Kerry's Bio fisked!

Terry Sater of Eureka, Missouri identifies himself as a former gunner on a Navy troop carrier who served in Vietnam in 1968-69. He wrote a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and sent a copy to Michelle Malkin. She posted the whole letter on her website.

Sater does not bother with the Unfit for Command account by John O'Neill, head of the Swifties. Instead, he examines Doug Brinkley's hagiography of Kerry. Sater says reading the Kerry bio Tour of Duty raises numerous questions about Kerry's service. The details are in his letter, reprinted at Malkin's site, but here are two observations worth noting:

I have read John Kerry's "Tour of Duty." He reminds me of a popular cartoon in Vietnam, the "Saigon Warrior". The "Saigon Warrior" cartoon figure had his helmet pushed down over his shaded eyes, ammunition belts crossing his puffed out chest, a sword in one hand and his M-16 in the other. He was a caricature.

More importantly, Sater notes the real issue in the whole Swifties-hate-Kerry situation.

I served twelve months with the Mobile Riverine Force, in the Mekong Delta, during 1968 and 1969, manning automatic weapons on an Armored Troop Carrier. During the first three months of 1969, I operated in and around the little village of Ha Tien, at times, with Kerry's Coastal Division 11 Swift Boats. If one of the men I served with was running for President, I would be extremely proud. If there was any way I could support him for President, I would. The bonds that are formed in combat are special. They are strong. For the men that served in Kerry's unit to state that he is unfit for command cannot and should not be brushed off as "partisan politics." It is not a "Republican vs. Democrat", or "conservative vs. liberal" issue. They aren't doing it for money. It is personal. The Swift Boat Vets are men who came to know John Kerry in the crucible of war and saw things in John Kerry that are so disturbing, that they cannot sit quietly. They also saw and heard one of their own come back from Vietnam and trash the legacy of everyone who served honorably. John Kerry's lies of atrocities are largely responsible for the terrible reputation Vietnam veterans have lived with for their entire lives. He testified that we were murdering, raping and torturing, with the consent and direction of the entire chain of command. Now, John Kerry is angry that these 254 men dare to question him.