VVLF file suit, will John Kerry come clean?

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog or any of the hundreds of comments I've left when the subject of John Kerry and the Winter Soldiers comes up, knows that it is a subject that can make me see red in a heartbeat. In a variety of posts and places I've detailed the trauma our family suffered due to John Kerry's Congressional testimony and the subsequent treatment we received as a military family. Those years were very unpleasant ones and the memories run deep. I never thought there would be retribution. When the Swift Boaters came to public notice and I joined their effort, I suddenly found thousands of others who held the same deep hurts that I and my loved ones still feel. This notice of a lawsuit filed by the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation rekindles hope that Kerry may still be called to account. The full release follows:

POWs' LAWSUIT COULD FORCE KERRY TO COME
CLEAN ON VIETNAM 'WAR CRIMES' CHARGES

When John Kerry slandered an entire generation of men who fought in Vietnam he branded them as "war criminals." Today, much of the same thing is being said about our young men and women in Iraq.

Now, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas will test the very foundation of Kerry's anti-war persona for the first time. It isn't dubious medals or Kerry's disputed service record in Vietnam that is being called into question. This time Kerry may finally be forced to answer for the events that launched his public career, one that made him an anti-war hero for many American liberals and a turncoat for millions of Vietnam veterans.

The lawsuit (Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, et al. v. Kenneth Campbell, et al.) challenges the basis, the factual accuracy of then Lt. (j.g.) Kerry's acrimonious testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. It was there Kerry's public career was catapulted with his now ubiquitous portrayal of American soldiers as murderers, rapists and torturers "who ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam . . . [and] razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

For the anti-war, anti-American protesters, the American soldiers are the "terrorists," and the enemies are the victims of a barbaric U.S. military which tortures and murders defenseless civilians.

That false premise, one of the most vicious and enduring smears spawned by Kerry 35 years ago, will also be put to the test once Kerry's true "Band of Brothers" are put under oath in a Philadelphia courtroom.

The background to this lawsuit is long and complex, but even a condensed version is rich in irony and poetic justice.

It had it roots in 2004 with the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. Many may recall the film, although it is probably best known for not being seen, suppressed after Sinclair Broadcasting Company courageously announced it was going to air the documentary in its entirety. Thanks to Kerry and his liberal colleagues in the Senate and their enablers in the mainstream media, Sinclair was browbeaten into withdrawing the film, its broadcast license threatened by a Kerry campaign manager in 2004. The film's producer, Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter, interviewed former POWs for the documentary.

I was among those whom Sherwood, a decorated Marine combat veteran himself, asked to participate in Stolen Honor. I was a POW for nearly six years, held in North Vietnam prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a place of unimaginable horrors -- torture, beatings, starvation and mind-numbing isolation. When Kerry branded us "war criminals," he handed our captors all the justification they needed to carry out their threats to execute us. Thanks to Kerry, Jane Fonda and their comrades in the anti-war movement, our captivity was prolonged by years. The communists in Hanoi and Moscow couldn't have had a better press agent to spread their anti-American propaganda.

To guarantee Stolen Honor would never be seen by anyone -- not even theatre-goers -- the producer was slapped with a libel and defamation lawsuit. That lawsuit was filed by Kenneth Campbell, a University of Delaware professor, Kerry campaign aide, and long-time anti-war disciple of the Massachusetts Senator. Campbell co-founded the Philadelphia chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and, in 1971, he was one of Kerry's key war crimes "witnesses," one of several on whom Kerry claims he based his Senate testimony.

Campbell's lawsuit put a unique spin on the definition of defamation: He claimed that Stolen Honor damaged the public reputations of himself, Kerry and others by questioning whether they truly were the baby-killers they claimed to be!

The POWs and the wives of POWs who participated in Stolen Honor refused to abandon the facts conveyed in the film. For some of us, it was the first time since our release by the Communists in 1973 that we were able to have our voices publicly heard, to tell our stories about the consequences of Kerry's treachery. In 2005, we formed a nonprofit organization, the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), to gather records, documents and other materials to form a fact-based, educational repository for students and scholars of Vietnam history and to tell the true story of the American soldiers in Vietnam. The VVLF's mission is "to set the record straight, factually, about Vietnam and those who fought there."

For our efforts, we were promptly sued by Campbell and another long-time anti-war Kerry follower and VVAW member, Dr. Jon Bjornson. It was clear that Kerry not only wanted to punish us for Stolen Honor; he intended to use surrogates to sue us into permanent silence and financial ruin.

Forced to spend huge sums to defend ourselves from these frivolous lawsuits, we have filed a countersuit against these Kerry surrogates and intend to reveal the truth about the lawsuits and their sponsors. We believe that we can prove that the purpose of nearly two years of litigation was to cover up for Kerry's treachery, to drain us financially and spiritually, and to prevent us from setting the record straight.

At stake is ultimately nothing less than the integrity of the American military in Vietnam, the honor of the men who served their country, the nobility of those who gave their lives, and the truth of America's history in Vietnam. Until or unless we do correct the existing record, the American military may never be free of the myths and smears of Vietnam, its honor and integrity cleansed as it fights to defend freedom at home and around the world.

Our mission is hardly over. We hope you will join us in fighting this battle . . . for our soldiers, then and now. For more information about Vietnam, the foregoing litigation, or to make a donation, please access the VVLF website now.

Col. George E. "Bud" Day
Director and President,
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.,) was a POW in North Vietnam for five years, seven months and 13 days. He served in three wars (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) and earned the Medal of Honor. He isR the Air Force's most decorated living veteran. He is the Director and President of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, Inc., an organization created to better educate and inform the public about the Vietnam War, its events, its history, and the men and women who sacrificed to serve their country. Please go here to read Col. Day's statement in its entirety.

Related:

The Honor Lost May Be Redeemed by Flopping Aces: "Because of them millions of Vietnam Veterans have had their memories and legacy dragged through the mud. Maybe, just maybe, things will be righted." Sounds like Curt feels very much as I do.

Comments

[pagar]

More than almost anyone else on the net, you seem to understand what this means to many veterans, and their
families. My main regret, from my tours in Vietnam, has been that I and the others, that had been there, did not immediately confront John Kerry. Especially after he made his infamous speech in front of the Senate Committee. We knew he was lying, but most of us just wanted to get our marriages back together, get to know
our kids again, and most of all forget Vietnam. As a result of our failure to stop the Anti war movement's lies, we were almost stuck with John Kerry as President in 2004. Thanks to Pres Bush, the
Swift Boat Vets, Col Day and everyone else that stepped forword to tell the truth, American voters
learned enough about him to prevent his climb to our
top elected office.
Thanks for all you do to try to make things right in this world.

[Benjamin R Candelaria]

I was not on the deck in Viet Nam, engaged in combat or otherwise on the front lines. My role was in intelligence gathering and I flew over Viet Nam, landed in Thailand and visited some of our posts in that country. My heart goes out to our Viet Nam vets who suffered in combat and had to listen to the garbage put out by Kerry. I have visited the Viet Nam memorial in Washington, DC on more than one occasion, and have seen vets at the wall, with tears in their eyes, looking for fallen comrades who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Someone said many years ago, that history will judge us and our conduct. Perhaps today is Kerry's day to go through the judgement of his terrible actions. My only question is, "When is his trial date? Has it been set? How can I follow it? Will Court TV cover it?" I would really like to know. I spent 29 plus years in the military and went through WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. I have no doubt in my mind that I harbor the same feelings about Kerry as many of my fellow vets.