Posted on 03/18/2004 2:58:03 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - A Vietnam War historian and supporter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has told CNSNews.com that Kerry is lying about key events related to his anti-war activities in 1971.
Kerry said he hasn't spoken to former anti-war associate Al Hubbard since the two men appeared side by side on national television in April 1971, but according to author Gerald Nicosia, that assertion is wrong. So is Kerry's insistence that he did not attend a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), at which group members discussed the possibility of assassinating U.S. senators who were still supporting the war in Vietnam, Nicosia said.
Nicosia backed up his comments regarding Kerry's presence at the November 1971 meeting by providing CNSNews.com with the FBI's redacted files about that meeting.
Questions about events that happened 33 years ago continue to nag the Kerry candidacy as the Massachusetts Democrat's November match-up against President Bush comes into sharper focus.
Kerry faces increasing skepticism about answers he gave to certain questions as well as recent statements he made, including his claim that some foreign leaders had told him they were hopeful Bush would be defeated this year.
Among the questions surrounding Kerry's involvement as a 27-year-old anti-war protester are those about his relationship with Hubbard, the former executive director of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry and Hubbard appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on April 18, 1971 to argue for an end to the war.
But shortly thereafter, Hubbard, who had been introduced on the NBC program as a decorated Air Force captain, was exposed for having exaggerated his military credentials. A separate news investigation revealed that there were no military records showing that Hubbard had either served in Vietnam or was injured there.
Last week, during a Capitol Hill news conference, CNSNews.com asked Kerry whether he was still in touch with Hubbard or whether he was willing to repudiate Hubbard because of Hubbard's fabricated war record.
"I haven't talked to Al Hubbard since that week" of the Meet the Press appearance, Kerry replied. Kerry also said he did not believe that VVAW's credibility was hurt as a result of Hubbard falsifying his war record.
But Gerald Nicosia, author of the book Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement and a Kerry supporter, disagreed with Kerry's contention that he and Hubbard saw no more of each other after the week of April 18, 1971.
"That is bull****. No, no, [Kerry] saw [Hubbard] at numerous meetings after that, including the one I talk about in my book, the July meeting in St. Louis," Nicosia told CNSNews.com .
[Kerry] saw [Hubbard] in July, and according to FBI [files on Vietnam Veterans Against the War] and the minutes of those meetings, [Kerry] probably saw him in November [1971] too," Nicosia said.
Kerry and Hubbard had a heated argument at the St. Louis meeting in July that was "witnessed by 200 veterans," according to Nicosia.
Despite the presidential candidate's claim last week that Hubbard had not hurt the anti-war group's credibility in 1971, Kerry actually believed otherwise, according to Nicosia.
"There was a big fight with Al Hubbard in which Kerry confronted him and they were screaming at each other across the hall," Nicosia explained. Hubbard, who had ties to the radical Black Panthers group, and Kerry "couldn't have been more opposite personalities," Nicosia said.
The simmering tension between the two men finally reached a boil in St. Louis, Nicosia said, with Kerry shouting, "Who are you, Al Hubbard? Are you even really a veteran?
"So it was a big screaming match," he added.
Nicosia told CNSNews.com he was uncomfortable disputing Kerry's statements.
"I am in kind of an awkward position here. I am a Kerry supporter and I certainly don't want to do anything that hurts him. On the other hand, my number one allegiance is to truth. So I am going to go with where the facts are, and John is going to have to deal with that," Nicosia said.
"I am having some problems with the things he is saying right now, which are not matching up with accuracy," he added.
November 1971 meeting
Nicosia also disputed Kerry's denial that he was in attendance when VVAW members met in Kansas City in November 1971 to discuss the possibility of assassinating U.S. senators still committed to the Vietnam War.
Kerry was at the meeting, Nicosia insisted, pointing to FBI files and the minutes from the VVAW meeting, which he has obtained. "The minutes of the meeting -- November 12th through the15th -- it's got John Kerry there, it's got John Kerry resigning there on the third day," Nicosia said.
Nicosia provided CNSNews.com with a copy of the FBI's redacted files of that November 1971 VVAW meeting. The files refer to the fact that Kerry had "resigned for 'personal reasons.'"
"You are talking to a Kerry supporter, but I will tell you, after everything that I have heard and seen, I would conclude that he was there," he added.
Nicosia said he is not sure why Kerry is answering questions on the issue in the manner he is.
"Why didn't [former President Bill] Clinton say he [had sex with] Monica Lewinsky? It took him until he had to be confronted with the hard evidence before he said he did," Nicosia said.
"I think [Kerry] may be worried or the people around him may be worried that his association with VVAW is a very negative thing and they want John to back away from it," he added.
Nicosia concluded with advice for Kerry.
"The chickens are coming home to roost, and unfortunately he is starting to backtrack and I personally don't think backtracking is going to work because people are going to go at him and find the discrepancies," Nicosia said.
As recently as two days ago, Kerry's presidential campaign spokesman David Wade told the New York Sun that, "Kerry was not at the Kansas City meeting." Wade added that Kerry had resigned from the VVAW "sometime in the summer of 1971."
See Earlier Stories:
Kerry Says Credibility Not Damaged By Former Comrade's Lie (March 11, 2004) Kerry-Linked Anti-War Group Can't Bury Deceit (March 3, 2004) Most Media Refused to Expose Kerry's Anti-War Cohort (March 3, 2004)
Sean Hannity refers to these people at the Kerry Clinton Kool Aid drinkers. I even heard a Kerry supporter on the radio who said, "Even if Kerry did lie, that does not make a difference to me".
Can you believe these people????
You are so right! Kerry is outlying Clinton-Gore already and I didn't think that was possible. Any trips to Russia or China in his background? Have a really bad feeling about this guy -- team him up with Hillary and the bad feeling will be twice as bad.
He is about as un-American as they come which makes me really wonder what his TRUE agenda might be. Negotiating with the terrorist mantra and giving them the idea if they do enough damage that he (Kerry) would defeat Bush borders on treason IMHO. At the very least he is undermining United States foreign policy and this Administration for political gain.
Rice v. Hitlery would be a great race. One sided, but none the less great.
My thoughts exactly. She The Unspeakable One is not going to allow a blockbuster punch at Kerry at this time. She is going to let things drip out slowly, to soften his support a little a time, then just before the Dem convention comes the knockout blow to finish him off. This is gonna go all 15 rounds.
No.
He's a biographer. He writes big long footnoted books.
This is why he has the goods on Kerry's lies.
He is being ignored compared to Brinkley.
Taking all that into account, look for the 5 days off Kerry is taking to begin a slow buildup of positive stories about him and the missus including one or two of those "Mr. Kerry went off to Idaho as the combative winner of a crowded primary season and emerged as the Democratic candidate for President, a thoughtful and measured opponent for an incumbent President." They'll paint him as this year's Mr. Gravitas in the hopes of keeping him intact till the final meltdown can be timed to Hitlery Rotten Klintoon's specifications.
And he's a dem supporter? {{((SIGH))}}
Kerry Lied In Press Conference Where He Refused To Apologize For Calling Republicans Liars
Kerry Lied In Press Conference Where He Refused To Apologize For Calling Republicans Liars
Compiled | March 12, 2004 | Hon
Posted on 03/12/2004 2:03:30 PM EST by Hon
Yesterday, John Kerry held a press conference on Capitol Hill where he adamantly refused to apologize for calling his GOP critics "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen."
However, in the course of this brief press conference Kerry told at least two lies himself:
Kerry Says Credibility Not Damaged By Former Comrade's Lie
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
March 11, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry Thursday said his credibility was not affected by his previous association with a man who fabricated his military credentials while serving as executive director of a prominent anti-war group that included Kerry."I think our credibility was tremendous," Kerry told CNSNews.com's Marc Morano during a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday. Kerry was surrounded at the press conference by Democratic members of the U.S. Senate.
Al Hubbard appeared with Kerry in 1971 on NBC's Meet the Press , was introduced as a former decorated Air Force captain who had spent two years in Vietnam and was wounded in the process. In reality, Hubbard had lied about his military rank and other issues, as later investigations revealed.
Kerry said he hasn't spoken to Hubbard since the week of April 19, 1971, "and everybody was disappointed by what they learned back in 1971. To his credit, [Hubbard] did serve his nation. He had simply exaggerated his particular position. But nobody knew it at the time, and those things happen."
It's clear that Kerry lied on at least two counts.
Hubbard did much more than misrepresent his rank. Hubbard claimed to be a pilot, to have held the rank of captain, to have seen atrocities and to have been wounded while in Vietnam. None of this was true. There is no record that Hubbard ever went to Vietnam. He was not wounded.
But at the time even, John Kerry defended Hubbard, citing the confession as proof of Hubbard's integrity. "Al owned up to the rank question," Kerry said. "He thought it was time to tell the truth, and he did it because he thought it would be best for the organization." Source
The funny thing is Kerry even confronted Hubbard with this information--during a showdown at at VVAW meeting in July 1971--which is after the date Kerry now claims he last spoke to Hubbard.
From Gerald Nicosia's book, Home To War pg. 211:
In St. Louis in July, two months after Dewev Canvon III, VVAW held its most turbulent national meeting to date. Many remember it as the meeting where John Kerry and Al Hubhard went head to head. Kerry made a long speech punctuated at frequent intervals bv the demand: "Who is Al Hubbard?" Voicing his opposition to Hubbard's various political and social agendas, Kerry even challenged Hubbard to prove he was a Vietnam veteran. Feeling supplanted, and weakened politically by the impending resignation of arch supporter Mike Oliver (who was about to leave for California as a field organizer), Hubbard "freaked out," screaming insults at Kerry from the opposite end oft he hall. Each time Kerry would denounce his authenticity, Hubbard would bounce up out of his chair, holding his back and grimacing, as if in great pain, and at one point he even pulled up his shirt to exhibit his scar.
Kerry wrote a rave review for Nicosia's book. He had a book party for it in his Senate office. So he is aware what is in it. It looks like Kerry is lying when he now claims to have had not further contact after April 1971.
It is certainly clear that Kerry lied about the extent of Hubbard's misrepresentations about himself. But Kerry seems to lie about a lot of things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.