The Hindu : International : U.S. campaign rhetoric hots up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

International

International

U.S. campaign rhetoric hots up

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 27. Against the backdrop of heightening rhetoric in the last few days over military service during the Vietnam war, the soon-to-be Democratic nominee for this November's election, John Kerry, has slammed the U.S. President, George W Bush, for failing to prove if he had lived up to his commitment to the National Guard during the war.

Mr. Bush's supporters have been questioning whether Mr. Kerry deserved those three Purple Hearts for battlefield wounds and the Kerry campaign put out medical records last week that silenced his critics for a while. But the focus has shifted to Mr. Kerry's post Vietnam war activities and why he had not turned in his medals when hundreds of veterans had done so protesting against the war.

"If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates, he owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it. That's what we ought to have. I'm not going to stand around and let them play games," said Mr. Kerry.

Democrats have long questioned the kind of service Mr. Bush had made during the war though the White House has claimed that he had successfully completed his duties. Mr. Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and moved to the Alabama Guard in 1972. But how often he reported for duty in Alabama is not clear.

The Bush campaign is trying to turn attention away from the fact that Mr. Kerry is indeed a decorated Navy veteran and his active service in the Vietnam war along with the wounds he received have been a centrepiece of the Democratic campaign. But a top Bush adviser, Karen Hughes, accuses Mr. Kerry of not throwing away his medals when others had done so.

"He only pretended to throw his," Ms. Hughes remarked. "Now, I can understand that out of conscience, you take a principled stand and you would decide that you were so opposed to this that you would actually throw your medals. But to pretend to do so — I think that's very revealing."

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