Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Ironicly the solider did the same thing Kerry did in Vietnam 
Shot an unarmed, wounded man.
I do have a problem with the Iraq incident though.
Shooting was too good for him. |
Ustwo, I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from posting
unsubstantiated and false garbage in your posts on threads that I initiate.
It is a blatant falshood that Senator Kerry "shot an unarmed. wounded, man":
Quote:
On Aug. 22 an officer who was present supported Kerry's version, breaking a 35-year silence. William B. Rood commanded another Swift Boat during the same operation and was awarded the Bronze Star himself for his role in attacking the Viet Cong ambushers. He said Kerry and he went ashore at the same time after being attacked by several Viet Cong onshore.
Rood said he was the only other officer present. Rood is now an editor on the metropolitan desk of the Chicago Tribune, which published his first-person account of the incident in its Sunday edition. Rood said he had refused all interviews about Kerry's war record, even from reporters for his own paper, until motivated to speak up because Kerry's critics are telling "stories I know to be untrue" and "their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us."
Rood described two Viet Cong ambushes, both of them routed using a tactic devised by Kerry who was in tactical command of a three-boat operation. At the second ambush only the Rood and Kerry boats were attacked.
<h3>
Rood: Kerry, followed by one member of his crew, jumped ashore and chased a VC behind a hooch--a thatched hut--maybe 15 yards inland from the ambush site. Some who were there that day recall the man being wounded as he ran. Neither I nor Jerry Leeds, our boat's leading petty officer with whom I've checked my recollection of all these events, recalls that, which is no surprise. Recollections of those who go through experiences like that frequently differ.</h3>
With our troops involved in the sweep of the first ambush site, Richard Lamberson, a member of my crew, and I also went ashore to search the area. I was checking out the inside of the hooch when I heard gunfire nearby.
Not long after that, Kerry returned, reporting that he had killed the man he chased behind the hooch. He also had picked up a loaded B-40 rocket launcher, which we took back to our base in An Thoi after the operation.
Rood disputed an account of the incident given by John O'Neill in his book "Unfit for Command," which describes the man Kerry chased as a "teenager" in a "loincloth." Rood said, "I have no idea how old the gunner Kerry chased that day was, but both Leeds and I recall that he was a grown man, dressed in the kind of garb the VC usually wore."
<a href="http://www.factcheck.org/article231.html">http://www.factcheck.org/article231.html</a>
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The newspaper that William Rood is employed as an editor by.....the Chicago
Tribune, endorsed Bush for president approximately 8 weeks after Rood
published his first person account of the incident that Ustwo referred to,
in Rood's first public statment about that matter in 35 years.
Quote:
<a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040821/cgsa002_1.html">http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040821/cgsa002_1.html</a>
Chicago Tribune Editor and Former Swift Boat Commander Breaks Silence; Says Kerry Critics Wrong
Saturday August 21, 11:00 am ET
CHICAGO, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- "There were three Swift Boats on the
river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago -- three officers and 15 crew
members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on
February 28, 1969.<p>"One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a Silver
Star for what happened on that date. I am the other."<li>(Photo: <a href="http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-a">http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-a</a>
<a href="http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-b">http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-b</a>
<a href="http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-c">http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-c</a>
<a href="http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-d">http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040821/CGSA002-d</a> )<p>So begins William Rood's compelling account of events that happened more
than 35 years ago. The article appears in the Sunday, August 22 edition of the
Chicago Tribune.<p>Rood, now night city editor for the Chicago Tribune, earned a Bronze Star
for his part in the operation. Rood has chosen to break more than three
decades of silence in defense of the men who served alongside him.<p>"It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to
accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were
not there," Rood writes. "What matters most to me is that this is hurting crew
men who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for what they
did.<p>"My intent is to tell the story here and to never again talk publicly
about it."<p>William Rood's complete account will appear in the Sunday, August 22
edition of the Chicago Tribune, available Saturday in Chicago and online at
chicagotribune.com.<p>Chicago Tribune Managing Editor James O'Shea said Rood has refused all
interview requests up to now, including some from the Tribune's reporters.
"Bill is a modest man and he didn't want his harrowing combat experiences to
become engulfed in a political campaign.<p>"As the coverage of Senator Kerry's war record has intensified, though,
Rood decided to come forward with his story, primarily, he says, because
Kerry's critics are telling stories that Rood knows to be untrue. The false
accounts are casting doubts on the actions of those men who served with and
under Rood, men who are not public figures running for president but brave,
ordinary Americans, war veterans whose courage, Rood believes, should not be
diminished by a heated political campaign."<p>NOTE: William Rood will not be available for further comment or
interviews. Deputy Managing Editor George de Lama and reporter Tim Jones are available.
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