ABC News checked out what the uninterested witnesses had to say about the Swift Boat allegations and found that they have indeed been lies all along. Furthermore they found that they had been approached before back in March. The SBV liars had the evidence to the contrary and promulgated their lies anyway.
This does two things. Most importantly it should confirm in everyone's mind the kind of character that John Kerry has in the face of danger and death. Less importantly it shows the dearth of integrity in the opposition. If they can reduce their opponent by being silent in the face of lies they have no compunction about doing so. Because, truth be told, they have little else with which to oppose at all.
Update: It seems I have reached too far. Kevin Drum has the correct story that a reporter not associated with the SBV visited the village in March. Doesn't change my opinion of the SBV though.
4 comments:
On the contrary, O'Neill was there and properly pointed out two problems with Nightline's investigation. The first is that the "witnesses" were living in a repressed society, and they may or may not have been able to speak freely. Their government isn't exactly a disinterested party.
That first point being made, I would still say Nightline's piece had put a shadow on the Swift boat veterans except for point two:
O'Neill had also pointed out that their book's examination of this incident jibes with how other books have reported it -- including Kerry's own account as told through Douglas Brinkley's biography of him.
The only thing that Nightline had going for it was that its version matched the reports that Kerry reported to his superiors at the time. But O'Neill could hardly be faulted for relying on Kerry's later account.
If anything, the thing I learned here is that O'Neill is willing to stand up and sit through a hostile interview. Kerry hasn't been willing to discuss the Swift vets charges at all, and Brinkley has only gone to friendly venues. O'Neill will go anywhere.
Yeah. O'Neill being full of crap is just hard for some folks to swallow. They have too much invested in their fantasy.
Either we have to believe that the Vietnamese government got to the villagers and rehearsed them on what to say to the ABC reporters, or, partisan hack John O'Neill put together a smear campaign. Hmmm that's a tough one...
Those governments generally send minders to follow reporters, but as I said, you can believe them if you like. It can't show O'Neill to be a liar because the Swift vets' account of that incident was supported by Kerry who told Brinkley (his biographer) the same story.
In other words, Nightline and the Vietnamese were actually disputing points that Kerry and the Swift vets had previously agreed on.
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