Kerry can't recall being at '71 parley (Boston Globe tackles assassin plot - new info)

Boston Globe ^ | April 1st, 2004 | Michael Kranish

[Sabertooth]

Senator John F. Kerry said through a spokesman this week that he has no recollection of attending a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which some activists discussed a plot to kill some US senators who backed the war.

[Sabertooth]

[TBP]

Kerry can't recall being at '71 parley

Probably too stoned.

[Mo1]

Btt for a morning read

[js1138]

Pandora is missing some of her files also.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP FOR MORN!!

[Sabertooth]

But another FBI report from the same period adds that an informant at the Kansas City meeting heard a "vastly more militant posture," prompting an FBI official to add this cautionary note: "Some information reports by various informants is at variance and considering extreme importance of developments in this matter and intense interest of other government agencies, it is essential that full details of meeting be ascertained accurately and immediately." The reports indicate that the FBI information about Kerry came not from FBI agents but from informants who fed information to the government. Thus, the reliability of the reports is difficult to verify.

[Cindy]

Well, God bless Mr. Kerry's poor old, tired brain.
He can't recall....

Hillary has a hard time recalling things, too.

Democrat disease?

Well, I guess this "can't recall" business is one
more item Hillary and JFKerry have in common.

Yep. Great leaders in the making in these troublesome times.

[Sabertooth]

FYI

(Let me know if you want on or off my VVAW ping list.)

[MamaLucci]

Nicosia says some of the (stolen) files were "explosive". Interesting choice of words....

[squidly]

Many members of the organization agreed with Barnes that Kerry sought to moderate the group and that he quit the organization in 1971 when he could not come to terms with some of the more radical members the group.

This is the key paragraph, IMO. From what I've gathered, it is also probably true. Even the people who have stated that JK was at the KC meeting have said that he argued (apparently successfully) against the assassination plan. That's why I think this issue is a non-starter.

Even if my above paragraph is true, I suppose that if enough noise is made about it, it could be damaging to him. And why not play it that way? It's the way he plays it.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I find it hard to believe that Kerry "can't recall" a meeting of a group in which he had been active and at which someone proposed assassinating senior government leaders.

That is not the kind of experience that someone forgets.

Therefore, since he has not adamantly denied it, I tend to believe that he was there.

[archy]

The reports indicate that the FBI information about Kerry came not from FBI agents but from informants who fed information to the government. Thus, the reliability of the reports is difficult to verify.

How about the photographs of the participants taken by the 113th Military Intelligence Group?

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[Yaelle]

It sounds like the reason the conservo-media is not going with this story is that no one other than some eyewitnesses put him at the meeting and say that he was present for the voting. No one can get a good corroboration and they must all be afraid of being sued for libel or something.

And now some of the witnesses have changed their addled minds about Kerry being there, and Kerry supporter Nicosia had some explosive files "stolen" days after this story started to go national.

Well, gee.

How conveeeenient.

[skr]

Personally, I think I'd remember voting on assassination as a policy.

[Yaelle]

"If there are valid FBI surveillance reports from credible sources that place some of those disagreements in Kansas City, we accept that historical footnote in the account of his work to end the difficult and divisive war."

Now, what exact day did Kerry's campaign say the above, and what exact day thereafter did the Nicosia FBI files go "stolen"? I don't think there were more than 4 days between the two events.

Must just be a coincidence. Nothing to see here.

[beckett]

Quite honestly, I am not absolutely certain that John Kerry was at that meeting," Barnes said about the Kansas City session.

Randy Barnes stands at the gates of Canossa in sackcloth and ashes.

[MamaLucci]

John Kerry, a national VVAW leader, appeared at the meeting and announced to those present he was resigning from the executive committee for personal reasons; however, he would be available to speak for VVAW.

Something doesn't jibe with this whole story. Kerry has claimed he quit because the group was getting too radical, not "for personal reasons".
One thing's for sure SOMEBODY thinks the info in the Kerry files is interesting enough to have stolen them.

[Sabertooth]

A third key player, Randy Barnes, who headed the Kansas City chapter that hosted the meeting, has been quoted in the media as saying Kerry was there. But in a telephone interview, Barnes said he may have confused that session with an earlier one in St. Louis and now is unsure whether Kerry attended the Kansas City function.

"Quite honestly, I am not absolutely certain that John Kerry was at that meeting," Barnes said about the Kansas City session. "A meeting occurred in St. Louis and one occurred in Kansas City. I thought the Kansas City meeting was first."

But Barnes said he now realizes that "the St. Louis meeting was first. What I had thought was a certain thing, I am absolutely not sure now."

In any case, Barnes said, the plot suggested by Camil was never taken seriously and was quickly shouted down. As for Kerry, Barnes said, "John constantly gave an impassioned plea to be nonviolent, work within the system."

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			Posted by kennedy On 03/19/2004 9:07:07 AM PST with 422 comments New York Sun ^ | Mar 19, 2004 | JOSH GERSTEIN MILL VALLEY, Calif. — Senator Kerry of Massachusetts yesterday retreated from his earlier steadfast denials that he attended a meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which a plan to assassinate U.S. Senators was debated. The reversal came as new evidence, including reports from FBI informants, emerged that contradicted Mr. Kerry’s previous statements about the gathering, which was held in Kansas City, Mo. in November 1971. “John Kerry had no personal recollection of this meeting 33 years ago,” a Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, said in a statement e-mailed last night from Idaho, where Mr. Kerry is on vacation....

[Texasforever]

So the memory of a meeting discussing the assassination of US Senators is not something that one would carry to the grave? Now, either Kerry is in advanced Alzheimer’s or he is lying through he teeth. I don't think he is in advanced Alzheimer’s.