Swiftboat Veterans for Truth not so seaworthy

Case Study: Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. This group of swift boat veterans maintain that John Kerry's leadership in the anti-war movement makes him unfit to be president. The group has also accused the Democratic leader of exaggerating the extent of his injuries so he could be awarded medals for courage and win an early release from his overseas tour. Do these accusations pass the critical-thinking sniff test? Yes and no.

The first accusation passes, but it is not fact-based and is therefore not really debatable. The swiftboaters believe Kerry betrayed his fellow servicemen with his testimony in 1971 in which he said American soldiers committed war crimes. Mr. Kerry has since said that he would phrase things differently as a mature adult than he did 32 years ago as a young man. If you believe that Kerry's opinion disqualifies him from the presidency, then that is your opinion. However, it cannot be disputed that he had and has the right to testify about his opinions in any way he so chooses. He was also far from alone in his opposition to the Vietnam War. It is a far stretch to equate his anti-war stance with an anti-veteran stance.

What are more troubling are the accusations about Kerry's war record. There is no logical connection between the legitimacy of Kerry's war record and his subsequent activism in the anti-war movement. No matter how much one may disagree with Kerry's thinking after the war, one cannot dispute the fact that he did serve, and by all accounts, served honorably and bravely. If we accept service records as empirical and fair evidence of his service, then Kerry's are in direct contradiction to the accusations of the Swiftboat Veterans. In fact many of the current accusations are made by the same chain of command that approved his glowing reviews and medals. Why the switcheroo?

That would speak to "good reasons." The "reasons" behind the attack are 100% political. Though they present themselves as non-partisan, Swiftboat Veterans for Truth is organized and funded by the GOP and features some enemies of Kerry, notably John O'Neill and Merrie Spaeth, that date back to Nixon.

But what about the accuracy of the allegations? Did Kerry really exaggerate the extent of his injuries in order to win medals? Is it really possible for Kerry to engineer a war event and falsely earn all those medals? How many of the accusers were actually on Kerry's boat? What do the men with whom he served say?

The allegations appear to be false at worst and gross distortions at best. Is it really conceivable that Kerry had the doctors, nurses, and entire chain of command in his pocket? Could he wound himself, then work the system to produce a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. It's not likely. At least that is beyond the level of debate in which I am willing to engage. Further, none of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth were on the boat with Kerry. Even though O'Neill authored an OP-Ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "I was on Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam. He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief" it is for the reader to discover that Mr. O'Neill served on the same boat as Kerry but at different times. He took command of Kerry's boat after Kerry had been discharged under the "wounded three times and your out" rule. Is that "accurate and fair?" Um. No.

Why haven't any of Kerry's shipmates joined the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? With the exception of one, all of his shipmates give him high marks for courage and bravery. In fact, some of the veterans with whom Kerry served, including the gentleman whose life Kerry saved, appear in one of Kerry's ads. When you give a job reference, do you give the reference of the people who worked in the same company but in a different location, or worked there after you quit? Or do you give the reference of the people with whom you actually worked?

Finally, as a matter of conviction, I believe that such flimsy, obviously politically-motivated accusations about one veteran's combat service impugns all veterans, including the men and women doing the country's hard business in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. No matter what you’re political convictions or your opinion about Kerry's post-war opinion, the evidence (military records, testimony of those with whom he served, medals) discredits the ugly charges laid before us by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.