And the wall....Comes tumbling down....

[DKW 86 7,440]

The Press now has to Attack Kerry or Answer Why They Will Not.

KERRY CAMP FRETS OVER CAMBODIA TALE

By Deborah Orin

August 20, 2004 --

THERE'S now some real angst in Democratic circles be cause of the growing evidence that Democrat John Kerry's claim to have a memory "seared in me" of spending Christmas 1968 in Cambodia was false — and just didn't happen.

But what worries some pro-Kerry Democrats is the fear that Kerry has, as one put it, "an Al Gore problem" — that he's a serial exaggerator. (Remember how Gore claimed to have invented the Internet and inspired the novel "Love Story"?)

Remember Kerry's claim that "I've met foreign leaders" who told him he had to beat Bush? Turned out he hadn't met any foreign leaders in years.  

Kerry's campaign Web site claimed credit for Vietnam missions when another man, Tedd Peck, was the skipper  (that was removed when he protested) and last week was claiming credit for former Sen. Bob Kerrey's service as Senate Intelligence Committee vice chairman.

"John Kerry, Bob Kerrey — similar names," blithely explained Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan, as if Kerry didn't know his own bio.

Not one of Kerry's Swift boat crewmates, even the ones backing his candidacy, recalls being in Cambodia in Christmas 1968 — and anti-Kerry Swift boat veterans cite a host of evidence that he was 50 miles away in Vietnam.

Why does it matter? Because Kerry has said the Cambodia incident — of being sent on a covert mission to "a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops" was "seared" in his mind and changed his view of America.

Team Kerry's excuse is that maybe he accidentally crossed the border or his time frame was fuzzy,

Unlike the conflicts over Kerry's medals, this isn't a he said/he but that just won't square with his passionate 1986 claim, on the Senate floor, that the Christmas memory was "seared — seared — in me." said dispute — Kerry either was or wasn't in Cambodia. Eventually a reporter will ask him point-blank if he still claims he was in Cambodia that Christmas — yes or no.

For sure, as the anti-Kerry Swift vets pointed out — thus embarrassing every reporter who missed it for over a decade — Kerry's statements were clearly false, since Nixon wasn't yet president in Christmas 1968. But adding Nixon sure embellishes the tale.

The story has unraveled so badly that Kerry's court biographer, Douglas Brinkley, is said to be preparing a new account in which Cambodia is said to come post-Christmas. So why did Brinkley leave it out of his campaign bio?

The other fascinating part of this story is the key role that bloggers on the Internet have played in pointing out the holes in Kerry's story — even as much of the press tries to ignore them.

For instance, when Team Kerry held a press conference featuring his crewmates this week, one was conspicuously missing — David Alston — after the Internet-fueled revelation that he may have only served on Kerry's boat for one week.

A Web blogger, captainsquartersblog, began questioning whether Alston (who has spoken emotionally about how they "bled together") ever served with Kerry. National Review examined the records and concluded maybe — for just one week.

This whole story could be a test of the Internet's impact in this campaign. While most papers have been ignoring the story — until Kerry went ballistic at the Swift vets yesterday — bloggers have been examining it in detail.

On Web sites like Instapundit.com, captainsquartersblog.com, hugh- hewitt.com and rogerlsimon.com, skeptical veterans are trading details on Kerry's service and raising intricate questions about his veracity based on their own experience.

Their online dialogue is punctuated with questions about why the "mainstream media" have been mostly ignoring this story — and why the 13 pro-Kerry vets are automatically assumed to have more credibility than 264 anti-Kerry vets.

Just imagine the coverage if 264 vets who served with Bush in the Texas Air National Guard made similar charges. For those bloggers, this story has become a test of the mainstream media's credibility — and its liberal anti-Bush bias.

Deborah Orin is The Post's Washington bureau chief

[TexasTiger 13,006]

The Press now has to Attack Kerry or Answer Why They Will Not.

KERRY CAMP FRETS OVER CAMBODIA TALE

By Deborah Orin

August 20, 2004 --

THERE'S now some real angst in Democratic circles be cause of the growing evidence that Democrat John Kerry's claim to have a memory "seared in me" of spending Christmas 1968 in Cambodia was false — and just didn't happen.

But what worries some pro-Kerry Democrats is the fear that Kerry has, as one put it, "an Al Gore problem" — that he's a serial exaggerator. (Remember how Gore claimed to have invented the Internet and inspired the novel "Love Story"?)

Remember Kerry's claim that "I've met foreign leaders" who told him he had to beat Bush? Turned out he hadn't met any foreign leaders in years.  

Kerry's campaign Web site claimed credit for Vietnam missions when another man, Tedd Peck, was the skipper  (that was removed when he protested) and last week was claiming credit for former Sen. Bob Kerrey's service as Senate Intelligence Committee vice chairman.

"John Kerry, Bob Kerrey — similar names," blithely explained Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan, as if Kerry didn't know his own bio.

Not one of Kerry's Swift boat crewmates, even the ones backing his candidacy, recalls being in Cambodia in Christmas 1968 — and anti-Kerry Swift boat veterans cite a host of evidence that he was 50 miles away in Vietnam.

Why does it matter? Because Kerry has said the Cambodia incident — of being sent on a covert mission to "a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops" was "seared" in his mind and changed his view of America.

Team Kerry's excuse is that maybe he accidentally crossed the border or his time frame was fuzzy,

Unlike the conflicts over Kerry's medals, this isn't a he said/he but that just won't square with his passionate 1986 claim, on the Senate floor, that the Christmas memory was "seared — seared — in me." said dispute — Kerry either was or wasn't in Cambodia. Eventually a reporter will ask him point-blank if he still claims he was in Cambodia that Christmas — yes or no.

For sure, as the anti-Kerry Swift vets pointed out — thus embarrassing every reporter who missed it for over a decade — Kerry's statements were clearly false, since Nixon wasn't yet president in Christmas 1968. But adding Nixon sure embellishes the tale.

The story has unraveled so badly that Kerry's court biographer, Douglas Brinkley, is said to be preparing a new account in which Cambodia is said to come post-Christmas. So why did Brinkley leave it out of his campaign bio?

The other fascinating part of this story is the key role that bloggers on the Internet have played in pointing out the holes in Kerry's story — even as much of the press tries to ignore them.

For instance, when Team Kerry held a press conference featuring his crewmates this week, one was conspicuously missing — David Alston — after the Internet-fueled revelation that he may have only served on Kerry's boat for one week.

A Web blogger, captainsquartersblog, began questioning whether Alston (who has spoken emotionally about how they "bled together") ever served with Kerry. National Review examined the records and concluded maybe — for just one week.

This whole story could be a test of the Internet's impact in this campaign. While most papers have been ignoring the story — until Kerry went ballistic at the Swift vets yesterday — bloggers have been examining it in detail.

On Web sites like Instapundit.com, captainsquartersblog.com, hugh- hewitt.com and rogerlsimon.com, skeptical veterans are trading details on Kerry's service and raising intricate questions about his veracity based on their own experience.

Their online dialogue is punctuated with questions about why the "mainstream media" have been mostly ignoring this story — and why the 13 pro-Kerry vets are automatically assumed to have more credibility than 264 anti-Kerry vets.

Just imagine the coverage if 264 vets who served with Bush in the Texas Air National Guard made similar charges. For those bloggers, this story has become a test of the mainstream media's credibility — and its liberal anti-Bush bias.

Deborah Orin is The Post's Washington bureau chief

I do know that it takes nothing to "be accused." We live in Jerry Springer's World now. All you have to do to be guilty is to just be accused.  DWK

Especially if they repeat those accusations, over and over and over.

[DKW 86 7,440]

Especially if they repeat those accusations, over and over and over. 

Actually Boss, I think the problem here is that the FACTS are starting to pile up against Kerry. Band of Brothers, et al.

[TexasTiger 13,006]

Especially if they repeat those accusations, over and over and over. 

Actually Boss, I think the problem here is that the FACTS are starting to pile up against Kerry. Band of Brothers, et al.

To the contrary:

New Evidence Undermines Swift Vets' Attack on Kerry

08/20/2004 @ 7:23pm

E-mail this Post

On March 13, 1969, in the Bay Hap River, did Lieut. John Kerry, captain of Swift boat PCF-94, defy enemy fire and heroically save the life of First Lieut. Jim Rassmann, who had been blown off Kerry's boat into the water by a mine explosion? Or did Kerry, during this mission involving five Swift boats, merely help a comrade return to his boat at a time of relative calm? A band of anti-Kerry veterans funded by Republican donors--who call themselves Swift Boat Veterans for Truth--have claimed that there was no enemy fire when Kerry pulled Rassmann into his boat and that Kerry did not deserve the Bronze Star he won for this incident. Although the citation for Kerry's Bronze Star notes he rescued Rassmann in the face of sniper fire and Kerry, Rassmann and PCF-94 crew members all say Rassmann was under fire when Kerry pulled him aboard, the anti-Kerry vets insist that was not how it happened, that there was no enemy fire. Their campaign against Kerry took a hit yesterday when The Washington Post disclosed that the military records of Larry Thurlow--a leader of the anti-Kerry outfit who also won a Bronze Star for actions taken during this engagement--contradict Thurlow's claim that there was no enemy fire at the time. (See here.) Military records obtained by The Nation provide more evidence that there was enemy fire during this episode.

Three Navy men won Bronze Stars for their actions that day: Kerry, Thurlow, and radarman first class Robert Eugene Lambert, a petty officer in the boat captained by Thurlow. The citation for Lambert's Bronze Star--previously undisclosed but obtained today under the Freedom of Information Act from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis--repeats the description of the incident included in the citation for Thurlow's Bronze Star: "all units came under small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks." Lambert's citation also notes that Lambert--who assumed command of PCF-51 after Thurlow went to assist another Swift boat damaged by a mine--"directed accurate suppressing fire at the enemy." The citation praises Lambert's "coolness, professionalism and courage under fire."

In an affidavit Thurlow signed last month, he said "no return fire occurred....I never heard a shot." He said to the Post, "I am here to state that we weren't under fire." But the individual citations for Thurlow, Kerry and Lambert each refer to enemy fire. And the Lambert citation also suggests there was a need for his boat to engage in "suppressing fire."

Asked about the discrepancy between his own account and his citation, Thurlow, who was the senior skipper in the flotilla involved in this engagement, said that Kerry was often able to present his own (presumably self-serving) descriptions of events to superiors. But neither Thurlow nor the Swift Boat group has substantiated this claim. And did Kerry rig not only his own award recommendation but those of Thurlow and Lambert? In the award recommendation for Thurlow's Bronze Star, Lambert--not Kerry--is listed as the eyewitness. (And Del Sandusky, a crew mate of Kerry, was the eyewitness listed in the award recommendation for Kerry. According to the National Personnel Records Center, Lambert's file no longer contains the award recommendation for his Bronze Star.)

Kerry has posted his award citation on his web site (click here), and Thurlow's Bronze Star citation was posted by the Post (click here). Lambert's citation describes what seems to have been a harrowing situation. It reads in full:

"For meritorious achievement while serving with Coastal Division ELEVEN engaged in armed conflict against Viet Cong communist aggressors in An Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam on 13 March 1969. Inshore Patrol Craft [PCF] 51, with Petty Officer Lambert serving as Leading Petty Officer, was conducting a SEA LORDS operation in the Bay Hap river with four other boats. The boats were exiting the river when a mine detonated under another Inshore Patrol Craft, inflicting heavy damage to the boat and wounding the entire crew. At the same time, all units came under small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks. Inshore Patrol Craft 51 immediately proceeded to aid the damaged Inshore Patrol Craft, where the Officer-in-Charge [Larry Thurlow] leaped aboard to render assistance. Petty Officer LAMBERT assumed command of Inshore Patrol Craft 51 and directed accurate suppressing fire at the enemy. While administering first aid to the crew of the damaged Inshore Patrol Craft, Inshore Patrol Craft 51's Officer-in-Charge was knocked overboard. Petty Officer LAMBERT, without hesitation, directed Inshore Patrol Craft 51 alongside his Officer-in-Charge, where, from an exposed position and with complete disregard for his personal safety, he pulled him aboard. Petty Officer LAMBERT then returned his Officer-in-Charge to the aid of the damaged Inshore Patrol Craft and remained in command of Inshore Patrol Craft 51 until all units cleared the river. Petty Officer LAMBERT's coolness, professionalism and courage under fire significantly contributed to the rescue of his Officer-in-Charge and the damaged Inshore Patrol Craft and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

Lambert, a career Navy man who served on active duty from 1957 to 1978, could not be located. But his records offer more support for Kerry's account (which, by the way, is the official account).

http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/inde...?bid=3&pid=1692

[DKW 86 7,440]

BTDT. That totally vaporizes with Thurlow saysing that the Bronze Stars were all bogus awards. The Gunner on Kerrry's boat states plainly that he was the only one shooting and that there was no return fire at all. NONE!

Dude, it is 250+ vs Kerry here.

And the link is bad...Not that I would take anything that The Nation publishes at face value at all.

[TexasTiger 13,006]

BTDT. That totally vaporizes with Thurlow saysing that the Bronze Stars were all bogus awards. The Gunner on Kerrry's boat states plainly that he was the only one shooting and that there was no return fire at all. NONE!

Dude, it is 250+ vs Kerry here.

And the link is bad...Not that I would take anything that The Nation publishes at face value at all.

You simply ignore anything that doesn't fit into your predetermined view. Guess that's why you like Bush so much.

Lambert's citation also notes that Lambert--who assumed command of PCF-51 after Thurlow went to assist another Swift boat damaged by a mine--"directed accurate suppressing fire at the enemy."

What was he supressing?

In the award recommendation for Thurlow's Bronze Star, Lambert--not Kerry--is listed as the eyewitness. (And Del Sandusky, a crew mate of Kerry, was the eyewitness listed in the award recommendation for Kerry.

The citation praises Lambert's "coolness, professionalism and courage under fire."

"all units came under small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."

A damage report to Mr. Thurlow's boat shows that it received three bullet holes, suggesting enemy fire, and later intelligence reports indicate that one Vietcong was killed in action and five others wounded, reaffirming the presence of an enemy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/politics...pagewanted=5&hp

250 guys signed a letter. None have provided credible evidence, most were no where near the action, and none were as close to the action as those who support Kerry.

[DKW 86 7,440]

250 guys signed a letter. None have provided credible evidence, most were no where near the action, and none were as close to the action as those who support Kerry.

Five feet wasnt close enough?

No the SVFT book is HIGHLY DOCUMENTED, RESEARCHED, FOOTNOTED, SIGNED BY EYEWITNESSES.

Kerry is shown to be lying about Christmas in Cambodia by his own ship mates too. Remember that HUGE lie dont you or are you having selective recall you accuse me of? Of course the records must be false, even Kerry's own diary written in his own hand say he wasn't there, it must be paid for by a Tex contractor too.

His Band of Brothers are all liars too unless they completely agree with every lie Kerry tells. Of course Kerry doesnt have the guts to come and do a press conference on how he lied to the American public about it.

Kerry served in Vietnam with several 100k men and women. Kerry smears the names and reps of every single one of them. He only allows a few may have even been decent when they support one of his wild claims. That's right every other man or woman in Vietnam was a war crime committer, so says Kerry. Only Kerry was Sainted for taking political advantage for it. After all what is the misery of those POWs when Kerry has a chance to benefit from calling them names and smearing them for 33+ years?????

So far, there are what 30+ that say that there was no small arms fire at all other than what the Americans were shooting into the banks as a precaution. Kerry has so far come up with an outside of two to three, one of those knocked silly by an explosion and in the water, that MAY have SAID that they MIGHT HAVE SEEN some small arms fire. Kerry's gunner states positively that he was firing blindly into the bank and that there was no return fire. Kerry gets his first PH when there was no return fire either, remember that one HUGE hole in that story?

Kerry drives the boat on while everyone else stops to help the disabled boat. No one disputes that Kerry ran after the mine went off, not even Kerry. He comes back after the rest of the boats are getting those in the water and another mine goes off. He then has to fish one on his boat out. He gets a Bronze Star and the guys fishing the other crew out dont get SHINEOLA. Must have been some hot enemy action.

As for the NY Times, Find a source without some historically proven falsehoods within the recent months. Like maybe a Vet.

It just amazes me that you Dems and Libs HATE us vets so much that you dont even think twice abiout calling every single one a liar if they dont bow down before the Dems and kiss their a$$. <shaking head>

[DKW 86 7,440]

Rassman's Story Changes to fit the Crowd, read it and weep...

Omaha World Herald - 1/18/2004 - Rassmann took a hushed crowd of Kerry backers back to the day when he and Kerry were traveling down a river in Vietnam on separate boats.

The boats were ambushed by enemy fire. Rassmann, a Green Beret, said a blast blew him overboard. He stayed underwater to avoid being shot. "I went to the bottom, and I stayed on the bottom as long as I could."

Resurfacing for about his fifth gasp of air, Rassmann grabbed onto netting on the bow of the boat that Kerry, then a Navy lieutenant junior grade, was piloting.

Kerry, hit in the arm by gunfire, scrambled up to the bow and pulled Rassmann to safety.

"Had he not been there, there's no question in my mind I could've fallen back into the water," Rassmann said. "John could've gotten shot and killed at any time."

Note how Rassmann says here that they were on separate boats.. I believe Rassmann was on PCF 3, the boat that hit the mine, not on Kerry's boat.

Boston Globe - 1/18/2004 - Kerry tells the story - The rescue occurred on the Bay Hap River in Vietnam on March 13, 1969, when Kerry was 25 and Rassmann was 21. Several US swift boats, including the one Kerry commanded, came under fire and hit multiple mines. Kerry's boat hit a mine and he was slammed against a bulkhead and injured. Rassmann fell into the river, and for several minutes his absence was not noticed. Kerry ultimately swung the boat around and pulled Rassmann out of the water.

"John didn't have to, but he came to the front [of the boat] under fire," Rassmann said. "Had he not, there's no question in my mind that I would have fallen back in - he could have been shot at any time."

This story also says "Kerry turned his boat around" to pick up Rassmann.

San Francisco Chronicle - 2/8/2004 - Rassmann's river patrol of Swift boats had been blown out of the water in a barrage of fire from Viet Cong AK-47s and rocket launchers. He had come up for air, taking sniper fire from both banks, sure "my ticket was punched."

Then miraculously, sailing back through a hail of artillery, was Kerry. Wounded himself, the young Navy lieutenant braved bullets to pull Rassmann aboard.

Note the "hail of artillery" - artillery would be completely useless against Swift boats. By the time you fired, they'd be out of range. Besides, how in God's name would you get the artillery through the mangrove swamps, into position to fire?

The story just gets better and better, but the fact remains that Rassmanns first telling of the story has him on another boat.

St. Petersburg Times - 2/8/2004 - On March 13, 1969, Jim Rassmann, a U.S. Army Green Beret, was traveling in a group of Swifts down the Bay Hap River when one, the PCF-3, struck a mine and was immediately raked by gunfire from the shore. Everyone aboard was injured.

As Kerry's boat headed toward the damaged vessel, a second mine exploded nearby, throwing him against a bulkhead and injuring his arm. The explosion also tossed Rassmann out of a third vessel, the PCF-35. In the confusion and heavy gunfire from both sides of the battle, Rassmann began drifting down the river, where snipers saw him and tried to pick him off.

As Kerry sailed his vessel up to the PCF-3 to give help, someone noticed Rassmann, by this time a couple of hundred yards away, ducking bullets, and shouted man overboard. With enemy fire still coming from both sides of the river, Kerry and his crew raced to help.

"He came up to the bow of the boat and exposed himself to fierce fire," Rassmann said in an interview last week from his home in Florence, Ore. "With a wounded arm, he managed to pull me aboard. That is a quality of character that engenders a lot of loyalty."

Now we have Rassmann identifiying the boat he was on as PCF 35. The Spot Report states that PCFs 3, 23, 43, 51 and 94 participated that day. The 35 boat wasn't even there!

Rassmann simply cannot keep his story straight.

NY Times - 2/22/2004 - It was in the second of these that he rescued Jim Rassmann, a member of his crew, when his P.C.F.-94 came under a hail of small-arms fire at the same moment that another P.C.F. traveling alongside Kerry's boat struck a mine. Kerry was injured in the arm by another mine (he has three Purple Hearts), but ''Christ knows how,'' Kerry recalls to Brinkley, ''somehow we managed to get him on board. . . . I didn't get the bullet in the head that I expected, and we managed to clear the ambush zone.''

In this version, Rassmann is on PCF 94 when they are in "a hail of small-arms fire". Not exactly the artillery barrage of a few days ago, is it?

LA TImes - 3/13/2004 - On that day, they traveled on a convoy of five patrol boats led by the 25-year-old Kerry, a Navy lieutenant -- and they were on the run, being chased down the Bay Hap River by enemy soldiers firing guns and rockets.

The group had already lost one soldier that day. As they sped down the river, one boat was blown out of the water, and then another. An explosion wounded Kerry in the arm and threw Rassmann into the river. Rassmann dove to the bottom to avoid being run over by the other boats. When he surfaced, he saw the convoy had gone ahead.

Viet Cong snipers fired at him, and Rassmann submerged over and over to avoid being hit. The bullets came from both banks, and Rassmann had nowhere to go. He began thinking his time had come, but the fifth time he came up, he saw the convoy had turned around. Kerry had ordered the boats back to pick up the man overboard.

Kerry's boat, under heavy fire, sidled up to the struggling soldier. Rassmann tried to scramble up a cargo net at the bow but was too exhausted to make it all the way. He clung to the net as bullets whizzed past.

"Next thing I knew, John came out in the middle of all this," Rassmann says. "I couldn't believe it. He was going to get killed. He ran to the edge, reached over with his good arm [Kerry had been wounded in his right arm] and pulled me over the lip."

This is where Rassmann adds the "came up five times" detail to the story.

USA Today - 4/13/2004 - I just wanted to throw this one in because it goes to the issue of whether or not Swift boats would have been used for covert ops -"The level of danger was extremely high," says Jim Rassmann, the Army Special Forces officer who rode PCF-94 for nearly a month before Kerry saved his life during a ferocious river battle. The noisy boats "had no place to hide. People could hear them coming a half-mile away."

Boston Globe - 4/28/2004 - "Rassmann was bobbing up and down every 30 seconds," Sandusky says. The Viet Cong "would shoot at him and he would go back down and swim under water." Kerry, who had taken shrapnel in his left buttock and was suffering from a bruised right arm, directed Sandusky to steer the craft back to Rassmann, who grabbed a cargo net hanging from the bow.

"Rassmann couldn't pull himelf up - he was too heavy, loaded with water and the flak vest - so Kerry lay down on the deck and pulled him up," Sandusky says. "This is in the middle of a firefight. . . . He saved Rassmann's life."

Here there's no mention of a bleeding arm, or Kerry banging against the bulkhead, but the shrapnel wound in the ass is introduced for the first time.

Sunday Oregonian - 5/2/2004 - On March 13, Kerry's boat and four others carried Rassmann and a detachment of his soldiers to a canal drop-off point off the Bay Hap River. The situation quickly turned ugly.

One of Rassmann's soldiers was gruesomely killed when he reached for a booby-trapped cloth bag lying next to a tree. The detachment came under fire and, after a series of engagements, the U.S.-led forces retreated back along the canal.

Once they reached the Bay Hap, things seemed calmer. Rassmann rode on PCF-94 near the driver, Del Sandusky. He remembers eating chocolate chip cookies.

An explosion rocked the swift boat to their left, and gunfire erupted from both banks. Another mine exploded near PCF-94, sending Kerry into a bulkhead, smashing his right arm.

Rassmann was flung into the river.

Fearing he would be sliced by a boat propeller, Rassmann dove to the river bottom. By the time he surfaced for air, the boats were out of sight. Alone, he became the target of enemy fire.

Rassmann kept diving. He said it wasn't until he broke the surface for the fifth or sixth time that he saw Kerry returning for him. When PCF-94 moved close, Rassmann grabbed a cargo net on the bow and hung on.

"John came up to the bow," Rassmann recalled, "and I thought he was going to get killed because he was so exposed."

With his good arm, Kerry hauled Rassmann over the bow, and the two scrambled for cover. Sandusky, the driver, remembered being thanked by Rassmann with gallows humor: "You dumb S.O.B., you almost ran me over."

Here Rassmann is next to Del Sandusky (which means he would have been inside the pilot house) eating a chocolate chip cookie (forthe first time) when he's blown off PCF 94.

Australian Magazine - 7/10/2004 - March 13, 1969 - an operation involving several Swifts goes to hell. A mine destroys one boat; others, including Kerry's, take fire from the bank. Lieutenant Jim Rassmann is thrown from his boat and forgotten as the Swifts head full-throttle out of trouble. Rassmann is under fire from both banks when someone sees him and shouts: "Man overboard!" Kerry looks back, sees the bullets spraying the water around the struggling commando. "We turned around with the engines screaming against each other - the one full-astern, the other full forward - and then charged the several hundred yards back into the ambush where Jim was trying to find some cover," he tells historian Doug Brinkley for a recent book on his war years, Tour of Duty. Wounded in one arm, Kerry struggles to drag Rassmann from the water. "Christ knows how, but somehow we managed to get him on board and I didn't get a bullet in the head that I expected, and we managed to clear the ambush zone."

Here Rassmann is on "his boat" and all the Swifts are fleeing, leaving behind the striken 3 boat.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 7/25/2004 - Jim Rassmann, a Green Beret, was among those being ferried in a Swift boat behind Kerry's vessel on the Bay Hap River when the flotilla ran into a submerged mine and, Kerry and others have said, enemy fire. Rassmann ended up in the water and Kerry suffered an arm injury when tossed about violently on deck.

Amid the confusion of the fleeing boats, Kerry raced his boat several hundred yards back up the river and pulled Rassmann to safety with his wounded arm.

Gardner, on hand then, too, disputes the extent of Kerry's heroism that day. He and Larry Thurlow, who commanded the last of several Swift boats in the flotilla, said they recalled no gunfire from shore after the mine was struck.

Here Rassmann is back on another boat again "behind Kerry's vessel".

I think it's clear that Rassmann's story has changed over time, and that it's not at all clear which boat he was in or whether the fire he thought he was exposed to was firiendly of foe. Given the extent of Kerry's ilies that I've already uncovered, I see no option but to take the word of the Swift vets who were there and claim there was no enemy fire.