Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied

A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Van Odell, a member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that has spearheaded a campaign against Kerry’s service record, said his was one of seven eyewitness accounts and he was not being directed by President Bush’s campaign.

He has charged that then Navy Lt. Kerry, a Swift boat commander, fabricated the "after-action" report saying he faced enemy fire on March 13, 1969, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart for being wounded while pulling a fellow soldier to safety.

"I do not have a single document," Odell said. "I have the fact that I wasn’t wounded in that 5,000 meters of fire that he wrote about."

"There was no enemy fire from either bank," he added.

The assertion was another broadside in a debate that has been raging for weeks, and with at least one CBS poll showing the issue cutting into Kerry’s support among veterans, the Massachusetts senator has accused the group of collaborating with the Bush campaign and demanded Bush repudiate the ads.

Odell said he had met with Republican strategist Merrie Spaeth, a public relations consultant to his group, and once bought a home from Bob Perry, a large Republican donor from Texas and close associate of Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser.

DOLE JOINS KERRY CRITICS

Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole joined critics of Kerry, telling CNN’s "Late Edition" Kerry should apologize for his testimony to Congress more than 30 years ago in which he quoted other veterans talking about alleged atrocities in Vietnam.

Dole also said Kerry had received only "superficial wounds" in Vietnam and had been taken out of combat as a result.

"I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and he never bled, that I know of. I mean, they’re all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you’re out," said Dole who himself was badly wounded in World War II.

"Maybe he should apologize to the other 2.5 million veterans who served," said Dole. "He wasn’t the only one who was in Vietnam."

Kerry still carries shrapnel in his thigh from one of his wounds in Vietnam.

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said while the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group had "every right" to express their opinion, "we ought to get out of the character assassination business."

Kerry took a day off campaigning on Sunday, but his running mate, John Edwards, tied the attacks "directly to President Bush and his friends."

Campaigning in North Carolina, Edwards said: "Senator Kerry had a moment of truth in 1968 when he decided to volunteer and serve his country and put his life on the line for his country. This is a moment of truth for President Bush."

Kerry’s Vietnam service has been central to his challenge to Bush. The two candidates have been running neck and neck in key polls.

The Bush campaign has denied any collaboration with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other such groups. Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, on NBC’s "Meet the Press," played down the connection between the group and the campaign, or Rove. "Karl Rove is friends with lots of different people," he said.

The Bush campaign has acknowledged that Ken Cordier, a Vietnam veteran who appeared in a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial, had been working with the campaign but said he had resigned. (Additional reporting by Carol Giacomo and Adam Entous) (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6038258