Talk:John E. O'Neill

I've met John O'Neill, he had nothing to do with any Republican anything. He knows what he is talking about. He served on the boat Kerry uses in his campaign. He probably would not have come forward had any other Demo led the ticket.

An anonymous user with IP number 67.67.114.206 posted the following comments while deleting the existing text of this article. These comments are commentary rather than factual information about John O'Neill and therefore do not belong in the article itself. --John Stauber 16:57, 11 May 2004 (EDT)

John O'Neill is just scared of the idea that Kerry could be president. He sees that Kerry is only interested in POWER rather than what is right. Kerry doesn't care about anyone else. He wants to gain power and control. He will say and do anything to get it. The only axis of evil that I see in America is :

Kerry, Clintons, Kennedy, and Byrd.

These folk are not interested in your well being. They want the government to control your life. Now that is truly scrary stuff. Big brother.

As for Kerry, the guy should have gone to prison for atrocities he has repeatedly admitted to. If we're sending those Iraqi veterans to prison for less than he participated in then why hasn't he gone to prison??!!!! No, instead the freakin wack-Os vote him in office because of his smooth talk. The only talk I ever see him do is in "circles"!! Why is that so hard to see? He still has to serve time in prison for his many, many crimes!! He is a convict that has escaped through our system. So either he's lying (more than likely) or he's a convict. No way is he getting my vote.

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When I first read this statement from "SourceWatch" I thought that O'Neill had been shown to be deceitful, quote:

In the April 22, 2004, CNN article "Fellow vet blasts Kerry's antiwar comments. Democrat's campaign to release military records" O'Neill claimed that not only had he "served in the same Navy unit as Sen. John Kerry" but also denounced "charges the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made as an antiwar protester that he and other U.S. troops committed atrocities in Vietnam."

Said O'Neill, "'I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero ... He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11." O'Neill "joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam," according to CNN. [3]

End-quote

It makes it sound like O'Neill claimed he served in the same unit as Kerry at the same time.

Or at least that's the impression I got and I'm sure a great many people would have the same impression.

Then I thought to look a little further. First, I went to the reference SourceWatch gives.

It turns out that the 'quote' in this statement:

Quote:

...O'Neill claimed that not only had he "served in the same Navy unit as Sen. John Kerry"....

End-quote

are not John O'Neill's words. Instead they are written by an anonymous CNN author and in context it's immediately made clear that the "same Navy unit" is meant in the sense of the Swift boats and not that the two men ever served together.

Looking further I found this:

Quote:

After a year on the Woodpecker, O'Neill transferred to the Swift boats in the spring of 1969, serving on them until the summer of 1970. His boat was fired on many times as it patrolled the Cambodian border, as well as the Uminh and Namcan forests in southern Vietnam. In the Swifts, says O'Neill, the average length of service was twelve months; John Kerry was in for four.

After a little over two years' duty, O'Neill himself departed Vietnam with two Bronze Stars (with "V"s for valor in combat) pinned to his chest. There were apparently several more decorations, but when I asked about them, his modesty triumphed over my curiosity. He also came home with a badly damaged knee and leg, which earned him some time in a military hospital. And it was there that John O'Neill started learning about the Senate testimony of someone named John Kerry. Distressed and angered by the future senator's allegations, none of which squared with his own experiences, O'Neill vainly wrote to the Foreign Relations Committee asking for a chance to testify himself.

Then he read an op-ed in the New York Times by Bruce Kessler, a former Marine and a leader of the new group, Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, which disparaged the Kerry allegations. O'Neill wrote to Kessler, who got him involved in a Washington press conference. "We were convinced," says O'Neill, that "Kerry's charges were false." 60 Minutes and NBC both offered time for a debate -- Kerry vs. O'Neill -- but the former repeatedly balked. And then, miraculously, Kerry accepted an invitation from Dick Cavett to go head-to-head with O'Neill.

End-quote.

See http://www.nationalreview.com/rose/rose200404211228.asp

Which it's my guess has always been the story that John O'Neill has told concerning how he came to be involved with John Kerry.

I also found that if you go and read the letter signed by some 300 men who did know John Kerry while in Vietnam (asserting that he's unfit to be president of the United States), you'll note that it is not signed by John O'Neill.

See http://www.swiftvets.com/article.php?story=20040629220813790

-- Mark Amerman

twisted
George W hid in the National Guard Dick Cheney was "sensitive" to the more important things he had to do when it was his turn. Of course, when it comes to sending YOUR kids to a foreign land to die ... they are real TOUGH GUYS!

John Kerry served in Vietnam. John Kerry is the one to be trashed? In restrospect, anyone now support that Vietnam misadventure?

John made a mistake. He didnt shoot that RAT BASTARD John ONEILL!

I would follow george bush to a kegger, maybe even on a panty raid ... but that's about it!!! He is capable of one phrase absolutes! If then logic, no chance.

What a nightmare! Our most sacred ritual of democracy, november presidential elections, has deteriorated into a 24x7, month after month broadcast of "The Apprentice", a battle between 20-30 something marketing/public relations/advertising jerks on each side.

Ron

Dead links can be left in the article; and the full citation, with or without link, should remain in the article. --Maynard 13:43, 3 Sep 2004 (EDT)

Ron, get all the information
Prior to john kerry serving in viet nam, he first tried to get a deferment to go study in france, when that was disapproved, he joined the navy thinking he wouldn't be deployed, when he was, he then had to serve, not wanted to serve, and got his George W. Bush butt out of there as fast as he could, with 2 self induced wounds to get enough purple hearts got get back home and continue his opportunistic quest for power by denouncing the Government's continuing involvement in Viet Nam.

The Lawrence O'Donnell melt down
The Lawrence O'Donnell melt down;

10 minutes and 42 seconds of vicious uncontrolled psychotic rantings with some 47 or so "lies", "liar","lying liar" mentions replacing any kind of intelligent argument

when faced with John O'Neill and the signed affidavits of the Swift Boat Vets Friday 10/22/04 on MSNBC's Scarborough Country told me all I need to know.

If all the political operatives have is shouting down and trying to stomp out others' First Ammendment Rights, what are they afraid of?