Home > Kerry attacked on Vietnam record
by RON FOURNIER
AS JOHN Kerry and George Bush trade blows over the war on terrorism, the United States presidential campaign is mired in a new row over an earlier conflict - Vietnam.
In an advert broadcast in parts of the US, a group of veterans challenge Mr Kerry’s war record in Vietnam, an issue he has put at the heart of his campaign to win the White House.
The 60-second advert features Vietnam veterans who accuse the Democratic presidential nominee of lying about his decorated Vietnam War record and betraying his fellow veterans by later opposing the conflict.
"When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry," one of the veterans, Larry Thurlow, says in the advert.
Mr Thurlow did not serve on Mr Kerry’s boat, but says he witnessed the events that led to Mr Kerry winning a Bronze Star and the last of his three Purple Hearts. Mr Kerry’s crewmates support the candidate, call him a hero and appeared at the Democratic National Convention with him as he made his acceptance speech.
The Republican senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, has stepped into the war of words, calling the advert "dishonest and dishonourable" and urging the White House to condemn it as well. The White House has declined.
"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," Mr McCain said, comparing the anti-Kerry advert to tactics in his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.
The advert, scheduled to air in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, was produced by the same team that produced Mr McCain’s adverts in 2000.
"I wish they hadn’t done it," Mr McCain said of his former advisers. "I don’t know if they knew all the facts."
Asked if the White House knew about the advert or helped find finance for it, Mr McCain said, "I hope not, but I don’t know. But I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad."
Mr McCain, the chairman of Mr Bush’s campaign in Arizona, later said the Bush campaign had denied any involvement, adding: "I can’t believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt."
The White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to condemn the advert.
He did denounce the proliferation of spending by independent groups, such as the anti-Kerry veterans organisation, that are playing on both sides of the political fence.
Mr Kerry has made much out of his war record, contrasting it with that of Mr Bush who remained in the US in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, and suggesting a wartime president needs war experience.