You have probably read the Time Magazine article, "The Tenth Brother," by Kerry's hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley:
Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004 The Tenth Brother
Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, interviews Kerry’s tenth warmate and gets a story sharply different from what the other nine crew members have had to say
Source
At first blush it is a surprising piece. Brinkley managed after a Herculean effort to unearth a former crewmember of Kerry's Swiftboats who doesn't think Kerry walks on water.
When writing my book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (William Morrow & Company) I interviewed all of Kerry’s crewmates—all that is, except Gardner. When first approached for interviews in late 2002 these Navy veterans told me they would enthusiastically campaign for their old skipper if he ever decided to run for president; they’ve lived up to their promise. Whether it’s PCF-94’s Chief Petty Officer Del Sandusky talking about Kerry’s undaunted courage on TV campaign commercials or PCF-44’s William Zaladonis explaining how Kerry never backed down, they’ve been a united front. Nobody has campaigned harder for Kerry than his crewmates. Kerry’s surprise victories in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary were, in part, a tribute to their unshakable conviction that Kerry was a born leader.
But we are soon brought back to reality. For it quickly becomes clear with Brinkley's careful guidance that Stephen M. Gardner is a crackpot. He uses coarse language. "He has some kind of weird grudge against Lieutenant Kerry.” And we are soon told why: politics. Gardner listens to Rush Limbaugh. He is a right wing fanatic.
So instead of being a piece about a crewmate who raises questions about Kerry, the piece is essentially more testimony about how wonderful Kerry is. Nine out of ten crew member agree--Kerry was and still is wonderful, and they will vote for him. And the tenth one is a right wing nutcase, which just goes to prove Brinkley's point.
The trouble is this is not the case. For another two of Kerry's crew members, James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis--both of whom are mentioned in Brinkley's article--are on record as having definite misgivings about John Kerry.
Kerry's '71 testimony on atrocities evokes debate
Some vets still hot over words; others say he echoed feelings of ex-Vietnam soldiers
By Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
February 15, 2004
WASHINGTON - On a spring day in 1971 a young Vietnam veteran with shaggy brown hair and clad in a field jacket bedecked with battle ribbons sat before the Senate Armed Services Committee and delivered riveting testimony.
"We had an investigation in which 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia - not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-by-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command," declared John Kerry, a 27-year-old Navy veteran...
"They told the stories (that) at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."
James Wasser and Bill Zaladonis, both crewmen two years earlier under then Lieutenant Kerry on his Navy Swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum craft that patrolled the waters of the Mekong Delta, were bitter and angry when they first saw television coverage of his testimony.
"Absolutely upset," said Wasser, who recalled no such atrocities. "I felt betrayed."
Said Zaladonis: "I didn't like the idea. I certainly didn't believe that all Vietnam veterans were baby-killing, women rapers. Most people I know agree with me. They didn't see it."
Source
Today, Wasser says he supports Kerry's Presidential campaign. But Zaladonis doesn't seem to so sure:
Today, Wasser and Zaladonis are no longer in agreement about their old skipper's postwar actions.
Wasser is now a strong Kerry supporter, often appearing on behalf of the Massachusetts senator at political events. His hawkish views on Vietnam have dissipated, and he now backs Kerry's involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the organization for which Kerry served as spokesman at the height of his antiwar activities.
"As I look back over the years, I feel he did the right thing," said Wasser, an electrician from Illinois.
Zaladonis has mixed feelings. "I thought he was a d--- good officer. I think I would very much like to see him as president," Zaladonis said, but he isn't sure whether he will vote for Kerry, partly due to political issues and partly because of Kerry's work with antiwar protesters.
"The more I hear about (the protests). - 'Did John say that? Did he do that?' " said Zaladonis, a retired telephone technician now living in Florida. "I'm still studying it."
So the question is, if Brinkely lied about Zaladonis' support of Kerry, how many other former crew members is he lying about? Anyway, we know it isn't 9 out of 10 for Kerry.
But the readers of Time won't know that. The Moor has done his job.
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