Galling smears

  Perhaps it should no longer surprise, but it does: the guiltless ease with which
the Karl Rovian forces of the far right smear a perfectly fine person. They did
it with former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland; they did it with Sen. John McCain, and now
they are attempting to do it with Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic
candidate for president this fall.
  A clandestine slime campaign against Kerry has been ongoing for many months on
the Web. It surfaced this week when Republican National Committee Chairman Ed
Gillespie demanded that Kerry open all his military records from his Vietnam-era
service, as Kerry had pledged to do last Sunday in an appearance on "Meet the
Press." Kerry complied by posting his record on the Web for all to see.
  What Gillespie was tapping into was an ugly rumor mill whispering that Kerry
didn't deserve the three Purple Hearts, one Bronze Star and one Silver Star he
earned while commanding a high-speed gunboat on the rivers of Vietnam in
1968-69. Kerry has been accused of seeking out the medals, of somehow planning
his injuries and awards to plump up his résumé for political office, of war
crimes, of receiving his awards under "fishy circumstances," of not deserving
the Purple Hearts because his injuries were minor, of serving in Vietnam for
only four months, and on and on.
  Here's what Kerry's commanding officer told the Boston Globe: "There were an
awful lot of Purple Hearts -- from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40
grenades," said George Elliott. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes.
Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to
belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception." Besides, Kerry didn't
award himself the Purple Hearts; they were awarded to him by the Navy because he
deserved them. Once Kerry had the three awards, he was entitled to go home.
Who's to begrudge him the return to the United States? Certainly not anyone who
didn't also serve in that war theater.
  And here's what he lived through while he was there, taken from the citation for
Kerry's Silver Star:
  On Feb. 28, 1969, Kerry was serving as tactical commander for a three-boat unit
on the Dong Cung River. "As the force approached the target area ... all units
came under intense automatic weapons and small arms fire from an entrenched
enemy force less than 50 feet away. Unhesitatingly, Lt. (jg) Kerry ordered his
boat to attack as all units opened fire and beached directly in front of the
enemy ambushers. This daring and courageous tactic surprised the enemy and
succeeded in routing a score of enemy soldiers. ... On a request upon U.S. Army
advisors ashore, (Kerry) ordered (boats) 94 and 23 further up river to suppress
enemy sniper fire. After proceeding approximately 800 yards, the boats were
again taken under fire from a heavily foliated area and a B-40 rocket exploded
close aboard (boat) 94. With utter disregard for his own safety and the enemy
rockets, he again ordered a charge on the enemy, beached his boat only 10 feet
from the VC rocket position, and personally led a l!
 anding party ashore in pursuit of the enemy."
  The citation goes on to laud Kerry for his "brave action, bold initiative and
unwavering devotion to duty." The words are the Navy's, not Kerry's.
Moreover, he was in Vietnam, risking his life, risking death, with his fellow
Americans -- and receiving consistently outstanding ratings from his superior
officers. The first sentence of his Feb. 10, 1968, letter to the chief of naval
personnel says it all:  "I request duty in Vietnam."
  It is particularly galling to have this smear campaign thrown up on behalf of
people who didn't have the guts to serve in a war they supported. President Bush
didn't serve; nor did Vice President Dick Cheney, or Karl Rove, or Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz or many other high-ranking officials in the
Bush administration. In the broader right-wing community, the so-called
chickenhawks also include Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett, Newt Gingrich, Sean
Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, to name a few. Not one day did they serve in Vietnam;
not one bit of shrapnel came within thousands of miles of them; not one enemy
aimed a B-40 or an AK-47 at them and pulled the trigger; not one of them bore
the enormous responsibility of keeping other sailors safe in combat.
  These sorts of smears have worked before, those against McCain and Cleland being
two good examples. The American people should be resolute in ensuring the smears
won't work this time.