WP: Records Counter A Critic Of Kerry

[kskiska]

Fellow Skipper's Citation Refers To Enemy Fire

Thursday, August 19, 2004; Page A01

Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.

In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.

But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."

As one of five Swift boat skippers who led the raid up the Bay Hap River, Thurlow was a direct participant in the disputed events. He is also a leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry's subsequent antiwar activities, which has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13267-2004Aug18.html

[qanda]

1. They really should be ashamed of themselves

But I guess it's more important to keep AWOL in the White House than to tell the truth.

[tom_paine]

51. Totalitarian Monsters and their Followers HAVE NO SHAME

No CONSCIENCE.

Nazis, Commies, Busheviks...all the same in that regard.

They will say ANYTHING, do ANYTHING, including destroy their own nation, to posess unchecked power.

I hate them as the original Tom Paine hated the black-hearted LAST King George prior to this one.

[Cha]

2. I'm happily surprised the wash post gives a

f*ck!

Ooops! on mr.larry thurlow..."all units" ..not "all units" except John Kerry's?

[kskiska]

3. He wouldn't release HIS records

From the article:

"It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case," Thurlow said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation. "My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting."

Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire," he said. He speculated that Kerry could have been the source of at least some of the language used in the citation.

In a telephone interview Tuesday evening after he attended a Swift Boat Veterans strategy session in an Arlington hotel, Thurlow said he lost his Bronze Star citation more than 20 years ago. He said he was unwilling to authorize release of his military records because he feared attempts by the Kerry campaign to discredit him and other anti-Kerry veterans.

[brentspeak]

10. Oh, yeah -- Kerry helped write Thurlow's citation

Not only did Kerry have the raw power to award himself medals and purple hearts at will, but he also was the guy that military officials turned to whenever they needed help in writing medal citations.



:puke:

[private_ryan]

43. Kerry probably couldn't

but where was Hillary?



;)

[alarcojon]

12. Can you f'in believe this line

He said he was unwilling to authorize release of his military records because he feared attempts by the Kerry campaign to discredit him and other anti-Kerry veterans.

[TheRovingGourmet]

52. Even conservative talk radio here is tearing this guy a new

one. Of course they are not going all that easy on Kerry either, mostly on a S180 personnel file, or something like that.

[A_Possum]

17. "Sickening and disgusting" you bet, THURLOW

Thurlow, you turd. And I'm a lady, I don't use words like that, but you really bring out the sickening and disgusting language in me.

So YOU deserve a Bronze Star for coming to the aid of the mined boat (while Kerry's boat was covering your ass), but Kerry doesn't deserve one for pulling a guy out of the water?

What precisely was so heroic about YOU going to the assistance of PCF-3 if there were was no firing at the time, huh, Thurlow? Wouldn't that just be par for course to assist a crippled boat if nothing else was happening?

Please. You are lying scum. And now everybody knows it.

[Demoiselle]

53. My thoughts exactly, Possum!

It seems to me that anyone who DIDN"T assist the crew of a mined boat in his outfit when no enemy was firing at him would be a candidate for a court martial. (sp.?)

[TankLV]

20. he feared attempts by the Kerry campaign to discredit him and other

anti-Kerry veterans"

BECAUSE IT WOULD THEN PROVE HE WAS LYING!

That would be because they discredited themselves, wouldn't it?!

duuuuuhhhhhhhhh!

So let me get this correct:

Kerry telling the TRUTH about his LIES is wrong, but to do nothing, and LET THEM CONTINUE LYING AND SLANDERING A WAR HERO is OK?

Am I missing something?!

[BeatleBoot]

4. Peeling It Back Like Layers Of An Onion

This is good news!

[MO_Dem]

5. Heeheehee

Wonder how he'll spin this?

[Miss Authoritiva]

6. Not just "records" -- Thurlow's OWN military records.

"This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting." Thurlow said.

Well, yes. Yes it is. Yes indeed.

[Zorra]

7. Hey, WaPost, nice work! Thanks!

Swiftboat veterans for truth, huh?

These guys are so documentably and collectively FOS they should be in group therapy sessions for pathological liars.

[Bush was AWOL]

8. What a joke this guy is

he gets caught in a lie and still can't tell the truth. Some of these guys are probably facing threats to hold up their stories or suffer the consequences.

[faithnotgreed]

9. and its on page 1 - nice

[KittyWampus]

18. And Junior Was STUPID Enough Not To Publicly Disavow These Liars

:evilgrin:

[kskiska]

30. Above the fold, too!

[Guaranteed]

11. Kerry doesn't deserve HIS Bronze Star- but I deserve mine!

FUCK YOU, you partisan hack.

[A_Possum]

13. Yes Yes YESSSS!!!!! WHOO-HOOO

Thank you WaPo!!! Thank you!!! I knew that bastard got a Bronze Star in the same action, and so he was either lying or he didn't deserve his either.

Oh, this is so great. This makes my night. WOOT.

These guys are really going to regret what they've done to themselves. Exposed as dishonorable lying creeps who'd attack a vet--not only a vet, but one who FOUGHT ALONGSIDE THEM.

That's as low as it gets.

[Doosh]

14. lying repug flip flopping veterans for truth

[Guaranteed]

15. You know, Kerry should just tell his story, on the air.

If this thing gets so big that they won't let it go, he should just call a press conference and tell the story. I mean, wouldn't that put everything to rest? Isn't that the one thing he would LOVE to do, that he just couldn't before this, out of modesty? Seems like it would be awesome for him to get up there and tell a war story.

[sonias]

16. another lying scumbag exposed

Good for WaPo on this one. They actually did their job. Larry Thurlow should just go crawl back under the rock he was safely hiding under for 40 years.

Sonia

[Sporadicus]

19. This Truly Makes My Day

With every lie from these Smear Boat Vets for * that gets exposed, their credibility gets torpedoed. Soon even Hannity won't bother with their lying asses.

[A_Possum]

21. And ANOTHER thing!!...

I'm so pissed at this Thurlow character I could spit.

In Kerry's account, he's totally generous in describing what Thurlow did; he doesn't hesitate to mention all the other guys and boats and what they were doing under extremely dangerous conditions (in his journal description).

So essentially what Thurlow is saying is that, not only should he have gotten an award for bravery for helping a boat that was NOT under fire, but he's now claiming that KERRY made up the language which commended Thurlow's actions as well as his own. And he's mad about it!

Where does this kind of bile come from? I can hardly believe it's all because Kerry dared to protest the war afterward, as if he had no right to do so!

What a jackass.

Pardon my french.

[Kinkistyle]

25. Lowest of the low.

This ranks right up there with Ann Coulter saying that Max Cleland wasn't really all that courageous because he got blown up by a grenade not while in battle. Thurlow, Coulter, Bush, all of them - lying horrible people.

[Triana]

22. OH, another Swift Boat Veteran for bu$hit Lies - REVEALED

what a surprise.

(not)

[Justice]

23. DUers - This should be repeated in every newspaper in every

major city of every swing state in america. get you pens ready, we have lots of LTTE to write!

[The_Casual_Observer]

24. It appears as though Mr. Thurlow is all wound up with underpants

around his ankles on this one.

Mr. Thurlow has never been pleased that John Kerry spoke out against the Vietnam War. Mr. Thurlow is the sort of blockhead that would never admit to himself the truth that the Vietnam War was one of the most tragic mistakes in the history of mankind. Instead, he clings to some mistaken and utterly discredited belief that the USA could have won the war to save South East Asia from the evil dominos of red Chinese communism. Mr. Thurlow ought to leave quietly.

[geek tragedy]

26. Bwwwwwaaaaahhaaaaaaa!

Suck it, Swifties!

[MidwestTransplant]

27. This is about as hard of work as you can expect journalists to do

these days. If it took any more digging, it wouldn't have come up.

[pa28]

28. Thurlow and Corsi: liar and bigot respectively

Now that these people have been thoroughly discredited and their motives made transparent will the RW media continue pushing this garbage?

It seems the Bush campaign is no longer even bothering with partial fabrications. First the Kerry "affair", the Sandy Berger "story" and now Swiftvets for "truth". We're down to outright lies and slander.

[milkyway]

29. Keep it up, Swifties! I can't wait for the debate when the topic is how

the candidates spent their Vietnam War years. This will eventually blow up all over Rove. And I also want to thank the Swifties for pointing out that we should not automatically worship all things military. But why stop at what Kerry did more than thirty years ago? Let's investigate all military versions of events during wartime. Now that they've shown us that the military can't be trusted, maybe next they'll ask for an independent civilian investigation of the torture scandals.

We were having a national love-in for anything military. Thanks guys for pointing out we need to take a good hard look at everything they say.

[Roy]

31. Anyone noticed in the article

"He is also a leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry's subsequent antiwar activities, which has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record."


How is it that these guys get to be a "public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans"?
But Moveon, ACT, and others are only described as leftwing Bush Bashing groups?

[Democat]

34. MoveOn is a "bush hating group" these guys aren't a "Kerry hating group"

It's the liberal media!

[Norquist Nemesis]

32. Gee! Who woulda though that?

Anyone give a heads up to our favorite talking heads on this?

[Spiffarino]

33. According to the article, money is "pouring in" to these pricks

$450,000 now and growing. The article says it's mostly small donations, but oh by the way...Bob Perry has written two more checks for $100,000 each. Of course, Bush doesn't have anything to do with it.

How frickin' stupid do they think we are?

[kskiska]

35. Well, Crossfire and Tweety should be really interesting tomorrow

and it'll be spun as usual on Faux.

[Sleepless In NY]

36. Hope Kerry follows up with some legal action

They have done everything to damage his reputation, I'm afraid if he just lets it go, they will get away with it. Can't count on the media to get the word out, thats for sure.

[GOPGoindown]

46. Legal action, yes

There has to be some kind of actionable legality to instigate against these liars. They signed false affadavits. That has to be against the law. Maybe a local district attorney somewhere? Elliot Spitzer? Anyone?

[Moderator]

37. Kick

Kick

[DU GrovelBot]

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[union_maid]

39. Just what we were saying

Discredit one citation you call them all into question. Just kicking for the late risers and left coasters. :)

[sofa king]

40. I think the press has been holding back on this for a long time.

Especially the Washington Post, since these Swift Boat guys have Chuck Colson's duty smeared all over them, you'd think that they'd have the usual Watergate dogs all over them before now. At first I thought they were laying a trap; now, however, I'm beginning to suspect that they are simply afraid of the consequences should they go after the people behind this group rather than the small fry.

Colson student John O'Neil's book is published by none other than Regnery, the same toilet paper factory which was propped up by Richard Mellon Scaife's bulk book buys while they churned out an endless supply of Clinton smears back in the '90s.

And nobody nobody has the balls to tag SBVT with the big one--that SBVT is run by people who make their money by dealing with the People's Republic of Vietnam--Communists Who Hate Our Freedom.

But then again, with Plame, AWOL, the Sandy Berger and al Qaeda leaks and Halliburton all set to go off any day now, maybe the press simply doesn't care about this run-of-the-mill right-wing scummery.

[Bullshot]

41. A couple of weeks ago on Meet the Press, William Safire

dismissed the criticism against the Swift Boat attack ads against Kerry, saying that Kerry opened himself up to this type of attack by strongly touting his military record at his Democratic Convention nomination acceptance speech.

Fine, Mr. Safire, but shouldn't the attacks have some element of truth to them?

Using your logic, Mr. Safire, since you've written several books which tout your achievements, maybe somebody should pay for a national ad campaign stating that you regularly had passionate anal sex with Richard Nixon. That's no more outrageous than the Swift Boat ads that you apparently condone.

[underpants]

42. Go ahead keep it up morons no one is watching and those you are..

think this is disgusting.

You all picked the wrong horse and no matter how much money you put down it is still a loser.

Suckers you all should have known this wasn't going to work. O'Neill has been chasing Kerry for 30+ and it never worked before either.

[hatrack]

44. Flickers of life on WaPo's flatlining monitor!

Of course, our paper ran the same story, but on page A13 - pretty much par for the course.

[Zynx]

45. A fucking liar, just like we all thought. We should go on full scale attac

k and discredit these Republican stooges.

[NJmaverick]

47. Make sure you remind everyone

That bush supported this liar and his vile a false attacks on Kerry.

[Child_Of_Isis]

48. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Sorry, I got carried away ;-)

[tishaLA]

49. It's time for Larry to return his bronze star

to the Navy. He accepts that the account is inaccurate and he has received commendations for lies. Now PLEASE, Larry, for the sake of those whose awards were received truthfully, you must return your medal.

I only hope that, should the navy choose to prosecute you for your admitted lie, they go easy on you. Or not.

[RDL]

50. Too bad

Thurlow's Star wasn't awarded posthumously...

[Hobarticus]

54. Dumbasses, one and all...can't even LIE right.

These stories are rapidly coming apart. Anyone who took these stories at face value should be ashamed of themselves.

[barb162]

55. it's about time Kerry is getting forceful on this!

Kerry is finally responding to these damn lying creeps. "Bring it on"he said to the Bushies. Hooray, he is finally saying something. I would love to see Bush debate (slobber on himself) on his Alabama days in the Guard. Maybe he can expound on how instead of dodging bullets he was dodging beer cans in the local bars.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

56. Aren't Bronze Star citations READ ALOUD???

My father won the Bronze Star in Vietnam in 1965. He said it was first to be a Silver Star but that the General in command wanted to give out as few Silver Stars as possible. My father was given his medal at an awards ceremony where the full citation was read aloud.

If Thurlow is claiming now that he didn't know what the citation was for, he had to be either deaf or not paying attention at his own awards ceremony.

[kskiska]

57. Organized Smear Campaign

In a telephone interview Tuesday evening after he attended a Swift Boat Veterans strategy session in an Arlington hotel…

[Beaverhausen]

58. forward this to everyone you know

they may not hear about it otherwise

[Catherine Vincent]

59. It seems things may get more desperate with this group.

Washington Journal reported yesterday that the owner of Perry Homes in Houston has contributed another $100 thousand to the notsoswiftboat vets for untruths.

[Democat]

60. They have more money now than when they started

They will not go away unless Kerry makes Bush call them off.

They are all being paid to lie behind the scenes by Bush's people. If Bush doesn't tell them to stop, they will keep lying and keep cashing the checks right up until November.

This is where we find out how good Kerry is at fighting. If he can get Bush to stop these liars, many people will be impressed.

Until today Kerry has been trying to ignore them. With the #2 selling book in the country, he can't keep ignoring them.

[sofa king]

62. Does it still count as #2 selling if Scaife buys half of them?

Because I have a feeling that's exactly what's happening.

[Romulus]

61. good for the Post

these guys need to be shown for the freaks that they are . . .

[AussieDave]

63. "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth"

- with men like these in the American armed forces, is it any wonder the Vietnam war was lost ????

[TheRovingGourmet]

64. These guys are older now and probably thinking of how much

money they will need to retire comfortably. I'm sure they fought bravely years ago.

[reprobate]

65. Paraphrasing: Have you no shame, Mr Thurlow? Finally have you no shame?

[Gin]

66. this is embarrassing...and they qualify for the Springer show...

what a pathetic group of men.

[74dodgedart]

67. If there was no "enemy fire" what was Kerry fleeing from ?

and if he left the scene, how come none of the other boats picked up Rassman ?