When is a purple heart fake?
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| Thu, 08-19-2004 - 1:48am |
Navy physician Louis Letson (whom Democrats attempt to demean by putting Dr. Letson’s title in quotation marks). They assert that Dr. Letson was “pretending to be the doctor who treated Kerry for one of his injuries,†and “not the doctor who actually signed Senator Kerry’s sick call sheet.†They assert that it was someone else who “actually signed†the sheet. They assert that “Letson is not listed on any document†as having treated Kerry after December 2, 1968.
Fact (based on a notarized statement of Louis Letson): The injury Dr. Letson treated Kerry for occurred when Kerry and two others (a fellow lieutenant and a crewman), seeing movement from an unknown source, opened fire. Kerry’s rifle jammed, and in the absence of return fire, he resumed firing with a grenade launcher, spraying his own boat and causing a tiny piece of shrapnel to be embedded in his arm. The lieutenant and crewman, parties to the incident, accompanied Kerry to sick call, where they disputed Kerry’s claim that he’d been wounded by hostile fire and provided an account of the actual episode to Dr. Letson—after which Letson removed the tiny fragment with tweezers and covered Kerry’s scratch with a band aid. The lieutenant-witness is alive and available to testify, in detail, as to what happened. As for the maligned Dr. Louis Letson, he is entitled to say, as he did in the Swift Boat TV ad: “I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury.â€
Fact (based on a sworn affidavit by Grant Hibbard): Next morning Kerry showed up at Division Commander Grant Hibbard’s office. Hibbard had already investigated the incident and spoken to the lieutenant-witness. Characterizing Kerry’s purported injury as a “rose thorn†scratch insufficient to justify a Purple Heart—awarded for hostile-fire wounds requiring medical attention, and excluding wounds that are accidental and self-inflicted —Commander Hibbard summarily turned down Kerry’s request for a Purple Heart and dismissed him. Commander Hibbard, who participated in the Swift Boat TV ad, is willing to testify, in detail, as to what happened.
Fact (based on rotation records and Kerry’s website): Some three months after everyone who was personally familiar with Kerry’s bogus claim to a Purple Heart had left Vietnam, Kerry persisted in the claim for his “rose-thorn†injury, managing to convince an officer that he had earned the Purple Heart. Yet that officer had no personal information about the incident, no connection to Kerry’s small naval unit, and no knowledge that Hibbard had rejected Kerry’s earlier request for the medal. Whenever Kerry has been pressed to produce evidence justifying this first Purple Heart, he cites Dr. Letson’s tweezers treatment—on the basis of which Commander Hibbard denied the medal. As to the Purple Heart that was awarded, there is not a shred of documentary evidence to justify it.

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I wasn't aware that someone could request for an a Purple Heart for oneself. I assumed (wrongly?) that you can recommend someone else for a
What's Bush got?
Integrity. Kerry is a complete fraud with no moral compass.
You have a lot of nerve to question Kerry's heroism and courage when your commander in chief never served a day in battle. Instead he requested NOT to be sent overseas. Bush and Cheney are nothing but chicken hawks! They are so quick to send other people's children to war but hide in a corner when they are needed. Cheney had FIVE deferrments to avoid going to war. Bush had every opportunity to sign up for the Navy but he chose the National Guard. THEN he chose a plane that he knew would no longer be used in battle. Then he gets that cakewalk of a job and still does not complete the entire term. He just has to go work for a campaign (whine..whine..while others are dying). Then he just has to go to Harvard so he need early release (whine..whine..can't wait until his term is up). It is fine if they do not want to fight in battle for their country but they have a lot of nerve questioning those that do.
This whole Kerry's not a hero is NOT just about Kerry for me. It just tees me off because my father fought in Vietnam. My uncles fought in Vietnam. My husband is active duty. It tees me off when someone that has never fought in a war has the nerves to criticize those that did. Oh and you can say it is the SWIFT BOAT VETS FOR LIES that are saying all of this. It reeks of KARL ROVE! Republicans are good at trying to destroy those that were heros (McCain and Cleland included). It is actually quite sick. Without people like Kerry, McCain and Cleland you would not have the freedoms you enjoy so much. But you know what??? What goes around comes around and the Republicans will get theirs in the end.
:-)
Bev
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/election2004.jsp
see www.JFKorGWB.com
I thought Bush went to Yale, not Harvard? More Democratic Party smear, I guess!
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http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/election2004.jsp>>
???
The story that
Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board
Two points: (I am not familiar with the exact details on this one but I am going to just state this) He has been under investigation for insider trading, which IMO, is one of the most underhanded kind of crimes that you can commit.
Additionally, IMO, integrity is doing the work and putting in the effort, even when no one is looking. Bush skipped out on military duty, skipped out on working hard in school and relied on his connections to get him through, skipped out on working hard to get a job and relied on his connections to give him companies, and skipped out on working as a president before 9/11 when he was on vacation over 45% of the time.
I don't know, but I think that hard working Americans accross the country in every walk of life who put in 40+ hours a week, time that is spent away from their family, to go to work for a living and only get and alottment of two weeks per year for vacation would not necessarily call that integrity.
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