(CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of

presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed
letter that he is "unfit to be commander-in-chief." They will do so at a
press conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical
in dimension," John O'Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a
PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com. The event, which
is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by
a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every
commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that
says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief," O'Neill said.

O'Neill, currently a Houston, Texas, based attorney, is no stranger to
Kerry. O'Neill served in the same naval unit as Kerry and commanded
Kerry's swift boat after Kerry returned to the United States. Kerry's
command of the PCF boat lasted four months and ended shortly after he
received his third Purple Heart. According to naval regulations at the
time, any sailor who received three Purple Hearts could request a transfer
out of the combat zone.

Kerry and O'Neill engaged in a nationally televised debate in 1971 on The
***** Cavett Show over Kerry's allegations that many Vietnam soldiers had
routinely engaged in atrocities such as raping and cutting off ears and
heads of Vietnamese soldiers and citizens. Kerry was the then spokesman
for the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

"We are going to be presenting a letter that deals with Kerry's unfitness
to be commander and chief that has been signed by hundreds of swift boat
sailors, including most of those who served with Kerry," O'Neill
explained.

"The ranks of the people signing [the letter] range from admiral down to
seaman, and they run across the entire spectrum of politics, specialties,
and political feelings about the Vietnam War," he added.

Among those scheduled to attend the event at the National Press Club and
declare Kerry unfit for the role of commander-in-chief are retired Naval
Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman, who was the commander of the Navy Coastal
Surveillance Force, which included the swift boats on which Kerry served.

Also scheduled to be present at the event is Kerry's former commanding
officer, Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard. Hibbard recently questioned whether
Kerry deserved the first of his three Purple Hearts that he received in
Vietnam. Hibbard doubted both the severity of the wound and whether it
resulted from enemy fire.

"I've had thorns from a rose that were worse" than Kerry's wound for which
he received a Purple Heart, Hibbard told the Boston Globe in April.

Organizers are confident that Tuesday's event and the letter with hundreds
of signatures will educate people about Kerry.

"It is one of the largest outpourings of concern about him being
commander-in-chief that anybody could have in a presidential campaign and
it is by the people who know him best," O'Neill said.

'Unfit Commander-in-Chief'

Swift Boat Veterans For Truth maintains that Kerry's fellow Vietnam
veterans are almost uniform in their disdain for his military service and
anti-war protests.

"Not only a majority of the people who served with him feel that way, but
a vast and overwhelming majority," O'Neill said. He added that more than
"ninety percent of the people contacted by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
responded to the request to sign their name, with only 12 declining to
sign.

"Comrades who actually served with him, almost all of them, are opposed to
him, and believe he would be an unfit commander in chief and intend to
bring the truth of his actual record to the attention of the American
people," O'Neill said.

O'Neill hopes the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth can reveal to the American
people what he sees as Kerry's flawed character.

"In the military, loyalty between commanders and the troops serving them
is a two-way street. We have here a guy (Kerry) that with all of us in the
field [in Vietnam] -- actually fighting the North Vietnamese -- came home
and then falsely accused all of us of war crimes at a time when the people
in uniform couldn't even respond," O'Neill said.

"And he did that knowing that was a lie," he added.

'Real John Kerry'

B. G. Burkett, author of the book Stolen Valor and a military researcher,
believes that Tuesday's event will not be dismissed easily by Kerry's
campaign as a "partisan" attack.

"There are probably just as many Democrats amongst sailors who sailed
swift boats as there are Republicans. What Kerry fails to realize is this
has nothing to do with politics -- this has to with Vietnam Veterans who
served, who have a beef with John Kerry's service, both during and after
the war," Burkett told CNSNews.com.

Xomicron <xomicron@wp.pl> wrote:
(CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of
presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed
letter that he is "unfit to be commander-in-chief." They will do so at a
press conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical
in dimension," John O'Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a
PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com. The event, which
is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by
a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every
commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that
says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief," O'Neill said.

O'Neill, currently a Houston, Texas, based attorney, is no stranger to
Kerry. O'Neill served in the same naval unit as Kerry and commanded
Kerry's swift boat after Kerry returned to the United States. Kerry's
command of the PCF boat lasted four months and ended shortly after he
received his third Purple Heart. According to naval regulations at the
time, any sailor who received three Purple Hearts could request a transfer
out of the combat zone.

Kerry and O'Neill engaged in a nationally televised debate in 1971 on The
***** Cavett Show over Kerry's allegations that many Vietnam soldiers had
routinely engaged in atrocities such as raping and cutting off ears and
heads of Vietnamese soldiers and citizens. Kerry was the then spokesman
for the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

"We are going to be presenting a letter that deals with Kerry's unfitness
to be commander and chief that has been signed by hundreds of swift boat
sailors, including most of those who served with Kerry," O'Neill
explained.

"The ranks of the people signing [the letter] range from admiral down to
seaman, and they run across the entire spectrum of politics, specialties,
and political feelings about the Vietnam War," he added.

Among those scheduled to attend the event at the National Press Club and
declare Kerry unfit for the role of commander-in-chief are retired Naval
Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman, who was the commander of the Navy Coastal
Surveillance Force, which included the swift boats on which Kerry served.

Also scheduled to be present at the event is Kerry's former commanding
officer, Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard. Hibbard recently questioned whether
Kerry deserved the first of his three Purple Hearts that he received in
Vietnam. Hibbard doubted both the severity of the wound and whether it
resulted from enemy fire.

"I've had thorns from a rose that were worse" than Kerry's wound for which
he received a Purple Heart, Hibbard told the Boston Globe in April.

Organizers are confident that Tuesday's event and the letter with hundreds
of signatures will educate people about Kerry.

"It is one of the largest outpourings of concern about him being
commander-in-chief that anybody could have in a presidential campaign and
it is by the people who know him best," O'Neill said.

'Unfit Commander-in-Chief'

Swift Boat Veterans For Truth maintains that Kerry's fellow Vietnam
veterans are almost uniform in their disdain for his military service and
anti-war protests.

"Not only a majority of the people who served with him feel that way, but
a vast and overwhelming majority," O'Neill said. He added that more than
"ninety percent of the people contacted by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
responded to the request to sign their name, with only 12 declining to
sign.

"Comrades who actually served with him, almost all of them, are opposed to
him, and believe he would be an unfit commander in chief and intend to
bring the truth of his actual record to the attention of the American
people," O'Neill said.

O'Neill hopes the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth can reveal to the American
people what he sees as Kerry's flawed character.

"In the military, loyalty between commanders and the troops serving them
is a two-way street. We have here a guy (Kerry) that with all of us in the
field [in Vietnam] -- actually fighting the North Vietnamese -- came home
and then falsely accused all of us of war crimes at a time when the people
in uniform couldn't even respond," O'Neill said.

"And he did that knowing that was a lie," he added.

'Real John Kerry'

B. G. Burkett, author of the book Stolen Valor and a military researcher,
believes that Tuesday's event will not be dismissed easily by Kerry's
campaign as a "partisan" attack.

"There are probably just as many Democrats amongst sailors who sailed
swift boats as there are Republicans. What Kerry fails to realize is this
has nothing to do with politics -- this has to with Vietnam Veterans who
served, who have a beef with John Kerry's service, both during and after
the war," Burkett told CNSNews.com.

(CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of