Capt. John O'Neill, a hero then and now

Vietnam Swift Boat veterans celebrate their role in John Kerry's election defeat

'John Kerry will never call us terrorists and war criminals again," crowed John O'Neill, the Vietnam war Swift Boat captain who led the fiercest attack of the campaign against the Democratic candidate.

With his brothers-in-arms from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Mr O'Neill was celebrating President George W Bush's victory with fervour. For the Swift Boat captains and crew who fought to destroy Sen Kerry's credibility as a Vietnam war hero, it was a victorious end to a vendetta that began more than 30 years ago.

"I will leave it to the professionals to decide whether we played a crucial role in defeating Kerry, but I am very satisfied," said Mr O'Neill from his law office in Houston, Texas.

...

Throughout their campaign Mr O'Neill and his fellow veterans insisted that they were working not for President Bush, but for justice and their own honour.

They saw Mr Kerry as a man who had ratted on his fellow warriors by describing them as "war criminals", faked his Vietnam wounds, and secured his medals under false pretences. Mr O'Neill's book caught the senator out in at least one exaggeration: his claim to have spent a Christmas in Cambodia, when he was several miles inside the Vietnamese border.

"Kerry has lost his case as well as the election. We have reclaimed history," said Mr O'Neill. Mr Kerry attracted particular opprobrium for having taken up leadership of a veterans' anti-war movement, the role in which he claimed that American troops had been involved in war crimes.

Mr O'Neill debated with Mr Kerry on television and has pursued him ever since. "The reason I will do anything to stop John Kerry becoming Commander-in-Chief is that, the first time he confronted terrorism - the terrorists of Vietnam - he took the position that they were the army of George Washington and we were the war criminals," he said.

...

Mr O'Neill warned that he remained ready for combat, and was waiting in the wings with his "message" should Sen Kerry ever choose to return to the presidential political fray.
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Of the dozens of celebratory adult beverages we tippled last weekend (and plan to tipple next weekend) the lion's share were hoisted in toast to the Swiftees.

While their charges were largely ignored by Kerry-Heinz's lapdogs in the MSM (the same media that celebrated the screwball 4th grade conspiracy theories of porcine propagandist Michael "The Bulbous Bolshevik" Moo-er) -- except when they were, baselessly, dismissed as baseless -- they did find their way into the debate via the "new media" -- the Internet (especially blogs), talk radio and cable talk shows.

Most worthy of praise is Capt. O'Neill, who has been sounding the alarm regarding Kerry-Heinz for decades. On at least two occasions, we witnessed Mr. O'Neill remain unbelievably cool under fire, most notably from the execrable James Carville and Lawrence O'Donnell. Neither man addressed O'Neill's charges, rather launched into rabid, ad hominem tirades. Had it been us under seige from the loathsome Mr. Carville, his barren pate would have required some reconstruction to get back to its original amorphousness.

There's been a lot of gum flapping amongst the chattering classes regarding "moral issues" being a large factor in the election. Well, it's not merely the evisceration of perfectly healthy unborn children that makes us Red State "idiots" queasy -- we are also disturbed by treason.

Here's to you, Capt. O'Neill, and all the Swiftees and POWs. Thank you for your part in sparing us, in such a dangerous time, the leadership of one so unfit for command.

Enjoy your parade!