[kg_veteran]

Kerry Rejects GOP Questions About Medals - AP


WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) on Monday rejected as a Republican-driven controversy renewed questions over his claim to have thrown away his Navy medals during a 1971 Vietnam War protest.

Kerry has said for years that he threw away his ribbons, not his three Purple Hearts, Bronze Star and Silver Star during the April 1971 protest. On Monday, however, a tape of a television interview Kerry gave shortly after the protest suggested he was talking about more than his ribbons when discussing the anti-war demonstration.


In an exchange, aired by ABC and published in The New York Times, an interviewer asks Kerry, "How many did you give back, John?" Kerry responds, "I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine." The host then notes that Kerry had won the Purple Hearts and Bronze and Silver stars. Kerry says, "Well, and above that, I gave back my others."


Nearly 800 veterans "gave back" their medals by throwing them over a fence near the Capitol. Kerry has said he also threw over the fence the medals of two other veterans who had asked him to give them back.


Kerry denied Monday that his statements have been inconsistent. He said ribbons were often referred to as medals.


"Back then ribbons, medals were absolutely interchangeable," Kerry told "Good Morning America" on ABC. "The U.S. Navy (news - web sites) pamphlet calls them medals. We all referred to them as the symbols they were representing. Medals, ribbons ... countless veterans threw the ribbons back."


The protest took place the same week Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of the anti-war group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.


"The fact is I have been accurate precisely about what took place, and I am the one who later made clear exactly what happened," Kerry told ABC. "This is a controversy the Republicans are pushing."


The anti-Bush political group MoveOn PAC released a 60-second television ad Monday comparing Kerry's service in Vietnam to President Bush (news - web sites)'s record with the Texas Air National Guard. Bush has been criticized for being unable to account for some periods of his Guard service.


"This election is about character," the ad concludes. "It's between John Kerry, who left no man behind ... and George W. Bush, who simply left."


The group is spending a small amount — $115,000 — to run the ad nationally on Fox News Channel and on CNN in Washington, D.C., and New York City media markets.

There he goes again, trying to split hairs. What's the definition of "is", John?