The Narnia 3 Blog

What Did John Kerry Write and When Did He Write It?

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have consistently alledged that John Kerry (1) probably didn't deserve some of the medals he won in Viet Nam, and (2) his major medal, the Silver Star (that really solidified his "hero" status and made his anti-war performances afterwards seem much more credible) was based on an after action report that Kery himself wrote. Kerry and his campaign have consistenly denied this, but in the Chicago Sun Times online article by Thomas Libscomb (http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-lip01.html) seems to shed a good deal of doubt on Kerry's denial of his authorship of the AA report.

There is of course some a lot of history of people using such hoaxes for self-agrandizement. I remember that after I left the Los Angeles Police Department, there was an incident in which an officer "discovered" a bomb on a school bus (I think it was near LAX). As the story went, he took the bomb off of the bus and moved it to a safe location, where it was later neutralized. I was at church that night and the pastor told me the story and I replied, based on my experience and understanding of the proper procedures that are almost inviolable in such cases, that this was impossible to believe and I said that it was far more likely that he planted the bomb himself so he could make himself a hero. Well, the pastor was really irate at me and upbraided me for being so cynical, etc., etc. In his eyes the guy was a hero and should be afforded an almost "above question" status. He even implied that I was just "jealous." Well, turns out that the next day it all came to light, and the story was pretty much how I had described it in my initial reaction. That pastor never did apologize :-)

We all want to believe in a "hero" and to undermine a "hero's" story seems to be almost un-American. But a real hero's story will pass the test of truth and made up stuff will always come to light eventually. Did Kerry write the report that really made him what he is today? Maybe Dan Rather should ask him.