Well kennyboy.. the messenger is Steve Pitkin, watch the attacks.... LOL..... worldnetdaily.com
Vet: Kerry coerced me to testify of atrocities Renounces participation in 1971 'Winter Soldier Investigation'
Posted: September 8, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A combat veteran who testified to war crimes during the 1971 "Winter Soldier Investigation" has filed an affidavit claiming John Kerry and other leaders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War coerced him into making false claims.
Steve Pitkin during 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation (wintersoldier.com)
Steve Pitkin, who was 20 at the time, says he rode from Washington, D.C., to Detroit in January 1971 with Kerry and another leader, Scott Camil, who had persuaded him to join in the probe that formed the basis of the future presidential candidate's testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later that year.
Pitkin's renunciation of his participation in the Detroit event was reported by Scott Swett, the primary author of WinterSoldier.com, which documents Kerry's role in VVAW. Swett also is the webmaster for the website of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group of 254 veterans who contend their fomer colleague, Kerry, is unfit to be commander in chief.
On the second day of the Detroit conference, Pitkin said, he was surrounded by a group of the event's leaders, who said they needed more witnesses and wanted him to speak.
According to Swett, Pitkin protested he had nothing to say, prompting Kerry's response, "Surely you had to have seen some of the atrocities."
Swett writes:
Pitkin insisted that he hadn't, and the group's mood turned menacing. One of the other leaders leaned in and whispered, "It's a long walk back to Baltimore." Pitkin finally agreed to "testify." The Winter Soldier leaders told Pitkin exactly what they wanted – stories about rape, brutality, shooting prisoners and racism. Kerry assured him that "the American people will be grateful for what you have to say."
On Feb. 1, 1971, Pitkin gave the following testimony:
My name is Steve Pitkin, age 20, from Baltimore. I served with the 9th Division from May of '69 until I was airvaced in July of '69. I'll testify about the beating of civilians and enemy personnel, destruction of villages, indiscriminate use of artillery, the general racism and the attitude of the American GI toward the Vietnamese. I will also talk about some of the problems of the GIs toward one another and the hassle with officers.
But with his new affidavit, Pitkin now is on the record saying he never intended to speak at the Winter Soldier Investigation, agreeing to come, recounts Swett, "mostly to support his fellow veterans, but also to see David Crosby and Graham Nash perform and hopefully meet a few girls. He didn't really have any place else to go."
In his affidavit, he insists he never saw American soldiers commit war crimes.
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