Kerry campaign call for book to be withdrawn

US Senator John Kerry’s campaign team today 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 Bush from the White House in November, won a silver star for bravery by actually shooting a lone, fleeing teenage Viet Cong soldier in the back.

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

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

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

“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.”

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 Senator Kerry, from Massachusetts. The ads are being funded by a wealthy Texan Republican donor.

Senator Kerry has used his former Swift Boat crewmates heavily during his campaign.

Many appeared with him on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last month.

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

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

Some veterans never forgave him for the anti-war stance he adopted and for his claims that some US troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.