U.S.: Gunner's mate says Kerry ran like a girl

It was reported last night that Steven Gardner, a gunner’s mate on the first patrol boat commanded by Kerry in the Mekong Delta, contradicts accounts of the senator’s military career that depict him as a brave and aggressive lieutenant who won three Purple Hearts, which are a key element of his campaign against George Bush.

He personally killed a Viet Cong fighter in one action and was wounded three times, though not seriously.

However, in an interview with the Boston Globe, which contacted him about the presidential candidate, Gardner claimed: [Kerry] did not want to engage the enemy"He [Kerry] absolutely did not want to engage the enemy when I was with him.

"He wouldn’t go in there and search. That is why I have a negative viewpoint of John Kerry.

"His initial patterns of behaviour when I met him and served under him were of somebody who ran from the enemy, rather than engaged it."

Is this why, after mocking GWB with "Bring It On!", Kerry has begun whining now that GWB has taken the war to him?

A lengtheir version of the story is also carried here. This one attempts to discredit Steven Gardner. However, as Gardner says, he kept his story to himself and didn't go looking for an outlet to tell it. Kerry's biographer, Douglas Brinkley, went to Gardner!

Thanks to Instapundit for the link.