A news conference was called in response to concerns raised by both Republicans and Democrats among Vietnam veterans, regarding
both comments by Bush campaign prerunner John O’Neill and by Larry Thurlow, a former Swift boat commander alongside
presidential candidate John Kerry. O’Neill was asked why he had not raised the issue of the purported inappropriateness
of Kerry’s medals, during their debate in 1971 on the Dick Cavett Show. O’Neill revealed today in a news conference
that he had a "terrible case of amnesia, really awful".
"My doctors say that it is not at all uncommon, especially when you have been traumatized by such incidents as having to
sit near someone who may have sat near Jane Fonda, or who falsely claimed that there was enemy fire when clearly there was
none, or may have cleverly used someone else’s initials to write his own combat summary and enhance his chances of being
elected President, to obtain I mean have, or get, amnesia from the shock. It happens, I believe, in one out of three people.
And I just remembered to raise these questions a couple months ago, when I was considering writing my book, which you see
here on my lap in its attractive paper jacket with a picture of that man pointing at you with his wrinkly face, just as he
probably pointed where he wanted to falsely say the enemy fire was coming from. Which it was not. It is available from Barnes
& Noble for $18.95.
"You would not believe how devastating it was to suddenly wake up in 2003 and remember a whole set of issues I had meant
to raise in 1971, realizing that it was too late. I wanted to throw up. It honestly helped me to decide to write this book,
which you see here, and which is available from Barnes & Noble for $18.95."
When asked whether the statements in the ads financed by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, such as, "John Kerry did not tell
the truth about what happened in Vietnam," referred to Kerry’s Swift Boat experiences or to experiences of other soldiers
recounted to him, Mr. O’Neill responded, "Vietnam, Schmietnam."
Some Democrats, as well as Republicans, expressed skepticism about the depth of Mr. O’Neill’s claim of amnesia,
Sen. Ted Kennedy saying, "Amnesia? If THAT would work I might have been president by now."
Mr. Thurlow was asked why he continued to assert that "the military used ‘language taken directly from John Kerry's
report which falsely described the action’ on March 13," in light of the fact that the report bore the initials, KJW,
and not JFK. He replied that the initials were similar enough that Kerry probably got his own initials wrong.
"The simple fact is that there was no enemy fire, and those who say they were being shot at, like that wimp who fell into
the water, are members of the Washington Post’s negative research team, and that’s that.
"I would like to say one other thing. Some have wondered at the ability of the military doctor who treated John Kerry for
his superficial scratch, to remember treating a superficial scratch thirty-five years after he or a corpsman perhaps treated
it, among the dozens of much more serious wounds he treated every day. It may be a sort of reverse amnesia, or it may be a
miracle, but at any rate it is right."
