Waldo says:

this will go on as long as the media wants it to. the forth estate is now as inefctive as the other three

Anonymously says:

The only person saying that Kerry wrote those reports is Thurlow. And Thurlow can’t explain why someone else’s initials are on the report and why those initials are on reports that cover events that Kerry had nothing to do with.

Moreover, regarding the trustworthiness of Thurlow who says they were not under fire and tries to explain why he has a Bronze Star for being shot at (I cite this article in another Dvorak post as well):

“Robert E. Lambert doesn’t plan to vote for John Kerry.

But the Eagle Point man challenges claims by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that there was no enemy fire aimed at the five swift boats, including the one commanded by Kerry, on March 13, 1969 on the Bay Hap River in the southern tip of what was then South Vietnam.

Lambert, now 64, was a crew member on swift boat PCF-51 that day. The boat was commanded by Navy Lt. Larry Thurlow, a now-retired officer who questions why Kerry was awarded a Bronze star for bravery and a third Purple Heart for the March 13 incident.

“He and another officer now say we weren’t under fire at that time,” Lambert said Wednesday afternoon. “Well, I sure was under the impression we were.”

Lambert’s Bronze Star medal citation for the incident praises his courage under fire in the aftermath of a mine explosion that rocked another swift boat on that day 35 years ago.

“Anytime you are blown out of the water like that, they always follow that up with small arms fire,” he said.
…

Nor does he have much time for the debate over who wrote the medal citations. Thurlow says his citation for a Bronze Star, which states the boats were being fired upon, was based on an initial report written by Kerry.

Lambert doesn’t know who wrote the documents.

“They took what everybody said after they got in, piled it altogether and shipped it off and somebody wrote that, either at the division level, squadron level or commander of naval forces, Vietnam level,” Lambert said. “They decided what kind of medal was going to be put on it.

“Mine was for pulling Lt. Thurlow out of the river while we were under fire,” he said.
…

The five swift boats were operating off U.S. Coast Guard cutters farther out in the bay on March 13. The swift boats had dropped off a load of Chinese mercenaries and American Special Forces. The mission of the ground forces was to push the enemy out of the jungle and onto the beach, where the swift boat crews were ready to pounce with their .50-caliber machine guns and other weapons.

According to Kerry’s Bronze Star citation, he was awarded the medal for rescuing Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who had been blown off his swift boat. Rassmann, who lives in Florence, has repeatedly stated the boats were under fire.

“We were done with our OPs and on the way back out to sea,” Lambert recalled. “We were exiting the river. Kerry’s boat went through, then the 43 boat.”

Then PCF-3 hit a mine.

“The mine was right underneath it, just lifted it right out of the water,” he said.

The six-member crew was stunned and shaken by the blast; the boat was running free.

“It was running wide open — we were all running wide open, trying to get out of there,” he said.

But while PCF-3 was running at full throttle, there was no one at the helm.

Thurlow pulled his boat up along the PCF-3 boat and told Lambert to take control of the PCF-51 boat, Lambert said.

“Everybody was shooting back,” he said. “After my boat officer (Thurlow) jumped on the 3 boat, he was looking at people (the crew). His boat hit a sandbar and he was knocked overboard. So we went in and got him out.”

Lambert, who reached down to help Thurlow aboard, was awarded the Bronze Star for his “courage under fire,” according to his citation.

“We went right back to the 3 boat and he (Thurlow) went back on the boat,” he said. “We got the 3 boat off the sandbar, got a boat tied to each side of it and down the river we went.””
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/0826/local/stories/01local.htm

So, we have Thurlow who has a Bronze Star for “courage under fire” saying that he didn’t get fired upon versus multiple Navy documents and no evidence that Kerry wrote them, and other eyewitnesses like Kerry and his crew, and now Lambert who was on Thurlow’s boat and got a Bronze Star for rescuing him. Hmm…