are protecting Kerry day after day.

[Lady Jag]

Yes, he is a

[ChevyZ28]

The former military collegues have given us what I call a "blinding flash of the obvious".

[yoe]

Is the press conference sponsored by Hillary Clinton?

An interesting thought - but will the Democrats trade one Socialist for another just to bring us one step closer to the United Nations Imperialism? Mrs. Clinton doesn't like the US Constitution; the rule of law; the military; American Sovereignty or the Electoral College. But the press sells more papers when her name appears...Neither is fit to be president of the United States of America!