Hurley has also had to retract his claims that he witnessed atrocities in Vietnam. There is a public statement to this and an acknowledgement by Brinkley that the "revised" edition of Tour of Duty will remove Hurley's earlier accusations. In other words, HURLEY TOO LIED ABOUT VIETNAM WAR CRIMES.
Mr. Kerry's campaign has done more than contradict itself. It has been in full coverup mode. John Musgrave, one of the six witnesses who placed Mr. Kerry at the Kansas City meeting, says the head of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley, called him twice and pressured him to change the story he had already told a Kansas City Star reporter about the 1971 meeting.
According to Mr. Musgrave, Mr. Hurley told him that the senator "was definitely not in Kansas City." The New York Sun reports that Mr. Musgrave, who received three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, told Mr. Hurley that "I remember what I remember." Mr. Hurley then said, "Why don't you refresh your memory and call that reporter back?" Mr. Hurley says he thinks Mr. Musgrave is mistaken and was simply insisting Mr. Musgrave be very sure of his recollection. "I would apologize to John Musgrave if he thought in any way I was pressuring him," he told the Kansas City Star.
The veteran, John Musgrave, says he was called twice by the head of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley, while a reporter for the Kansas City Star worked on a follow-up piece to a New York Sun article about the November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which a plot to kill U.S. senators was voted down. Asked by The New York Sun if he felt pressured, Mr. Musgrave said, “In the second call I did.” Mr. Musgrave said Mr. Hurley said Mr. Kerry had told him “he was definitely not in Kansas City.”
According to Mr. Musgrave, Mr. Hurley said, “Why don’t you refresh your memory and call that reporter back?”
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The "Doghunters" are on the prowl. The band of Vietnam veterans who have been protecting John Kerry's political flank since 1984 will be canvassing American Legion halls and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in coming weeks to mobilize support for the Democrat's presidential bid.
The timing suggests a counteroffensive designed to help Kerry with military voters after he angered Republicans — and upset a few Democrats — with his wartime comment that the United States, like Iraq (news - web sites), needed a "regime change."