An Outrageous Lie

USA Today published an op-ed by former Navy Secretary James Webb which contains the viscious accusation that in his 1971 Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony John Kerry "testified that fellow veterans had routinely 'raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.' "

I'm not sure if I'm more outraged that Webb would repeat this easily falsifiable piece of slander against a highly decorated combat veteran, or that USA Today would publish it without making even a routine effort to fact check such an inflammatory statement.

I'm pretty damned outraged with both, though, and dashed off a letter to the offending journal. Odds are this is the only place you'll ever see it, but here's what I wrote, with a little extra highlighting:

To the Editor, USA Today

Former Navy Secretary James Webb suggests that Senator John Kerry owes Vietnam Veterans "a full and complete apology" for accusations that Mr. Webb claims Senator Kerry made against veterans in his 1971 Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony.

In fact, it is James Webb who owes the apology to Senator Kerry for promulgating the lie that Kerry's testimony contained any such accusations. As anyone who bothers to review the testimony and familiarize themselves with the facts will quickly learn, Sen. Kerry did not accuse anyone of anything, but in fact cited the testimony of veterans who admitted to performing the acts described, expressing not condemnation, but sympathy for honorable men who found themselves in tragic circumstances.

As a Vietnam veteran myself, I have paid close attention to not only the statements, but the actions of those who claim to speak for or act on behalf of us. John Kerry has been exemplary on both counts for over thirty years, and Mr. Webb serves every veteran poorly by spreading defamatory misstatements about a man who served his country heroically and has served the interests of all veterans faithfully.