Talk:John Kerry/Lyellin

1971 Meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)

From November 12th to 15th, 1971, a VVAW meeting was held in Kansas City, Missouri. The meeting is quite controversial because one activist suggested that the VVAW should assassinate seven Senators who were in favor of continuing the Vietnam War, including Strom Thurmond, John Stennis, and John Tower.

Controversy has arisen in some circles over if Kerry was at this meeting and which speeches he heard at specific times. Kerry’s campaign, according to the Boston Globe, says that Senator Kerry does not remember attending the Kansas City meeting, nor does he remember the speceific discussion in question.

The speaker who suggusted the assasinations was Scott Camil, who, according to the same report, does not remember Kerry being there, and comments that “He hard nothing to do with this, I don’t remember seeing him there.” Other reports, including a FBI Report and another VVAW Member, Randy Barnes, report Kerry as attending the meeting, although Barnes has later retracted and said that he may have been mistaken as to which meeting in Missouri he saw Kerry at.

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When I was writing this, I didn't have the Boston Globe link handy... that needs to be added to the end of the section.

Second version

1971 Meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)

From November 12th to 15th, 1971, a VVAW meeting was held in Kansas City, Missouri. The meeting is quite controversial because one VVAW member in attendance suggested that the VVAW should assassinate, among others, seven Senators who were in favor of continuing the Vietnam War, including Strom Thurmond, John Stennis, and John Tower. A second controversey has arisen recently as to whether or not Kerry was in attendence at the meeting.

Scott Camil, the man who suggested using violence, has recently said that he does not remember Kerry being there. According to the Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/04/01/kerry_cant_recall_being_at_71_parley?mode=PF), Camil states “He had nothing to do with this, I don’t remember seeing him there.”

Other sources, including the FBI and also another VVAW Member, Randy Barnes, have corroborated Kerry as attending the meeting. However Mr. Barnes has more recently restated his position on this and now says that he may have been mistaken as to which meeting in Missouri he saw Kerry at.

Kerry’s campaign, according to the Boston Globe, says that Senator Kerry does not remember attending the Kansas City meeting, nor does he remember the specific discussion in question. After being presented with the FBI reports, the Kerry campaign has acknowledged that they must be correct, and that Kerry did attend the meeting in question.