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Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is an advocacy organization formed in 2004 by opponents of John Kerry's U.S. presidential campaign. Its name refers to the class of boat on which Kerry and SBVT's members served in the Vietnam War. The group is devoted to questioning Kerry's war record, particularly with regard to the merit of his medals and his veracity in testimony about the war.

Membership and Media Tactics

File:Unfit.jpg
In the September 2004 book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, SBVT spokesmen criticized Kerry's war record.

Founding members of the group include Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (retired), a former commander of Swift boat forces; Houston attorney John O'Neill, the officer who had replaced Kerry as commander of Swift Boat PCF 94 in 1969 and who appeared opposite Kerry in a televised 1971 debate between them on The Dick Cavett Show; and 13 other named veterans. Many current SBVT members are officers who had previously praised Kerry's conduct during the Vietnam War. These include Division Commander Grant Hibbard, who wrote positive evaluations of Kerry, and Commander George Elliott, who submitted Kerry for a Silver Star. Of the 3,500 Swift boat sailors who served in Vietnam, 254 signed the group's statement against Kerry. The statement claimed that Kerry had not been forthcoming about his military and medical records, and demanded that he make them public. In response, Kerry posted a collection of these military records to his campaign site. SBVT maintains that Kerry still has not fully disclosed his records.

SBVT first went public with a May 4, 2004 press conference to declare its opposition to Kerry. When the press conference garnered little attention, the organization decided to purchase television advertisements. The advertisements, released shortly after after Kerry's nomination severely criticized him, claiming, among other things, that Kerry "lied to get his Bronze Star." The advertisements also featured men saying, "I served with John Kerry". Although none of the men in the advertisement served on Kerry's Swift boat itself, several did serve on other Swift boats which would patrol and fight in groups along with Kerry's six-man boat.

SBVT spokesman John O'Neill wrote Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry with co-author Jerome R. Corsi. The September 2004 book criticized Kerry's judgment in battle, his truthfulness, his entitlement to certain medals, and his later anti-War activities. O'Neill served on the Swift Boats only after Kerry left; Corsi never served in Vietnam. However, the book cites about 60 eyewitnesses to Kerry's service.

Many of Kerry's 23 fellow Officers In Charge who served with Kerry in Coastal Division 11 are among the members of SBVT. On the other hand, of the men who served on the same boat as Kerry, only one, Stephen Gardner, is a member of SBVT. All the other living members of Kerry's crew support his presidential bid and frequently campaign with him. These men dispute SBVT's allegations: "totally false" (Drew Whitlow), "garbage" (Gene Thorson), and "a pack of lies" (Del Sandusky).

Allegations by SBVT

First Purple Heart

Grant Hibbard, Kerry's former commander, and other SBVT members have questioned Kerry's first Purple Heart. They assert that, according to testimony of other crewmen, the wound was not from enemy fire but was "self-inflicted". They also state that the injury was much too minor to merit a citation since the only treatment Kerry received was bacitracin and a bandage, and that he returned to service immediately.

In answer to the second charge, it has been noted that criteria for the Purple Heart specify citation for any injury received in combat requiring treatment by a medical officer, including wounds by "friendly fire." An article in the Boston Globe described the circumstances in which Purple Hearts were given to wounded soldiers in Vietnam:

'There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts — from shrapnel; some of those might have been M-40 grenades,' said George Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. 'The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception.'

In Douglas Brinkley's book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, Brinkley notes that Purple Hearts were given out frequently:

As generally understood, the Purple Heart is given to any U.S. citizen wounded in wartime service to the nation. Giving out Purple Hearts increased as the United States started sending Swifts up rivers. Sailors — no longer safe on aircraft carriers or battleships in the Gulf of Tonkin — were starting to bleed, a lot.

In the SBVT advertisement, Dr. Lewis Letson asserted "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury." Kerry's medical records list a medic, J. C. Carreon as "person administering treatment" for this wound. Dr. Letson's name does not appear on the record, although he claims that it was common for medics to sign the paperwork even though Letson would treat the patient. However, the claim cannot be substantiated as Carreon died in 1992.

Bronze Star

Kerry's Bronze Star has been criticized by former Swift Boat commander Larry Thurlow. During the incident leading to the medal, Thurlow was in overall command of a five-boat fleet including Kerry's. In 2004 Thurlow, along with two other SBVT members, alleged that Kerry's citation for bravery under fire is false, because neither Kerry's boat nor any of the others was under hostile fire. In a sworn affidavit about the incident, Thurlow testified "I never heard a shot".

Kerry's crewmates all insist that there was hostile fire during the incident. Jim Rassman, the Special Forces captain Kerry rescued, wrote "Machine-gun fire erupted from both banks of the river...When I surfaced, all the swift boats had left, and I was alone taking fire from both banks. To avoid the incoming fire, I repeatedly swam under water." Del Sandusky, the driver on Kerry's boat, stated "I saw the gun flashes in the jungle, and I saw the bullets skipping across the water." Jim Russell, the Psychological Operations Officer of the unit, who was on Don Droz's PCF-43, wrote, "All the time we were taking small arms fire from the beach... Anyone who doesn't think that we were being fired upon must have been on a different river."

Although it is not mentioned in Unfit for Command, Thurlow himself was awarded a Bronze Star for his actions during the same incident. Thurlow's citation includes several phrases indicating hostile fire such as "despite enemy bullets flying about him" and "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire", and speaks of fire directed at "all units" of the five-boat fleet. According to a damage report, Thurlow's boat received three bullet holes that day; he now claims at least one bullet hole was from action the previous day.

Thurlow claims that his Bronze Star citation is in error, but he does not explain why he had not questioned the error until now. He and others in SBVT claim that Kerry wrote the after-action report upon which the citations were based. The report is initialed "KJW", who SBVT claims is Kerry. However, Kerry's initials are "JFK", and SBVT cites no reason why Kerry would have included a "W". These same initials "KJW" appear on other reports about events in which Kerry did not participate. A Navy official stated to the New York Times that the initials referred, not to the author of the report, but to the headquarters staffer who received it.

Silver Star

Kerry's Silver Star medal has been called into question by George Elliott, Kerry's former commanding officer and a SBVT member. Elliott's stated position on the award changed during the course of the 2004 Presidential campaign.

Kerry's medal citation indicates that he charged into an ambush, killing an enemy preparing to launch a rocket. During Kerry's 1996 re-election campaign, Elliott responded to criticism of the medal, "The fact that he chased armed enemies down is not something to be looked down on." In June 2003, Elliott was quoted as saying the award was "well deserved" and that he had "no regrets or second thoughts at all about that."

More recently, however, Elliott has signed two affidavits that criticize the award. The first, in July 2004, stated in part, "When Kerry came back to the United States, he lied about what occurred in Vietnam..." After the release of this first affidavit, Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe quoted Elliott saying, "It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble here...I knew it was wrong...In a hurry I signed it and faxed it back. That was a mistake." Elliott contended that Kranish had substantially misquoted him, but the Globe stood by its account, calling the disputed quotes "absolutely accurate".

The story prompted Elliott to release a second affidavit, in August 2004, in which he stated, "Had I known the facts, I would not have recommended Kerry for the Silver Star for simply pursuing and dispatching a single wounded, fleeing Viet Cong." . The second affidavit made what Elliott called an "immaterial clarification", in that he admitted that he had no personal knowledge of the circumstances of the shooting. Rather, his initial statement that Kerry had been dishonest was based on unspecified sources and a passage contributed by Kranish to a biography of Kerry.

William Rood, now a Chicago Tribune editor, recently gave an account that supports Kerry's version of the events of that day. Rood was commander of PCF-23, which was one of the two Swift Boats that accompanied Kerry's PCF-94.

Rood discounted several specific charges made by SBVT about the incident. For example, O'Neill, had characterized Kerry's deeds as killing a lone teenager dressed in a loincloth. In contrast, Rood stated that there were multiple attackers and that Kerry killed an armed, fully grown guerilla dressed in standard Viet Cong garb. Also, Hoffman had characterized Kerry's actions as reckless and impulsive. However, Rood stated that Kerry's tactic of charging the beach was discussed and mutually agreed with the other boat commanders beforehand. He also notes that, at the time, Hoffman praised all three boat commanders and called the tactics developed "a shining example of completely overwhelming the enemy" and that they "may be the most efficacious method of dealing with small numbers of ambushers."

Commenting on the Silver Star issue, Republican Sen. John Warner, who was Under Secretary of the Navy at the time, stated "We did extraordinary, careful checking on that type of medal, a very high one, when it goes through the secretary...I'd stand by the process that awarded that medal, and I think we best acknowledge that his heroism did gain that recognition."

Cambodia Mission

One chapter of SBVT's forthcoming Unfit for Command questions Kerry's repeated statement that he was sent on an illegal, secret mission into Cambodia during Christmas December 25, 1968. None of Kerry's crew has confirmed entering Cambodia on Christmas; according to crewman James Wasser "It is very hard to tell. There are no signs." No conclusive documentary evidence is available. After details of the chapter were released, Kerry revised his statement, asserting that he was actually in Cambodia in either January or February rather than December.

Controversy

SBVT is officially a nonpartisan 527 group, but ties to the Republican Party politics have been a source of controversy. Notably, its media representative, Merrie Spaeth, was a Reagan administration press officer and an advisor to Ken Starr in the Clinton impeachment. Spaeth's late husband, Tex Lezar, ran for Texas lieutenant governor on George W. Bush's ticket in 1994. Its guiding spirit, John E. O'Neill — the primary author of Unfit for Command — donated over $14,000 to Republican candidates, was a partner in Lezar's law firm, and co-operated with the Nixon White House in opposing Kerry in 1971. The SBVT Web site was put up courtesy of William Franke, a St. Louis businessman with longstanding ties to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Missouri Republican Party. Its chief financiers, according to the group's last quarterly IRS filing, are Houston builder Bob J. Perry and the Crow family, both major Republican donors from Texas.

SBVT and its agitprop tactics have been criticized by many, who view SBVT as, in the words of Slate editor Jacob Weisberg, part of the "right-wing slime machine." Kerry himself has attacked SBVT as a partisan group — "They’re a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won’t denounce what they’re up to tells you everything you need to know—he wants them to do his dirty work."

Republican Senator John McCain, a Bush supporter and a Vietnam veteran, stated "I condemn the ad, it is dishonest and dishonorable, I think it is very, very wrong. I hope that the president will also condemn it." The Bush campaign did not condemn the advertisements, but did state "we have not and we will not question Sen. Kerry's service in Vietnam." To this, Kerry replied "Of course, the President keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that."

Most recently, Senator Kerry's campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that the advertisements promoted by SBVT are inaccurate and illegally coordinated with Republicans and the Bush-Cheney campaign. The complaint claims a "web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures, and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove", according to Kerry campaign officials.

Both sides of the debate have withheld documentation that might help shed more light on the controversy. The Kerry campaign has refused to release the Senator's journals (citing an agreement with historian Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty, for exclusive access) or authorize a full release of Navy records. On the SBVT side, several members involved in specific allegations have also declined to release their journals or relevant Navy records.

Another controversy was sparked by the considerable delay in coverage of key aspects of the SBVT claims (especially the "Christmas in Cambodia" story) by major media outlets.

External links

SBVT sites

Articles about SBVT