Vietnam Veterans React to John Kerry's Formation of Legal Defense Fund

Vietnam Veterans React to John Kerry's Formation of Legal Defense Fund

WASHINGTON, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- "Vietnam veterans will not be intimidated by John Kerry," retired Air Force Col. George "Bud" Day said today, responding to the Massachusetts Senator's newly created legal expense trust fund to finance his court battles against a group of highly-decorated Vietnam 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 last year for "conspiracy and defamation." He 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 U.S. Senate creating a "legal expense trust fund" to handle costs associated with his defense of the VVLF lawsuit.

The veterans' lawsuit stems from his failed 2004 presidential bid when Kerry's campaign tried to prevent a documentary about Kerry's 1971 anti-war activities from being broadcast 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 Lt. Kerry's portrayal of Vietnam veterans as "war criminals" before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Those accusations, the POWs said, were false, threatened their survival, and lengthened their captivity.

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.

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.

In response, 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 POWs and 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.

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

For more information please go to http://www.vvlf.org/.

Source: Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

CONTACT: Charlie Gerow, +1-717-213-4955, for Vietnam Veterans Legacy
Foundation

Web site: http://www.vvlf.org/

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