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Why Kerry Fears ‘Stolen Honor’
Christopher Ruddy
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004
John Kerry fears you will see “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal.”

His campaign has devoted a huge amount of resources – and even risked increasing interest in the documentary – to stop Sinclair Broadcast Group from airing it on television.
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Sinclair is a large station group, with 62 stations, but its reach covers only about 25 percent of the U.S. market – a fraction of the almost total reach of the big networks: CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox.
So, what is Kerry so worried about?

After watching the film, you can understand why.

For starters, “Stolen Honor” offers a compelling indictment of John Kerry as a man and as an American. This is powerful stuff. Any reasonable, independent American would likely be swayed by it.

This election could be so close that every vote will count. Kerry has to pay attention to what Sinclair will air in battleground states where it has stations, places like Charleston, W.V.; Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; and Pensacola, Tallahassee and Tampa, Fla.

Kerry cannot risk this.

This past summer the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth launched their first TV ad – including fellow vets who criticized Kerry’s activities as a naval officer in Vietnam. The ad caused a hubbub and Kerry blew it off.

But then the Swift Boat Vets ran an ad featuring former POWs alleging that Kerry betrayed them and his country with his anti-war activities.

With that charge Kerry’s lead over Bush evaporated – and the Swiftees became a national sensation.

The issue of Kerry’s Vietnam activities has been a blur in the minds of Americans. All the men in his boat, save one, stand by his account, while almost everyone else who was there says Kerry is a liar.

But what is not a blur is what Kerry did after he returned from Vietnam.

Kerry, as we know, became one of the major leaders of the anti-war movement.

That story has not been fully told – and “Stolen Honor” opens the window for the first time.

Kerry thought that after decades had passed people would forget. He even brazenly tried to play off his Vietnam War experience as the main selling point of his campaign.

But some people have long memories, included the POWs, many who spent over five years in brutal imprisonment that included regular torture.

Kerry was not the cause of their imprisonment, but as 17 of these men aver in “Stolen Honor,” Kerry gave aid to the enemy when he, a decorated war hero, accused American soldiers of having committed war crimes, including burning villages and killing babies.

The POWs remember Kerry because he apparently was oft-quoted by their Vietnam captors.

Kerry had made a name for himself in America for his anti-war activities, and in communist Vietnam he became a national figure. In fact, to this day, Kerry is lionized as a hero in the country’s war museum.

Today, this same man is on the doorstep of the White House and trying to gain entrance. He wants to be commander in chief.

But the men who remember him, who have no political ax to grind, do not want us to forget what young John Kerry did.

One is James Warner, a POW who won two Silver Stars. Warner and his family remember Kerry well, because it was Kerry who contacted Warner’s family as he was suffering in a Vietnamese prison. Kerry pressed Warner’s family to denounce the United States’ war effort.

And then there is Steve Pitkin, a 20-year-old veteran in 1971 who is featured in “Stolen Honor.” Pitkin now says Kerry pressured him to make up stories of atrocities when he testified during Kerry’s Winter Soldier hearings.

Clearly, Kerry is afraid Americans may see this film and that is why he has ordered his campaign to launch a massive 11th-hour effort to stop this film.

Sinclair was the major target. Since it announced its plan to broadcast the film, Sinclair has been hit with a barrage of negative media attacks. Democrats – 18 senators – demanded the FCC intervene and stop the airing of the program. Kerry’s campaign wrote to Sinclair and demanded they not show the program.

Sinclair took other beatings as well. Stock analysts have trashed their stock – costing the company more than $100 million in market value. One of the major law firms of trial attorneys even threatened to launch a major shareholder lawsuit. A coalition of liberal groups began a massive effort to contact Sinclair advertisers to pull their ads.

The gutsy Sinclair is sticking to its guns and will air portions of “Stolen Honor” this Friday. Still, the whole film has yet to be shown to the American people.

As Kerry’s team was hitting Sinclair, two frivolous lawsuits suddenly were flung against Carlton Sherwood and his production company, Red, White and Blue.

Kerry’s campaign also lashed out when a small movie theater in suburban Philadelphia sought to show the film this past Tuesday night. The Kerry campaign sent an e-mail to local supporters calling them to action. Calls poured into the theater, and legal threats caused the owner to cancel the showing.

When Carlton Sherwood came to the theater anyway to hand out free DVDs to those who came and found a locked door, he was also greeted by pro-Kerry goons who were their to rough up him and his supporters. The police had to be called to clear the area.

Is this the America we know?

As several radio hosts noted to me, Michael Moore’s film was shown throughout the country in major theaters. There was no objection from Republicans – despite the fact that it was filled with hate, distortions and outright lies.

But a 43-minute documentary cannot be shown on TV or anywhere.

And the real American heroes who appear in the show and expose the real John Kerry have already become the targets of media assassination.

“Stolen Honor” offers more than insight into John Kerry. The drama that has unfolded around the efforts to show Americans this film offers a picture of how America is changing. We can see from this episode the type of place America will become if John Kerry makes it to the White House.