Kerry aides call for ‘smears’ on war record to be withdrawn

JOHN KERRY’s campaign team yesterday called for a book which contains “proven falsehoods” about the presidential candidate’s Vietnam war record to be taken off the shelves.

Unfit for Command, written by a former US sailor who served in Vietnam, alleges that Mr Kerry lied to win his war medals.

It also claims that the former Swift Boat captain, who hopes to oust George W Bush from the White House in November, won a silver star for bravery by shooting a lone, fleeing teenage Viet Cong soldier in the back.

On Thursday Mr Kerry made his first direct attack on the group called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”, which had made the damaging claims.

He said that President Bush “wants them to do his dirty work”.

Yesterday, Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton suggested on the online news site Salon.com that the publisher, Regnery, should withdraw the book.

“No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them, especially falsehoods that are meant to smear the military service of an American veteran,” he said.

“If I were them, I’d be ducking under my desk wondering what to do. This is a serious problem.”

Calls to the Regnery publicity department went unanswered.

On its website, Regnery publicises books such as The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, which offers “all the ammunition you need to help you win every argument against loony liberals” and Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has also launched a series of adverts criticising Mr Kerry. The ads are being funded by a wealthy Texan Republican donor.

The White House hopeful has made political capital out of his military service, telling convention delegates: “I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as President.”

Mr Kerry has also used his former Swift Boat crewmates heavily during his election campaign. Many appeared with him on stage at last month’s Democratic Convention in Boston.

The Massachusetts senator returned from Vietnam after being wounded three times and became a prominent campaigner against the war.

Some veterans have never forgiven Mr Kerry for the anti-war stance he adopted at the time and for his claims that some US troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.