Bush Cartel author of a new anti-John Kerry book frequently posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Muslims and Catholics as Pedophiles

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WASHINGTON - One of the authors of a new anti-John Kerry (news - web sites) book frequently posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Muslims and Catholics as pedophiles and Pope John Paul II as senile.

But as he prepared to launch the book, "Unfit for Command," Jerry Corsi apologized for the remarks in an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, saying they were meant as a joke and he never intended to offend anyone.

In chat room entry last year on freerepublic.com, Corsi writes: "Islam is a peaceful religion — just as long as the women are beaten, the boys buggered and the infidels are killed."

In another entry, he says: "So this is what the last days of the Catholic Church are going to look like. Buggering boys undermines the moral base and the lawyers rip the gold off the Vatican altars. We may get one more Pope, when this senile one dies, but that's probably about it."

Corsi, who described himself as a "devout Catholic," said the comments are being taken out of context. "I considered them a joke," said Corsi, who owns a financial services company and has written extensively on the anti-war movement.

In a March posting, Corsi discussed Kerry's faith, writing: "After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judaism? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?"

Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, are Catholic.

"I don't stand by any of those comments and I apologize if they offended anybody," Corsi said.

The Kerry campaign called Corsi's Web chat postings disgusting.

"President Bush should immediately condemn this sleazy book written by a virulent anti-Catholic bigot. It says something about the smear campaign against John Kerry that it has stooped to enlist a hatemonger," said campaign spokesman Chad Clanton.

Calls to the Bush-Cheney campaign were not immediately returned.

"Unfit for Command," which goes on sale Wednesday, accuses the Democratic presidential nominee of lying about his decorated wartime record and betraying comrades by returning from Vietnam and alleging widespread atrocities by U.S. troops.

The book claims that Kerry earned his Silver Star not in a barrage of enemy fire, but rather by killing a fleeing Viet Cong teenager. It also questions the three Purple Hearts that Kerry earned, saying that none was for serious injuries and two wounds were self-inflicted.

According to medical records from his naval service, Kerry still has shrapnel in his thigh from a war injury.

"I think it's important the country have the facts about John Kerry so that they can reach a reasonable decision," said co-author John O'Neill, who succeeded Kerry in command of a swift boat. O'Neill also is spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which began airing an anti-Kerry ad last week.

John O'Neill and the other authors of this book on Kerry never served with Kerry. Those who did serve with him say that this book is nonsense, and they support Kerry wholeheartedly. O'Neill became skipper of Kerry's swift boat after Kerry left Viet Nam, but never met him until after then President Richard Nixon picked O'Neill to go after Kerry because Kerry had become involved in the anti-war effort, and had testified before Congress. After Kerry came back from serving in combat in Viet Nam he learned that the Viet Nam war was based on lies of former President Johnson that Vietnamese had attacked US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson got Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that alled him to start the Viet Nam war (sound familiar?). Kerry met with dozens of other Viet Nam vets many of whom were distraught over the fact that they had knowingly killed civilians, and worse. They confessed these acts to one another at the Winter Soldiers Investigation in Detroit in 1971. These acts were often encouraged by military superiors. Nixon had to silence Kerry, and so Nixon picked John O'Neill who has been dogging Kerry ever since, and working for and with the Republican Party for 30 years. Now he tries to claim that he is "non-partisan" and only after the truth, but the sailors who served with Kerry say that O'Neill is full of sh*t. O'Neill's handlers got a doctor to say that Kerry's injuries weren't serious on the occasion of one of his purple hearts. The only problem is that this doctor didn't examine Kerry. A different one did, who agreed that the injuries were serious. Kerry still has shrapnel in his body from the war that the doctors couldn't remove without endangering his life. Of course to O'Neill and hatemonger Jerry Corsi, co-authors of the anti-Kerry book, that is not serious at all. I suspect that Kerry's crew didn't like O'Neill compared to their old skipper, Kerry, and O'Neill has been bitter about coming up second to Kerry ever since. He has to bring Kerry down to satisfy his own wounded ego. Unfortunately for O'Neill they don't give purple hearts for injured pride!