Spinning swiftly (8/9)
By Bryan Keefer
A new ad by an independent group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks John Kerry's service in Vietnam. Some of the evidence presented by the group, however, fails to back up allegations presented in the ad. And some reporters and pundits are already spinning the facts about members of the group.
The group's ad repeatedly accuses Kerry of lying - an inflammatory charge that the ad presents no evidence to support. On its website the group provides supporting materials, but the charges often boil down to disputed accounts to which there is no definitive resolution.
For example, the commercial features one veteran, Louis Letson, who states that "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury." In backup documentation on the website, Letson, a former military doctor, describes the treatment he gave Kerry: removing a small piece of shrapnel from his arm and applying a bandage. (Letson, however, did not sign the medical treatment report of Kerry's injury.) While the group suggests that the injury was minor, the extent of the injury does not matter according to the Navy's criteria for Purple Heart eligibility, only that it was received by enemy fire.
Letson speculates that the wound could have been caused by shrapnel from a mortar fired by Kerry himself, which may have exploded close enough to the boat to cause such an injury. Letson, however, was not present during the firefight, and bases his accusation on the contested accounts of others. This is extremely thin evidence upon which to directly accuse Kerry of lying.
A second example is the dispute surrounding Kerry's Silver Star. In the ad, Kerry's former commanding officer George Elliott, who recommended Kerry for the medal, states that "John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam." In an affidavit, Elliott states, "Had I known the facts, I would not have recommended Kerry for the Silver Star for simply pursuing and dispatching a single, wounded, fleeing Viet Cong."
However, as FactCheck.org pointed out, Elliott himself admits that his contention is not based on first-hand knowledge, but rather upon his own reading of other versions of events, including Kerry's own account in a biography by Douglas Brinkley. Moreover, Elliott's claim in his affidavit mischaracterizes the official citation, which awarded Kerry the medal for two ambushes - not just the specific killing of a member of the Viet Cong. (Last week Elliott appeared to retract his criticisms in a Boston Globe article, but later issued a statement reaffirming it.)
In short, the evidence upon which the group has based its claims of lying falls short, for the moment, of definitively proving these charges.
Unsurprisingly, however, the group's allegations are already being distorted. While none of the veterans filmed in the ad served in either of the swift boats Kerry commanded in the war, the group's technically true claim that the men "served with" John Kerry is already leading some pundits and journalists to exaggerate their relationship to the Massachusetts senator.
Fox News Channel has seen several instances of such distortion. As the liberal group Media Matters pointed out, Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity and Pat Halpin both claimed that the men were "some of his crewmates" on August 4, and Catherine Herridge introduced the ad as " featuring some of John Kerry's Vietnam crewmates" on August 6. Such exaggerations take the technically true claim that the veterans served with Kerry and spin it into a misleading talking point.
Perhaps the release of the book Unfit for Command will provide more definitive evidence. But the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad and website do not prove several of the group's charges.
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