'''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, [[restating|rebranded]] as '''Swift Vets and POWs for Truth''', is an advocacy organization formed in 2004 by opponents of [[John Kerry]]'s [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|U.S. presidential]] campaign, [http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&tts=1&display=rednews/2004/09/01/build/state/25-swift-boat.inc some] of whom did not agree to participate in the project.
Primary projects have been: their [http://www.swiftvets.com www.swiftvets.com] [http://web.archive.org/web/20040430021820/http://www.swiftvets.com/Index2.htm website], the book ''[[Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry]]'' (released by the [[conservative]] [[Regnery Publishing]]), and a series of television [http://www.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=Ads advertisements] challenging [[John Forbes Kerry's military service|John Kerry's military record]] and activism against the Vietnam War.
"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]
It also takes issue with Kerry's remarks 30 years ago that "[[war crime]]s" were systemic, policy-induced and taking place throughout the military conflicts in and about Vietnamon a "day-to-day" basis with the direct knowledge and support of officers and men "at all levels if command. " [http://web.archive.org/web/20040826082445/http://swift2.he.net/~swift2/index.php] In a May 2004 letter to Kerry, the SBVT wrote "It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam, you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us, without regard for the danger your actions caused us.) Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts as to your own conduct in this war."
In his [[John Kerry's 1971 Senate Testimony|testimony before Congress]], Kerry recounted statements by Vietnam Veterans at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_Investigation Winter Soldier hearings] of incidents by some troops in what were alleged to be war crimes. [http://web.archive.org/web/20000706200626/http://www.pbs.org/greatspeeches/timeline/j_kerry_s.html] These comments were later played back, out of context, in the SBVT ads. [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/25/1410215] [http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0824-03.htm]