Hackworth defends Kerry's Purple Hearts

[Gman]

in a post on FR of all places...

" I have 8 PHs. None were signed off by my skipper. The reg read the award is triggered by a casualty rpt. Not by a CO.

I will write more on Kerry down the pike. But in the meantime, please no more cheap shots.

Colson recently admitted that O'Neill was working for Nixon in 71 to silence Kerry. He is the pointman in the attack on Kerry. Go figure.

I wld defend Bush if he were in Kerry's boots. Battlefield valor transcends gutter politic."

More at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1188000/posts including the usual insulting responses.

[PsN2Wind]

1. I won't go there for the responses

but I'm sure he is probably compared to Kerry since he came back from VietNam and also condemned the war albeit for different reasons. Maybe that whole chest full of medals that he has weren't deserved either.

[Skinner]

2. Thanks for posting this.

Any idea if Hackworth is on record as supporting Bush or Kerry?

It seems that most fair-minded folks in the military, regardless of party, are disgusted by this swift-boat thing.

[JI7]

4. Hackworth is supporting Kerry, Kerry had an article by Hackworth on his

website some time ago. hackworth defended Kerry's on there.

[Gman]

11. This issue is more a "feel good" issue for the RW nuts

rather than political damage for Kerry. By the end of last week the SB vets looked pretty bad especially when Elliot 1) expressed regret over having signed that affadavit and then 2) said he was quoted out of context when he suddenly came to understand the difference between on and off the record. But, the SB vets persist nonetheless because they are being egged on by those that really enjoy a healthy dose of hatred.

And, to that end, they will persist.

BTW, the most current, up to the minute info on what the SB vets are up to can be found easily at FR. For example, this post tells all about how they're currenently digging at the DOD Awards branch to find information on others that may have been rescued from the water when Kerry rescued Rassman. (Hello rapid response: incoming telegraph!) Much of the SB vet thing appears to be run out of FR. One of the behind the scene movers of the SB vets is a frequent poster on FR.

The SB vets are violating one of the cardinal rules of politics: Never make a martyr out of your opponent.

[janx]

3. "gutter politic"

Very apt. Good for Hackworth.

[PsN2Wind]

5. Wanted to add

That I have seen no mention of this by Hackworth in his Defending America column. I go to Soldiers for the Truth site to check for that on a regular basis but, as yet, no mention there.

[Rose Siding]

6. Here's that USA Today article, referenced in the Frp post

He stands up for the medals, but not so much for Kerry.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-06-15-hackman_x.htm

snip>
Now a number of war veterans have picked the campaign-stumping season to question the first Purple Heart that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry received during his four months as a small-boat skipper — where one day out on Vietnam's rivers and canals was a lifetime, and four months had to have been an eternity.

That Purple Heart was one of three awarded to Kerry. (He also won Silver and Bronze stars.) His critics — who incidentally never served under Kerry on his swift boat — are saying his particular wound wasn't serious enough to warrant the award.

But the Pentagon regulation governing the Purple Heart reads: "A wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy."

So — minor or major — a wound is a wound...........

[PsN2Wind]

7. But the doctor

who says "I treated him" says he didn't deserve it. How do you suppose he reconciles his two positions? Or is he saying that he signed off on a malingerer, malingering being a violation of the UCMJ.

[Qutzupalotl]

8. That doctor didn't treat the wound.

It's a lie.

[PsN2Wind]

9. Excuse me

I was referring to the ad not the truth.

[CarolynEC]

12. I realize JK might be reluctant to sue the guy...

... because it would look kind of undignified, but isn't this a pretty clear case of slander?

If I remember correctly, the guy says on video that he treated Kerry, then goes on to slam him -- all with the goal of damaging JK's reputation.

And any station airing this ad would be pretty vulnerable in a lawsuit, too, wouldn't they?

Any lawyers or legal experts here care to comment?

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. And of course it throws fog over the bigger issue

Kerry volunteered to be somewhere where he was risking his life for his country. How many times Kerry was shot at, and how many wounds he received and how severe they would never have been subject to discussion had he pulled strings and joined the National Guard instead. A few inches difference here or there on any number of occasions and Kerry would have been buried with honors rather than receiving purple hearts. Bush was cutting out of a physical and getting grounded, wasting all of the tax payer money used to train him as a pilot, while Kerry was pulling a man to safety out of the Mekong under fire.