crazy

The only apparent factual complaint about Coulter’s article is her claim that he lost his limbs in an accident and not combat.

This is factually true, and easy to prove. Cleland has no Purple Hearts. The reason is of course, that they are only granted for in combat injuries (regardless of severity, look at Kerry). Cleland did participate in Khe Sanh and survived unscratched where he won a Silver Star.

Shortly afterwards, he participated in a non-combat mission to setup a radio relay station where when re-boarding the helicoptor after it was complete he spotted a grenade on the ground. The grenade apparently had its pin straightened so that when grasped and closing the handle, it exploded.

Now, you can complain about the lack of respect given to Cleland by Coulter but you cannot complain that her claim is factually false.

*The only apparent factual complaint about Coulter’s article is her claim that he lost his limbs in an accident and not combat.

This is factually true, and easy to prove. Cleland has no Purple Hearts.*

That would be a good point .. if it were true.

True enough, Cleland wasn’t eligible for a purple heart because there was no enemy or enemy fire present.

However:

The mission was not “routine” (Lie #1). Very few missions in Vietnam were routine, and this was no exception: he volunteered to install a radio relay in Khe Sanh.

The mission was not “noncombat” (Lie #1). See above re: Khe Sanh.

He was not “about to drink beer with friends”. (Lie #3) Who knows where she got this one. Did I mention she’s a lying nutbag?

He wasn’t injured by “dropping a grenade on himself” (Lie #4) He picked it up. Coulter tries very hard to make Cleland look like a real dumbass.

So, that’s 4 lies, at least in the very small portion of her column that I pasted.

Nice try, though.. Thanks for playing!

1) “Not routine” or otherwise is going to be purely a judgement call. However, it seems to be an odd definition since radio relay stations are in fact set up routinely. It’s a requirement of their primary function: Relaying radio signals. Furthermore, it was not in Khe Sanh but rather 15 miles away on a mountaintop previously secured by an infantry company. If it had been in Khe Sanh proper it would have been an area filled with plenty of enemy to warrent a Purple Heart. Also, not that it matters, he did not volunteer to setup the relay station, but rather was directly ordered to do so.

2) The mission was quite clearly noncombat, as a Signal team is not a combat team. However, a noncombat mission can quickly turn into a combat mission with the presence of the enemy. Of course, the mountaintop had been previously secured by an infantry team - any combat that occurred was long over before he boarded the helicopter with the equipment. There is a big difference between “combat zone”, which was true, and “combat mission” which was not.

3) Unfortunatley for you, the drinking beer with his friends claim is a quote from Cleland and appears in two papers quoted in Coulter’s second article, including a Boston Globe Sunday article written by Jill Zuckman Aug. 3 1997, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec 5 1999. As well, apparently the beer quote appears in news accounts of the incident for the last 30 years.

4) You’re right he wasn’t injuired by dropping a grenade, and in fact that claim is never made. In fact the exact opposite, the truth, is stated clearly: He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up.

Because your comments have entirely been based on a truncated version of the article, and inconsistant with the full version, it is apparent that you have only read the Nation response to Coulter, and not her original articles. They are available: http://www.townhall.com/col… http://www.townhall.com/col…