Found nothing on snopes. Any info on GOPUSA?
From email, of course :banghead:
----- Original Message -----
From: Don Greenlaw
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 5:22 PM
Subject: Fw: POWs' LAWSUIT COULD FORCE KERRY TO COME CLEAN ON VIETNAM 'WAR CRIMES' CHARGES
----- Original Message -----
From: kenbourg
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 2:15 PM
Subject: Fw: POWs' LAWSUIT COULD FORCE KERRY TO COME CLEAN ON VIETNAM 'WAR
CRIMES' CHARGES
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:00 PM
Subject: POWs' LAWSUIT COULD FORCE KERRY TO COME CLEAN ON VIETNAM 'WAR
CRIMES' CHARGES
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 . . .
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 is 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.
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