The return of the Swift Boat.

[globalvillage]

Navy wants small, nimble craft in Iraq
Harbors, coastlines, rivers to be patrolled
BY JULIAN E. BARNES
Los Angeles Times
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Swift boats own a small but tortured part of Navy history. The shallow-water craft crewed by armed sailors patrolled the rivers of Vietnam, one of the most dangerous missions in the Navy.

In the 2004 presidential campaign, the boats emerged as part of a bitter debate over whether Navy veteran John Kerry, the skipper of one of the 50-foot vessels, was a slacker or a hero.

Now, 30 years after Swift boats were mothballed, the Navy has decided they are just what's needed in Iraq and beyond.

Next year, the Navy will deploy a squadron of 220 sailors to patrol Iraq's Euphrates River on 39-foot versions of the boats. Starting with a dozen vessels that can carry up to 16 sailors each, their goal will be to stop shipments of weapons, bombs and fighters from Syria to Baghdad.

more

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/14990692.htm?source=rss&channel=twincities_nation

First, let me say that it's pretty fucked up when your first sentence states that this was one of the most dangerous missions in the Navy, and in the second sentence question someoneone who was part of the mission. The 'slacker or hero' phrase could easily have been replaced with one that doesn't lend credence to the bastard Swift Boat Liars.
Second, are they painting targets on these things? Cause it seems to me as dangerous as they were in Vietnam, today in Iraq they'd be sitting ducks. I wonder what the Senator thinks about this.

[ginnyinWI]

1. you're absolutely right

From the looks of it, even the worst "slacker" on a Swift boat would have to, by definition, be a hero.

I think it's an awful idea. Another brainchild of Rummy's perhaps?

[sandnsea]

2. Well it's not a sign of drawdown

That's for absolute certain. I would consider this opening up a new front, I wonder if Iraq knows about it.

Do you think that sentence might cause a few people to be embarrassed about their own participation in denigrating a war veteran?

[globalvillage]

4. I hope more than a few.

I'm not faulting the writer so much. He should have worded it differently, but basically, the statement that it was a bitter debate in '04 is true. Maybe you're right and the reader will draw the obvious conclusion.
I just can't, for the life of me, imagine how anyone could point to someone who volunteered to serve and took on an incredibly dangerous mission and use the word 'slacker' in the same sentence. It doesn't even make sense.
I'm just a little touchy, I guess, when the Liars are mentioned without being discredited.
Hell, I HATE John McCain, and I wouldn't think to attack his service. Everything after that, maybe, but even he deserves some respect for the time he served.

I'm sure we'll hear more on this soon. This is all I could find so far.

[karynnj]

3. Totally right - not to mention, even most of the SBVT didn't

say he was a slacker.

[Island Blue]

5. Here's another article on the same subject

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=102789&ran=88511

This one doesn't mention Kerry, or even Swift Boats per se. This is like deja vu all over again. I'm no military strategist, but I can see this not turning out real well.

[karynnj]

6. If they're till looking for veterans from the last time

There's a group who seemed to like Bush and his war - the SBVT - maybe they enlist en masse. After all, they helped this war continue.

[Island Blue]

7. True enough

and they seem to have a lot of spare time on their hands. Maybe they could show us how it's really done (:sarcasm:) by being the lead boat going up river.

[beachmom]

8. Interestingly enough, one of the crew members in Kerry's boat

DID get a letter from the Navy and was called for service to Iraq because I think he was still in the IRR -- too funny!! I think he didn't go, on account of him being, you know, kind of old.

As the story IB referenced, the disclosure of this new Navy small boat unit was first reported back in April in Virginia Beach -- my town. It was posted in GD, and it ends up there already are boats there patrolling but the Army is doing it. Apparently there is a turf war element to this -- the Navy wants in on the action. The mission in Iraq is not as dangerous as Vietnam because you don't have that jungle cover and also I think the Euphrates River is wider. That's what a Vietnam Vet (who was on the rivers in the really small boats) said. Nevertheless, feel a little bit for my town (and Fedup's), because we may start getting more casualties here which we've escaped so far due to this being mostly a Navy town.

I don't like that sentence in the article about Kerry -- hero or slacker -- WTF?? The only thing important are the facts -- and the facts overwhelmingly support Kerry getting 3 purple hearts, and the silver and bronze medals. Whether he was a "hero" or a "slacker" are not really related to those medals and quite subjective. Those SBVT idiots could have come out and said he was a slacker without also saying that he didn't deserve the medals (explosive charges). THAT'S my objection. The first being an opinion the second being outright lies.