Lambert breaks silence

[troublemaker]

Lambert is central to this whole thing. Lambert got an award for saving Thurlow in an incident that Thurlow now claims involved no enemy fire.

Read this carefully: Lambert pulled Thurlow out of the water under intense fire. To smear Kerry, Thurlow now says there was no fire, so Thurlow is questioning the merit of a medal awarded for saving Thurlow's own life. (I also question the merit of saving Thurlow's life, but probably for different reasons.)

It seems Lambert's silence was due to the fact that he hates Kerry, but didn't want to lie. He still hates Kerry but at least he's telling the truth:

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/0826/local/stories/01local.htm

[JI7]

1. i have much problem with them hating Kerry

in fact their reasons for hating Kerry are some of the reasons that make Kerry a good person.

but other than that, this shows how far these assholes have gone. it's no longer just about Kerry. they accuse rassman and many others of lying with their attacks on kerry.

they could have just criticized him for his anti war protests, but kerry has been proven right on the war. they know they can't win a debate on the vietnam war itself, especially against a guy who fought there and won many medals. so they had to attack his service before they could attack his protests.

[MikeG]

2. MOST IMPORTANT: Another nail in the Smear Boat coffin.

[yellowcanine]

3. This is the final nail in the swiftie's coffin. Lambert is NOT a Kerry

supporter but he supports his version of events. I am sure we can expect "swift" apologies from Thurlow and O'Neill.

[democratreformed]

4. Apologies? You're kidding, right?

It is impossible for these people to apologize. The word is probably not even in their vocabulary.

[hang a left]

5. Yep I think he/she was kidding. n/t

[yellowcanine]

7. I thought the "swift" part would convey the sarcasm. I guess I'm just

a cryptic guy. Sorry.

[democratreformed]

10. Yeah, and I'm kind of slow sometimes -

or so I'm told.

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

6. More logical analysis!

If so many men were being fished out of the water, how do the liars get away with saying there was no enemy fire? (Did these men jump into the water for a swim?)

[BillZBubb]

9. Hey it was hot that day, the guys wanted to cool off.

Yeah, that's it. Kerry and Lambert were just party poopers who made them get back in the boat.

Or maybe it was the mosquitoes. They were swarming. The guys dived into the water to escape. Yeah, that's it. Those weren't bullets, they were mosquitoes. Kerry is no more a hero than DEET!

[bobbyboucher]

17. Yeah, what was the hurry? Let them drag their own asses

out of the river.

[enough]

8. Important story in many ways.

Incredible the lengths they are going to. As you say, Thurlow is smearing the medal of the man who SAVED HIS LIFE. I'd be tempted to ask -- have they no shame??? But we already know the answer to that.

Nominating for home page.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Yep. Helps with the backlash.

The backlash needs time to grow.

[Ducks In A Row]

12. is this the reason the swiftvet site is being taken down

[kwolf68]

13. Wha?>

"But I can understand why Thurlow doesn’t like Kerry — these people did a year in Vietnam, not four months," he said later.

And Bush did how much?

[placton]

16. Kerry served 1 year PLUS 4 months in Nam

as I am led to believe. Even this guy is buying some of the lies.

[Craig Roberts]

14. Two important things here

1. Lambert is confirming everyone was under fire that day.

2. Lambert says he "doesn't recall ever having met Kerry."

So this was a guy in Thurlow's boat, serving with Kerry and being in essentially the same position to observe Kerry as the other SBVT veterans who were not on Kerry's boat. The SBVTs are saying they served alongside Kerry and have intimate knowledge of what kind of man he was and how he performed, but here is a guy who was on one of those boats saying he never even met Kerry.

I think that confirms that the best place to be to judge Kerry's performance was on his boat, or clinging to a cargo net on the bow of his boat when he reached over to pull you up onto the deck and saved your life.

[Zynx]

15. That's it. We have debunked them thoroughly.

[ET Awful]

18. Newsweek found this guys Bronze Star citation . . .

NEWSWEEK obtained a copy of the citation for Lambert’s Bronze Star from the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis under a Freedom of Information Act filing. This citation, like the others, says that following a mine explosion that wrecked one of the Swift Boats, the flotilla of five boats “came under small-arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks.” Lambert won his Bronze Star for an action precisely paralleling Kerry’s: Lambert picked someone out of the river. In Lambert’s case, that someone was his skipper, Thurlow.

Thurlow had steered his Swift Boat to the aid of its companion damaged by the mine, personally leaping into the foundering craft to aid its badly wounded crew while Lambert “directed accurate suppressing fire at the enemy,” according to the citation. In the swirling confusion, Thurlow was then knocked overboard from the wrecked launch. Lambert “from an exposed position and with complete disregard for his personal safety” pulled Thurlow back on to his Swift Boat, the citation says. It concludes by commending Lambert’s “coolness, professionalism and courage under fire.”


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5831541/site/newsweek/