SwiftVets.com

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P.O.W. NETWORK APPEALS FOR HELP
(Please forward)


In light of the many appeals for help following hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, we realize that this is not a good time for POW Network to ask for help.

But we have no choice.

We must raise $15,000 by next Monday, September 25, 2005, in order to sign a retainer agreement with a Washington, D.C., libel defense lawyer.

After 16 years of serving the public interest, pro bono, by identifying and exposing thousands of military imposters, and making our research available without charge to countless individuals, organizations, and scores of law enforcement agencies (including the FBI), for the first time POW Network has been sued-by a World War II veteran who claims that the information we posted about him is false.

Although this is neither the time nor the forum for us to discuss the case, suffice to say that the information we published was obtained from National Personnel Records Center, and thus we believed it to be true. We still do!

Before being sued, several times we asked the veteran's lawyer for documents the veteran purports to have showing our information to be untrue. The lawyer imposed such unacceptable conditions on our use of any documents that we would have received, in good conscience we were unable to accept them. (Ironically, we will obtain all of the alleged documents in the discovery phase of the lawsuit, which we told the veteran's lawyer before we were sued).

P.O.W. Network intends aggressively to defend this case, which is pending in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, but we cannot ourselves carry the financial burden of defending this case and also asserting whatever claims we may have against the man who sued us.

Accordingly, we are in the process of organizing a defense fund. P.O.W. Network will not handle-that is, we will not directly receive or disburse-any of the funds contributed for our defense. They will be sent directly to a bank and disbursed by an independent individual (a retired Army Ranger) who has no connection to P.O.W. Network.
We have been informed that the eventual legal fees can be considerable, but right now, to retain the D.C. libel defense lawyer we've found, we must raise the $15,000 retainer by next Monday.
Our good friend Professor Henry Mark Holzer, who located the libel defense lawyer for us, has volunteered to work with him (pro bono). Each of these lawyers has confidence that we should prevail in the lawsuit, perhaps sooner than later and without the need for a trial.
Many of you who will receive this email, either directly or as a forward, know the work that P.O.W. Network has done these many years-and many of you have, in one way or another, benefited from it. We have never asked for help before, but we are asking for your help now. Not only to defend this lawsuit, and perhaps even assert our own claims, but to make sure that P.O.W. Network survives and thus we be able to continue our important work of identifying and exposing those who falsify their military service-even those from the World War II era.

All donations to P.O.W. NETWORK are tax deductible.

Donations should be mailed to Waukee State Bank, 45 N. Warrior Lane, P.O. Box 66, Waukee, IA 50263. ATTN: Cathy Asher. Note on the check P.O.W. NETWORK Legal Defense Fund Account # 10029692. The routing number for wire transfers is 073922490.

Thank you very much for considering our appeal.

Sincerely,

Mary and Chuck Schantag
P.O.W. Network
http://www.pownetwork.org