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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Vietnam War record came under attack again as a group of veterans released a new television spot denouncing anti-war views expressed by the Democratic presidential contender in 1971.
The advertisement, released by the group known as "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," shows photos and plays a soundtrack of Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971.
During his testimony, Kerry, a Swift Boat lieutenant decorated for his valor and injuries suffered in battle, recounted stories he had heard of alleged atrocities committed by US servicemen in Vietnam.
"They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads ... randomly shot at civilians ... razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan ... ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam," Kerry is heard saying in the ad.
Three Vietnam War veterans are shown in the ad criticizing Kerry for his remarks, which the Massachusetts senator himself has since described as those of an angry young man and "a little bit excessive."
"The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam were just devastating, more than any physical wounds I had," said one of the veterans in the ad, Joe Ponder, who the ad said was wounded in Vietnam in 1968.
Ken Cordier, identified as a former prisoner of war, said of Kerry's testimony: "That was part of the torture, that you had to sign a statement that you committed war crimes. He betrayed us in the past. How could we be loyal to him now?"
Another veteran, Paul Galanti, adds: "John Kerry gave the enemy for free what I and my comrades in the prison camps in North Vietnam took torture to avoid saying. He dishonored his country and, more importantly, the veterans he served with. He sold them out."
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have aired in recent weeks a television spot accusing Kerry of lying about the wounds he suffered in battle and of embellishing his acts of heroism during his four months in Vietnam.
Kerry has strongly rejected the accusations and on Thursday he accused the Bush administration of using the Swift Boat veterans as a front group to do the "dirty work" of attacking his Vietnam War record.
"The fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know: He wants them to do his dirty work," Kerry said in a speech in Boston.
The New York Times on Friday reported that there is a "web of connections" between the Swift Boat group and the "Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush (news - web sites)'s chief political aide, Karl Rove."
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