Former Akron veteran speaks against Kerry

Acron Beacon Journal ^ | Sept. 12, 2004 | Jim Carney

[FairOpinion]

While Akron native Kenneth Cordier was imprisoned at the ``Hanoi Hilton'' in 1971, John Kerry, back from four months in Vietnam, was testifying before Congress of atrocities committed in Vietnam.

Kerry's statements, considered by Cordier to be a betrayal of fellow veterans, continue to anger the retired Air Force colonel today.

The 67-year-old resident of Dallas is one veteran who was featured in a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisement, and was recently taken off a Veterans for Bush Steering Committee list.

Cordier still serves on a Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee.

Brendon Cull, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Coordinated Campaign, said the fact that Cordier was involved with the Veterans for Bush group ``is just another piece of evidence that shows Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are an arm of the Bush-Cheney campaign.''

Cordier said ``nothing could be further from the truth.''

Cordier was born in Canton but grew up in Akron. The son of Betty and Ken Cordier, he went to Barber Elementary School and graduated from Ellet High School in 1955.

After graduating from the University of Akron in 1960, he was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force and became a pilot.

On his 176th mission in Vietnam, Cordier was shot down Dec. 2, 1966, northwest of Hanoi.

He was held captive 75 months.

``Now we see what Kerry did,'' Cordier said. ``He went home early from Vietnam and came back and he lied to Congress and he participated in all these anti-war rallies and in so doing, gave the communists a tremendous bonanza of propaganda.''

While a POW, Cordier said he never heard of Kerry.

``He was a nobody at the time,'' he said.

But he was aware of the protests at home and said the actions of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, of which Kerry was a leader, were ``demoralizing.''

Treatment as POW

During his imprisonment, he said he was routinely beaten and put in irons.

``Every time you heard the guard coming with keys, you didn't know if you would get a bowl of rice or a beating,'' he said.

Cordier said he was tortured to the point where he tried to knock himself out so that he would not have to write a war crimes confession.

``I tried banging my head on the floor,'' he said.

Cordier said in the end, he ``grabbed a pen and wrote my confession. I'm not proud of it.''

In the ad called ``Sellout,'' Cordier said Kerry ``betrayed us in the past. How can we be loyal to him now?''

Upon his release in 1973, Cordier was honored with a homecoming celebration at Lions Park in Hartville. He carried with him a pair of Jockey shorts, the only possession he kept for his entire imprisonment.

Cordier continued to serve in the Air Force until 1985. He worked for British Aerospace for several years in Washington, D.C., and was a self-employed management consultant in Texas for 11 years.

Cordier said he was asked to give a speech to a Colorado VFW group on behalf Veterans for Bush.

He said he was introduced to John O'Neill of the Swift Boat group in January, and later received a videotape of the O'Neill and Kerry debate on The Dick Cavett Show from 1971.

``I thought this is a story that needs to be followed,'' Cordier said.

Television ad

He was asked in late June if he would take part in an interview for the Swift Boat group and went to Washington in July for the interviews that were later used in the commercial.

``I didn't think anything more about it,'' he said.

When he did the interview for the commercial, he said he was cautioned that he couldn't have anything to do with the campaign. So when the ad came out in August, he called the Veterans for Bush group to alert them.

``They thanked me and said they would have to take my name off the list,'' he said.

Cordier said the Swift Boat ads ``sure seem to me to have put a burr under the blanket of the Kerry campaign. I can't believe their extreme reaction.''

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Cordier ``agreed to step down from the voluntary advisory group in an effort to avoid any conflict between our campaign and a 527'' advocacy group. A 527 group is a tax-exempt organization allowed to raise money to influence elections.

Phil Budahn, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Cordier remains on the Former Prisoner of War Advisory Committee at the VA.

Federal law prohibits members of the committee from taking part in partisan political work on government time -- but it's OK on their own time.

While he's not in any more ads, Cordier said he was interviewed for a new documentary film critical of Kerry called Stolen Honor.

[FairOpinion]

We must not allow the Dems to distract from telling the American people the truth about Kerry.

[backhoe]

 To read the latest on the Franchurian Candidate's bizzare exploits, click the picture, goto "last," and work backwards:

Take a look at these three short video clips, especially the last one. You will walk away with a heavy heart.

POW'S TELL ABOUT TORTURE

 

John Kerry... Hero? (I think this ad is more powerful than the Swiftee ads) Some of you may have already seen this ad, but it is worth checking out again.

Download it here

 

NEW Video TV Ad - Kerry's VVAW Assassination Plot



Highspeed users click here

Dial-Up users click here

Speaking of the Soviet Union...

Check out this ad

[Rhiannon]

The Soviet Union Ad I thought was powerful and probably presented a more up to date reason that Kerry is bad candidate for President of U.S.

Where are the advertisements being run? Here in Maryland we do not get many political advertisements, since we are inundated with news.

[GoBucks2002]

I also missed who is running this ad...

[jimboster]

Over six years in a prison camp. I can't even imagine anything that horrble

[88keys]

NE Ohio *ping*...

you guys are probably in DC...good for you! and drive safe getting home! ;)