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# Posted 12:23 AM by Ariel David Adesnik

SWIFT VETS, PART II: I've already put up one long post on the Swift Vets and the NYT, but I still haven't gotten to the heart of the matter, which is who is telling the truth, the Vets or the Times.

Writing about the NYT attack on the Swift Vets, Patterico says

The piece makes one telling point. It provides quotes praising Kerry from three of the Vets who currently condemn him: Roy F. Hoffmann, Adrian L. Lonsdale, and George Elliott. I think this is fair commentary -- the only fair commentary in the piece. If three Vets praised Kerry in previous years, that's a fair point. They should explain why they are saying something different now.

That same point struck me as quite important as well. While it is hard to trust anyone's memories of events that happened thirty-five years ago, it is extremely hard to trust such memories when they're coming form individuals who had different memories of the same events quite recently.

In 1996, George Elliott and Adrian Lonsdale publicly spoke out on Kerry's behalf during his Senate race. At a Kerry news conference, Lonsdale went out of his way to insist that contemporary reports about Kerry's actions were thoroughly corroborated and highly accurate. Those reports led to Kerry's Silver Star. Hoffmann confirmed the official version of those events as recently as May of last year.

Another important Swift Vet charge is that Kerry lied about the injury that resulted in his first Purple Heart. Yet contemporary records confirm Kerry's account and Louis Letson, the army doctor who says Kerry lied, admits that "I guess you'll have to take my word for it" because there are no documents that support his claim.

A third important charge is that Kerry won his Bronze Star by claiming that he braved enemy fire to rescue an injured shipmate who had fallen into the water. Again, contemporary accounts support Kerry's version of events.

According to Larry Thurlow, one of the Swift Vets who witnessed the events in question, there was no enemy fire. However, the WaPo recently got a hold of the citation for Thurlow's Bronze Star (which he won during the same battle). In it, there are multiple reference to enemy fire.

As I said before, I haven't come to any firm conclusions about the Swift Vets accusation. My mind is still open and I'll be happy to look at further evidence. But so far, things are looking pretty good for John F. Kerry.

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