Sen. John Kerry's Monday morning meltdown on "Good Morning America" may be just the beginning of his troubles, according to one of his Vietnam boatmates, who is warning that more of the men who served alongside the Massachusetts Democrat are preparing to go public with their accounts.
Texas lawyer John O'Neill, who served on Kerry's swiftboat after he left Vietnam just four months into his tour, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday, "I was in exactly the same unit. There were many people who were there simultaneously with him who are all about to speak."
O'Neill gained brief fame in 1971 when he debated Kerry on the "Dick Cavett Show" and forced him to admit he never personally witnessed the war crimes he'd been accusing U.S. troops of committing.
Though he's been contacted by Kerry's opponents every time the Massachusetts Democrat has run for office in the 33-years since - O'Neill has refused to speak out. Until now.
Referring to reports this week in the Boston Globe questioning whether Kerry may have exaggerated his combat record, O'Neill told Malzberg, "This is just the first opening. They'll be many different people. But I'd prefer to let the people who were actually there speak directly."
O'Neill cited a Jan. 29, 1969 firefight that Kerry claims on his campaign web site that he and his boatmates were in.
"But according to the Boston Globe," said the swiftboat veteran, "Kerry was not even on the boat that night. The guy that was really on the boat was a fellow officer of ours named Ted Peck. He remembers well that fight because he was terribly wounded in three places."
"There was no Kerry anywhere around," O'Neill said. "And yet it appears on his web site as some pitched battle that Kerry was involved in."
Noting that the Democratic presidential candidate has made his Vietnam war experience the centerpiece of every campaign for office, O'Neill complained: "It's [Kerry's] self promotion that infuriates most of the people from his unit who actually know what he did."
"He would be a terrible Commander-in-Chief of U.S. forces in the world at a time of crisis," the Kerry boatmate warned.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/26/230236.shtml
Texas lawyer John O'Neill, who served on Kerry's swiftboat after he left Vietnam just four months into his tour, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday, "I was in exactly the same unit. There were many people who were there simultaneously with him who are all about to speak."
O'Neill gained brief fame in 1971 when he debated Kerry on the "Dick Cavett Show" and forced him to admit he never personally witnessed the war crimes he'd been accusing U.S. troops of committing.
Though he's been contacted by Kerry's opponents every time the Massachusetts Democrat has run for office in the 33-years since - O'Neill has refused to speak out. Until now.
Referring to reports this week in the Boston Globe questioning whether Kerry may have exaggerated his combat record, O'Neill told Malzberg, "This is just the first opening. They'll be many different people. But I'd prefer to let the people who were actually there speak directly."
O'Neill cited a Jan. 29, 1969 firefight that Kerry claims on his campaign web site that he and his boatmates were in.
"But according to the Boston Globe," said the swiftboat veteran, "Kerry was not even on the boat that night. The guy that was really on the boat was a fellow officer of ours named Ted Peck. He remembers well that fight because he was terribly wounded in three places."
"There was no Kerry anywhere around," O'Neill said. "And yet it appears on his web site as some pitched battle that Kerry was involved in."
Noting that the Democratic presidential candidate has made his Vietnam war experience the centerpiece of every campaign for office, O'Neill complained: "It's [Kerry's] self promotion that infuriates most of the people from his unit who actually know what he did."
"He would be a terrible Commander-in-Chief of U.S. forces in the world at a time of crisis," the Kerry boatmate warned.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/26/230236.shtml
