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For Immediate Release August 20, 2004 Swift Boat Vets for Bush Ad Fact Check - "Sellout" AD TITLE: "Sellout" DATE: 8/20/04 PAID FOR BY: Bob Perry, Harlan Crow and Other Texas Friends of George Bush, Karl Rove & Karen Hughes Bush Veterans Group Has a Problem Telling the Truth Washington Post: "Records Counter a Critic of Kerry- Fellow Skipper's Citation Refers To Enemy Fire" <8/19/04> New York Times: "The Group's Arguments Have Foundered on Other Contradictions." <8/20/04> New Details Reveal Swift Boat Vets Closer to Bush & Rove Than Previously Thought New York Times: Bush Family, Bush Political Aide Have Close Ties to These Ads. "In a series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove. Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election."
Dallas Morning News: "Veterans' Group Critical of Kerry Backed by Bush
Supporter." Bob Perry, a major supporter of President Bush and the
Republican Party, is the biggest financial backer of a veterans group
seeking to discredit Democrat John Kerry's military service, according
to federal records. Perry, a Houston homebuilder, gave $100,000 to Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that has been critical of Kerry's
anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam. That accounted for
two-thirds of the organization's receipts to date.
Former POW, John McCain Has Called These Ads "Dishonest & Dishonorable"
John McCain Says It's Dishonest & Dishonorable-Same Thing That Happened
to Him in 2000. "Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war
in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service
"dishonest and dishonorable" and urged the White House on Thursday to
condemn it as well. 'It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on
me,' McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to
his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush'."
* CBS News: "The Press Conference Was Set Up By The Same People
Who Tried To Discredit John McCain's Reputation." "The Boat Veterans for Truth"] press conference was set up by the same people
who tried to discredit John McCain's reputation in Vietnam service when
McCain faced George W. Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000. It's
the same strategy used to go after Georgia Senator Max Cleland, who lost
three limbs in Vietnam."
* Salon.Com: "Same Vicious Techniques They Used Against McCain"
"Behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are veteran corporate media
consultant and Texas Republican activist Merrie Spaeth, who is listed as
the group's media contact...In 2000, Spaeth participated in the most
subterranean episode of the Republican primary contest when a shadowy
group billed as 'Republicans for Clean Air' produced television ads
falsely attacking the environmental record of Sen. John McCain in
California, New York and Ohio. While the identity of those funding the
supposedly 'independent' ads was carefully hidden, reporters soon
learned that Republicans for Clean Air was simply Sam Wyly -- a big Bush
contributor and beneficiary of Bush administration decisions in Texas --
and his brother, Charles, another Bush "Pioneer" contributor."
Kerry's 1971 Testimony Was Relating the Stories He Heard From Fellow
Vietnam Veterans-Incidents Which Have Been Openly Admitted &
Investigated Since
Kerry Spoke About Testimony He Had Heard >From Vietnam Veterans. "I
would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that
several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150
honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified
to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but
crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of
officers at all levels of command. It is impossible to describe to you
exactly what did happen in Detroit, the emotions in the room, the
feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam, but
they did. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a
sense, made them do." - John Kerry Testimony, 4/22/71]
* Toledo Blade Wins 2004 Pulitzer for Series Exposing
American Atrocities in Vietnam. "Three Blade reporters won the
Pulitzer Prize - journalism's highest honor - for uncovering the
atrocities of an elite U.S. Army fighting unit in the Vietnam War that
killed unarmed civilians and children during a seven-month rampage.
Michael D. Sallah, Mitch Weiss, and Joe Mahr received the investigative
reporting prize for their series - 'Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths' -
which detailed how the Army failed to stop the atrocities after
commanders were told about them. The reporters also discovered that the
Army failed to prosecute soldiers who killed unarmed civilians after an
investigation found the platoon had committed war crimes. 4/6/04]
* Newsweek: "Record Shows Atrocities Did Occur." "The
historical record shows that atrocities did occur in Vietnam, as in the
My Lai massacre or the so-called Tiger Force activities that were
recently uncovered."
* Gen Tommy Franks: Certain that activities described by
Kerry did take place: "I think we had a lot of problems in Vietnam. One
was the lack of leadership of young people like in -- in John Kerry's
position. He was a young officer over there, and I'm not sure that --
that activities like that didn't take place. In fact, quite the
contrary. I'm sure that they did. ... I wouldn't say that the things
that Senator Kerry said are undeniable about activities in Vietnam. I
think that things didn't go right in Vietnam." 8/3/2004]
In 1971 Kerry Condemned America's Political & Military Leadership-Not
His Fellow Veterans
Kerry's Testimony Was an Indictment of America's Political
Leadership-Not Fellow Veterans. "We are also here to ask, and we are
here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is
the leadership? We are here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy,
Gilpatric and so many others. Where are they now that we, the men whom
they sent off to war, have returned? These are commanders who have
deserted their troops, and there is no more serious crime in the law of
war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they
never leave even their dead. These men have left all the casualties and
retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They have left the
real stuff of their reputation bleaching behind them in the sun in this
country." - John Kerry 4/22/71]
Kerry Believed Responsibility Did Not Lie With Vetrans. Mr. Kerry: My
feeling, Senator, on Lieutenant Calley is what he did quite obviously
was a horrible, horrible, horrible thing and I have no bone to pick with
the fact that he was prosecuted. But I think that in this question you
have to separate guilt from responsibility, and I think clearly the
responsibility for what has happened there lies elsewhere. I think it
lies with the men who designed free fire zones. I think it lies with the
men who encourage body counts. Testimony, 4/22/71]
Kerry Clearly Referred to the Political Leadership at the Time. JUDY
WOODRUFF: "They are saying, in effect, you were accusing American troops
of war crimes." JOHN KERRY: "No, I was accusing American leaders of
abandoning the troops. And if you read what I said, it is very clearly
an indictment of leadership. I said to the Senate, where is the
leadership of our country? And it's the leaders who are responsible, not
the soldiers. I never said that. I've always fought for the soldiers. In
fact, not only did we oppose the war, but we proudly stood up and fought
for the additions to the GI Bill so that vets would be able to use it.
We fought for the V.A. Hospitals. I wrote the Agent Orange legislation
with Tom Daschle. I helped with the post-Vietnam stress syndrome
outreach centers. I'm proud of the record of fighting for soldiers and
for veterans. And the fact is if we want to redebate the war on Vietnam
in 2004, I'm ready for that. It was a mistake, and I'm proud of having
stood up and shared with America my perceptions of what was happening."
Kerry's Testimony Was Well Received and Complimented by Senators of Both
Parties:
* I believe they deserve to be heard and listened to by
the Congress and by the officials in the executive branch and by the
public generally. ... I want also to congratulate Mr. Kerry, you, and
your associates upon the restraint that you have shown, certainly in the
hearing the other day when there were a great many of your people here.
I think you conducted yourselves in a most commendable manner throughout
this week.
* I think that this committee, and particularly Chairman
Fulbright, deserve a huge debt of gratitude from you and everyone of
your men who are here because when he conducted hearings some years ago
when we were fighting in Vietnam. ... Finally, in connection with
Lieutenant Calley, which is a very emotional issue in this country, I
was struck by your passing reference to that incident. Wouldn't you
agree with me though that what he did in herding old men, women and
children into a trench and then shooting them was a little bit beyond
the perimeter of even what has been going on in this war and that that
action should be discouraged. There are other actions not that extreme
that have gone on and have been permitted. If we had not taken action or
cognizance of it, it would have been even worse. It would have indicated
we encouraged this kind of action.
* Mr. Kerry, thank you too for coming. You have made more
than clear something that I think always has been true: that the war
never had any justification in terms of Indochina itself. Clifford Case (R-NJ)]
* The moral and morale issues you have raised will have
to be finally acted upon by the committee. I think it always fires us to
a deeper sense of emergency and dedication when we hear from a young man
like yourself in what we know to be the reflection of the attitude of so
many others who have served in a way which the American people so
clearly understand.
Kerry Has Stated That His Words Were Those of An Angry Young Man
Determined to End a War
Kerry on His Use of the Word "Atrocities" KERRY: I thought a lot, for a
long time, about that period of time, the things we said, and I think
the word is a bad word. I think it's an inappropriate word. I mean, if
you wanted to ask me have you ever made mistakes in your life, sure. I
think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an
anger. It was honest, but it was in anger, it was a little bit
excessive.
Kerry On His Use of the Words "War Criminals" KERRY: It was, I think, a
reflection of the kind of times we found ourselves in and I don't like
it when I hear it today. I don't like it, but I want you to notice that
at the end, I wasn't talking about the soldiers and the soldiers' blame,
and my great regret is, I hope no soldier--I mean, I think some soldiers
were angry at me for that, and I understand that and I regret that,
because I love them. But the words were honest but on the other hand,
they were a little bit over the top. And I think that there were
breaches of the Geneva Conventions. There were policies in place that
were not acceptable according to the laws of warfare, and everybody
knows that. I mean, books have chronicled that, so I'm not going to walk
away from that. But I wish I had found a way to say it in a less
abrasive way.
Kerry on His Relating the Stories Told By Other Vietnam Veterans. MR.
RUSSERT: But, Senator, when you testified before the Senate, you talked
about some of the hearings you had observed at the winter soldiers
meeting and you said that people had personally raped, cut off ears, cut
off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and on
and on. A lot of those stories have been discredited, and in hindsight
was your testimony... SEN. KERRY: Actually, a lot of them have been
documented. MR. RUSSERT: So you stand by that?
SEN. KERRY: A lot of those stories have been documented. Have some been
discredited? Sure, they have, Tim. The problem is that's not where the
focus should have been. And, you know, when you're angry about something
and you're young, you know, you're perfectly capable of not--I mean, if
I had the kind of experience and time behind me that I have today, I'd
have framed some of that differently. Needless to say, I'm proud that I
stood up. I don't want anybody to think twice about it. I'm proud that I
took the position that I took to oppose it. I think we saved lives, and
I'm proud that I stood up at a time when it was important to stand up,
but I'm not going to quibble, you know, 35 years later that I might not
have phrased things more artfully at times. 4/18/04]
John Kerry Worked With John McCain to Learn the Truth About America's
POW/MIA's
John Kerry & John McCain Led the Bipartisan Investigation into Vietnam
POW/MIA. John Kerry and John McCain, both veterans of the Vietnam War,
teamed up to investigate the issue of POW/MIA's in Vietnam. Kerry was
Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs and traveled
to Vietnam on several occasions to search for evidence of American
POW/MIA's in Vietnam. Kerry and McCain "doggedly investigated" an
important and volatile issue which some described as an "unglamorous
task that nobody else wanted." After the investigation, the bipartisan
committee ultimately declared that there were probably soldiers left
behind in Vietnam, but there was no compelling evidence that any were
still alive." Regarding the investigation, John McCain said, "John Kerry
handled the chairmanship of that committee with tremendous skill and
sensitivity." 4/24/03; The Hill, 11/29/00; The New Republic, 6/3/02]
Kerry was Part of First Bush Administration's Joint Commission on
POW/MIAs. John Kerry's commitment to the men and women in the U.S.
military also extended to joining the Commission started by President
George H. W. Bush in 1992. Kerry was part of the bipartisan group to
cooperate in finding the whereabouts of U.S. service personnel missing
over the past 50 years. "The USRJC was established in March 1992 by
agreement between Presidents Bush and Yeltsin to
determine the fates of American servicemen from World War II, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, who may still be missing on the
territory of the former Soviet Union or about whom the Russians may have
information."
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