The New York Times
August 24, 2004
Kerry and the Swift Boat Ads
To the Editor:
Re "Kerry TV Ad Pins Veterans' Attack Firmly on Bush" (front page, Aug. 23):
President Bush is in a lose-lose situation. If he's not behind the attacks on John Kerry's service record in Vietnam, he is not only a commander in chief who took us to war on incorrect information without a plan for peace, but also someone who can't control his own people stateside.
If he is behind the attacks, he has no honor.
Mary T. Ficalora
Agoura Hills, Calif., Aug. 23, 2004
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To the Editor:
As the father of a young Marine corporal who gave his life for his country in the Vietnam War, I am sickened by the Republicans' continued attacks on Senator John Kerry's war record.
It is a political ploy to divert attention from their candidate's own weakness by casting aspersions on their opponent's strength. Where was George W. Bush when the bullets were flying over the swamps of the Mekong River and the jungles near Cambodia?
Arthur W. Machen Jr.
Towson, Md., Aug. 23, 2004
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To the Editor:
As a former Swift boat officer in Vietnam, and one who served with John Kerry in the rivers of the Mekong Delta, I am appalled at the comments about his military service made by some veterans and nonveterans associated with the Republican Party.
I was one of the Swift boat veterans not interviewed by John E. O'Neill for his book, "Unfit for Command," no doubt because I have positive recollections of Mr. Kerry. During our time in the service together, I found Mr. Kerry to be a brave and honorable man, never refusing an order, always willing to put himself in harm's way to engage the enemy.
By questioning Mr. Kerry's military service, these veterans - and the people backing them - are dishonoring only themselves.
Richard McCann
Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Aug. 21, 2004
The writer is a retired Navy commander.
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To the Editor:
John Kerry fought in the war and then returned to try to convince our government to stop the endless and needless bloodshed.
That was an honorable thing to do. Those who criticize him for learning from his experience in the field and then using that experience to help the antiwar effort do a great disservice to those patriots who forced our government to end an unjust war.
Marc J. Osterweil
New Kingston, N.Y., Aug. 22, 2004
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To the Editor:
An Aug. 21 news analysis suggests that John Kerry made a strategic error by not promptly rebutting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's attacks. But might not he have made a principled decision to stick to the high road and to resist efforts to drag his campaign into the mud? More important is why many news outlets reported the Swift boat veterans' allegations as if they were true, or why tapes of veterans "speaking coolly and directly to the camera" found their way into TV news reports.
The real problem is not with Mr. Kerry's decision but with the fact that the press effectively provided free campaign advertising for his attackers. Perhaps hoping to appear balanced, the press has once again failed to investigate and report the facts.
Richard B. Miller
Bloomington, Ind., Aug. 21, 2004
The writer is the director of the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, Indiana University.
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