DLR'sCock
08-24-2004, 04:43 PM
Attack on Kerry's War Record Riles GOP Rep
Jim Stingl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Monday 23 August 2004
No good deed goes unpunished, and these days that certainly includes John Kerry's service in Vietnam.
I'm sure this young Yale man could have found a way to avoid going over there, but Kerry signed up.
He volunteered to serve as skipper on a swift boat flushing out the enemy along rivers and canals. He rescued a soldier and earned medals for valor and for combat wounds.
Now this band of bothers turns up in books and television ads saying they served somewhere near Kerry in 'Nam and they think he's a no-good liar and an unworthy soldier. And, oh yeah, vote George W. Bush for president.
"I just think it's wrong."
That's not one of Kerry's fellow Democrats talking. It's Terry Musser, a Republican state rep, longtime chairman of the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs, and the co-chairman of Wisconsin Veterans for Bush.
Musser served two tours as a paratrooper in Vietnam, and he's disgusted by these attacks on Kerry. And he doesn't particularly like the Democratic presidential nominee.
"He was there. He did it. My opinion is that anybody who served anywhere is a hero. And we should not as a nation be trying to tear down people who served and are serving," Musser said when I reached him by phone Friday. He represents the Black River Falls area in the Legislature.
Bush ought to condemn the ads from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, even though he can't stop them, Musser said.
These self-proclaimed truth-seekers have questioned whether Kerry was under fire when he turned the boat around and went back to rescue Green Beret Jim Rassmann, and whether Kerry's boat ever was in Cambodia.
They're out of bounds, Musser believes.
"Kerry was saying he was in Cambodia, and you have some of the other ones saying he wasn't in Cambodia. It's like, who do you want to believe. I was in the Central Highlands. They could have sent us into Laos. I wouldn't have had a clue. There are no signs saying, 'Welcome to Thailand,' 'Welcome to Vietnam.'
"Just imagine going up and down any river how easy of a target you are. He was there."
Did Kerry really deserve his three Purple Hearts? Be careful in making that judgment.
"Even if you happen to be running into a bunker and hit your head on it during a mortar attack. I knew a guy who got a Purple Heart that way. Is it related to an enemy action? Yeah, you're trying to get the heck out of the road."
OK, having said all that, Musser has something else he wants to say about Kerry. He hates that Kerry came home from the war and publicly criticized soldiers during his anti-war activities.
"With Kerry's 19 or 20 years in the Senate and his anti-war rant and raving, there's enough issues there without tearing apart anybody that served this country," he said.
My own opinion is that if Kerry's anti-war efforts played any small role in putting an end to that terrible war, we owe him another thank you for that. But you need to distinguish between the policy-makers and the warriors. Kerry's famous quote from 1971 speaks to that: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Musser, who said he hasn't received much flak from his own party, finds it comical that he's being praised in Democratic Party and Kerry-Edwards news releases for condemning the ads.
He plans to keep the releases as souvenirs.
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Jim Stingl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Monday 23 August 2004
No good deed goes unpunished, and these days that certainly includes John Kerry's service in Vietnam.
I'm sure this young Yale man could have found a way to avoid going over there, but Kerry signed up.
He volunteered to serve as skipper on a swift boat flushing out the enemy along rivers and canals. He rescued a soldier and earned medals for valor and for combat wounds.
Now this band of bothers turns up in books and television ads saying they served somewhere near Kerry in 'Nam and they think he's a no-good liar and an unworthy soldier. And, oh yeah, vote George W. Bush for president.
"I just think it's wrong."
That's not one of Kerry's fellow Democrats talking. It's Terry Musser, a Republican state rep, longtime chairman of the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs, and the co-chairman of Wisconsin Veterans for Bush.
Musser served two tours as a paratrooper in Vietnam, and he's disgusted by these attacks on Kerry. And he doesn't particularly like the Democratic presidential nominee.
"He was there. He did it. My opinion is that anybody who served anywhere is a hero. And we should not as a nation be trying to tear down people who served and are serving," Musser said when I reached him by phone Friday. He represents the Black River Falls area in the Legislature.
Bush ought to condemn the ads from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, even though he can't stop them, Musser said.
These self-proclaimed truth-seekers have questioned whether Kerry was under fire when he turned the boat around and went back to rescue Green Beret Jim Rassmann, and whether Kerry's boat ever was in Cambodia.
They're out of bounds, Musser believes.
"Kerry was saying he was in Cambodia, and you have some of the other ones saying he wasn't in Cambodia. It's like, who do you want to believe. I was in the Central Highlands. They could have sent us into Laos. I wouldn't have had a clue. There are no signs saying, 'Welcome to Thailand,' 'Welcome to Vietnam.'
"Just imagine going up and down any river how easy of a target you are. He was there."
Did Kerry really deserve his three Purple Hearts? Be careful in making that judgment.
"Even if you happen to be running into a bunker and hit your head on it during a mortar attack. I knew a guy who got a Purple Heart that way. Is it related to an enemy action? Yeah, you're trying to get the heck out of the road."
OK, having said all that, Musser has something else he wants to say about Kerry. He hates that Kerry came home from the war and publicly criticized soldiers during his anti-war activities.
"With Kerry's 19 or 20 years in the Senate and his anti-war rant and raving, there's enough issues there without tearing apart anybody that served this country," he said.
My own opinion is that if Kerry's anti-war efforts played any small role in putting an end to that terrible war, we owe him another thank you for that. But you need to distinguish between the policy-makers and the warriors. Kerry's famous quote from 1971 speaks to that: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Musser, who said he hasn't received much flak from his own party, finds it comical that he's being praised in Democratic Party and Kerry-Edwards news releases for condemning the ads.
He plans to keep the releases as souvenirs.
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