"Kerry & Rassmann swift boat stories collide" CARTOON...

IowaPresidentialWatch.com ^ | 8/10/2004 | IPWGOP

[IPWGOP]

Kerry/Rassmann swift boat stories collide

In a major gaffe, Camp Kerry was caught today with colliding stories concerning Kerry’s Vietnam heroics. [see FreeRepublic thread] In a much touted tale, Kerry is credited with saving the life of Green Beret veteran Jim Rassmann while they were on a 5-boat patrol during the Vietnam War. The group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth vehemently denies Kerry’s story and has supplied proof that Kerry lied about the circumstances behind his pulling Rassmann out of the river.

In an Aug. 10, 2004, editorial published in the Wall Street Journal, Green Beret veteran Jim Rassmann defends Kerry’s heroics and includes this statement:

"While returning from a SEA LORDS operation along the Bay Hap River, a mine detonated under another swift boat. 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."

Now, compare this statement by Rassmann in his Wall Street Journal editorial with a Kerry campaign press release, still on Kerry’s website as of 8/10/2004:

"On March 13, 1969, Rassmann, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry’s when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore. Kerry was hit in the arm, while a mine blew Rassmann’s boat out of the water. With enemy fire coming from both sides of the river and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann."

Rassmann says he was on Kerry’s swift boat; Kerry says Rassmann was on another boat behind his. Who’s telling the truth, and who is not?

[IPWGOP]

cartoon ping

[dila813]

Can you say OPPS?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Can you say oops? ; )

[Winfield]

"Can you say OPPS?"
No, but the Kerriacs better be able to say "Ooooops!"

[smoothsailing]

He was on his boat before he wasn't.

Pardon me, I sense a pattern here.

[Boazo]

[LiberalBassTurds]

Great cartoon...as always! I am loving this story and watching Kerry's BS unravel.

LBT

-=-=-

[DoughtyOne]

Can this press release be far away? "Listen, cause I'm only going to say this one last time. (Shaking finger at the press, and us!) I was a swift boat hero before I wasn't. I was in Cambodia before I never was. I was fit to be president before I wasn't. I never had sex with that woman, the truth!"

[NonValueAdded]

"... and swift boats evacuating from the area, Kerry’s crew chose to turn their boat toward the ambush to save Rassmann."

But wait, there's more. According to the Swift Boat Veterans, Kerry's boat was the only one to bug out after the explosion and the other two boats stayed to aid the 3 boat and pick up 3 from the water. proof The Kerry press release you show has Kerry making it look like everyone else panicked and "there he was to save the day."

Tonk - a new twist on the lies.

[Cobra64]

Does anyone know what Doofus is doing on the tracks? Looking for a kid's quarter that the train flattened last week?

[NonValueAdded]

Specifically:

Adm. Hoffman: Alright ... I think that Van O'Dell told you that there was one explosion - a controlled mine under PCF3. No other boats were damaged. There was only ONE explosion [verbal emphasis]. Kerry breaks out of the fire zone and goes downstream. He's the only one that left the scene, the rest of them are trying to save the boat number 3 and pick the men up out of the water and so forth. Kerry didn't come back until he was sure there wasn't any shore fire - and there wasn't, there never was any shore fire.

[BlessedBeGod]

Thanks, I hadn't seen the other thread. This illustrates it perfectly!

[NonValueAdded]

The link you gave for the press release was bad (extra text at the end). Here is one that works and shows the "everyone else bugged out lie I'm highlighting. I clicked your link and got a "404" not found error. I thought they had a cleanup squad monitoring FR and pulling down pages we mentioned :) Here is the valid link to the invalid press release: http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0117d.html

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[notforhire]

Hah! No longer on Kerry's Web site. These guys are watching our every move.

[dila813]

I hear the refrain...
left brain disconnected from the right brain..
left brain disconnnecte from the right brain...

or maybe...
I wish I had a brain..
I wish I wish I wish
IIIII hadddd aa Braaaain!

[dila813]

We need to get this back and saved using the goggle cache

We need to be careful to record this information so it isn't lost.

[notforhire]

Thanks.

[Jim_Curtis]

blew me off John's swift boat, PCF-94

That is why I was so confused about that, Rassman was on Kerry's quickly accelerating away from the scene boat. Kerry dumped him overboard from his retreat and then went back and pulled him out...and....got a silver star.

This is why I say that this needs film reenactment or animation portrayal of events for this fraud to, how is it said, be "seared" into public understanding.

[IPWGOP]

Ah-ha!! Thanks very mucho!

[notforhire]

How does the google cache work?

[Ajnin]

We keep hearing the mantra that none of the SBV's were close enough to Kerry to see his heroic deeds. I wonder how the dems would spin the SBV's not being able to hear all the gunfire that supposedly came from the shore?

[IPWGOP]

This is why I say that this needs film reenactment or animation portrayal of events for this fraud to, how is it said, be "seared" into public understanding.

I agree

[Howlin]

How many people on Kerry's boat got medals that day, as opposed to the other boats?

[dila813]

search for your page, and the click view cache instead of clicking the link.

Then you will see the page as it was. You have to do it soon. It refreshes once a week each site. So grab it and post the entire page to the thread.

[dila813]

Kerry strikes me to be the kind of guy that would piss his pants so bad that in the panic would steer his boat right into a well marked mine field.

[FairOpinion]

Great catch and cartoon! :)

[Yehuda]

someone with good drives needs to SAVE Kerry's entire web site on a daily if not hourly schedule!

[FairOpinion]

I really like this one!

Very clever, very good! :)

[notforhire]

'preciate that.

[dila813]

It has to be available to all Freeps, saving it to one person's hardrive isn't going to do us any good.

[Boazo]

I was hoping he ends up like that coin!

[FairOpinion]

"The SWIFT boat veterans also dispute Kerry's account of the mine incident. Several allege that Kerry initially "fled the scene" when the explosion occurred, leaving the other boats to aid the stricken vessel. Kerry returned "four or five minutes later when it was clear that we were not under fire." Van Odell, a gunner aboard a boat behind the stranded vessel, stated baldly "there was no fire coming from any direction" and that there were "no holes in any boats" and "no further wounded", which there would have been had the boats been under fire.

Larry Thurlow, a fellow SWIFT boat commander, alleges that Rassmann "fell off of Kerry's boat" when Kerry rapidly accelerated and left the scene after the mine detonated.

Kerry's much touted "Band of Brothers" of course dispute the SWIFT Vets testimony. Rassmann and fellow crewmate Del Sandusky allege that the mine incident occurred in the middle of a "hellacious firefight". Gene Thorson, another crewmate, called the assertions "garbage".

Is John F. Kerry Fit to Serve? - The SWIFT Boat Saga
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1188236/posts

[GarySpFc]

Ping

[Boazo]

Thanks, Just doing my Part.

[aruanan]

Well, I'll tell you what, there are a couple of things that I can refute ... if you, you remember at the convention and other places, he said he was in the water alone, that all the fleet had left and zipped down the river.  That couldn't have happened because the incident that caused him to fall in the water ... was Kerry's boat taking off at high speed because the 3 boat had been mined; the 3 boat was dead in the water.

So this guy says that the reason Rassmann was in the water to begin with was not because a mine knocked him out but was because another boat, "the 3 boat," was mined and Kerry freaked out, took off at high speed, and Rassmann fell out of Kerry's boat into the water as a result of Kerry's precipitate departure.

[smoothsailing]

What ever happened to:

Ankle bone connected to the knee bone.. Know hear the word of the Lord.

FREgards..

[IPWGOP]

How many people on Kerry's boat got medals that day, as opposed to the other boats?

How many others got medals for that day? ZIP, ZERO, NADA! Only Kerry.

Does that smell, or whut?

[ProudVet77]

Hate to say this about a fellow vet. But I think Sandusky is the one to go after. He was a PO1 (E6) in Navy parlence. He's the one with the thick glasses in all the pics.
He was the driver of the PCF which is actually down below. My guess is that he heard fire (probably ours) and put her into high gear to get away. I can't blame him for that action, as speed was a PCFs best friend. But it shows in a way that he ran the boat. Kerry was OIC, but with his limited experience, Sandusky ran the boat.

[hobson]

I found another version of this saga:

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:lIvaF5WpVrMJ:releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp%3Fid%3D104-07102004+%22david+alston%22&hl=en

Jim Rassmann, Says Kerry Risked His Life to Save Him: "Rassmann was 21 at the time, a Special Forces lieutenant in charge of a company of American and Chinese fighters. On that day, they traveled on a convoy of five patrol boats led by the 25-year-old Kerry, a Navy lieutenant -- and they were on the run, being chased down the Bay Hap River by enemy soldiers firing guns and rockets. The group had already lost one soldier that day. As they sped down the river, one boat was blown out of the water, and then another. An explosion wounded Kerry in the arm and threw Rassmann into the river. Rassmann dove to the bottom to avoid being run over by the other boats. When he surfaced, he saw the convoy had gone ahead. Viet Cong snipers fired at him, and Rassmann submerged over and over to avoid being hit. The bullets came from both banks, and Rassmann had nowhere to go. He began thinking his time had come, but the fifth time he came up, he saw the convoy had turned around. Kerry had ordered the boats back to pick up the man overboard. Kerry's boat, under heavy fire, sidled up to the struggling soldier. Rassmann tried to scramble up a cargo net at the bow but was too exhausted to make it all the way. He clung to the net as bullets whizzed past. 'Next thing I knew, John came out in the middle of all this,' Rassmann says. 'I couldn't believe it. He was going to get killed. He ran to the edge, reached over with his good arm (Kerry had been wounded in his right arm) and pulled me over the lip.' Rassmann later recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and was upset when the Army instead awarded Kerry a lesser Bronze Star with a 'V' for valor." (Los Angeles Times, 3/13/04)

[FairOpinion]

Excellent points.

[Howlin]

And I have another question -- and I surely will show my ignornace here:

Was this what the swift boaters wore? What would the reason be to have that on?

Did he go ashore into the jungle? Why does he have that rifle?

[IPWGOP]

Yeah, I've read that version. This whole 'Kerry saved my life' episode needs to be told in full context... that is, how many boats involved, how close together, then the sequence of events, who all got thrown into the water, etc. YES, Rassmann was not the only man tossed into the river. That little piece of info also makes Kerry's version sound like a bunch of crap.

[IPWGOP]

That's one of Kerry's re-enactment stills from his movies. He used to dress in full combat gear and do re-enactments (big issue surrounding the Dem's Convention and the Kerry Vietnam mini-movie video they did). The six-man crew of a swift boat was 'combat ready' according to how I understand it... Kerry talks about his 'M-16 rifle' jamming, etc.

[Bellflower]

Somebody needs to check the bank account of these so called band of brothers to see if they paid them to lie. The same goes for anyone that is used by the Dems. Are they driving around in a new car and just bought a boat?

[NonValueAdded]

Let's add to that the information that Rassmann kept diving to the bottom of the river to avoid what he says was gunfire. I'd say that activity left Rassmann pretty disoriented in comparison to the crews of the other boats (besides Kerry's since he bugged out and wasn't there). So Kerry's boat is gone, Rassmann is mostly underwater but it is the rest of the guys who are making this stuff up. Yeah, right.

[nopardons]

Well done...and if there's an award for political cartoons,just tell me where to submit your work.

[Grampa Dave]

Great cartoon and background as well.