Henderson veteran featured in latest Swift Boat ad

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Henderson Vietnam veteran is featured in a new Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial due for release Thursday.

James Thomas can be seen in the commercial due for release in New Mexico and Ohio. Thomas, 58, and about 90 of his fellow swift boat veterans met this weekend in Washington to shoot the new commercial.

Thomas and members of the controversial group formed early this year to try to discredit Democrat John Kerry want to know why he criticized U.S. soldiers when he returned from service, Thomas said.

"The whole gist of it is he betrayed us in the Vietnam War by saying we committed atrocities," Thomas said, issuing a charge that the group has made and the Kerry campaign has fought. "His comments were used by captors and interrogators in North Vietnam to pressure POWs to sign confessions. What makes you think he won't betray you in the future?"

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads and the group's charges have polarized veterans, criticizing Kerry for his post-service comments about the Vietnam War. Some veterans agree with Thomas, others point to Kerry's service and his Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts as a sign of his leadership and his credibility.

Thomas was one of two Nevada veterans of the Vietnam swift boats who spoke to the Sun this week about the candidates, their campaigns and the high-profile, well-financed swift boat group.

The two see the situation in very different ways.

Bob Wedge, 60, of Mesquite, said he wants to hear more from both Kerry and President Bush about Iraq, and less about Vietnam.

"Kerry's plan is a little vague right now," Wedge said. "But Bush's plan is to go on, business as usual."

Wedge said he is disgusted with the mud-slinging of Bush and Kerry -- and irked that his name was drawn into their fray earlier this year.

Wedge lost his right leg below the knee during three and a half years of service in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star, among other decorations, he said.

Wedge has watched with dismay as the anti-Kerry swift boat group has led its effort to discredit Kerry. The group has heavily targeted swing state Nevada voters.

Wedge is a registered Democrat who believes Bush lied in justifying the war and faults Bush's plans for the aftermath.

"We went in and took over, and he should have known what was going to happen," Wedge said.

Both Kerry and Bush have wasted a lot of time and money talking about their old military records, Wedge said. Wedge wants to hear more details from the candidates, who plan trips to Nevada this week, on a wide range of issues, including Social Security, health care and the high cost of prescription medication.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's most recent $1.4 million advertising blitz included a commercial that ran on local stations in three battleground states: Nevada, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

The 60-second spot featured two wives of former war prisoners who blast Kerry for criticizing the Vietnam War when he returned to America in 1971.

"It's politics," Wedge said. "The money the politicians spend (on campaigns) -- just think of all the good it could do. The money they spend bad-mouthing each other could go for homeless issues, Medicare, stem cell research -- just a whole list of things."

Wedge said his name was added without permission to a letter written by the anti-Kerry swift boat group last spring, although the group denies that.

The letter, which appeared on the group's Web site, was subsequently printed in the best-selling anti-Kerry book "Unfit for Command."

Wedge responded to a swift boat group e-mail seeking veterans to join the group's cause, he said. Wedge said he did not intend to accept the invitation when he replied.

But group spokesman Sean McCabe said Wedge replied with a "YES" in the e-mail that effectively gave consent for the group to use his name.

Wedge's efforts to be removed from the letter eventually led him to a September phone conversation with group founder, retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann.

"He said, 'We'll be glad to take your name off the list -- just don't talk to the media,' " Wedge said.

Hoffmann "emphatically" denies he said that, but he did remove Wedge from the the group letter as it appears online -- after the book was published.

"There's nothing I can do about it now," Wedge said.

Kerry has struck back at Hoffmann's group and lined up his own group of swift boat veterans who support the Democrat, strongly defend his service awards and call him a combat hero. They stress that Bush never served in a war.

In an interview, Hoffman stressed that he was not affiliated with the Bush campaign.

Hoffmann's group has criticized Kerry's accounts of his actions in Vietnam and object to him using his service as a campaign credential.

"Our argument is that he is not qualified to command the armed forces of the United States," Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann in April asked Thomas, a former special education teacher who this week began a new job at Fertitta Middle School in Las Vegas, to join the group.

Thomas, who said he spent 20 months on swift boats, said he has been frustrated by Bush, especially after the first debate.

"We're not really for Bush, we're against Kerry," Thomas said.

Thomas wants Kerry to sign releases making all of his war records public, Thomas said. Thomas believes two of Kerry's three Purple Hearts are bogus.

"I'm surprised we haven't gotten even more attention," Thomas said of the swift boat group. "My God, do you realize the story we'd have if he did sign that?"

The swift boat commercials have been largely paid for by some longtime friends of Bush, according to the Federal Elections Commission.