They were desperate to dig up someone who would challenge the Swift Boat Vets' story.

They've found one. For now, I'll let you judge the validity for yourself.

It MAY (as in MIGHT-Just-Possibly) get some traction, because Thurlow's accounts both fit accurately IF you take the time to read and visualize and consider the actual events... there are several focal actions, some of which had small-arms fire, and others which had none...

IF one is into the independent investigation of truth... rather than "I'm a Kerry supporter, my mind's made up, so don't confuse me with the facts!"

The reports are now saying that Kerry WROTE his own citation and included the under fire wording in his and the other citations he wrote so apparently he 'padded' his own award.

Who Cares? All politicians have a congenital condition which prevents them from making the appearance/reality distinction. There are better reasons to be against Kerry than this. This is all beginning to sound a bit shrill.

I have to admit, the decisive reasons for rejecting Kerry had pretty much been laid out to my satisfaction months ago, even getting beyond the clincher ("There's no strong argument for replacing the President we already have.") which was there before Kerry even started winning primaries.

So focusing on those, from my standpoint, isn't all that entertaining. And there's some reason to question whether those who haven't paid attention until now would be open to those previously laid-out reasons if they did not already have doubts about Kerry as a result of -- oh, say -- a couple of hundred men who served with him arguing that he isn't what he claims to be.

So it's all good.

Like Glenn, my focus and interest isn't so much about the story, as how it's being reported, or not.

Larry Thurlow, 2004-8-19:

Quote:

I am convinced that the language used in my citation for a Bronze Star was
language taken directly from John Kerry's report which falsely described
the action on the Bay Hap River as action that saw small arms fire and
automatic weapons fire from both banks of the river.

To this day, I can say without a doubt in my mind, along with other accounts
from my shipmates -- there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat
or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day.

I submitted no paperwork for a medal nor did I file an after action report
describing the incident. To my knowledge, John Kerry was the only officer
who filed a report describing his version of the incidents that occurred
on the river that day.

It was not until I had left the Navy -- approximately three months after
I left the service -- that I was notified that I was to receive a citation
for my actions on that day.

I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for
my efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number three and
to conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking. My boat and
several other swift boats went to the aid of our fellow swift boat sailors
whose craft was adrift and taking on water. We provided immediate rescue
and damage control to prevent boat three from sinking and to offer
immediate protection and comfort to the injured crew.

After the mine exploded, leaving swift boat three dead in the water,
John Kerry's boat, which was on the opposite side of the river, fled the
scene. US Army Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who was on Kerry's
boat at the time, fell off the boat and into the water. Kerry's boat
returned several minutes later -- under no hail of enemy gunfire -- to
retrieve Rassmann from the river only seconds before another boat was
going to pick him up.

Kerry campaign spokespersons have conflicting accounts of this
incident -- the latest one being that Kerry's boat did leave but only
briefly and returned under withering enemy fire to rescue Mr. Rassmann.
However, none of the other boats on the river that day reported enemy
fire nor was anyone wounded by small arms action. The only damage on
that day was done to boat three -- a result of the underwater mine.
None of the other swift boats received damage from enemy gunfire.

And in a new development, Kerry campaign officials are now finally
acknowledging that while Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the other
boats on the river ever left the damaged swift boat. This is a direct
contradiction to previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in the Oregonian
newspaper and a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left Behind" theme
during the Democratic National Convention.

These ever changing accounts of the Bay Hap River incident by Kerry
campaign officials leave me asking one question. If no one ever left
the scene of the Bay Hap River incident, how could anyone be left behind?

from http://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/index.php?topic=Releases