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WASHINGTON - Two former Vietnam prisoners of war who appear in ads attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) were appointed by the Bush administration to a panel advising the Department of Veterans Affairs (news - web sites). The former POWs in the ad, Kenneth Cordier and Paul Galanti, serve on the VA's 12-member Former POW Advisory Committee. VA Secretary Anthony Principi appointed Cordier in 2002 and Galanti in 2003. Cordier said the VA panel has nothing to do with the Bush campaign or the anti-Kerry group. "It's totally apolitical, and we meet twice a year to...

"Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: 'Bring it on.'" -- Sen. John Kerry Dear John, As usual, you have it wrong. You don't have a beef with President George Bush about your war record. He's been exceedingly generous about your military service. Your complaint is with the 2.5 million of us who served honorably in a war that ended 29 years...

Interview: ex-POW in Kerry flap speaks out WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The battle of claims and counter-claims over Sen. John Kerry's service in Vietnam and his later anti-war activism remains at a brisk boil. Kerry accuses a veterans' group attacking him -- Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- of having illicit ties to the Bush-Cheney campaign, something that President George W. Bush denies. On Friday former POW Ken Cordier, a member of the campaign's veterans advisory committee, was dumped by the campaign when it learned he was appearing in an anti-Kerry ad for the veterans. In an exclusive interview...

Let's begin with an aside. Sure, Katie Couric makes our blood boil with her liberal bias. And yes, we enjoy the occasional debate as to whether she's added a wrinkle or a pound. But at the end of the day, I'd say that, politics aside, she is a fairly normal human being. Then there's Renee Syler. She is one of the myriad co-hosts of The Early Show on CBS. I've only recently begun viewing the show, on the prowl for hard-news liberal bias as The Today Show devotes most of its time to plumping the Olympics. Syler, IMHO, gives off...

Democrat's Team Says Veteran's Role in Drive to Discredit Kerry Shows a Link CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 21 -- The Bush campaign said late Saturday that it dismissed an adviser on veterans issues after learning that he is part of an independent group that has been running anti-Kerry ads. The Bush campaign said Kenneth Cordier, who appears in a new advertisement to be aired by the anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will no longer serve in his voluntary position on Bush's veterans steering committee. A Bush spokesman said Cordier had not previously informed the campaign that he had been...

The Kerry campaign is gloating this weekend over the resignation of Bush Cheney volunteer, former Vietnam War POW Ken Cordier, who's featured in the latest Swiftboat ad - saying it proves illegal coordination between the Swiftvets' 527 group and the official Bush campaign. But Kerry has no plans to fire Zach Exley, a key campaign staffer who served as the organizing director for MoveOn.org throughout the presidential primaries. What's more, MoveOn, whose sole mission is to defeat President Bush in November, maintains that Exley is allowed to "communicate" with the 527 group even as he works for the Democratic nominee....

CRAWFORD - The Bush campaign said late Saturday that it dismissed an adviser on veterans issues after learning that he is part of an independent group that has been running anti-Kerry ads. The Bush campaign said Kenneth Cordier, who appears in a new advertisement to be aired by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will no longer serve in his voluntary position on Bush's veterans steering committee.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former POW resigned as a volunteer to President Bush's re-election campaign Saturday after it was learned that he appeared in an anti-John Kerry ad sponsored by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Bush campaign has claimed no connection with the group which has led an attack on Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, questioning his war record in Vietnam and criticizing his testimony at a congressional hearing in 1971 in which Kerry alleged U.S. troops committed atrocities. Retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier, resigned as a member of the Bush campaign's veterans' steering committee after it...

ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A volunteer adviser has quit President Bush's re-election campaign after appearing in a veterans group's television commercial blasting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's involvement in the Vietnam-era antiwar movement. A Bush campaign statement said it did not know that retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier had appeared in an ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Kerry campaign has accused the group of illegally working with the Bush campaign. As a so-called 527 group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is barred from coordinating efforts with an election campaign. Kerry's camp calls it a front for...

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign has left over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)'s war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Ken Cordier was a Bush supporter during the 2000 election and served as a member of his a steering committee to help reach out to veterans during this election.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush's campaign has left over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging Democratic candidate John Kerry's war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Ken Cordier was a Bush supporter during the 2000 election and served as a member of his a steering committee to help reach out to veterans during this election. "Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement being run by (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth)," Schmidt said. "Because of his involvement with...

The second in a series of anti-Kerry ads was released today by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the new ad, Vietnam-era POWs critically denounce John Kerry for his anti-war activities. Despite today's allegations in the New York Times that the group is a front for Bush political operatives, the harshest words for Kerry in the ad come from Paul Galanti, a former POW who served as Virginia campaign chairman for Bush rival Sen. John McCain (R.) and who was also an active member of Veterans for Mark Warner (the Democratic governor of Virginia) during Warner's 2001 gubernatorial race."John Kerry...

John Kerry accused American GIs of widespread war crimes while testifying before Congress in the early 1970s. John Kerry's bid to become commander in chief of wartime America has opened old wounds among some former Vietnam-era POWs who bristle over Kerry's antiwar activism and atrocity allegations during the Vietnam conflict. Those activities and statements, pushed out of sight by a campaign that spotlights Kerry's service in Vietnam, were used by the POWs' North Vietnamese captors to sap the morale of prisoners and U.S. troops still in the field in South Vietnam, former POWs told United Press International. "They were always...

Sen. John Kerry's bid to become commander in chief of wartime America has opened old wounds among some former Vietnam-era prisoners of war who bristle over the Massachusetts Democrat's anti-war activism.     His activities and statements, pushed out of sight by a campaign that spotlights Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam, were used by the POWs' North Vietnamese captors to sap the morale of prisoners and U.S. troops still in the field in South Vietnam, say former POWs.     "They were always talking about [anti-war demonstrations], and they picked right up on Kerry's throwaway line, 'Don't be the last man to die in...

Sen. John Kerry's bid to become commander in chief of wartime America has opened old wounds among some former Vietnam-era prisoners of war who bristle over the Massachusetts Democrat's anti-war activism. His activities and statements, pushed out of sight by a campaign that spotlights Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam, were used by the POWs' North Vietnamese captors to sap the morale of prisoners and U.S. troops still in the field in South Vietnam, say former POWs. "They were always talking about [anti-war demonstrations], and they picked right up on Kerry's throwaway line, 'Don't be the last man to die in...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- John Kerry's bid to become commander in chief of wartime America has opened old wounds among some former Vietnam-era POWs who bristle over Kerry's anti-war activism and atrocity allegations during the Vietnam conflict. Those activities and statements, pushed out of sight by a campaign that spotlights Kerry's service in Vietnam, were used by the POWs' North Vietnamese captors to sap the morale of prisoners and U.S. troops still in the field in South Vietnam, former POWs told United Press International. "They were always talking about that (anti-war demonstrations), and they picked right up on Kerry's...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- John Kerry's bid to become commander in chief of wartime America has opened old wounds among some former Vietnam-era POWs who bristle over Kerry's anti-war activism and atrocity allegations during the Vietnam conflict. Those activities and statements, pushed out of sight by a campaign that spotlights Kerry's service in Vietnam, were used by the POWs' North Vietnamese captors to sap the morale of prisoners and U.S. troops still in the field in South Vietnam, former POWs told United Press International."They were always talking about that (anti-war demonstrations), and they picked right up on Kerry's throw-away...