Kerry accepts "swift boat" challenge

Renewing a debate that raged through much of the 2004 presidential race, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Friday accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove allegations by veterans who disparaged Kerry's Vietnam War record.

Kerry and his top aides said that failing to respond more quickly and aggressively to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads had been a mistake, and they attributed the Democrat's narrow loss to President Bush, in part, to the attacks.

Kerry said Friday that he would no longer let such challenges go unanswered.

"I welcome the opportunity to prove that you are a man of your word and that the so-called 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' lied," Kerry wrote to Pickens.

Pickens was one of the principal financial backers of television ads that alleged Kerry, a Navy veteran, had lied about his war experiences, didn't deserve his medals and betrayed soldiers with his vehement protests after the war.

The Texas billionaire, a prominent supporter of Bush and other Republicans, made his $1 million challenge at a Nov. 6 dinner in Washington sponsored by The American Spectator magazine.

Kerry said that he learned of Pickens' offer only this week.

When the allegations against Kerry surfaced in 2004, reviews by several newspapers of Vietnam-era public records generally supported the view put forth by Kerry and his crew mates: that he had acted courageously and came by his Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts honestly.

But the reviews also concluded that Kerry had left himself open to criticism by giving subtly varied accounts over the years of his Vietnam service.

Since the 2004 campaign, Kerry and other Democrats have come to label what they believe are unwarranted political attacks as "swift boating."

In his letter to Pickens, Kerry suggested they hash the truth out in a public forum in either Dallas or Massachusetts. The four-term senator said he would have Pickens pay the $1 million to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Friday afternoon, Pickens issued his own letter, saying he was "open" to Kerry's response but wanted more: for Kerry to provide his Vietnam journal, his military records and copies of movies and tapes made during his service.

Pickens also upped the ante: He challenged Kerry to risk his own $1 million, to be paid to the Medal of Honor Foundation, if Kerry "cannot prove anything in the Swift Boat ads to be untrue."

Kerry had left on an overseas trip by the time the counterproposal was delivered. "It appears that Mr. Pickens is backing off his original challenge," Kerry aide David Wade said. "Sen. Kerry took Mr. Pickens as a man of his word who, when he talks the talk, is willing to walk the walk."

When questions about Kerry's service first surfaced in May 2004, Democratic operatives saw the matter as an inconsequential diversion. But they later concluded the allegations had undermined a central premise of the senator's candidacy: that he was a brave veteran prepared to lead America in a time of war.

Material from The Associated Press

and The Seattle Times archives

is included in this report.