In article ,
Ed Rasimus wrote:
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 05:50:45 GMT, David Fritzinger
wrote:

The point is more whether the ads are lies. Everything I've seen on it
says they are. Whether they are paid for by Bush, or by his supporters
seems not to be the point, since Bush does have a history on this sort
of thing. REmember what he did to McCain in the 2000 primaries, and to
Max Cleland in the 2002 Georgia senate race.

Two points to be made here. One, I personally know and respect Paul
Galanti who appears in the most recent Swiftie ad. He has nothing to
gain and much to lose from his participation in the outing of John
Kerry. He is truthful and most assuredly not in the employ of the Bush
campaign.

I haven't seen the ad, and I am willing to posit that both you yourself
and Paul Galanti are honorable, brave men who have served this country
well. Thank you for that service.

There is nothing wrong with you, Mr. Galanti or whoever opposing Kerry,
obviously, indeed it's a duty to do so if you don't like him as a
candidate. The new ads are in my opinion more of a problem for Kerry,
in that it is video of him testifying in Congress. No one disputes that
he did so. Previously, there were disputes as to whether or not there
was gunfire, and so on; here we have a videotaped record.

That said, I want to make three points.

First, the testimony of Kerry saying that atrocities were committed
has been to a small extent taken out of context. He was quoting what
_other_ people said. He did not say that he, Kerry, had witnessed
decapitations or rapes or other war crimes, but that others had, and
had told him that. Remember, Kerry was a leader of the Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, and as such a spokesman. Unfortunately there is no
doubt that atrocities were committed; I am old enough to remember the
name of William Calley and the town of My Lai. I'm sure that you
remember these names as well. They were aberrations, and those who
committed these crimes were punished; but they did happen. They happen
in every war. It would be passing strange had they not happened in
Viet Nam, a particularly nasty war as wars go. Let me say at once that
in my opinion, the crimes committed by the other side were far more
frequent than on ours.

Next, I believe that Mr. Galanti and many other veterans are angry at
Kerry for his testimony, and believe that they were tarred with the
brush of being a war criminal. I do not believe that was the main
thrust of Kerry's testimony, by the way; I think he was trying to say
that the war was badly conducted, and one of the symptoms of bad
conduct by the upper echelons of the military is that discipline had
failed in some cases, as evidenced by these few atrocities. I remember
many returning veterans were accused by idiots my own age with being
baby killers and all the rest. There is no excuse for the terrible
behavior of those who weren't there insulting those who were. Mr.
Galanti and others, perhaps including you, have much to be angry about.
I'm not sure that John Kerry is the appropriate target for that anger,
but I wasn't there, and I don't know.

Finally, I want to say that while Mr. Galanti is doubtless an honest man,
there are many dishonest men in the employ of the Bush administration
who will make whatever use they can of honest, decent men who happen to
share their opinions about Kerry not being the right choice for the next
President. I would be very careful about who I let get me in front of a
camera were I your friend. By all means let Mr. Galanti and others do what
they wish to re-elect Bush, but it should be on their own terms. Mr. Rove
and Mr. Perry have, in my opinion, demonstrated a cavalier attitude towards
the truth, and that is putting it very charitably.

Best wishes to you, sir.

David Derbes


Second, someone has to pay the bill for getting the word out. The
underwriting of the Swift boat vets campaign has come from
contributions from people concerned about the issues. The argument
that since a wealthy Republican in TX contributes $100k therefore the
ad is sponsored by the Bush campaign seems to be drastically overcome
by the George Soros sponsorship of moveon.org and his investment of
several million bucks on behalf of his side of the argument. If it all
right for Soros, then it must be equally acceptable for the Swifties
to be heard.

And, simply as an aside, it should be remembered that Max Cleland is
most assuredly a sympathetic figure who lost much in service to his
country, did not receive his injuries in combat but through an
accident which was largely his own fault. The fact that he was injured
by whatever means does not leave him immune to political criticism on
his record in the Senate.



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org