With Kerry, It's A Matter Of Trust

August 11, 2004

Far be it from me to scrutinize the war record of John Kerry. I'll leave that to those who were actually in Vietnam. By now, you've certainly heard of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. This is a group of Vietnam vets who served with Kerry during his 4 months in Vietnam and they don't have too many kind words for their former comrade-in-arms.

 

Before you discount these veterans as partisan hacks, as the Democratic spin-control machine would have you believe, understand that 16 of the 23 surviving officers who served with Kerry in swift boats in Vietnam have joined this group.

 

At the center of the controversy are two of John Kerry's three Purple Hearts he was awarded during his service in Vietnam. The first was awarded for injuries sustained on December 2, 1968. Kerry alleges he was wounded by enemy fire while on a whaler with two other sailors. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth disagree. “Seeing movement from an unknown source, the sailors opened fire on the movement,” they wrote in a letter. “There was no hostile fire. When Kerry's rifle jammed, he picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and fired a grenade at a nearby object. This sprayed the boat with shrapnel from Kerry's own grenade, a tiny piece of which embedded in Kerry's arm.”

 

They allege that, instead of simply removing the matchstick-sized piece of metal himself, he sought medical attention. The doctor removed the tiny fragment with tweezers and placed a Band-Aid over the scratch. The next morning, Kerry petitioned Division Commander Grant Hibbard for a Purple Heart. Upon investigation, Hibbard determined that the wound was not from enemy fire but self-inflicted and was merely a “rose thorn” scratch. Kerry went around Hibbard three months later and received the Purple Heart he had wanted.

 

The third Purple Heart in question, the one that was Kerry's ticket home after just over four months in combat, occurred on March 13, 1969. The wounds sustained included a small bruise on his right arm and a minor injury to his buttocks. Again, Kerry insists he was wounded by enemy fire but those who were there tell a different story. Kerry says he was wounded by an underwater mine. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say Kerry was wounded as a result of his not-so-bright decision to toss a grenade into a nearby rice cache. The “shrapnel” actually plucked from Kerry's fanny was rice pellets.

 

The only reason anyone is questioning John Kerry's account of what he did in Vietnam is because John Kerry is now making such a big deal out of it. The service he abnegated upon his return stateside is now being touted at every campaign stop. Interestingly enough, Kerry characterized himself as a war criminal in 1971 saying that he had taken part in the torching of villages and the killing of innocent civilians in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Now that the military is once again in vogue, he embraces the same service he so scorned 33 years ago.

 

I applaud anyone who puts on a military uniform and serves this country. However, Kerry's own grandstanding on his service in Vietnam has brought the spotlight of scrutiny upon it. To say the very least, it appears Senator Kerry has a credibility problem. To me, that is the issue. It points to a pattern. A pattern of flip-flops and back tracking. A pattern of opportunism. The man appears to be a political weathervane, pointing wherever the winds of popularity blow. Is that really the kind of man we need in the White House?