Vietnam Vets sue John Kerry

John Kerry, who during his 2004 Presidential bid, boldly displayed his debatable military service against that of President Bush’s National Guard service, and who once led an organization of Vietnam veterans protesting the war in Vietnam, is finally being sued by Vietnam veterans.

The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, along with Red, White, and Blue Productions, and Vietnam veteran Carlton Sherwood, are plaintiffs in a defamation suit against Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Tony Podesta, who was Kerry’s Pennsylvania campaign manager.

The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia, claims that Kerry and Podesta libeled, slandered, and caused financial harm to the plaintiffs as they sought to prevent the presentation of Sherwood’s documentary movie Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal before the 2004 presidential election.

The lawsuit further states the movie received its initial funding entirely from Pennsylvania veterans. Stolen Honor starkly demonstrated how Senator Kerry's false allegations were used by the North Vietnamese to threaten and demoralize approximately 700 POW's in North Vietnam. Stolen Honor told this history through interviews with the POW's themselves, including a Medal of Honor recipient. One POW recounted how his Vietnamese interrogator went through each of Kerry's statements and then told him that Kerry pronounced he was a war criminal and deserved punishment.

If this lawsuit goes nowhere, it will still draw a line in the sand of what a politician can do to advance his career. There are some lines that cannot be crossed without honorable men defending their honor. A hat tip and Bravo Zulu to Col. George E. "Bud" Day, and The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation.