Posted on 10/18/2004 8:24:11 PM PDT by Dr. Marten
New Witness: Kerry Was Present at Dark Plot Meeting
Group Debated and Voted Down Plan To Assassinate Senators
By THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB
Oregon Magazine
March 15, 2004
Another witness has come forward to attest that John Kerry was at a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which the group debated and voted down a plan to assassinate senators who supported the Vietnam War.
A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, has said Mr. Kerry did not attend the Kansas City meeting, and Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley has said Mr. Kerry told him he was a "no show."
"Kerry may have resigned shortly after that meeting or at the meeting…" recalled the VVAW Kansas State coordinator at the time, John Musgrave, in an interview that was published Saturday in the Kansas City Star. Mr. Musgrave is the third VVAW member at the time that has been named as seeing Mr. Kerry at Kansas City. Mr. Musgrave specifically remembered Mr. Kerry's attendance and his speaking against the murder plot against the senators.
The Star cited the national director of Veterans for Kerry, a former VVAW member, John Hurley, as saying: "I think he is confusing the St. Louis and Kansas City meetings." But if Mr. Hurley is acknowledging that Mr. Kerry was present at the earlier St. Louis meeting, he is disagreeing with the Kerry spokesman, Mr. Wade, and calling into doubt a recent statement by Mr. Kerry.
At a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday, Mr. Kerry was asked by a reporter if he thought his credibility had been affected by his close association with Al Hubbard, a key VVAW colleague of Mr. Kerry's who had appointed him to the leadership of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Mr. Hubbard claimed to be a wounded Air Force officer who had served at Danang during the Vietnam War. He appeared with Mr. Kerry many times, including the "Meet the Press" interview after Mr. Kerry's Senate testimony about American "war crimes" in Vietnam. But Mr. Hubbard was never in Vietnam, was never wounded, and was not an officer, as subsequent research and Mr. Kerry himself have pointed out.
Mr. Kerry answered he had not spoken to Mr. Hubbard since the week of April 19, 1971. But in the New York Times of August 30, 1971, reporter Enid Nemy, covering an East Hampton fund-raising party for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, states: "Later, Mr. Kerry and Al Hubbard, another veteran, explained some of the aims of the organization…." Those present included journalists Jimmy Breslin and Peter Maas, Bruce Jay Friedman, Tom Paxton, and Patricia Kennedy Lawford.
In separate interviews with The New York Sun, both VVAW member Terry DuBose and Kerry biographer Mr. Brinkley have confirmed Mr. Kerry's presence at the July St. Louis steering committee meeting of the VVAW. Gerald Nicosia, author of the 2001 book "Home to War," also writes that Mr. Kerry was at that meeting. In a memorable account, Mr. Nicosia said Mr. Kerry "resigned from the executive committee" after a spectacular argument with Mr. Hubbard. "Kerry made a long speech punctuated at frequent intervals by the demand: 'Who is Al Hubbard?'" and "challenged him to prove he was a Vietnam veteran." According to the book, Mr. Hubbard "freaked out" and screamed insults at Mr. Kerry.
In the Kansas City Star account, one of the three veterans who has placed Mr. Kerry at the Kansas City meeting, Randy Barnes, first was quoted as saying Mr. Kerry was in Kansas City, which is what he had stated in his interview with the Sun.
According to the Star, "upon reflection later in the day [Barnes stated] that he could 'not be absolutely certain' that Kerry was in Kansas City for the meeting."
Terry DuBose, who initially remembered a great deal, began having failures of memory on a third call. And Scott Camil, who in his interview with the Sun could not recall whether Mr. Kerry was at the Kansas City meeting, suddenly remembered in talking with the Star several days later that Mr. Kerry was not.
In a March 13, 2004, story, the New York Times cited concern among Democrats about "careless utterances of a fatigued, or undisciplined candidate," but Mr. Wade reassured that "every statement he made we stand by."
Thomas Lipscomb is a regular contributor to Oregon Magazine. He grew up in Portland and ended up in New York City. After a stint as a writer for the Times, he founded that newspaper's book division. He may be reached by sending an email to tomlipscomb@mindspring.com
This is the kind of reality that President Bush - yes President Bush personally - should use to blow John Kerry out of the water politically. But republicans walk around on tippie toes and are too "embarrassed" to call democrats out on the real stuff they do. Now we all know that George Bush got stopped and ticketed once, but republicans are afraid to trumpet the FACT that Kerry consorted with a bunch of left wing kooks who wanted to start murdering U.S. Senators! And in my view if you think it matters that Kerry voted "no" on that proposition, you win a gallon of dem kool aid.
Kerry has lied so much he can't remember what he did and what he said about anything, this guy is a political crook.
I believe that he was.
"...undisciplined candidate."
Kinda says it all...
This could really hurt him! Thanks for posting.
I can't get the video to play.
Scott Camil, the proud originator of the Senator assassination idea, is a current and active member of the Kerry campaign.
...and this man holds a senate seat now??? Looking for a seat in the oval office???
I thought the VVAW FBI file showed Kerry was there? I know it says he was there the day after the vote. Either way, he continued his support for the group after he knew about the plot. I can't believe we are 2 weeks from an election and nobody is talking about his discharge from the Navy, or his association with a communist suported group that wanted to kill Senators. What if I said I was in the KKK but never made the meetings? You reckon the Dims would let that slide?
Hanoi John: Kerry and the Antiwar Movement’s Communist Connections
To sum up my conclusions: There is conclusive evidence Kerry was at the meeting when the assassination plot was discussed, as even Kerry's defender Gerald Nicosia has admitted (see his article "Veteran in Conflict" archived here: http://beldar.blogs.com/beldarblog/2004/09/Nicosia_article_LAT_5-24-04.pdf). There is no evidence Kerry approved the assassination plot. There is also no evidence Kerry reported the plot to the authorities or attempted to distance himself from the VVAW after learning of the plot.
-Kansas City Kerry- "The Phoenix Project"--
The above link being a subset of these:
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