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Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
P.O. Box 26184
Alexandria, Virginia 22313
August 31, 2004
Senator John Kerry
901 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
Dear Senator Kerry:
As you prepare for your address before the American Legion in Nashville, =
Tennessee, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth encourages you to use this =
opportunity to clarify your actions in Vietnam and your statements about =
your fellow Veterans and shipmates when you returned home. Since you =
have made your four-month tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of your =
campaign, we respectfully insist that you be truthful. The public is =
owed a full and honest accounting of your actions. Veterans are owed an =
apology from you and an acknowledgement that there was no basis in fact =
for the accusations you made against them.
We urge you to:
1. Apologize for your conduct once you returned from Vietnam. Your =
exaggerated testimony before the US Senate; the blanket indictment of =
your fellow veterans; throwing away medals and ribbons; all of these =
actions dishonored America and the armed forces. Your rhetoric and =
actions were not only wrong, they aided the enemy and brought great pain =
to POW's, veterans and their families.
2. Clarify the conflicting accounts involving the Bay Hap River =
incident of March 13, 1969 (Bronze Star and 3rd Purple Heart). You have =
now described three different versions of this incident. In the first =
version of this incident presented during the Democrat National =
Convention, you stated: "No man left behind," suggesting to the =
American people that you alone stayed on the river to rescue Mr. =
Rassmann. Later, when forced to acknowledge conflicting eyewitness =
testimony from fellow swift boat veterans, you said that your boat left =
the scene to return moments later to retrieve Jim Rassmann from the =
water. Yet, in another version of the same incident discovered in the =
Congressional Record, you reported that your boat struck a mine and =
Rassmann fell off the boat. Mr. Kerry, please explain to your fellow =
veterans and the American people which version is the truth.
3. Affirm that the injuries for which you received your purple hearts =
never required any medical treatment beyond perhaps a bandage and that, =
in all instances, these injuries were self-inflicted and came from your =
own weapon. Further, that if any of these purple hearts were falsely =
awarded, that you would not have been eligible to leave Vietnam after =
serving only four months.
4. Acknowledge what your own biographer is now saying, that the =
Christmas in Cambodia claim is "obviously wrong," that you were never in =
Cambodia over Christmas or any other time during your brief, four-month =
tour in Vietnam and that your statements before the United States Senate =
in 1986 were false.
If you undertake these steps we will be satisfied that the American =
public has been sufficiently apprised as to these aspects of your =
career, and we will discontinue the media advertisements you have sought =
so fervently to silence.
Please know that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are eager to close our =
own personal chapters on Vietnam and instead focus on the war we're =
currently fighting =97 the ongoing war on terrorism. In the absence of =
full public disclosure and a public apology, we will continue efforts to =
carry our message to an ever-expanding base of grassroots supporters.
Senator Kerry, we want to get Vietnam behind us. But, we can only do so =
if the truth is told.
We respectfully await your reply.
Sincerely,
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
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