Talk:Wade Sanders

Starting the "Wade Sanders" article

I started this article after being referred to an OpEd piece in the Washington Times by Sanders,[1] wondering who he was, and not finding an article on him on Wikipedia. Here's a link to his Federal election contributions, as reported from FERC by opensecrets.org:[2]. If the link rots, the necessary info is his name and zipcode (94104), which I saw on a site for San Diego political contributions that I found on Google but lost track of (I started trying Firefox today, and I dunno where to find the overall History...). Anyway, the info that he was big into defending Kerry from the SBVT from day 0 was what I was looking for, and now it's here. Andyvphil 09:31, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

I ran across a mention of WS appearing in Douglas Brinkley's Kerry-in-'Nam book Tour of Duty on p.254.[3] If someone has a copy and there's cite-worthy material there, please insert it. Andyvphil 10:11, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

It's not worth a mainspace cite, but here's the cite for Sanders' deputy assistant secretary title(?1994-1997?):[4]. Andyvphil 11:45, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and here's a resume: [5]. No time now for me to dredge it. Andyvphil 11:57, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Silver Medal Revocation

There appears to be some contention as to whether the silver medal revocation should be included. At this time, the only substantiation anyone can offer for this claim is the following post on a personal web site:

http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=179944&sid=a751c24c0d07cf22a148a45bb299b69d

There is currently no evidence to prove that the revocation has occurred. All of the following references refer back to this one forum post. I am suggesting that until someone can confirm the validity of this forum post, that the information about the revocation of a Naval Medal be left off of this page.

• http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/07/newspaper-kerry-crewmate-stripped-medal/PPG4hQojlR2L3PQJBPw7bL/index.html
• http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/07/26/john-kerry-ally-loses-silver-star/
• http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0711/SwiftVets_revenge.html?showall
• http://nation.foxnews.com/sen-john-kerry/2011/07/26/kerrys-swift-boat-ally-jailed-stripped-silver-star — Preceding unsigned comment added by Benace (talk • contribs) 23:16, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

You forgot to mention Fox News. Fox News is a very reputable news organization. The fact that several MAJOR American news organizations are reporting this - up to and include the Navy Times - should count for something.  General Zukov  23:18, 26 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by General Zukov (talk • contribs)

My apologies, I added the Fox News after my first edit. I still don't see where Fox News or anyone else cites a reliable source. The Navy Times would absolutely be a credible source, if their article could be located on their website. I have yet to find it :(

Award Revocation

Some dude keeps deleting information regarding the announced revocation of the Silver Star award. It seems to me that the editor is pushing some kind of POV since he states that references by both the Boston Globe, Fox News, and the Navy Times are not good enough for him!

See for your self:

In the July 18, 2011, issue of the Navy Times, it was announced that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus revoked the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest valor award, which was awarded nearly 20 years ago to retired Capt. Wade Sanders of San Diego. A spokeswoman for Mabus confirmed the secretary's decision, which he made in August 2010 following a review and recommendation by the Navy Department Board of Medals and Decorations. "Mabus signed a memorandum in which he revoked the previously awarded Silver Star," said Capt. Pamela Kunze. "Had the subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself been known to the Secretary of the Navy in 1992, those facts would have prevented the award of the Silver Star," Kunze said.

 General Zukov  23:15, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

General Zukov: I have been removing this for the reasons mentioned in my post above. Each one of those articles reference back only to the forum post on the SwiftVets web site. It may be hard to believe, but I am not trying to push any agenda or view here. I am merely trying to create an atmosphere of journalistic responsibility. The fact that large news companies such as Fox and Boston Globe have re-printed or paraphrased information from a personal forum post does not make that information reliable. None of the sources have offered any substantiation or cross-check other than to refer to each other's articles that all refer back to the same SwiftVets forum post.

My question to you is: can you find any original source for the claim that Wade Sanders's silver star has been revoked? One that does not refer back to either the SwiftVets forum post or the Navy Times article (unless the actual Navy Times article can be found on their official web site)? I have been searching for quite some time today, but have not found anything reliable. I have no doubt that the information is accurate, but we need to be able to verify it before posting it here. It is the gross lack of verifiable citations that has been giving Wikipedia a bad name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Benace (talk • contribs) 23:23, 26 July 2011 (UTC)