Kerry campaign attacks President over 'war honour he did not earn'

[Walt Starr]

Kerry campaign attacks President over 'war honour he did not earn'
By Charles Laurence in New York
(Filed: 29/08/2004)


Supporters of Senator John Kerry yesterday warned of "blowback" against President George W Bush for the political "attack ads" by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth which have damaged Mr Kerry's election campaign.

After weeks of denigration of the Democratic challenger's Vietnam war record, Mr Kerry's backers have responded with allegations against the President - including the claim that he was once photographed in uniform wearing a medal ribbon he had not earned.

As polls showed that Mr Bush had edged ahead of Mr Kerry for the first time, a pro-Kerry organisation labelled the President an "impostor" over the photograph, taken in 1970 and discovered in his father's Presidential Library in Houston, Texas.

The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron in which Mr Bush served until 1975, five years after the photograph was taken, according to the group US War Report.

<snip>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/29/wbush129.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/29/ixworld.html

:evilgrin:

[Bronco69]

1. I can only hope they keep pushing this

and don't let up!

[Born Free]

70. The bush coward must be exposed for what he is

There can be no mercy this time,the bish coward must be forced to stand up and show the American people who he really is, just a liar that hides behind others.

[NMDemDist2]

2. OMFG Walt YOU DID IT!!!

hahahah you so rock dude!

Must be a great feeling of satisfaction to see it in print.

I love the way they called us a "pro Kerry group"

:yourock:

[shrub chipper]

21. Right now, I even forgive Walt his last name

STARR

[Walt Starr]

27. Yeah, but I'm not even close to being a relation

My father changed his name while he was in the Marine Corps.

If he hadn't, I'd be Walt Szczerbowicz.

[leesa]

32. You would be having to spell that forever! Good thing he changed it.

Good work.

[Jackpine Radical]

45. Jeez--what a coincidence--

Did you know that was Ken Starr's original name too? Ken Szczerbowicz.

[lostnfound]

83. Way to go! DUers are all feeling pride over you, Walt! nt

[Katha]

3. Go, Kerry!

As much as I admire him for wanting to go positive, it's tactics like the above that work. Keep it up, and DON'T STOP.

[pennylane100]

4. Congratulations

on a terrific job. Your country is forever in your debt.

[clydefrand]

5. Do you think this will really make a difference?

I do hope so. I'm so sick of seeing our candidate denigrated and the village idiot gets away with everything.

[Walt Starr]

15. Actually, I see this as nothing more than a vehicle

to open up the floodgates to release further information about what is really in the records that Bush released.

There are FAR MORE egregious things contained there if you take what is there and compare it to data from outside there.

This opens up that can of worms, and bud, those worms are gonna start crawling ALL OVER THE PLACE!

[Window]

84. Go for it Walt!

Excellent work! This is so gratifying after all the horrific attacks on Kerry these past few weeks. Thank you for all your kick-ass hard work.

Peace

[Karenina]

100. Oh, how I LOVE

the sight of earthworms breaking the surface after a good rain!!!
YOU'RE ALL THAT and a SPICY BAG O' CHIPS, WALT!!! KUDOS!!! :loveya:

[Carni]

6. AWESOME!

It's just too bad that a British newspaper had to break this news!

Our gutless media at work again.

GOOD WORK!

[BootinUp]

7. Only a loser and a fraud would wear a medal not earned

way to go Walt. :thumbsup:

[MGKrebs]

8. Wow! Nice job Walt!

And we see (from the story) that this gives all of the OTHER issues about bush's* service some more play.

I smell a 'reverse October surprise'! We've been worrying about what they are going to come up with in October. Well maybe they need to be worrying about what WE are going to come up with!

[AirAmFan]

9. Is the Telegraph accusing Dubya of time travel?

They say the photo was taken in 1970, but the medal was not awarded to the unit until 1975! A Telegraph editor must be pretty red-faced. What's a more likely explanation? Was the medal awarded to Dubya's unit in the 60's, before Dubya signed on in 1968?

[Liberal Veteran]

16. Um, no. See you can easily buy medals you didn't earn.

But if your CO catches you wearing them there will be hell to pay.

Essentially they are saying Bush is wearing a medal that the unit W was in was not awarded until years after he left.

[Liberal Veteran]

17. Oh, and only people who were part of the unit at the time of the award....

...are issued the right to wear that ribbon.

It's not like ribbons are stored away in some secret vault. You are usually given one at the time of the award and they can be purchased in the PX right off the shelf because accidents happen and they get lost and dirty, etc so most people have a spare.

[HereSince1628]

101. What's the AF tradition? I wore ribbons unit earned but not me

In the Army you wore on the right side of your uniform unit citations. If you were in the unit during the time they earned the award your ribbons were permanently part of your attire, but if you were in the unit you wore them while assigned there.

It strikes me as very odd that of all the ribbons a reservist might wear, he would choose a unit citation...What gives here? I need help to understand this, it just seems so absurd.

[0rganism]

25. You got it backwards. That'll be W's excuse for wearing bogus medals

This is a very interesting chunk of data, uncovered by our own Walt Starr.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=681285&mesg_id=681285

[neomonkey]

10. This is a great F'ing story!

Bwa ha.

But why oh why is it reported in the Telegraph?

Will I see this on CNN?
" " " " " Fox News?
" " " " " MSNBC?

[jrthin]

It was reported in the Telegraph

because we no longer have a free press. We have NO press!

[madmax]

11. Love ya, Walt Starr

:grouphug:

Let's show Mr. Starr our appreciation and blast a snippet and link to US media.

[jab105]

12. I can only hope that everyone gets over Vietnam and talks about the

REAL ISSUES OF TODAY!!

If we don't "move on" we WILL lose, Bush wants to talk about Vietnam, he wants to...he will say that Kerry was brave 35 years ago till he's blue in the face, and he'll laugh gleefully all the way to November 2nd, because the stupid democrats let this keep them from focusing on the present...


AGHSHSGHHAHHHHHH!!!!
This is so frustrating to me.....

[Arianrhod]

47. One of the real issues of today

is whether the "War on Terror"--*'s ONLY campaign platform--is better led by a man who earned medals during voluntary service in one of the most dangerous missions of Vietnam, or by a man who skated his way out of duty, was high on coke and alcohol the entire time, and eventually deserted his post in a time of war.

That, to me, is a major, major issue--and the Republicans would simply love to see it go away.

[daleo]

13. A surprisingly objective story by The Telegraph

They have generally seemed very pro-Bush, from the British perspective. This article was more favorable to Kerry than Bush, in my opinion.

I think they are generally associated with the Tories in Britain. But, since Conrad Black was ousted, they do seem to have moved towards the centre, at least in the admittedly random selection of articles I have read. So this seems like a bit of a bellwether event.

[Rose Siding]

37. Except they screwed up the headline

It isn't an attack by the "Kerry campaign" at all. It's supporters *outside* the campaign- not even a 527, just individuals.

It's a rather important detail they flubbed.

[daleo]

39. You're right - in media matters , I am a victim of diminished expectations

I expect so much bias that I miss points like this sometimes, in my surprise at a relatively balanced article.

[Rose Siding]

42. I do agree the article's fair, on balance

and I'm thoroughly pleased that they picked it up- No complaints about that. I doubt there was any ill intent on the paper's part, but if it spreads with that kind of headline, the campaign might have to waste time correcting the impression.

[Inland]

14. Hey, Walt, what's Greg Palast really like?

[ruggerson]

18. And Freak Republic Is Right On It

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1201991/posts

:)

[bobbieinok]

28. 1 doubts story because it is so 'out of character' for W!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!

[0rganism]

34. HAHAHA! Are they saying Walt photoshopped it?

Who are they gonna believe, Karen Hughes or their own lyin' eyes?

I refuse to visit that den of slime, but I'm kind of surprised they didn't see it coming with one or more of their many infiltrators.

[girl gone mad]

63. It isn't even a little out of charatcter.

See my thread on Bush service record embellishments:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=676629

I need to update it, because there are several more.

[VolcanoJen]

72. LOL! They know they're in a tough spot.

In a post claiming to "debunk" this story:

One argument in our favor. Men wear awards they didn't earn all the time and get away with it. But it's hard to believe you could wear a UNIT award around other members of the UNIT who didn't have such an award. If I were going to fake a more heroic record, I might pick something harder to debunk.

LOL! :-)

[oasis]

78. Has it occured to the freeperzoids that Chimpy is safely strutting around

base with unearned medals while others are fighting a war that he is afraid to engage in?

"looka me I'ma jet fighter pilit, uh huh" :silly:

[emulatorloo]

19. Walt, YOU ROCK!

great work.

Thank you. . .

:toast:

[OKNancy]

20. Walt is being modest

"Why is this fraud important? Because it betrays the Honour Code that every officer learns and carries throughout his or her career," said Walt Starr who investigated the medals for the group

Good article. Fantastic for Walt.!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

54. That was an excellent quote...awesome work Walt!

[0rganism]

22. Walt, you done did it. Congratulations.

Gotta admit, I had my doubts that it would be vetted, but it sure does look like you dug up the right dirt.

[sniffa]

23. kudos waLt - you done us proud

:D

[Longhorn]

24. Congratulations, Walt!

It will be interesting to see where this goes but it has been fascinating glimpsing the behind-the-scenes efforts you've put into this! Thanks!

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

26. Sadly...the Dems won't have the stomach to pump this into the media mainst

This is WONDERFUL news, but sadly I believe it will get buried and will NOT see the light of day on any major network news broadcast.

JB

[roguevalley]

29. isn't wearing military decorations you didn't earn against the law? I

applaud you, Walt. Good going.

[WillyT]

56. Sometimes, It Can Cost You Your Life !!!

<snip>

Navy's top officer dies of gunshot,
apparently self-inflicted
Letter left behind offers clues

May 16, 1996
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's top Navy officer, Adm. Jeremy Michael Boorda, died Thursday from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after learning Newsweek magazine was raising questions about the legitimacy of some of his combat medals.

CNN has learned from Pentagon sources that Boorda wrote two letters before he died, one to his family and one addressed to sailors.

Sources said that in the typewritten note to the sailors, Boorda explained that he took his life because of the questions raised about his wearing of "V" for valor medals on his combat ribbon from Vietnam.

<snip>

Link: http://www.cnn.com/US/9605/16/boorda.6p/

:shrug:

[Booster]

52. Bill Maher would run with it don't ya think?

Especially since he was fired by ABC for his unpatriotic remarks. I would think this would be right up his alley to shove this down the throats of right-wingers.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

97. True. But, Bill Maher is NOT the mainstream media...sadly.

We NEED this to run on the major BROADCAST networks. Until this news and the ribbon picture are run on the ABC, NBC, and CBC 6pm evening news, I will reserve my enthusiasm.

JB

[finecraft]

30. Congratulations Walt!

I have been watching your posts since last weekend and I know you have put a lot of time, energy and hard work into getting to the bottom of this. This is truly a job well done, and you should be very, very proud of your work.

[henslee]

33. Amen. Kick. You get a gold star.

[cally]

31. Nice to see good news on DU

Walt: :yourock:

[Eurobabe]

35. excellent research Walt

congrats, way to go!

[Rose Siding]

36. WALT!

You just carried us closer to a new president, you ever-lovin' AMERICAN, you! How can I thank you? I'm speechlessly grateful.

[Old and In the Way]

38. Damn impressive Walt!

I know we butted heads occasionally during the primaries, but your due dilligence on this issue has been awesome. Any DUer's pursuing a career in journalism could learn a lot from your research.

Congrats! :toast:

[Walt Starr]

40. I'm just a Regular Guy from Chicago for Truth!

:evilgrin:

[JohnKleeb]

43. well you did good

You and the others who did this should be very proud of yourselves.

[mbperrin]

61. Thanks from West Texas, Walt! Many people here know these

bastards are no good, but the word doesn't get out much!

This is great!

[Walt Starr]

41. BTW, all, he MADE UP the "quote" from me.

I have written precisely one sentence to the man who wrote the above article. This is the response to him via email:

I am a private citizen who is doing this as an amateur investigative journalist.

[Gloria]

44. Holy SH*T!! and the Telegraph is a righty paper, too!

GREAT WORK, WALT!!!!

[Gingergal]

46. Great timing now that TX Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes

interview is picked up saying he got bush into National Guard over more qualified applicants. bush's Vietnam record is now fair game.

[ksatriyakiller]

48. HOW EMBARASSING!!!!!!! PICTURE PLEASE!

Bush decorated himself with war medals.


LOL

[name not needed]

49. Walt, you magnificent bastard!

:yourock:

[wicket]

50. Spread jam on him, he's toast!!!!!

:D

[wabeewoman]

51. Good job Walt Starr

I read the threads with interest as you were posting the information and was very excited to see it make the press. Way to go!! Its so exciting so see ordinary people making a difference in bringing down this 'administration.'

[REVOLT823]

53. Sweet Walt,

Excellent work, glad to see your work turned into something positive. Can't wait to see Shrub try to wiggle out of this.

[Walt Starr]

55. Now my comments on the story. Ot of five possible stars I give it a

1/2 star.

Most of the facts are wrong in the bits he talks about the ribbon. He gets dates wrong and doesn't even quote me correctly (I think he mistook me for somebody else).

At least it's out there, though.

[fob]

68. Yeah that story reads like a "disinfo get out in front of the real story",

story.

Organisms post #25 has a link to one of your updates where you discover the AFOUA award WAS earned by the unit in 1966 BEFORE bush* arrived, but the story in the Telegraph makes no mention and acts as if they don't have all the info. The 1966 info shoots their tack down if not entirely, at least in enough form to make it seem like it is a hit piece only.

The real issue is that regardless of when it was earned, bush* is NOT entitled to wear it, right? (the 100% confirmation being the "temporary wearing rule" you're still working on).

An interesting side note to all of this is that "bush*s" unit earned thte AFOUA BEFORE he got there AND again AFTER he left. I'm sure he wasn't the only person that was there during that time period, but why was that unit unable to pull it off while he was there? Did bush*s AWOL stunt cost his entire unit a chance at an award?

[w4rma]

57. I want to see this in American news. (nt)

[Walt Starr]

60. I could get it into the U.S. news tomorrow

if I could confirm that the Air Force did not allow temporary wearing of unit awards at the time.

A copy of AR 35-10 from the time period would be sufficient.

[girl gone mad]

67. Walt, you might be able to order a copy..

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubs/obsolete_search.asp?Keyword=35-10&Find=Search

I don't know how long it would take them to get it to you, though.

[DoYouEverWonder]

74. I don't know if this helps

but here's a link to a PDF of the newer AFI36-2903 that supercedes AFR 35-10.

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/search.asp?keyword=+AFI36-2903&Go.x=0&Go.y=0


BTW: Shouldn't AR 35-10 be AFR 35-10? I'm getting a lot more hits searching with the F in the title.

[TrueAmerican]

79. AFR 35-10

AR is Army Regulation

[Walt Starr]

88. Yes, I mistyped.

AFR 35-10 is what I'm looking for from the time period.

Apparently there is a copy of this regulation in the Library of Congress from 1959. Since the issue of temporary wear is directly tied to the fact that the Air Force was once part of the Army, if temproary wear was not allowed in 1959 it would not have been allowed in 1969 or 1970.

[lazarus]

82. Walt

There's some confusion here between the Air Force and the Air National Guard. Which was he in?

AFR 35-10 didn't apply to Guard members, according to
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubs/info.asp?shorttitle=AFR-35-10_ANDREWSSUP1. So you may need to look for a different set of regs.

[Walt Starr]

95. Basically, it applies to nobody any longer

It's an obsolete regualtion that no loner applies to anybody. That's all the AFPC is saying on that page.

[lazarus]

99. Ah, thank you

I knew it was outmoded (and gods do I remember having 35-10 be a major portion of my life!), but I misread that page.

I'll check some of my sources and see if I can get a copy of it. Don't know if I'll be able to get a late 60's/early 70's version, but I may be able to find one.

[Merlin]

58. You da man, WALT !!! Excellent work! n/t

.

[BadGimp]

59. Awesome!

Great Work Walt!

wonder if the US media will pivk this up..

[blue agave]

62. Walt, what happened with the Trib ?

Last I heard you were trying to get the Chicago Tribune to break this story. Were they gutless ?

[rsmith6621]

64. Walt....Where is The Link to

The Post you made earlier this week that contained the pic of Shrub wearing what dont belong to him.......

[mrbassman03]

65. Photos?

Is there a photo of this? Or did I just miss it...

[rsmith6621]

66. Yes Photos

There was a link to it here earlier last week.

I hope this hits the press here in the states on Friday morning the day after Shrub gets his bounce.

[DoYouEverWonder]

73. Here, the soon to be infamous picture

[Morning Dew]

69. Great job, Walt !!!

Very, very nice!

[VolcanoJen]

71. OMG Walt!! This is absolutely AMAZING!!

We're all so proud of you... thank you for breaking this story!

DU... Where You'll Hear It FIRST!!

[displacedtexan]

75. great work, Walt!

I posted your research on my blog yesterday (I actually have regular readers):

http://www.ascrivenerslament.blogspot.com/

My husband (highest score possible on the AF pilot's test) was one of the qualified who was left to face the draft because of George W.

[Disturbed]

76. GW Bush was Dishonorable..

then and has carried the character flaw all of his life.

[molly]

77. Walt - you go guy!

:toast: :grouphug:

:party:

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[R Hickey]

80. I just called it in to C-span.

Did anybody hear it?

[molly]

81. I did - I did!!!

I just knew it was a DU'er! :hug:

[Leilani]

86. Yes, I heard you!!!

Terrific!!!

I thought Walt Starr might be calling in his story..LOL!

Knew it was a DUer.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

87. i did, too

i also thought it was a du'er!

[AmerDem]

92. Yea, i heard it

you did a great job. Actually, I started a thread because I didn't see it mentioned.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x686287

[SayitAintSo]

85. Incredible Walt !!! Great job on developing this story!!!

Who knows where it will lead. Keep us posted on where you see this going. Great work!

:yourock:

[Guaranteed]

89. Walt, you are the SHIT!!

GREAT JOB.

[Paradise]

90. Thanks and Kudos to You, Walt Starr! n/t

[Philostopher]

91. Congrats, Walt!

I know how hard it is to run down that kind of information and be sure you have anything definitive. Perhaps a DUer will have a copy of the 35-10 you need. I figure posting to keep the thread kicked might turn you up a copy, if somebody has one. I know my ex still has his AFR 35-10 from when he was in 20 years ago. People often throw them into the box with the other stuff and shove them in a closet. Maybe somebody will unearth one around here.

[AlCzervik]

93. Walt!!!

Have we told you lately that we love you?

[Octafish]

94. PX Poser

The real Thing. Baby.

[ksatriyakiller]

96. PLEASE POST THIS ON THE KERRY FORUM AND DFA FORUM

and the picture

[ksatriyakiller]

98. done at DFA forums, someone do Kerry

i was banned there repeatedly and won't post there anymore