Jim Kouri
April 8, 2006
War vets' lawsuit against Sen. Kerry heats up; taxpayers to pay Kerry legal bills
By Jim Kouri

"Vietnam veterans will not be intimidated by John Kerry," retired Air Force Colonel George "Bud" Day said in response to the Massachusetts Senator's newly created legal expense trust fund to finance his court battles against a group of highly-decorated Vietnam War veterans.

Col. Day added, "Why one of the wealthiest men in the Senate would expect others to pay his lawyers and use questionable Senate privileges against veterans is shameful."

Col. Day is chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), a group of Vietnam combat veterans who sued Sen. Kerry for "conspiracy and defamation." Day is the most decorated Air Force veteran alive, a Medal of Honor recipient, a veteran of three wars and a former Vietnam POW held captive for over five years.

Sen. Kerry recently filed papers with the US Senate creating a "legal expense trust fund" to handle costs associated with his defense in the VVLF lawsuit. This action appears to be questionable since he's defending actions he undertook before he became a member of the US Senate and while he was running a presidential campaign which has nothing whatsoever to due with Senate business. Ironically, the account is named "Fund for Truth and Honor."

"That's his way of mocking us and all Vietnam veterans," Col. Day remarked. "The concepts of truth and honor are utterly foreign to him. He's forced to plagiarize our words."

The veterans' lawsuit stems from Kerry's failed 2004 presidential bid when his campaign tried to prevent a documentary about Kerry's 1971 anti-war activities from being broadcast on television and cable stations, or shown in theaters.

That film, "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal," included interviews with Col. Day and several other Vietnam POWs. The film documented Naval Reserve Lt. Kerry's portrayal of Vietnam veterans as "war criminals" before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Those accusations, the POWs said, were false, threatened their survival, and lengthened their captivity.

They also resented his use of the name "Genghis Khan" to describe the actions of the military. Senator Kerry is no different today. Recently, he said on national television that US soldiers "broke into Iraqi homes and terrorized women and children."

Shortly after the documentary's release in September 2004, Kerry campaign aides sued "Stolen Honor" producer Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning journalist and decorated Marine Vietnam veteran. The lawsuits were followed by an assault on Sinclair Broadcast Group, which had announced plans to air the documentary. Kerry campaign-inspired ad boycotts, stockholders' rebellions, and calls for FCC and FEC investigations eventually forced Sinclair to drop its planned airing of "Stolen Honor."

In August 2005 Kerry supporters filed two additional lawsuits against Sherwood and VVLF POWs, claiming they "libeled" Kerry and other Vietnam veterans by questioning whether they witnessed or participated in "war crimes and atrocities" in Vietnam. However, Sen. Kerry admitted to committing "atrocities" during the Vietnam War, but was never prosecuted by the military for his admissions.

In response to Kerry's attacks on these honorable men, the VVLF POWs and Sherwood filed a "conspiracy defamation" lawsuit against Sen. Kerry and one of his top campaign aides, Anthony Podesta. That suit charges Kerry and his campaign with scheming to censor "Stolen Honor," attempting to prevent the American public from hearing Kerry's true anti-war history and the consequences his actions had on the POWs languishing in prisoner camps, as well as other Vietnam veterans.

"We could not stand by while John Kerry used his underlings to sue us into silence," Col. Day explained. "We could not allow this man to keep his hands clean while his surrogates did the dirty work, suing me and my fellow POWs because we spoke the truth about him.

What truly irks Col. Day and his fellow vets is the fact that Kerry is having US taxpayers foot his legal bills stemming from his anti-war comments and actions.

"It's time he is held accountable. He must face those whom he falsely accused. It's time America sees this man for [what] he really is, and the great harm he has done to many brave soldiers."

(Special thanks to Colonel Bud Day, USAF (Ret.) for providing information for this article.)



Jim Kouri will appear on the following shows:

Monday, 4/10 @ 6:30 AM (et) — The Bill Colley Show — WFBL AM, Syracuse, NY
www.wfbl.com

Monday, 4/10 @ 9:00 AM (et) — The Morning Zone — KGAB AM, Cheyenne, WY
www.kgab.com

Tuesday, 4/11 @ 3:10 PM (et) — The Tony Gill Show, WAIC FM, Springfield, MA
www.tonygillshow.com

Shows may be heard on stations' websites.

© Jim Kouri

 

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Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police... (more)

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