Records show that Swift Boat Veterans are financed by men with ties Bush family

[question]

> taken from the Houston Chronicle <

Who's pulling strings behind anti-Kerry ads?
Texas GOP, Bush friends tied to swift boat attacks
By KATE ZERNIKE and JIM RUTENBERG
New York Times

Video and audio courtesy The Associated Press. (Free Real Player required)
After weeks of taking fire over veterans' accusations that he had lied about his Vietnam service record to win medals and build a political career, Sen. John Kerry shot back Thursday, calling those statements false and branding those behind them tools of the Bush campaign.

His decision to take on the group directly was a measure of how Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has catapulted itself to the forefront of the presidential campaign. It has advanced its cause in a book, in a television advertisement and on cable news and talk radio shows, all in an attempt to discredit Kerry's war record, a pillar of his campaign.

How the group came into existence is a story of how veterans with longstanding anger about Kerry's anti-war statements in the early 1970s allied themselves with Texas Republicans.

Kerry called them "a front for the Bush campaign." A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove.

The financial backers
Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family — one a longtime political associate of Rove's, the other a treasurer of the George H.W. Bush Library Foundation.

A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.

The strategy the veterans devised would ultimately paint Kerry as a "baby killer" and the fabricator of the events that resulted in his war medals.

But on close examination, the accounts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans is undercut by official Navy records and the men's statements.

Several of those now declaring Kerry "unfit" had lavished praise on him.

In an unpublished interview in March 2003 with Kerry's authorized biographer, Douglas Brinkley, provided by Brinkley to the New York Times, Roy Hoffmann, a retired rear admiral and a leader of the group, allowed that he had disagreed with Kerry's anti-war positions but said, "I am not going to say anything negative about him." He added, "He's a good man."

In a June 2003 profile of Kerry that ran in the Boston Globe, Hoffmann approvingly recalled the actions that led to Kerry's Silver Star: "It took guts, and I admire that."

George Elliott, one of the Vietnam veterans in the group, flew from his home in Delaware to Boston in 1996 to stand up for Kerry during a tough re-election fight, declaring at a news conference that the action that won Kerry a Silver Star was "an act of courage." At that same event, Adrian Lonsdale, another Vietnam veteran now speaking out against Kerry, saluted the "bravado and courage of the young officers that ran the swift boats."

"Senator Kerry was no exception," Lonsdale told the reporters and cameras assembled at the Charlestown Navy Yard. "He was among the finest of those swift boat drivers."

Those comments echoed the official record. In an evaluation of Kerry in 1969, Elliott, who was one of his commanders, ranked him as "not exceeded" in 11 categories, including moral courage, judgment and decisiveness, and "one of the top few" — the second-highest distinction — in the remaining five. In written comments, he called Kerry "unsurpassed," "beyond reproach" and "the acknowledged leader in his peer group."

Book spurred actions
It all began last winter, as Kerry was wrapping up the Democratic nomination. Lonsdale received a call at his Massachusetts home from his old commander in Vietnam, Hoffmann, asking if he had seen the new biography of the man who would be president.

Hoffmann had commanded the swift boats during the war from a base in Cam Ranh Bay and advocated a search-and-destroy campaign against the Viet Cong — the kind of tactic Kerry criticized when he was a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971.

Both Hoffmann and Lonsdale had publicly lauded Kerry in the past. But the book, Brinkley's Tour of Duty, while it burnished Kerry's reputation, portrayed the two men as reckless leaders whose military approach had led to the deaths of countless sailors and civilians.

The two men were determined to set the record, as they saw it, straight.

"It was the admiral who started it and got the rest of us into it," Lonsdale said.

Hoffmann's phone calls led them to Houson and to John O'Neill, who at one point commanded the same swift boat in Vietnam, and whose mission against him dated to 1971, when he had been recruited by the Nixon administration to debate Kerry on The Dick Cavett Show.

O'Neill, who pressed his charges against Kerry in numerous television appearances on Thursday, had spent the 33 years since he debated Kerry building a successful law practice in Houston, intermingling with some of the state's most powerful Republicans.

O'Neill said during one of several interviews that he had come to know two of his biggest donors, Harlan Crow of Dallas and Bob Perry of Houston, through longtime social and business contacts.

Perry, who has given $200,000 to the group, is the top donor to Republicans in the state, according to Texans for Public Justice, a nonpartisan group that tracks political donations. He donated $46,000 to Bush's campaigns for governor in 1994 and 1998. In the 2002 election, the group said, he donated nearly $4 million to Texas candidates and committees.

Rove recently said through a spokeswoman that he and Perry were longtime friends, though they had not spoken for a year.

Longtime Bush donor
Crow, the seventh-largest donor to Republicans in the state, has donated nowhere near as much money as Perry to the swift boat group. His family owns one of the largest diversified commercial real estate companies in the nation, Trammell Crow Co., and has given money to Bush and his father throughout their careers. He is listed as a trustee of the George H.W. Bush Library Foundation.

One of his law partners, Tex Lezar, ran on the Republican ticket with Bush in 1994, as lieutenant governor. They were two years apart at Yale, and Lezar worked for the attorney general's office in the Reagan administration. Lezar, who died last year, was married to Merrie Spaeth, a powerful public relations executive who has helped coordinate the efforts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Spaeth had been a communications official in the Reagan White House, where aides had enough confidence in her to invite her to help prepare George H.W. Bush for his 1984 vice presidential debate.

Asked if it was possible that she had worked with other administration officials, Spaeth said, "The answer is 'no,' unless you refresh my memory."

"Is the White House directing this?" Spaeth said of the organization. "Absolutely not."

About 10 veterans met in Spaeth's office in Dallas in April to share outrage and plot their campaign against Kerry. Lonsdale, who did not attend, said the meeting had been planned as "an indoctrination session."

"How to conduct yourself when you're being interviewed," he added.

What might have been loose impressions about Kerry began to harden.

The group decided to hire a private investigator to probe Brinkley's account of the war — to find "some neutral way of actually questioning people involved in these incidents," O'Neill said.

But the investigator's questions did not seem neutral to some.

Patrick Runyon, who served on a mission with Kerry, said he initially thought the caller was from a pro-Kerry group, and happily gave a statement about the night Kerry won his first Purple Heart. The investigator said he would e-mail it to him for his signature. Runyon said the edited version was stripped of all references to enemy combat, making it look like just another night in the Mekong Delta.

'Scariest night of my life'
"It made it sound like I didn't believe we got any returned fire," he said. "He made it sound like it was a normal operation. It was the scariest night of my life."

As serious questions about its claims have arisen, the group has remained steadfast and adaptable.

The group said it would introduce a new advertisement against Kerry today. What drives the veterans, they acknowledge, is less what Kerry did during his time in Vietnam than what he said after. Their affidavits and their television commercial focus mostly on those anti-war statements. Most members of the group object to Kerry's use of the word "atrocities" to describe what happened in Vietnam when he returned and became an anti-war activist. And they are offended, they say, by the gall of his running for president as a hero of that war.

As Lonsdale explained it: "We won the battle. Kerry went home and lost the war for us.

"He called us rapers and killers, and that's not true," he continued. "If he expects our loyalty, we should expect loyalty from him."

---

So first George Elliot's recommendation for Kerry's bronze star appears. And now we're finding out that they're being backed by friends of the Bush family, and people who play an integral role in the president's life.

Any comments bfp?

Does any of this address the question of whether or not the claims made by the swiftboat vets are true?

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Does any of this address the question of whether or not the claims made by the swiftboat vets are true?

Does anyone with a genuine interest in the well-being of this country as opposed to political whores who want to tear the opponent apart personally give a rat's ass? I doubt it.

[question]

I think the debate on whether or not it's true is completely subjective. 30 years ago, the same people that are now discrediting him, documented their praises by helping him get the Bronze Star. The actual documents are on the smoking gun, linked above.

You've got a man (George Elliot) who is apart of a group that today is saying that what THEY SAID 30 years ago, to help him get the Bronze Star is not true. That would say that he lied on Kerry's behalf to help him get the Bronze Star. Or atleast, that's how it comes off to me.

What does that say about their credibility? "For the past 30 years, we've been lying and calling this man a "good man, and a good leader. We changed our minds now, and remeber things differently. Everything we said was a lie"

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Does any of this address the question of whether or not the claims made by the swiftboat vets are true?

Originally Posted by question

I think the debate on whether or not it's true is completely subjective. 30 years ago, the same people that are now discrediting him, documented their praises by helping him get the Bronze Star. The actual documents are on the smoking gun, linked above.

You've got a man (George Elliot) who is apart of a group that today is saying that what THEY SAID 30 years ago, to help him get the Bronze Star is not true. That would say that he lied on Kerry's behalf to help him get the Bronze Star. Or atleast, that's how it comes off to me.

What does that say about their credibility? "For the past 30 years, we've been lying and calling this man a "good man, and a good leader. We changed our minds now, and remeber things differently. Everything we said was a lie"

Actually the author of Unfit For Command (O'Neill) has been at this for over 30 years - he hasn't changed his tune or target.

[bfp]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Does anyone with a genuine interest in the well-being of this country as opposed to political whores who want to tear the opponent apart personally give a rat's ass? I doubt it.

The huge majority of the Vietnam vets do. They finally have a way to express themselves. For 40 years they have had to deal with what Kerry did to them. How Kerry lied about his swiftgroup. The Vietnamese army used Kerry's words against the POW's while they were being tortured. Kerry's photo is plastered all over the Vietnam war museums because he was one of the reasons why they won the war.

We probably wouldn't give a rats ass if he kept his mouth shut.

[bfp]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Actually the author of Unfit For Command (O'Neill) has been at this for over 30 years - he hasn't changed his tune or target.

I wonder whos story keeps changing each and every week?

Kerry claims to have a 'V' for valor, as it pertains to his silver star. It's still on his website claiming so.

Well, you can't get a 'V' for valor with a silver star. There are vets out there that have done some research, and have found out that he forged some documents in order to get the 'V'. It's a federal crime if someone has been given the 'V' with a silver star. Not that it's a big deal, but the group going against him all deny what's on the citations that allowed Kerry the medals.

Isn't it something how the media didn't jump on the accusations UNTIL there were contradictions to what what the vets have claimed? That's how they report issues these days. They turn the argument. I could ONLY IMAGINE what the press would do if Bush were charged that he forged documents and left the war in 4 months.

I guarantee you this, it would be reported differenlty.

[transparentaura]

Originally Posted by bfp

The huge majority of the Vietnam vets do. They finally have a way to express themselves. For 40 years they have had to deal with what Kerry did to them. How Kerry lied about his swiftgroup. The Vietnamese army used Kerry's words against the POW's while they were being tortured. Kerry's photo is plastered all over the Vietnam war museums because he was one of the reasons why they won the war.

We probably wouldn't give a rats ass if he kept his mouth shut.

I would be interested in reading more about these assertions, especially about the photos in N.vietnamese war museums, as they are pretty sensational. Could you give me a source? Also I heard there is a pornographic video of him and Jane Fonda circulating on the internet.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by bfp

The huge majority of the Vietnam vets do. They finally have a way to express themselves. For 40 years they have had to deal with what Kerry did to them. How Kerry lied about his swiftgroup. The Vietnamese army used Kerry's words against the POW's while they were being tortured. Kerry's photo is plastered all over the Vietnam war museums because he was one of the reasons why they won the war.

We probably wouldn't give a rats ass if he kept his mouth shut.

You mean the "huge majority" that have gathered money to attack Senator Kerry. I don't know of any statistics that represent Vietnam vets in general. Please inform me if I am incorrect.

[Big Andy]

Originally Posted by Ryan

You mean the "huge majority" that have gathered money to attack Senator Kerry. I don't know of any statistics that represent Vietnam vets in general. Please inform me if I am incorrect.

All the viet nam vets I personally know are voting for mr Kerry in november. They are chapped about the way Mr Bush has handled being commander in chief and couldn't care less about Kerry's Nam record.

That by no means represents a majority, but to say a "huge majority" when really you mean "a handful of guys putting tv ads together" isn't any more indicative of a majority.

[MysteryMeat]

I've come to the conclusion that everyone is connected to Bush in 6 or less degrees of separation, so you're all scandalous, immoral fuckers. It's your taxes and your kids' taxes that are / will be paying for his fucked up war.

I really hope this country turns around in November. If not, I can't wait to get the fuck out.

[DJPePe]

Originally Posted by Ryan

You mean the "huge majority" that have gathered money to attack Senator Kerry. I don't know of any statistics that represent Vietnam vets in general. Please inform me if I am incorrect.

Sometimes I wonder why you still argue with bfp. He's nothing but sheep for the GOP, no matter how much evidence you have to back your logical claims.

bfp, admit it. GW Bush is a cowardly piece of shit. At least Kerry fought and risked his life to defend this country.

BTW, isn't this the same group who nearly destroyed McCain's career?

[Adam D]

Who cares?

[Satchel]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Actually the author of Unfit For Command (O'Neill) has been at this for over 30 years - he hasn't changed his tune or target.

nor has he ever met Kerry or been witness to any of the said events

Originally Posted by transparentaura

I would be interested in reading more about these assertions, especially about the photos in N.vietnamese war museums, as they are pretty sensational. Could you give me a source?

yes

link to pic