Kerry lied to get purple heart?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Kerry lied to get purple heart?
221
Tue, 08-10-2004 - 5:33pm

The records should be able to shed some light on this if Kerry chooses to open them to the public.


http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/28856.htm


'Larry Thurlow, the skipper of a boat trailing Kerry's, says in the book that he saw Kerry suffer a buttocks wound earlier that day in 1969 when he was hit by fragments from his own grenade while trying to destroy a Viet Cong rice cache.


"He dishonestly transferred the time and cause of the injury to coincide with the action later in the day and claimed that the cause of the injury was the mine exploding during the action," the book claims.

In Kerry's version of the incident, he says a mine struck his swift boat - wounding him in the buttocks and arm.

Kerry maintains he braved enemy fire from both shores to race to the bow of the boat and pluck Rassman, who had fallen overboard, out of the water.


But, the book says, "Many participants in the incident state that neither weapons fire nor a mine explosion occurred near Kerry during the incident.

"Unless one believes in the amazing coincidence that Kerry got two wounds in the same place on the same day, he lied to get the Purple Heart," the authors say.

Rassman is backing Kerry's presidential candidacy and he supports Kerry's version of the rescue.

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 8:54pm
< Bush has admitted that he did not make the best decision, that he was going by what his people tell him. Bush was not gathering the information that led him to his decision - other agencies were feeding it to him - >

How can anyone excuse his not making the best decision when it involves bombing another country and putting our young men and women at risk. He refused to listen to our allies, he refused to listen to anyone but Cheney. The president has a responsibility to make the Best decision. People knew he didn't want to be bothered with too much paperwork - the man was too lazy to make an informed decision. In our country if you do a lousy job you get fired. I vote to fire him.

All this nitpicking about a Purple Heart awarded 30 years ago and Teresa telling a reporter to shove it - it's insane. We're dealing with a president of The United States of America who is a disaster and you'd have to be as republican robot not to see it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-15-2004
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 9:45pm
Now this is really important stuff. People's lives depend on it.


In his testimony to Congress in February 2001, one month after President Bush's inauguration and seven months before 9/11, Tenet had said, "Osama bin Laden and his global network of lieutenants and associates remain the most immediate and serious threat."

According to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's account in Ron Suskind's book, "The Price of Loyalty," Iraq was on the agenda at the very first meeting of the National Security Council, just 10 days after President Bush's inauguration in 2001. At that meeting, the president quickly -- and wrongly -- concluded that the U.S. could not do much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said we should "pull out of that situation," and then turned to a discussion of "how Iraq is destabilizing the region."

In December, Bush met with Clinton for a two-hour, one-on-one discussion of national security and foreign policy challenges. Clinton recalled saying to Bush,"I think you will find that by far your biggest threat is Bin Ladin and the al Qaeda." 9/11 Report


Clearly Bush was told al qaeda was the greatest threat facing us and Bush focused on Iraq.


2000 CIA Report to Congress Relating to WMD

"Iran remains one of the most active countries seeking to acquire WMD and ACW technology from abroad. In doing so, Tehran is attempting to develop an indigenous capability to produce various types of weapons—chemical, biological, and nuclear—and their delivery systems."

"We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its WMD programs, although given its past behavior, this type of activity must be regarded as likely. We assess that since the suspension of UN inspections in December of 1998, Baghdad has had the capability to reinitiate both its CW and BW programs within a few weeks to months. Without an inspection monitoring program, however, it is more difficult to determine if Iraq has done so."

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2000.htm


We didn't have any intelligence on Iraq's WMD in 2000, suddenly it became a "slam dunk".


"Still, the commission found no evidence of significant dealings between Iraq and al Qaeda." "Al Qaeda ties to Iran appear to have been much more substantial, according to information disclosed by the commission. An agreement brokered by Sudan in 1991 or 1992 led to Iranian training of senior al Qaeda operatives in explosives, for example. Iran also repeatedly assisted the transit of al Qaeda figures into and out of Iran by agreeing not to stamp their passports. No similar evidence of cooperation between al Qaeda and Iraq was cited by the panel."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7336-2004Jul22_2.html

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Exactly. Which is exactly why John Kerry voted to authorize Bush to force Saddam to comply with the UN resolutions and inspections process. NOT to rush into a war. According to Bush:

Such a resolution, Bush said, should not suggest that military action is "imminent or unavoidable," only that the United States was speaking with "one voice." October 8, 2002

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/10/08/bush.iraq

There is a difference between uncertain intelligence and complete and total failure. Bush failed. He had his attention on Saddam, despite all indications that it should have been on bin laden. According to Woodward's book, he had Iraq plans on the table in November 2001, despite saying he didn't for the entire year afterwards. He told us, Congress and the world, that the IWR was not a vote for war. Then he turned around and hyped the intelligence, said they KNEW where the WMD were, short-circuited the inspections process, disrespected the opinion of our allies, and went ahead with a near unilateral war. Without sufficient troops, money or plans, even according to General Franks in his new book. He harps on the $87 billion, even though he threatened to veto it. And even though the 2005 budget calls for body armor and the troops STILL don't have it. He's a disaster. An absolute disaster.

What does Saudi Arabia have to do with it? Oil. We kowtow to the Saudi royal family instead of pressuring them to stop the Saudi madrassas, implement democracy and create an economy that benefits the people. AND stop the money laundering that supports Palestinian terrorist groups.

This guy is going to have us in war after war. He doesn't have the ability to deal with the real problems of the ME because of his close relationship with the Saudi's. He doesn't have the ability to engage the Muslim world because of his Christian zealousy. He doesn't have the ability to tell us the truth because he arrogantly thinks we don't need to know. I just don't see how people cannot understand what he's done and what he will do if he gets an unrestrained 4 years in office.

And we haven't even gotten to unrestrained corporatism, the environment, privatizing our schools, eliminating worker's rights, privatizing social security and medicare, and basically the end to everything we ever thought America stood for.


iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 10:56pm

Before Kerry & Rassmann's reunion, the story was in the MM as Rassmann being on another boat. That's where I first heard it. I could be wrong, but I think there was even a quote from Kerry about first meeting the guy when he pulled him out of the water.


After

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 11:10pm

<>


Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 11:28pm
According to a majority of voters who will vote him out of office.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sun, 08-15-2004 - 11:52pm
Well, that's all pretty vague and I still don't understand why this is even an issue. I don't doubt that some press accounts got that point wrong, but I don't think it really means anything other than there is some confusion in the press about which boat Rassmann was on. What's the issue?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 12:03am

Hello Ilinn73!


Welcome to the board!

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Visit My Website!

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Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 12:04am
Great post!

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And please don't forget rationalizing torture and suspension of habeus corpus! We're the good guys....let's act like it!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 12:17am

<>


The 911 commission didn't see it that way, "The report describes...Bush as less interested in Iraq in the period before and after the attacks than some former aides have described in best-selling books...


"In the weeks immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, some key advisers, such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, pressed for an attack against Iraq. The report said Bush shrugged off the advice.


When Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair nine days after the attacks, Blair asked about Iraq. According to a memo of the conversation obtained by the commission, Bush replied that Iraq was not an immediate problem. Although some members of his administration expressed a different view, Bush told Blair that he was the he making the decisions."


Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-02-2004
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 12:50am
Oh I am sorry what is Bush doing about Osama? Do you know something I don't? We are supposed to be the most advanced country in the world and here we are 3 years later and still no capture of Osama. But it's ok we got the guy that his daddy helped put into office in the first place. You would think it would be easier for Bush to catch Osama, Osama should be just about out of weapons he will have to get some more from US soon. Don't you think?

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