Kerry Spot Sucks up Rood Spin
Rather disappointing that Jim Geraghty of National Review's (otherwise fine) Kerry Spot thinks "Undermining ONE of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charges — such as William Rood did — does not undermine them all. The reporting on Rood by many news organizations over the weekend — painting him as repudiating all the charges being made after "dramatically breaking his silence" — was embarrassing."

It was embarrassing so many just read the media spin - straight from the Kerry campaign - & sucked it up without a simple comparison of Rood's account with Kerry's medal citation and reported accordingly.

UPDATE: Somebody got a little attention from Kerry Spot ... in the right direction but only the afterthought below, based on Rood's citation, not the potential BOMBSHELL revealed from a comparison with Kerry's citation:

"NOT TO BE RUDE TO ROOD, BUT WAIT A MINUTE... [08/23 05:21 PM]

Kerry Spot reader Barnaby observes that the article by former Swift Boat commander William B. Rood creates a new problem for John Kerry. Rood's bronze star citation says he earned the medal "while serving with friendly foreign forces" and "Underwater Demolition Team THIRTEEN and Vietnamese Regional and Popular Force personnel."

Kerry's Silver Star citation makes no mention of Underwater Demolition Team THIRTEEN, and the friendly foreign forces aren't credited with any role in the battle. The description makes it sound like Kerry and his crew saved the day.

This inconsistency bears out one of the Swift Boat Vets's objection to Kerry's Silver Star citation. Page 83 of Unfit for Command: "The citation simply ignores the presence of the soldiers and advisors who actually "captured the many enemy weapons" and routed the Viet Cong. Further, the citation ignores the preplanned nature of the tactic and the fact that Kerry's boat did not beach first. Finally, the citations statement that Kerry attacked a "numerically superior force in the face of intense fire" is simply false." Admiral Roy Hoffman, who keeps being cited as a formerly pro-Kerry vet who has "changed his story," says he was told Kerry had "almost single-handedly" routed the Viet Cong.

It's little things like this that make one wish one could ask questions of Mr. Rood. And it makes one wonder if Kerry's reports to his superiors after battles were more than a little self-serving.

FOLLOW-UP: Note there are actually multiple citations for Kerry's medals because he went back and massaged the records; there are three versions of this particular (Kerry Silver Star) incident - as noted further below, one copy contains the following:

"While transiting the Bay Hap River en route to an insertion point along the Dong Cung River, these craft with thirty Regional/Popular Force personnel embarked in each unit"

Obviously, the more passengers Kerry or others admit to have raises the ante on becoming that numerically superior force (of 1) that John Kerry obviously exaggerated - errh LIED - about in his after action report(s) to assure the actions appeared medal worthy and truly beyond the call of duty.
- posted by SEO LinkTagstic @ 9:48 AM