http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...on_el_pr/kerry_purple_hearts&cid=694&ncid=716 A good read about the awarding of medals in Vietnam can be found in Dirty Little Secrets of The Vietnam War by James F. Dunnigan & Albert A. Nofi on pages 228-230.
My father served in Vietnam and told me once of a time shortly after his arrival when he was standing with his CO in a relatively safe area overlooking the demilitarized zone separating the North and South. Suddenly a US helicopter landed and a colonel jumped out and proceeded to fire his pistol, which was pointed North but aimed at nothing in particular. Dad's CO told him to keep quiet until the helicopter left, which it did in a matter of moments, the colonel having jumped back on as soon as he was done shooting. The whole thing took a few minutes. Explanation? The guy's entire tour in Vietnam had been behind a desk and this was his way of earning his (IIRC-forgive me if I have the name of the medal wrong) combat infantry badge and thereby enabling his promotion to Brigadier rank. Apparently this kind of crap was not uncommon among well positioned, highly ranked officers. Kerry was not highly ranked and was actually in combat, however, so he shouldn't be grouped with these phonies. In fact if you read the article it looks like Kerry's record amply demonstrate the validity of his purple hearts and your implication--made by way of referencing Dunnigan and Nofi without reference to the above excerpt--that Kerry's medals were somehow bogus, is pretty shabby.
It would take some amazing gall on the part of the Bush Admin to question whether Kerry's wounds were worthy of medals or not. If your daddy gets you out of combat service and you send your nation to war where hundreds of folks die, you should not question the validity of other's medals. Could you have imagined the Republican outcry if Clinton had questioned Bob Dole's military service? It would have been deafening. Murf
Given Powell's attempt to cover up abuses in the "strategic hamlet" program in VietNam even as the My Lai massacre was committed, some questioning of Powell's VietNam service would have been more appropriate than Reep questioning of Kerry's medals.
Unless you have some new information, nobody from the Bush administration has taken part in questioning Senator Kerry's medals. As far as I know the questioning has come from other veterans, and some right wing media followed up. But I agree with you that it would take gall on the part of anybody to question a veteran's medals unless they have concrete proof to base it on. I haven't seen any concrete proof, so I think we should give Senator Kerry his due when it comes to his service in Vietnam. We should respect the service he performed for his country and the sacrifices that he made.
Of course not - they're using proxies to do it for them. Like every political advisor to a President before him, Rove will do everything in his power to smear Kerry indirectly through his minions while keeping Bush himself out of the mudslinging.
Umm, it's called Politics. Democrats should get better at these tactics. Note how many people support the "did coke, went AWOL" theories while the Kerry campaign retains plausible deniability for making those accusations.
Just to note, I did use the phrase "Like every political advisor to a President before him". My comment was meant as a bipartisan statement.
Yet it's pretty hard to see why one would get a Purple Heart for what is by definition, a bruise. He also would've had to stick his rear out that much in order to suffer such wounds. The article mentioned that there wasn't an offical record of the medal being released.
Kerry is credited with having received 3. There are records of 2 having been issued and a record of his having been treated for a wound in a third instance. The idea of “honorable wounds to the front” died with the cavalry charge and the advent of anti-personnel mines. According to your site, Kerry’s “bruise” was treated along with a shrapnel wound to the ass, both of which resulted from a detonating mine. And by the way, maybe you’ll indulge me by explaining where a pimply chicken hawk from Canada gets off questioning the validity anybody’s battle scars?
Could be. As noted it was a fairly commonplace occurrence. I never watched much of that show because Alan Alda makes my skin crawl.
Maybe he got the Silver Star for using his ass to block a mortar shell. Right-wingers sure are creeps, aren't they?
Please note that this was a joke. Bob Dole was severely injured serving his country and for that deserves the gratitude of every man, woman and child in this country. And so does John Kerry.
I'd be slightly less annoyingly strident about this if it didn't fit a right-wing pattern of smearing Democratic war heroes. Looking at you, Ann Coulter, you chancre.
No sh!t. A real man cuts the shrapnel out of his own arm and then cauterizes the wound with a hot cigar.
I think most Democrats would be fine with a long and involved debate over the candidates military records, including the records (or lack of) formerly AWOL, currently Commander in Chief Bush.