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.

[FourtySeven]

The report, from an unnamed confidential source, said "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." The report does not mention discussion of a plot to kill senators; instead, it mentions that the group planned activities such as "a fast, a vigil, and guerrilla theater."

Damn. < sigh >

[FourtySeven]

Great...so now we're down to playing the Washington Amnesia game...there must REALLY be some liability concerning his civic reponsibility over this issue.

As I predicted when this story first broke. I was really excited when evidence came out that showed Kerry spoke for the VVAW after 1971, but sadly I fear that won't be enough, especially since he's got the media in his pocket.

[VadeRetro]

Was starting to wonder where this story went. John Fund mentioned it in the WSJ and then, instead of the usual echo, nothing. The media has the reverb pegged to zero.

[rwfromkansas]

Where did he say that?

[rwfromkansas]

They online anywhere?

[MamaLucci]

Kerry Author: Stolen FBI Files Were 'Very Explosive'

[Yaelle]

We are assuming that these FBI files are copies. Can't someone else get access to them under FOI like Nicosia did some years ago?

Well, yes, but A) Nicosia has no idea (or says he has no idea) WHICH files tell the story, so you'd have to order the whole 13 file boxes or whatever, and B) The FOIA is notoriously slow, apparently, and the files would probably arrive after the election.

[Yaelle]

There's some evidence he worked with VVAW on into 1972; therefore, he is lying today about his involvement then.

Yes. That Boston Globe photo of him watching Nixon on TV is in 1972 and he is still called a leader of the VVAW.

But even more serious to Kerry is the fact that he did not report the threat of assassination to anyone.

Which is why he has to say he was not at the meeting. We need FBI files saying he was there. At that point, he will say he was there as a "footnote," which is a great defense for anyone to use. Maybe Scott Peterson killed his pregnant wife as a footnote, too.

If he is proven to have been there, he must then rely on his faulty memory to "not recall" what took place at that meeting in the Mennonite Hall. I love it because it absolutely defies credulity. No one forgets the meeting they attended where a vote was taken to kill United States Senators. Except maybe hardened Al Qaeda operatives.

And there WAS an attempt on Sen. Stennis's life several years later and two of the other reputed targeted legistators later died in plane crashes.

Stennis's hit was only a year later. And within a couple more years came the other two violent deaths. Three out of the six. Kind of makes you say "Hmmm."

[Yaelle]

The other Senator that died just the day before in ANOTHER plane crash was Senator Heinz, which gave Teresa Heinz the freedom to marry John F'n Kerry.

I just have to ask this: were she and Kerry seeing each other before Senator Heinz's untimely death?

[archy]

They online anywhere?

Still classified, I bet. Some of Hoover's COINTELPRO operations were still running then, and one or more of those espousing the most violent acts may have been an Army or FBI agent provocateur. I seem to recall a bombing in a Boston airport or train station in the same time period, 1972-'74 or thereabouts, and both the OPERATION WATCH TOWER and OPERATION CANTON SONG projects, both very highly classified, followed circa 1975-'76. See also the Justice Department's DE FEO REPORT, named for the Justice Department investigator probing DEA plans to assassinate foreign heads of state, including Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos and Manuel *Noryago*, run by DEA/military spook Lucian *Black Luigi* Conein.

Lou Conein, 1962-63:

[twigs]

I thought John Hightower's death was in 1990/91, 20 years after this meeting? Stennis was shot in '73 and Boggs' plane went down in '72 (I think that's right). And a young Bill Clinton was the one who drove him to the airport. Anyone else?

From what I can tell, Teresa and Kerry met each other later. But as members (Teresa as spouse, Kerry as member) of a fairly small and probably active social group (the Senate), they must have known each other. However, that crash was an accident. I'll never forget the day and watched multiple hours of the coverage.

Thanks for the info on the FBI files. That helped explain the situation to me.

[Cuttnhorse]

I'm with you Squidly...this is going nowhere.

I recall Rush saying during all the stuff going on with the Clintons, something like..."people should stop trying to dig up dirt to bring down the Clintons, the most corrupt administration in US history...it just isn't going to work."

He was right...even after being impeached the guy managed to survive...he's harder to get rid of than lice.

[jojodamofo]

If someone wears the Democratic donkey, he is an enemy of the people. Anyone who deals with him is a liberal and must be treated accordingly. The Democrat earns the contempt of the entire people, for he is a craven coward who leaves them in the lurch to stand by the enemy.

[Yaelle]

You're welcome. Was Hightower one of the six? Is he the one also called Tower? I am just not up on those Senators and their stories. I thought I read on FR somewhere that the other two did die reasonably soon thereafter, accidents or not.

For the crime of conspiracy to commit murder of a federal officer, a move has to have been made toward the crime. On the small side, one account has them deciding who will do which senator (giving one Texan to a Texan? if I recall correctly). But on the large side, Stennis's attack seems very suspicious and has never been solved. That was definitely an attempted murder, as one of the shots barely missed his heart. His doctors considered his recovery a miracle.

Now, if it appears Kerry did commit that crime of conspiracy, there is probably a statute of limitation which has expired. Nevertheless that would make a fascinating campaign ad for Bush:

[A photo of longhaired Kerry and his merry band of VVAWs is shown] "Senator Kerry took part in a vote on whether or not to kill six senators that voted for the Vietnam War." [Show our troops in Iraq, then show the Senate floor empty] "Aren't his fellow Senators lucky today that Senator Kerry is now among them rather than taking part in plots to kill them??"

How could that not finish him?

[teletech]

If someone wears the Democratic donkey, he is an enemy of the people. Anyone who deals with him is a liberal and must be treated accordingly. The Democrat earns the contempt of the entire people, for he is a craven coward who leaves them in the lurch to stand by the enemy.

Now tell us what you REALLY think of the RATS!

[highlander_UW]

If Kerry can't recall being at this meeting then clearly it couldn't have been the reason he resigned from the group, now could it? And if he didn't resign from the group over plans to assassinate senators then he's just proved, yet again, that he should be in prison and not running for president.

[badgerlandjim]

post #50 ...serious memory problems or onset of Alzheimers.

...or possibly, the three purple hearts he put himself in for were for serious head wounds that now conveniently play havoc with his memory when he is under stress.

[Criminal Number 18F]

A few points:

1. When Nicosia got burgled, where was Kerry's brother Cam and campaign worker Thomas Vallely? They have burgled for Kerry before. They're middle-aged burghers now, but the best place to find a specific criminal is among people who commit the same kinds of crimes.

2. We have had at least one witness complain that Kerry workers had pressed him to "improve his memory" of 30-year-old events, where that memory was unfavourable to Kerry. This has specifically happened with reference to the meeting. (There has also been some of this among his Navy crew). Now we have Camil, Barnes, et al., all of whom are committed to the Kerry campaign, changing their stories for the Globe, which is also committed to the Kerry campaign and which coordinates its Kerry coverage tightly with the campaign.

3. The Nicosia book described the extreme security measures taken to ensure that only Executive Committee members discussed the assassination plot.

4. All of the story-changing and improved (or deteriorated) memory has been in the direction that favours Kerry. Funny, that, and statistically... unlikely.

5. Has anyone else run into FR newbies in recent days who downplay this assassination plot, and try to argue equivalence between Kerry and Bush? A subtle, effective psyops ploy, either hatched by the campaign or one of its "independent" dirty tricks arms like MoveOn. To me the fact that they are pulling out all the stops to quash this story indicates that it is true, or close to some other truth that they are worried about. One thing's for sure, the Boston Globe will not find anything negative on Kerry. If he took a sharp turn, they'd all have broken noses....

What we have here is a bunch of people who want Kerry to win and have no scruples, saying what they think it will take to make that happen (that includes Kranish and his editors).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[pointsal]

Maybe Jim Angle can refresh is memory....too much to hope for.

[HIDEK6]

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

It could be that he does remember voting on the assassination, but is not sure it was in November. It could be that this topic was a common one at most of their meetings, and he doesn't recall whether he was at the November discussion of it or at the August one.