I've been reading "Unfit For Command" by John O'Neill and am about half way through. It's a rather small book, but makes some enormous revelations and accusations.
Some may say this is the conservative’s "Michael Moore," a shill of the Republican party out to smear the candidate for the opposition. I would have to say there are some stark differences between the two.
Michael Moore is a filmmaker whose craft is to create believable entertainment (?) from fictional situations. Some would argue he is a documentarian. Many others would say there is no room in the same sentence for "Michael Moore" and "documentarian." I would have to fall in the latter group.
There is plenty of documentation of the liberties taken by Moore in producing F 9/11, from baseless accusations and massaged timelines to testimony edited out of context. The whole of this celluloid debacle is fiction, not fact.
O'Neill's book, on the other hand, is well documented, footnoted and referenced. His sources are not only his own, personal, experience but the documented experiences of others. That term "documented" is important, due to the nature of the accusations made there must be corroboration.
Referenced also is the investigative work of others, some going back for decades. All of this documenting Kerry's fictional accusations of war crimes and rampant disregard for honorable treatment of the peoples of Vietnam, from the military and political leadership down to the grunt in the trenches.
I suppose it is no wonder that Kerry and Moore are so closely tied, both have built careers on creating a world of fiction in which to live and operate. A world of falsehoods whereupon to build their respective power bases.
Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Fulbright committee was based on the Winter Soldier Investigation. That testimony has been shown to be mostly contrived, often given by individuals who did not serve as claimed, and some using aliases of others who did serve. Kerry's fronting for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War gave him exactly what he wanted, a pulpit to launch himself into the national spotlight and a opening onto the political scene. Sadly, in doing so he forfeited what little integrity he may have had left.
The term "Winter Soldier" comes from Thomas Paine's work, "American Crisis," written in 1776 and referred to the stalwart soldiers who faced the hardships of winter during George Washington's winter camp at Valley Forge. The supposition was that these members of the VVAW were stouthearted souls who were withstanding the rigors of adversity to save a nation from itself.
They were not, and neither was, or is, Kerry. Do yourself and your country a favor, read the book. If you don't come away angry at the arrogant, self-serving fiction Kerry has foisted throughout his life on this nation and her people, you have in you more ideology than integrity.
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