“One Thing Is Certain: Kerry Was There On That Boat In Viet Nam. Where Was George W. Bush?”

Now it is out:

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is just a
political dirty trick operation

financed by multimillionaire supporters of President
George W. Bush. According to the August 20

New York Times,

"a
series of interviews and a review of documents show a
web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile
Texas political figures and President Bush`s chief
political aide,

Karl Rove. Records show that the group received the
bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to
the president and his

family." [Friendly
Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad By Kate
Zernike And Jim Rutenberg, August 20, 2004]

The last thing dirty tricksters are
interested in is truth.

This group of frauds claims that
Kerry`s heroics were nothing but a

PR operation and his wounds

exaggerated or self-inflicted.

Think about that for a moment. The
scurrilous attack on Kerry is an attack on all decorated
veterans. If the US Navy handed out fraudulent Silver
and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts to Kerry, how do we
know if anyone`s medals are good?

And how exactly does a person go
about self-inflicting shrapnel wounds?

The way I figure it, the Republican
dirty trick meisters believe if President Bush can lie
about war, they can lie about Kerry.

Just where do the Republicans think
they are taking us? If they succeed in destroying the
concept of truth and the shame of being a liar, how will
our society differ from the great tyrannies of the 20th
century?

Former Swift Boat commander Larry
Thurlow

claims that no boat was under fire when Kerry turned
back to rescue Green Beret Jim Rassmann, who was blown
into the water. Yet the Washington Post

reports that Thurlow`s own Bronze Star citation says
that all five boats were under "enemy small arms and
automatic weapons fire."

Jim Rassmann backs Kerry`s account and says he

expected to be killed by Viet Cong fire.

When confronted with the words on
his own citation, Thurlow claims never to have read his
citation and that it is wrong. Does anyone really
believe that a person awarded a Bronze Star wouldn`t
read the citation accompanying the medal?

Did you know that Kerry`s critics
were not even present at the action for which Kerry was
awarded the Silver Star? Writing in the Chicago
Tribune on August 21, 2004, William B. Rood
excoriates Kerry`s critics for "stories I know to be
untrue."

Listen to Rood:

"On
Feb. 28, 1969, I was officer in charge of PCF-23, one of
three swift boats–including Kerry`s PCF-94 and Lt. j.g.
Donald Droz`s PCF-43–that carried Vietnamese regional
and Popular Force troops and a Navy demolition team up
the Dong Cung, a narrow tributary of the Bay Hap River,
to conduct a sweep in the area.

"The
approach of the noisy 50-foot aluminum boats, each
driven by two huge 12-cylinder diesels and loaded down
with six crew members, troops and gear, was no secret.

"Ambushes were a virtual certainty, and that day was no
exception.

"The
difference was that Kerry, who had tactical command of
that particular operation, had talked to Droz and me
beforehand about not responding the way the boats
usually did to an ambush.

"We
agreed that if we were not crippled by the initial
volley and had a clear fix on the location of the
ambush, we would turn directly into it, focusing the
boats` twin .50-caliber machine guns on the attackers
and beaching the boats."

Kerry`s innovative tactic was used
twice that day with such success that it got the
attention of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who, Rood reports,
"flew down to our base at An Thoi off the southern tip
of Vietnam to pin the Silver Star on Kerry and assorted
Bronze Stars and commendation medals on the rest of
us."[
Anti-Kerry
vets not there that day
, also

here ]

SBVT operative John E. O`Neill
wasn`t on the scene, but that didn`t stop him from
coauthoring a

diatribe against Kerry titled

"Unfit for Command," a collection of lies on
which the TV political ad is based.

Here`s what the Green Beret who
Kerry pulled out of the river

has to say about SBVT:

"This
smear campaign has been launched by people without
decency. Their charges are false; their stories are
fabricated, made up by people who did not serve with
Kerry in Vietnam."

The New York Times`
conclusion:

"on
close examination, the accounts of `Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth` prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In
many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans
is undercut by official Navy records and the men`s own
statements."

One thing is certain: Kerry was
there on that boat in

Viet Nam. Where was George W. Bush?

COPYRIGHT CREATORS
SYNDICATE, INC.

Paul Craig Roberts is the author with Lawrence M.
Stratton of

The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and
Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name
of Justice