Dean Esmay interviews Swift Boat Vet.

There is an excellent interview at Dean's World: bq. I've been trying for some time to obtain an interview with one of the members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. I most wanted to talked to one of the enlisted men who served personally with Kerry, and after much trying, I finally managed to get a phone interview late last week with Van Odell, who served as a gunner's mate in the same unit as John Kerry and who served with him longer than anyone else did in Viet Nam. bq. As I spoke to Mr. Odell, I decided to ask him the most blunt questions I could think of, wondering at times if he might become offended. He never did. He is a soft-spoken man with a mild demeanor, and displayed an easy temper and a gentle sense of humor throughout. And the interview: bq. Dean's World: The impression I get from news reports is that Kerry's actual crew are standing by him, while those criticizing him are other Swift Boat skippers and their crews. If true, what is your best guess as to why that should be so? bq. Van Odell: It's not true. Steve Gardner served on Kerry's boat longer than anybody else and he's one of our guys. He served with Kerry longer than any other crew member with Kerry, knew him better than any of those guys. bq. I would also say I don't know how Kerry cultivated those guys two years ago. When I knew them in Viet Nam they couldn't stand him, and even if you read Kerry's book Tour of Duty, that even says his crew couldn't stand him then. bq. We don't know how much they support him. Of those who are with him, the only one that will come out and talk to the press is Del Sandusky. The rest are never in the press. Whereas all 60 of us who served with Senator Kerry in our group are all out on the road and talking about why we oppose the Senator. bq. Dean's World: Would you say it's really Kerry's combat record that disturbs you most, or his testimony and actions after coming home from the war? bq. Van Odell: I would have to say it's both. You have to take Kerry as a whole ball of wax, you have to look at what he did in Viet Nam and what he did after coming home. bq. But deep down, viscerally, when he went before the Senate and called me a killer, a murderer and a rapist, I couldn't believe one of our own service members would get up and lie about us like that. I was there for 12 months, not just the 4 months that he was there, and I never saw or participated in any atrocities, nor anything like he described, while I was there. bq. Dean's World: Do you think all Viet Nam vets who came to oppose the war were finks? bq. Van Odell: No! As a matter of fact, everybody has a right to protest a war. What they don't have a right to do is to lie about their fellow soldiers in such a fashion that it affects them in the field of battle and affects them in a prison camp. bq. Things that POWs were tortured to be forced to say are things John Kerry said freely to the Senate and to the TV cameras and guys were sometimes tortured back in prison camps showing them that. bq. I would say that any American has a right to say anything he wants about a war they want to but they do not have a right to lie about what soldiers are doing in the field. I'm cherry-picking a few questions from the interview. And, of course, this will get picked up by the mainstream media...