The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have launched the proverbialtorpedo at the John Kerry dreadnaught by producing a book that ismaking waves. Their book, "Unfit for Command," details two primaryallegations against the Democratic presidential hopeful in thatKerry fabricated his war record and lied in his 1971 congressionaltestimony on war crimes. What has happened since the allegationssurfaced has become a war over who's telling the truth.
When the SwiftVet charges first appeared, my first inclinationwas disbelieve the claims because it seemed preposterous that Kerrycould do what was claimed. But soon, that perception began tochange as the reactions came down due to what I've observed andstudied in scenarios parallel to this one.
In 1938 Whitaker Chambers stepped forward to detail Communistspy infiltrations in the U.S. State Department, most noticeablyAlger Hiss. Chambers spent days giving detailed, verifiabletestimony for which he was subjected to tremendous verbal andprinted abuse, gay-baiting and perjury charges. His accusationslater proved true when he revealed the famed Pumpkin Papers andwhen the Venona Project was made public a decade ago.
In 1995 CBS's "60 Minutes" set the tobacco world aflame whenthey interviewed Jeffrey Weigand, a former VP of Research andDevelopment with tobacco giant Brown & Williamson. Weiganddetailed how the tobacco industry lied in congressional testimonyand was deliberately spiking the cigarettes to produce greateraddictions.
Weigand's life then went up in smoke. He was trashed, impugnedand sued. The man's life was under death threats and it nearlydestroyed him (the frenzy ended his marriage). Despite all that, hestuck to the claims and has undermined the tobacco industry. Forme, it was hard to miss since Weigand was teaching chemistry in myhigh school when he went public and we at the student newspaperwere keeping a close eye on the whole thing.
What's similar about Chambers and Weigand was their tenor andthe reactions of the accused. The whistleblowers stepped forwardand documented their accusations calmly and directly. The accusedresponded by attacking the accuser, not the accusations. Thatreaction is a clear indication of who's got something to hide. Whenyou can't rebut the charges, destroy the revealer. The same isoccurring with the SwiftVets.
Kerry's wolf pack has run the SwiftVets up the yardarm. They'veaccused them of being a Republican hatchet job, impugned theircharacter, faxed threatening letters to TV stations airing SwiftVetads, told the publisher to pull the book and filed a hypocriticalFEC claim. Reports are circulating that Kerry's people have hiredprivate investigators to dig up dirt on his former comrades todestroy their credibility.
The Kerry campaign reaction gave strong indication that Kerryhad been exposed since he has only recently tried to produce peoplewith supporting stories. He also refuses to fully release hisrecords (The Washington Post noted he has over 100 pages stillunreleased) which could provide some validation should theyactually state what he claims. Even the man's own journalcontradicts his claims.
When these whistle-blowing situations occur, one can reasonablyinfer who's telling the truth by how the accusations are dealtwith. In this case, Kerry is appearing like he's the one lying, notthe SwiftVets.
Write to Jeff at
mannedarena@yahoo.com
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