Kerry Lying About Anti-War Past, Supporter Alleges
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Kerry said he hasn't spoken to former anti-war associate
Al Hubbard since the two men appeared side by side on
national television in April 1971, but according to author
Gerald Nicosia, that assertion is wrong. So is Kerry's
insistence that he did not attend a November 1971 meeting
of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), at which group
members discussed the possibility of assassinating U.S.
senators who were still supporting the war in Vietnam,
Nicosia said.
Nicosia backed up his comments regarding Kerry's presence
at the November 1971 meeting by providing CNSNews.com with
the FBI's redacted files about that meeting.....
...But Gerald Nicosia, author of the book Home to War: A
History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement and a Kerry
supporter, disagreed with Kerry's contention that he and
Hubbard saw no more of each other after the week of April
18, 1971.
"That is bull****. No, no, [Kerry] saw [Hubbard] at
numerous meetings after that, including the one I talk
about in my book, the July meeting in St. Louis," Nicosia
told CNSNews.com .
[Kerry] saw [Hubbard] in July, and according to FBI [files
on Vietnam Veterans Against the War] and the minutes of
those meetings, [Kerry] probably saw him in November
[1971] too," Nicosia said.
Kerry and Hubbard had a heated argument at the St. Louis
meeting in July that was "witnessed by 200 veterans,"
according to Nicosia.....
....Nicosia told CNSNews.com he was uncomfortable
disputing Kerry's statements.
"I am in kind of an awkward position here. I am a Kerry
supporter and I certainly don't want to do anything that
hurts him. On the other hand, my number one allegiance is
to truth. So I am going to go with where the facts are,
and John is going to have to deal with that," Nicosia said.
"I am having some problems with the things he is saying
right now, which are not matching up with accuracy," he
added.
November 1971 meeting
Nicosia also disputed Kerry's denial that he was in
attendance when VVAW members met in Kansas City in
November 1971 to discuss the possibility of assassinating
U.S. senators still committed to the Vietnam War.
Kerry was at the meeting, Nicosia insisted, pointing to
FBI files and the minutes from the VVAW meeting, which he
has obtained. "The minutes of the meeting -- November 12th
through the 15th -- it's got John Kerry there, it's got
John Kerry resigning there on the third day," Nicosia said.
Nicosia provided CNSNews.com with a copy of the FBI's redacted files of that November 1971 VVAW meeting. The files refer to the fact that Kerry had "resigned for 'personal reasons.'"
"You are talking to a Kerry supporter, but I will tell
you, after everything that I have heard and seen, I would
conclude that he was there," he added.
Nicosia said he is not sure why Kerry is answering questions on the issue in the manner he is.
"Why didn't [former President Bill] Clinton say he [had
sex with] Monica Lewinsky? It took him until he had to be
confronted with the hard evidence before he said he did,"
Nicosia said.
"I think [Kerry] may be worried or the people around him
may be worried that his association with VVAW is a very
negative thing and they want John to back away from it,"
he added.
Nicosia concluded with advice for Kerry.
"The chickens are coming home to roost, and unfortunately
he is starting to backtrack and I personally don't think
backtracking is going to work because people are going to
go at him and find the discrepancies," Nicosia said.
As recently as two days ago, Kerry's presidential campaign
spokesman David Wade told the New York Sun that, "Kerry
was not at the Kansas City meeting." Wade added that Kerry
had resigned from the VVAW "sometime in the summer of
1971."
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Message 19939215
KERRY RETREATS FROM HIS DENIAL ON VIETNAM MEET
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Evidence Puts Him At Kansas Parley
....Senator Kerry of Massachusetts yesterday retreated
from his earlier steadfast denials that he attended a
meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which a
plan to assassinate U.S. Senators was debated.
The reversal came as new evidence, including reports from
FBI informants, emerged that contradicted Mr. Kerry’s
previous statements about the gathering, which was held in
Kansas City, Mo. in November 1971.
“John Kerry had no personal recollection of this meeting
33 years ago,” a Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade,
said in a statement e-mailed last night from Idaho, where
Mr. Kerry is on vacation.
Mr. Wade said Mr. Kerry does remember “disagreements with
elements of VVAW leadership” that led to his resignation,
but the statement did not specify what the disagreements
were.
“If there are valid FBI surveillance reports from credible
sources that place some of those disagreements in Kansas
City, we accept that historical footnote in the account of
his work to end the difficult and divisive war,” the
statement said.
It did not address the murder plot, though as recently as
Wednesday a top aide to Mr. Kerry said that the
Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee was “absolutely certain” he was not
present when the assassination plan, known as the “Phoenix
Project,” was discussed.
The New York Sun first reported last week that other anti-war activists placed Mr. Kerry at the Kansas City meeting. A total of six people have now said publicly that they remember seeing Mr. Kerry there. Participants say the plot was voted down, and several say they remember Mr. Kerry speaking and voting against it.
A historian and expert on activism against the Vietnam
War, Gerald Nicosia, provided the Sun yesterday with
minutes of the meeting.
Mr. Nicosia also read quotes from FBI surveillance documents he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act as he was preparing his 2001 book, “Home to War.”
“My evidence is incontrovertible. He was there,” Mr.
Nicosia said in an interview yesterday. “There’s no way
that five or six agents saw his ghost there,” said the
historian, who lives in Marin County, north of San
Francisco.
Mr. Nicosia said that the records show Mr. Kerry resigned
from the group on the third day of the meeting, following
discussion of the assassination plan and an argument
between Mr. Kerry and another VVAW national coordinator,
Al Hubbard.
....Mr. Nicosia said it is clear that Mr. Kerry and the
others resigned because of the extreme actions the group
was considering.
“It’s kind of unmistakable to see a pattern. All four of
them were out the door, bingo, the morning after” the
socalled Phoenix plot was discussed, the author said.
Mr. Nicosia generally declined to speculate on why Mr.
Kerry had denied being present. However, the author did
observe, “Especially if you’re running for president, you
don’t want to be associated with a plot for assassinating
people.”....
...The minutes, prepared at the group’s national office in
New York, recount the actions taken by VVAW’s “emergency
steering committee” during the four-day meeting, which ran
from November 12 to 15, 1971. The minutes indicate that at
the end of the day on Saturday, November 13, discussion
turned to “national actions and other things.” The meeting
is reported to have adjourned at 10 p.m. and resumed at 11
a.m. Sunday. The document goes on to say that the group
passed a motion to hold a “national action… in 3 to 5
different sites.”The next entry in the minutes is, “John
Kerry, Scott Moore, Mike Oliver and Skip Roberts resigned
as national coordinators.” A later entry indicates that it
was decided that the resignations and the decision on
the “national action” should be reflected in all the
group’s papers.....
daily.nysun.com
Message 19937242 |
