Swift Boat Attacks Collapse

Of course, that won't stop 50% of the US believing them, just like they believed in the WMDs and the Saddam-Al-Quaeda connection.

But just for the record, one of Kerry's old war comrades breaks his silence to quash the attacks:

"There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam... three officers and 15 crew members," said Mr Rood.

"Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened... One is John Kerry... who won a Silver Star for what happened... I am the other."

The Boston Globe asks readers to "imagine if supporters of Bill Clinton had tried in 1996 to besmirch the military record of his opponent, Bob Dole. After all, Dole was given a Purple Heart for a leg scratch probably caused, according to one biographer, when a hand grenade thrown by one of his own men bounced off a tree...

The truth, according to many accounts, is that Dole fought with exceptional bravery and deserves the nation's gratitude. No one in 1996 questioned that record. Any such attack on behalf of Clinton, an admitted Vietnam draft dodger, would have been preposterous.

Yet amazingly, something quite similar is happening today as supporters of President Bush attack the Vietnam record of Senator John Kerry."