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'''Swift Boat Veterans for Truth''' (SBVT) "registered their group under [[527 committee|Section 527]] of the U.S. tax code and went public at a news conference held in the [[National Press Club]] in Washington, D.C. on May 4, 2004." [http://www.usvetdsp.com/swiftboat_term.htm]
The group's credibility has been challenged due to misleading, false or inconsistent statements. [http://mediamatters.org/items/200408050001][http://swiftvets.eriposte.com/] A detailed review of the claims in their book is also available. [http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/kerry_medals/truth.html]
The SBVT propaganda smear campaign was financed by [[Sam Fox]], a billionaire and leading fundraiser for the Bush/Cheney presidential campaignshardline rightwinger. {{ref|siegel}} The fact that Fox financed this project was revealed during his Senate confirmation hearings to become US ambassador to Belgium. Although the Senate blocked his confirmation pointing out Fox's pernicious activities, George Bush appointed Fox over the authority of the Senate during a "Senate recess". Furthermore, the PR company responsible for the SBVT (and whose bill Fox paid) was [[Arthur J. Finkelstein and Associates]] run by [[Arthur J. Finkelstein]], the "dirty-tricks guy for the Republicans". {{ref|finkel}} Finkelstein is best know for his black-propaganda campaigns that are primarily character assassinations or smearing -- as the SBVT campaign demonstrates.
== Post-election Plans ==
==Mission==
<youtube size="small" align="right" caption="The Nightline news show did a story examining one of the many accusations the Swift Boat Vets made against John Kerry's war record. They interviewed eyewitnesses at a Vietnam site where Kerry earned the Silver Star. The eyewitness account of what happened contradicts the Swift Boat Vets accusation. For the rest of the Nightline report, [http://youtube.com/watch?v=vV6CJBClHTw&feature=related click here].">Yp7P5b_boz4</youtube>The group is devoted to calling Kerry's war record into question, particularly with regard to the length of his tour of duty and the nature of the injuries for which he received three [[Purple Heart]]s, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. It has also questioned claims by Kerry that he was sent on an illegal mission to Cambodia in December of 1968.
"Our mission is to provide solid factual information relating to Mr. Kerry's abbreviated tour of duty as a member of Coastal Division 14 and Coastal Division 11. Since many who are involved with Swiftvets.com themselves had swift boat duty and knew John Kerry personally, they are in a unique position to provide such information," their website previously stated. [http://web.archive.org/web/20040430021820/http://www.swiftvets.com/Index2.htm]
*[[Sam Fox]]
== External Links links ==
===Records & Data===
*[http://www.johnkerry.com/about/military_records.html John F. Kerry's Official Navy Records].
'''Notes:''' This article was created May 4, 2004. Portions of this article were taken from an [[w:Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|article about Swift Boat Veterans]] in the ''[[Wikipedia]]'', dating from July 17, 2004.
[[Category:Front groups]][[Category:Scandals]][[category:politics(U.S.)]][[Category:Elections (U.S.)]][[category:electionspolitical dirty tricks]]
