Posted on 10/21/2004 6:03:30 PM PDT by Tommie Paine
CAPE COD VET FILMAKER CRIES FOUL OVER SINCLAIR MOVIE COMPLAINS FOOTAGE STOLEN FROM 'WINTER SOLDIER' FILM WITHOUT PERMISSION- COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
By DOUG FRASER STAFF WRITER BREWSTER - A Brewster Vietnam veteran says a Pennsylvania film company used without permission parts of an anti-Vietnam War film he worked on in 1971 to make the controversial film "Stolen Honor - Wounds that Never Heal." (cancer?)
Vietnam veteran Joe Bangert, a John Kerry supporter, is angry that parts of a 1971 anti-war film he helped create is being used in an anti-Kerry movie.
The new film, portions of which will air on Sinclair Broadcast stations across the nation tomorrow, contends that presidential hopeful Sen. John F. Kerry and other members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War made up stories of U.S. atrocities against the Vietnamese.
Joseph Bangert of Brewster claims Red, White and Blue Productions, which made "Stolen Honor," used footage from a documentary he helped make in 1971 in which Vietnam veterans spoke of the atrocities.
David Kairys, a civil rights and constitutional law attorney at Temple University's Beasley School of Law, is looking into whether copyright infringement may have occurred.
"It may be public property, that's not my specialty. I'm looking for a lawyer who is an expert in this field," he said.
Charlie Jerow, a spokesman for Red, White and Blue, said he hadn't heard from any attorney on copyright infringement. He said the furor over the film is politically motivated.
"It's comical to me that the Kerry campaign and their sympathizers are going to such lengths to stop people from seeing the film. People can see the film and decide for themselves," Jerow said.
Bangert, a strong supporter of Kerry, is angry the footage was used without permission and then edited. He first met Kerry as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Bangert said he volunteered for the Marines when he was 17. He arrived in Vietnam in 1968 and for six months was a gunner in a helicopter gunship near Quang Tri, in the northern part of South Vietnam.
From the air, Bangert said yesterday, he saw every temple, pagoda, church and school in Quang Tri riddled with bullets or otherwise destroyed.
Disillusioned with the carnage, Bangert joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War when he came home in 1969.
In 1971, he was in Detroit with Kerry and 150 other veterans making a film, "Winter Soldier," in which they recalled what they had witnessed and done to Vietnamese civilians and combatants while fighting the war. Bangert, as part of the 15-person group known as the Winterfilm Collective, helped edit the film. He claims the collective still owns the copyrights.
Bangert thinks Red, White and Blue Productions of Harrisburg, Pa., infringed on that copyright when it used parts of it in their film "Stolen Honor," which will be shown tomorrow on 62 television stations owned by the Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group in 39 markets across the United States. The only station in Massachusetts is in Springfield.
Libel charge filed
Kairys has filed a libel charge in connection with "Stolen Honor" on behalf of Vietnam veteran Ken Campbell.
Kairys said Red, White and Blue libeled Campbell and others when they edited down a portion of the "Winter Soldier" film in which Campbell asks fellow soldier Scott Camil if he was part of a company that killed the inhabitants and burned a village near Quang Tri in 1968.
In "Winter Soldier," Campbell explains that he wasn't there, but tells Camil he had heard stories about the massacre of a village near Quang Tri and asked if Camil knew about it.
In "Stolen Honor," Kairys said, the editing cut the exchange down to Campbell saying he wasn't at the massacre, and then cuts to a voice-over that labels the Vietnam veterans participating in the "Winter Soldier" film as frauds who had never been in uniform, never been to Vietnam.
The "Stolen Honor" producers claim the soldiers fabricated stories of wrongdoing on the part of the American military and that they made it up on the spot, Kairys said.
Contacted by phone at his home in Gainesville, Fla., Camil said yesterday he had not seen "Stolen Honor," but was outraged by what he had heard.
"It was not easy testifying for 'Winter Soldier' and it's not easy reliving all this stuff now," he said. "What they've done is tore open all these old wounds."
Camil said he served 20 months in Vietnam as a Marine and was wounded twice. His unit had the job of securing so-called free fire zones.
Kill or be killed
Camil said yesterday that he quickly realized that it was kill or be killed and that many South Vietnamese and Viet Cong wanted him and the men in his company dead.
Since the operative theory was that villagers were supplying the guerrillas, the villagers were ordered out of free fire zones. They were warned that anyone caught in those zones could be shot and their villages burned.
"You walk through a village and a guy steps on a mine and gets killed and you know the villagers aren't stepping on the mines. They know where they are," he said. "So you burn it down, and kill everyone."
That's what happened near Quang Tri, he said.
War was organized murder, Camil said. Once you decide on it, there are no rules except that you don't want to be killed or have your friends killed.
"There's no referee out there to throw a flag," he said.
To admit that friends were killed, and that he was wounded both physically and psychologically, for nothing, was hard for him to do at the "Winter Soldier" testimonies. Which makes the accusations in "Stolen Honor" hard to take.
"I don't like being tainted a liar by these right-wing guys," he said.
Camil said he believes those Vietnam veterans who say they saw no atrocities - because many soldiers had combat support jobs, such as cooks, supply clerks and mechanics, and thus were not fighting on the front lines.
Yesterday afternoon, Jerow said he spoke with people who worked on "Stolen Honor" and it is his understanding that they didn't edit the footage used from "Winter Soldier." They used 56 seconds of the film unedited, he said.
The decision Monday by Sinclair officials not to air the entire 42-minute "Stolen Honor" film, and instead run portions of it during an hour-long special tomorrow, hasn't hurt sales of the documentary, Jerow said. In fact, all of the attention and controversy over it has boosted sales, he said.
(Published: October 21, 2004)
wth? I thought it was supposed to be on tonight in Kansas City, and tomorrow at 7pm. they axed it tonight...
Fair use?
Not on here in Cincy either...
Ditto, not on in Tampa either
It was supposed to be on at 9...what happened, do you know?
Documentary Fair Use. Sorry V.Charley
Sounds like fair use to me. <60 seconds
All publicity is good publicity. Al Frankenstein's book wasn't selling until O'Reilly talked Fox into suing. Then it hit the best-seller list.
I just called WSTR WB64--Cincinnati...it will be on tomorrow night at 8:00 pm. They had to change the time, noe explanation was given.
I bought the video and my wife and I watched it night before last. No wonder the 'rats don't want America to see it. Powerful stuff... even if they only air small portions it will make a big impact.
We're both vets and we sure got emotionally charged by the true heroism of so many former POW's speaking out about Kerry with such measured humility that it is hard to imagine how they can contain their anger even to this day. Truly a contrast of heroes against a traitor.
We loaned the video out last night to a Kerry supporting friend who's father fought and died in Vietnam. Today our friend is voting for BUSH. He hadn't fully understood how traitorous Kerry is. He knows his father would never have supported Kerry.
I see Joe Bangert is back from visiting his Vietcong friends to help the Kerry campaign. For reference, here are some Bangert links from my last article:
The VVAW’s Philadelphia chapter, co-coordinated by Kerry’s associate Joe Bangert, came under FBI suspicion in June 1971 when a group it shared its office with, the Philadelphia Resistance (PR), distributed classified documents stolen from the FBI’s Media, Pennsylvania office that February.
[SNIP]
While in contact with these foreign groups, the VVAW helped antiwar groups gather intelligence on US military installations, operations, and troop movements. Meanwhile to pressure the Nixon administration to halt US bombing against North Vietnam, the VVAW engaged in a series of increasingly militant actions beginning in late 1971. Over the 1971 Christmas holiday, VVAW members—among them Kerry’s associate Joe Bangert—protested US bombing by taking over several national monuments around the country, including the Lincoln Memorial and Statue of Liberty, and defacing them with antiwar messages.
[SNIP]
On Bangert, see Joe Bangert’s testimony in “1st Marine Division”, Winter Soldier Investigation: Testimony given in Detroit, Michigan on January 31, 1971, February 1 and 2, 1971, online at The Sixties Project, http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Winter_Soldier/WS_03_1Marine.html (September 21, 2004); Joe Bangert, "'Hanoi Jane' and 'Thanh Phong Bob'", The Veteran, Volume 31, Number 1, 2001, online at VVAW: Vietnam Veterans Against the War, http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=84&hilite=Joe+Bangert (September 27, 2004); Caption to photo by Joe Runci from Part 5 of “John F. Kerry: Candidate in the Making”, The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/images/day5/04.htm, June 15-21, 2003 (August 5, 2004); Valerie Schumacher, "Valerie Schumacher's Trip to Vietnam: February, 1994", Vietnam Veterans Home Page, http://grunt.space.swri.edu/valstrip.htm (September 27, 2004); "Ewan MacColl: Comments, Cheers & Critiques", Peggy Seeger, http://www.pegseeger.com/html/ewancheers.html (September 27, 2004); "The Sound of the City: The Show at Joe's Pub: Reviews", Village Voice , March 5 - 11, 2003, online at Vietnam Songbook, http://www.vietnamsongbook.org/show_press.htm (September 27, 2004); Debi Boucher Stetson, "Brewster vet helps drive Kerry political engine", TownOnline.com--The Cape Codder, http://www.townonline.com/brewster/news/local_regional/cc_newcabangert01302004.htm, January 30, 2004 (September 27, 2004); Steve Gilbert, "One Of Kerry’s Band Of Brothers – Joe Bangert", The American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=3782, August 25th, 2004 (September 27, 2004); Joseph Farah, "Kerry vet aide's extremist history: Joe Bangert lived in Hanoi, revered Ho Chi Minh", WorldNetDaily, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40304, September 7, 2004 (September 27, 2004); "Joe Bangert", Combat Vets Against Kerry, http://www.combatvetsagainstkerry.com/bangert.htm (September 27, 2004).
Airs 10/22/2004. Check World Net Daily Article for time and channel in area.
From Sinclair's Website: http://sbgweb2.sbgnet.com/press/release_20041019_87.shtml
Market & Stations To Air "A POW Story"
Baltimore WBFF Friday 10/22 8PM
Birmingham WTTO Friday 10/22 7PM
Buffalo WUTV Friday 10/22 8PM
Cedar Rapids KGAN Friday 10/22 7PM
Champaign, IL WICD Friday 10/22 7PM
Charleston, SC WMMP Friday 10/22 8PM
Charleston, WV WCHS Friday 10/22 8PM
Cincinnati WSTR Friday 10/22 8PM
Columbus WSYX Friday 10/22 8PM
Dayton WKEF Friday 10/22 8PM
Des Moines KDSM Friday 10/22 7PM
Flint WSMH Friday 10/22 8PM
Greensboro WXLV Friday 10/22 8PM
Greenville/Asheville WLOS Friday 10/22 8PM
Kansas City KSMO Friday 10/22 7PM
Las Vegas KVWB Friday 10/22 8PM
Lexington WDKY Friday-10/22 8PM
Madison WMSN Friday-10/22 7PM
Milwaukee WVTV Friday-10/22 7PM
Minneapolis KMWB Friday-10/22 7PM
Nashville WZTV Friday 10/22 7PM
Norfolk WTVZ Friday 10/22 8PM
Oklahoma City KOKH Friday 10/22 7PM
Paducah KBSI Friday 10/22 7PM
Pensacola/Mobile WEAR Friday 10/22 7PM
Peoria WYZZ Friday 10/22 7PM
Pittsburgh WPGH Friday-10/22 8PM
Portland WGME Friday 10/22 8PM
Raleigh WLFL Friday 10/22 8PM
Richmond WRLH Friday-10/22 8PM
Rochester WUHF Friday 10/22 8PM
Sacramento KOVR Friday 10/22 7PM
St. Louis KDNL Friday 10/22 7PM
San Antonio KABB Friday 10/22 7PM
Springfield, MA WGGB Friday 10/22 8PM
Springfield, IL WICS Friday 10/22 7PM
Syracuse WSYT Friday 10/22 8PM
Tallahassee WTWC Friday 10/22 8PM
Tampa WTTA Friday 10/22 8PM
Tri Cities WEMT Friday 10/22 8PM
Thanks.
"Brewster man cries foul over anti-Kerry movie"
The problem is, the airing for Cincinnati has changed 3 times within the past seven days. As of Last night, the Sinclair Showtime was for tonight at 9.
WSTR still has that time listed on their programming schedule as well.
It has almost become a treasure hunt to see this program.
I only hope the folks who are suing Stolen Honor encourage all those folks in Michael Moores movie to do the same and sue Michael Moore. It sounds like a lot of the tricks used in Stolen Honor were gotten from fahrenheit 911.
You are a good good guy.
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