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for command and he would know
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Ex-Air Force pilot shot down in Bosnia now takes aim at Kerry
About 100 veterans attend rally for Bush in Fogelsville on Friday.
By Daryl Nerl
Of The Morning Call
Scott O'Grady went sleepless six nights as he evaded capture behind enemy lines in Bosnia after his jet fighter was shot down in 1995. Now he says what keeps him awake at night is the thought of John Kerry in the White House.
''This is a man that would be harmful to our national security,'' O'Grady told a group of about 100 veterans and other supporters of President Bush at a breakfast rally in Fogelsville on Friday.
The retired Air Force captain garnered headlines nine years ago for his ordeal in the former Yugoslavia. Now he is touring the country, drumming up support for the president. Eight stops were planned in a Republican National Committee-sponsored tour of Pennsylvania Friday and today.
O'Grady did not bring up the intensifying controversy around Kerry and fellow Vietnam veterans who have questioned the Democratic presidential candidate's service record. Democratic Party television ads began running on Friday in response to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who have alleged Kerry did not deserve all of his medals — a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.
O'Grady leveled pointed criticism of Kerry's congressional voting record on defense and intelligence issues and his protest of the Vietnam War after he returned home.
But he did not repeat the accusation he made a week ago in St. Paul, Minn. that Kerry committed ''treason'' when he pushed North Vietnam's peace proposals to Congress while the United States was still at war there. He nonetheless took issue with Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during which he charged that some American soldiers committed atrocities.
O'Grady said everyone in the room should read the text of Kerry's testimony, which he said was available online.
''I did that and I believe that he is not a man fit to be commander in chief,'' O'Grady said.
O'Grady was introduced by Maj. Gen. William Lynch, the former adjutant general of the Pennsylvania National Guard, who proclaimed this ''the year of the veteran.'' He said Pennsylvania's 1.2 million veterans could make all the difference in this presidential race.
''Victory in Pennsylvania means victory overall,'' Lynch said. ''We can make a difference.''
But, polls show, military families here aren't leaning heavily in either direction.
A poll released this week by Quinnipiac University shows that Pennsylvania veterans or voters in households who have a veteran or soldier on active duty are as split as the rest of the American public, supporting Kerry by a slim 46-42 percent margin.
However, the same group of voters disagrees with the war in Iraq 54-41 percent. As a whole, Pennsylvania voters are split on the war, with the difference between supporters and opponents being smaller than the poll's margin of error of 2.6 percentage points
Mark Nevins, Kerry's campaign spokesman in Pennsylvania, said the Democrat enjoys strong support among veterans in the Commonwealth, with more than 10,000 members in Veterans for Kerry.
Among them is Kim Blyler of Bethlehem, a Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf war. Blyler said Bush has failed American soldiers in the Middle East by not having a strategy to win the peace and has muddled the anti-terrorism effort by diverting attention away from Afghanistan.
''There just seems like there has been a lot of deception,'' she said.
Further, she said, it makes a difference to her that Kerry is a combat veteran, while Bush spent his Vietnam-era military service stateside in the National Guard.
''I want a commander in chief that understands what it is like to be on the front lines,'' Blyler said. ''To me, that builds character. I think Kerry has wonderful character and I think that stems from his experience in Vietnam.''
Those who listened to O'Grady disagreed.
''Most of our best leaders and presidents never served a day in the military,'' said Paul J. Fiske, an Air Force veteran of Vietnam from Allentown.
''At a time of war, we cannot afford a change in public policy or political party,'' he said. ''It would send the wrong message to the wrong people.''
Veterans who attended the event seemed less concerned with questions surrounding either candidate's service record and more concerned with politics, including Kerry's Senate voting record and his history as a Vietnam War protester
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