Touch the photo to see which Swift officers support John Kerry

[Batman]

The purpose of this photo is to correct the misleading use of our
images -- against our will -- to further John Kerry's campaign.

touch photo

This photograph of John Kerry and 19 other Coastal Division 11 Swift boat officers was taken at Ton Son Nhut Air Base on January 22, 1969, immediately following a meeting with General Abrams and Admiral Zumwalt.

The Kerry campaign featured the photograph in an advertisement released in May titled Lifetime. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has contacted surviving members of this group to find out how many actually support John Kerry, and discovered that of 19 Swift boat skippers pictured other than Kerry, 12 consider him unfit, 4 are neutral, two have died, and 1 is working with the Kerry campaign. Four other officers were not present for the photo session; all oppose Kerry.

Only 1 of John Kerry's 23 fellow Swift boat commanders from Coastal Division 11 supports his candidacy today.


Click here for a morphing video of the "before" and "after" images above.

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Here's a breakdown of the Swift boat officers in the photo showing where they stand:

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Senator John Kerry has made his 4-month combat tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of his bid for the Presidency. His campaign jets a handful of veterans around the country, and trots them out at public appearances to sing his praises. John Kerry wants us to believe that these men represent all those he calls his "band of brothers."


But most combat veterans who served with John Kerry in Vietnam see him in a very different light.

touch photo ]Touch[/URL] the photo to see which Swift officers support John Kerry, or click it to read more

The purpose of this photo is to correct the misleading use of our
images -- against our will -- to further John Kerry's campaign.
.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been formed to counter the false "war crimes" charges John Kerry repeatedly made against Vietnam veterans who served in our units and elsewhere, and to accurately portray Kerry's brief tour in Vietnam as a junior grade Lieutenant. We speak from personal experience -- our group includes men who served beside Kerry in combat as well as his commanders. Though we come from different backgrounds and hold varying political opinions, we agree on one thing: John Kerry misrepresented his record and ours in Vietnam and therefore exhibits serious flaws in character and lacks the potential to lead.

We regret the need to do this. Most Swift boat veterans would like nothing better than to support one of our own for America's highest office, regardless of whether he was running as a Democrat or a Republican. However, Kerry's phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compels us to step forward.

For more than thirty years, most Vietnam veterans kept silent as we were maligned as misfits, addicts, and baby killers. Now that a key creator of that poisonous image is seeking the Presidency we have resolved to end our silence.


The time has come to set the record straight.

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Cease and Desist Letter to Kerry Campaign Author:
Dated: Thursday, July 01 2004 @ 10:00 AM PDT
Viewed: 56039 times
Alvin A. Horne
Attorney at Law
Houston, Texas
Marc Erik Elias, Esquire
General Counsel
John Kerry for President, Inc.

RE: Photograph on pages 24 and 25, Newsweek issue dated March 8, 2004 and Kerry Campaign Lifetime Ad dated May 3, 2004.

June 1, 2004

Dear Mr. Elias:

I'm a former Swift Boat officer and early member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. I am also an attorney licensed and authorized to practice law in the State of Texas. Below are listed the names of eleven Swift Boat officers of a total of 20 depicted in the referenced photograph with your client, Senator John Kerry. They are:

George Bates
Thomas Heritage
Terrance Costello
Robert "Rocky" Hildreath
Robert Elder
William Houle
George Elliott
William Schumadine
Al French
Larry Thurlow
Jim Galvin

These officers demand that Senator Kerry's campaign cease and desist from all uses of that photograph, taken on January 22, 1969. To my knowledge, of the remaining eight individuals, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Crosby are deceased and Messrs. Baker, Bernique, Imbrie and MaCann have not indicated a willingness to presently take any position regarding Mr. Kerry.

First, the use of the eleven images in this political campaign wrongfully and incorrectly suggests their present endorsement of his candidacy for President of the United States of America. By letters delivered to the campaign on May 17 and on May 4, 2004, their objections to the use of the photograph in his campaign and their belief that he is unfit to serve as the Commander-in-Chief were made very clear. In fact, as has long been evident to Senator Kerry, all of these gentlemen have felt anything but comradeship with him at any time since his slanderous testimony before Congress in 1971 and other pronouncements that he and they committed war crimes and atrocities. These pronouncements were at least made in Mr. Kerry's book, New Soldier, repeated in Tour of Duty and affirmed as late as Senator Kerry''s appearance on Meet the Press in April of this year. In that process he tarred the entire serving military in Vietnam with his black brush.

Second, no prior consent was sought or obtained from any of these eleven boat officers before the release by Mr. Kerry or his associates of that photograph to Newsweek, or later to those who crafted his Lifetime ad, a calculated invasion of their privacy rights for personal political gain. None of these officers, at the time of the unauthorized release or any subsequent use of the photograph by the campaign of their images were public figures, as that term is understood within the law. We all know of the aspiring politician who seeks to be photographed with whomever they think is the "Great One" of the time. In this case Mr. Kerry has reversed the ploy to suggest a favorable relationship different than the truth. In no way do these gentlemen seek any limelight not now required by the Senator's distortion of the past and his wrongful claim to the American public that these men are his band of brothers.

Lest anyone yawn and be tempted to write this demand off to political hyperbole during the election season, please convey to Senator Kerry that his blatant and continued corrupt use of this photograph is at least on par with successful claims made by individuals suing commercial advertisers for non-consented use of their images. They sought profit in dollars; he seeks profits in votes.

I look forward to Senator Kerry's immediate compliance with the essence of this demand. If that compliance is not forthcoming or if I fail to receive any satisfactory written response from you within ten days of the date of this letter, then further appropriate action will be taken.

Respectfully,
Alvin A. Horne
CC:
Marc Erik Elias, Esquire

[Mediocrates]

As opposed to draft dodging, drunk driving cokehead son of an Congressman grandson of a Senator who regularly terrorized the roads around Yale, hid in the ANC and then failed to show up, then disappeared alltogether and then lied abotut it, married to a woman who killed a guy with her car, Bush?

[Mediocrates]

Where was Bush? Where was Bush when his thugs accused McCain of 'abandoning' veterans? Where was Cheney?

[Oh Jerusalem]

As opposed to draft dodging, drunk driving cokehead son of an Congressman grandson of a Senator who regularly terrorized the roads around Yale, hid in the ANC and then failed to show up, then disappeared alltogether and then lied abotut it, married to a woman who killed a guy with her car, Bush?

Yet how many people who were in Laura's car at the time oppose Bush's reelection?

You see!!

[Mediocrates]

oh puhleeze - all this Heinz "who REALLY pulls the strings" nonsense. Did you know that Laura Bush is Pro Choice? Bet you didn't.

70% of the people in jail in America are there for the same kind of nonviolent drug charges that your Prez uses as a virtue. Just because Prednisdet Crackhead discovered Jayzus doesn't mean anything.

[Batman]

that's all.

if the democratic party did not have so many ppl who love 2 hate israel i would not be too eager to care which candidate wins or which one is the bigger liar (most politicians are imo)

it's because Bush is backed by the Christian evangelical movementwho are the greatest friends of israel that makes bush the only real candidate to consider.

aditionally, i personally believe that the rightmovement in this country sets some guidelines that are much more in line with the original vision of the USA's forefathers.

however, based on the above reasonings, kerry is completely undesirable and dangerously scary. he loves 4 the UN, the EU to take the lead instead of the US and many other contradictions

[varian]

that's all.


however, based on the above reasonings, kerry is completely undesirable and dangerously scary. he loves 4 the UN, the EU to take the lead instead of the US and many other contradictions

As a Viet Nam vet, with many friends who also served, I fail to see how anybody could receive 3 valid purple hearts in four months without significant convalescent time for their injuries. This truly defies reason. Of course there is the story of two REMF officers who hopped on a helo heading for a hot LZ; hopped off and sprayed a few rounds out into the bush (hopefully there were no "friendly fire" incidents); hopped on the next bird out; and put each other in for, and each received bronze star (san the "V"); and of course a CIB. Now are we really expected to believe that J. F. Kerry was not capable of similar chicanery when he put his people into harms way to film his role in a battle in which he never took part? Certainly not the honorable gentleman from Mass.

[Mediocrates]

Dunno, maybe for the same reason that 27 CMH's were awarded to the US 7th Cavalry troops at Wounded Knee. Sometimes, it's sad to say, these things are political.

[Binyamin]

Bush is not running based on his record from his college years. Kerry is trying to sell himself based on his Vietnam record. He has to be able to defend his record if that's what makes him fit to serve.

[KSO]

Bush is not running based on his record from his college years. Kerry is trying to sell himself based on his Vietnam record. He has to be able to defend his record if that's what makes him fit to serve.

Hey for some people the fact you spent the prescious college days being high on cockeine as an advantage...

[varian]

The problem with the new "JFK" from Mass. is that he has not adequately explained his varying stories of his escapades in Viet Nam. Most veterans rarely talk about their experiences, or only occasionally among other vets. The trouble with pathological liars is that the story never remains the same, and since Kerry is always bringing the subject up, one would think that the facts would be "seered in his memory." This is the main criticism against the Kerry version of anything. The stories continually change. This would be understandable if one of his Purple Hearts had been for a head wound. One of the award letters one his own web site was for a Silver Star with a "V." The Silver Star isn't awarded with a "V," since the purpose of the Silver Star award denotes valor. My wife's uncle was awarded one for giving his life to protect his comrades in Korea. During the Clinton administration, a high ranking Navy Admiral committed suicide after being exposed for having a bogus "V" on one of his medals. If it turns out, and right now it appears to be a valid accusation, that any of "JFK's" medals and/or testimony were bogus, then "John Kerry, the "Viet Nam war hero" will be considered just as bogus by a "jury of his peers" - the other Viet Nam veterans that served just as honorably. Besides "JFK" also holds one distinction that perhaps no other Viet Nam vet holds; his picture is in the Hanoi Hall of Fame for claiming publically that many of his comrades in arms were guilty of war crimes. Of course, Kerry truely confessed his own war crimes that eye witnesses saw him commit. I can see how that a person of Kerry's stature may seem like such a "hero" to many people in the EU. Outside of the UK, there probably are not too many heros in Europe to admire anymore.