THE KERRY DOSSIER (post here anything you've uncovered on Kerry)

Re the "authorship" of The New Soldier, refer to Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement, by Gerald Nicosia (Crown, 2001).

p. 115: "As [Al Hubbard] was later to write in The New Soldier, the casebook on Dewey Canyon assembled by VVAW and published by Collier, a black could not help wondering about the many paradoxes of the war: 'hearing a Vietnamese invite you to live in his home, after the war, and an American explain why you can't live in his block, after the war' and 'feeling happy to be leaving a country in which you do not belong and sad to be returning to a country in which you are not allowed to belong.'"

pp. 148-149: "[Bobby Muller] agreed to contribute an autobiographical essay to the book on Dewey Canyon that John Kerry and his friends were assembling, which was published later that year by Collier under the title The New Soldier. Muller's piece ended up being one of the strongest in the book, forever cementing his connection with VVAW--a connection that would cause him a good deal of embarrassment over the years, as he tried to build a broad-based veterans' constituency, and which he would often try to play down."

p. 155 "John Kerry's brother-in-law David Thorne and his friend George Butler had documented (with tape recorder and camera respectively) the entire Dewey Canyon III operation as Thorne's senior project at the Columbia School of Journalism. Because veterans were 'hot' just then, Collier offered them a book contract--but only provided John Kerry's name was on the book jacket--and the book, called The New Soldier, was rushed into print within a few months. The initial print run was 35,000 copies--quite impressive for that day. The advance was also sizable (most of it was donated to VVAW). Thorne was thus puzzled to find the book available in few bookstores. The next thing he knew, the editor who had commissioned the book was fired. On the grapevine, Thorne heard that 'the White House really put the kibosh on it [The New Soldier]." He was told that 'Nixon was freaked out by the book--he was really worried that the veterans' movement was going to make the antiwar movement legit.'"

Gerald Nicosia's Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement, (Crown, 2001). It meticulously documents the players, including Kerry and Fonda, the strategy, planning, financing, etc. of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and other organizations. John Forbes Kerry contributed to the book by way of two interviews with the author, in late 1988 and 1989.

See post #3 here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1080989/posts

Injured "Air Force Captain" Al Hubbard's memories of Viet Nam are graphic.......lies.

NBC found Hubard was not a Captain.

Hubbard then claimed he was a Sgt. in Viet Nam.

The Department of Defense reported Black Panther Al Hubbard had never served in Viet Nam.

..

http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200402\POL20040219a.html

"John Kerry's Anti-War Book Riles Former Green Beret"
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
February 19, 2004

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "CNSNews.com) - John F. Kerry downplayed any threat posed by the communist government of North Vietnam in his 1971 book The New Soldier and instead charged that American soldiers "were killing women and children" and helping to create "a nation of refugees, bomb craters, amputees, orphans, widows, and prostitutes..." in Vietnam.

The book, a copy of which CNSNews.com has obtained, is very difficult to find 33 years after it was written. Single copies of the book reportedly are selling for as high as $849.95 on the Internet. The cover of the book displays long-haired, bearded men carrying an upside down American flag in an apparent mockery of the famous planting of the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II."

Check out Kerry's latest! LA Times: Firm Owner Who Gave Kerry Money Faces Sentence

Crosslink to: FR discussion, LA Times: Firm Owner Who Gave Kerry Money Faces Sentence

Open Letter to Senator John F.Kerry ........
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079110/posts

Thanks for the link....an excellent contribution to the thread.

Nice find. Thanks for linking the Kerry Dossier thread to this valuable info.

HERE YOU GO! Audio and video of Kerry's 1971 testimony before Congress, plus transcript. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082860/posts

Great link, thanks.

Here's a summation of Kerry's service record. Includes a few interesting wrinkles that raise unanswered questions about how his character, as revealed then, contradicts his routine stump speech today.

Kerry tried to avoid combat in Vietnam

*Reassigned to a combat zone he quickly got out with a technicality.
*Stateside he got an 'early out' to run for Congress.
*Dropped out of the election after just 3 months.
*Joined radical anti-war protest group and threwaway medals.

When he had a choice, Kerry attempted to go to school in Paris rather than serve in Vietnam. He was denied permission. He was already outspoken against the US commitment in Vietnam.

But he had heard that enlisted men got better assignments than draftees so he joined the Navy. Kerry did not become a SEAL and despite his flying experience, he showed no interest in becoming a naval pilot.

On his Vietnam tour, he served on frigate off-shore for awhile; back at port stateside (for 6 months) Kerry asked for command of a swift-boat. He has admitted that he fully expected uneventful Coast Guard duty far from harm's way.

But the Navy decided to use patrol boats and swift-boats to interfere with the enemy's river supply routes. The swift-boat's mission changed; Kerry was thrust into combat against his expectations.

He must have been one of the swiftest swift-boat commanders to accumulate 3 Purple Hearts (for "bandaid wounds") and to take advantage of a 3-PH rule to get his ticket punched for a trip home. In his brief time skirting the VC in the Mekong Delta (a dangerous combat zone) Kerry was warned about endangering the lives of his crewmen through reckless behavior; he also instigated a near-mutiny when he led a confrontation with superior officers. His commanding officer may have appreciated the opportunity to send the well-to-do and politically connected Kerry stateside for reassignment as an Admiral's attache.

While still on the Navy payroll, Kerry travelled the anti-war protest circuit with a former speechwriter for John F Kennedy. Kerry requested an "early out" -- about 6 months short of his Navy commitment -- to run for Congress. After 3 months, he dropped out of the race when he realized he wouldn't win the election.

A few months later he joined V.V.A.W., helped organize the "Winter Soldier" mock trial, and made his false accusations of daily atrocities when he testified under oath before Congress. He wore his decorations when he passed on false stories and described his error-laden analysis of the war effort. That same week he infamously threwaway medals in protest. There's a published photo of him curled up on the grass weeping. Of course, 13 years later he had to admit that he had publicly discarded someone else's medals. A couple of years after his radical protests, he joined the Naval Reserves. The real medals that he had kept out of harm's way are now displayed in his office.

WINTER SOLDIER.com
http://www.wintersoldier.com

I unmislocated the Dossier Thread in my bookmarks. I'm going to research the link for the Vietnamese Americans Against Kerry. I'll post the link here when I find it after a little googling. Also, Theresa Heinz stated recently that she was an African-American, she was born in Mozambique. Does she want to be the first black first lady? They'll say anything to get a vote, won't they?

Not a racial comment but remember Clinton was the first black president?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083607/posts?q=1&&page=113
Interesting Times in post 113 quotes that "John Kerry defended Hubbard, citing the confession as proof of Hubbard's integrity." (Read full post for context)

Here's more on the story from Gerald Nicosia's "Home to War," Crown Publishers, 2001. I strongly recommend this book. The author is proud of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement and included much that John Kerry may wish were not available. There are many details of the RAW demonstration at Valley Forge, Winter Soldier, and Dewey Canyon III. Kerry was far more than an incidental participant. The book is heavily footnoted and Kerry's interviews with the author are meticulously cited

p.128

Just when it seemed the tension could get no greater, another bombshell was dropped in the veterans’ midst. John Kerry got a call from Lawrence Spivak, the longtime host of Meet the Press, informing him that Al Hubbard had lied to the American public about his rank, and probably about where he had served as well. Spivak demanded to know if VVAW had known in advance of Al’s deception. Kerry swore that they had all taken Al’s word on faith, but Spivak remained agitated, arguing that the integrity of the show had been compromised. The fact that Hubbard had been a sergeant, not a captain, though it had little bearing on what he had witnessed (especially since the government could not definitively say he had never been in Vietnam), nevertheless cast doubt on the credibility of every member of VVAW. It thrust the whole organization into a defensive posture.

Kerry attacked Hubbard mercilessly in front of the other leaders of the organization. According to Mike Oliver, Kerry was deeply embarrassed, feeling that Hubbard had discredited everything they had said to the American people on Meet the Press, which had been such a tremendous opportunity to publicize their cause. Of course, as Oliver also notes, Kerry ‘had all these political aspirations’ and going on national television had been ‘a big, big step’ toward getting himself elected to public office. The last thing Kerry had wanted was to appear to the American people as a fraud, even if only by association…”

p. 211

“In St. Louis in July [1971], two months after Dewey Canyon III, VVAW held its most turbulent national meeting to date. Many remember it as the meeting where John Kerry and Al Hubbard went head to head. Kerry made a long speech punctuated at frequent intervals by 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 of the 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.

For a minute it seemed as if Hubbard might have to be restrained to keep from coming to blows with Kerry, but then Kerry played his trump card: he resigned from the executive committee himself. Most of the other coordinators were flabbergasted, though many had seen it coming, suspecting that once John’s political career had gotten in gear he would move on to bigger and better things. In Oliver’s words, Kerry ‘came, he saw, he conquered, and he split!’ Kerry’s resignation made room for Hubbard to stay on as a national coordinator; but Al’s credibility was by now so badly damaged that he could no longer provide the strong leadership the organization needed in this pivotal time. Moreover, Hubbard suffered an attack of stomach ulcers shortly after the meeting.”

http://www.capitalresearch.org/news/news.asp?ID=180&m=print

2/13/2004

"League of Conservation Voters Endorses Husband of Teresa Heinz Kerry
Key Environmental Groups Funded by the Heinz Endowments
By John K. Carlisle"

"Q: What Ties Philanthropy to Politics?
A: Marriage and Money"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1088533/posts

"VET DROPS BIG BOMB ON KERRY!! Phoenix Program Vietnam Vet Urges Kerry To Come Clean"
Bush Country ^ | 030104 | Larry J. O’Daniel

Posted on 03/01/2004 1:05:21 PM PST by justme346

"My administration will confiscate every last gun in Germany."

I think Kerry is our modern Benedict Arnold & I think this comparison needs to be pointed out to the voting public.

Excellent point! I hope it gets used.

http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/03/16/Politics/John-Kerrys.IranianAmerican.FundRaisers-622667.shtml

"John Kerry's Iranian-American Fund-Raisers"

Posted March 1, 2004

By Kenneth R. Timmerman

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran."

LINKS OF INTEREST...

"Vietnam Veterans AGAINST John Kerry"

"POW MIA Families AGAINST John Kerry"

"WinterSoldier.com"