IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

_____________________________________________

CARLTON A. SHERWOOD §

123 State Street §

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17104, §

§ Civil Action No.

RED, WHITE & BLUE PRODUCTIONS, §

INC. §

123 State Street §

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17104, and §

§

VIETNAM VETERANS LEGACY §

FOUNDATION §

P.O. Box 95000-1655 §

Philadelphia, PA 19195-1655, § JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

§

Plaintiffs, §

§

v. §

§

JOHN F. KERRY §

304 Russell Bldg. §

Washington D.C. 20510 §

§

and §

§

ANTHONY T. PODESTA §

1001 0 Street NW, Suite 900 East §

Washington, DC 20001 §

§

Defendants. §

_____________________________________________

AND NOW, come Plaintiffs, Carlton A. Sherwood, Red, White & Blue Productions, Inc.,

and Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, by and through their undersigned counsel, Buchanan

Ingersoll PC, who aver as follows:

PARTIES

1. Plaintiff Canton A. Sherwood (Sherwood) is an individual who resides at 123

State Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17104.

2. Plaintiff Red, White & Blue Productions, Inc., (Red, White & Blue) is a

Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business at 123 State Street, Harrisburg,

Pennsylvania 17104.

3. Plaintiff Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF) is a Delaware nonprofit

corporation, established for charitable and educational purposes relating to documenting the

history of the Vietnam war and developing educational and charitable programs related thereto.

4. Defendant John F. Kerry (Kerry) is an individual who resides in Boston,

Massachusetts.

5. Defendant Anthony T. Podesta (Podesta) is an individual who resides in

Washington, D.C.

6. This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1332 in that

the parties are diverse in citizenship and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.

7. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a) in that a substantial part of the events

giving rise to the claim occurred within this district, and the defendants have sufficient contacts

with this district to subject them to personal jurisdiction herein.

8. In 2004, defendant John F. Kerry sought the nomination of the Democratic Panty

for the office of President of the United States and, after winning that nomination, campaigned to

become the nation s Commander in Chief.

9. Keny's campaign — which emphasized his four months of service in Vietnam as a

Lieutenant Junior Grade in the United States Navy—stoked a blaze of emotion across the

Vietnam veterans community as a result of actions, described in detail below, that Kerry took

following his return from Vietnam to the United States, after he became a leader of the anti-war

group Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).

10. Plaintiff Carlton Sherwood is a newspaper and TV investigative reporter who has

performed award-winning work in both media that has been honored with the Pulitzer Prize and

the George Foster Peabody Award, journalism s highest honors in print and broadcast news.

11. During his career, Sherwood has produced investigative reports exposing political

and corporate corruption, child abuse, sex and drug scandals in the military, institutional abuse of

the handicapped, racial discrimination, and religious bigotry.

12. As a result of his work, Sherwood has earned numerous commendations from

groups ranging from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee,

and the National Association for the Disabled and Handicapped.

13. Sherwood is also a decorated Marine Corps combat veteran who served as a

sniper-scout in Vietnam. During his service, he was wounded three times and was honorably

discharged from the Marine Corps in 1968.

14. As a result of Sherwoods journalistic efforts on behalf of veterans, particularly

disabled veterans, the Blinded American Veterans Foundation (BAVF) created its annual media

award in his name. For the last two decades the BAVF has presented the Carlton Sherwood

Media Award to a print and broadcast journalist for work on behalf of veterans who suffer

severe, life-long disabilities.

15. In 2004, Sherwood was presented with the Media Service Award from the

national Military Order of the Purple Heart Association.

16. His work on behalf of Pennsylvania veterans was recognized by the Governor and

the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in 2002 with the Commonwealth s highest

civilian honor, the Pennsylvania Meritorious Service Medal.

17. Sherwood was also a key member of the leadership that brought the Vietnam

"Moving Wall" and its associated events to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and helped organize the

Commonwealth s 1996 Celebration of Patriotism and Service, the Flag Day dedication of the

service flags at the entrance to Soldier s Grove in the state capital, and the Congressional Medal

of Honor Society National Patriot Award Dinner.

18. Given his experience as a broadcast and print journalist, and his history of support

for veterans, in June 2004, Sherwood established plaintiff Red, White & Blue, and independent

film company which produced the documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal"

(Stolen Honor).

19. In December 2004, Sherwood and Red, White & Blue transferred all rights, title

and interest in Stolen Honor to plaintiff VVLF.

20. This documentary tells the story of Kerry s involvement with the VVAW and his

participation in the so-called "Winter Soldier" investigation that the VVAW held in Detroit,

Michigan in January-February 1971. Stolen Honor also reports that in 1971 Kerry testified before

the United States Senate that during the Winter Soldier "investigation," Vietnam veterans:

. . . . testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated

incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full

awareness of officers at all levels of command.... They told the stories at

times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires

from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut

off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in

fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun,

poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South

Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war. . . .

21. In fact, however, the "stories" told by the participants in the Winter Soldier

"investigation" were outrageous and slanderous falsehoods against Vietnam veterans and the

United States military.

22. There is no dispute that during the Vietnam war there were atrocities committed

by members of the U.S. military, such as the events at My Lai. However, such incidents were

isolated and investigated, and the participants in those incidents, like Lt. Calley, who was

responsible for the My Lai massacre, were prosecuted by the United States.

23. Stolen Honor accurately reported that Kerry s statements in 1971 that atrocities

were routinely committed with the full knowledge of commanding officers were lies, concocted

by anti-war activists to undermine public support for the war in Vietnam.

24. Kerry knew that the "testimony" at the Winter Soldier "investigation" was false

because he was actively involved in organizing the "investigation" and had personally pressed

"witnesses" to manufacture stories of atrocities that the "witnesses" had neither participated in

nor witnessed.

25. Vietnam veterans, including former prisoners of war (POWs), from across the

country had been falsely tarred as "baby killers" who had routinely committed atrocities against

the civilians of Vietnam. This false and slanderous portrait of Vietnam veterans had direct roots

in actions taken and deliberate lies propagated more than 30 years ago by Kerry and other antiwar

activists, such as actress Jane Fonda.

26. That distorted and dishonest portrait of Vietnam veterans described during the

Winter Soldier "investigation" and by Kerry during his Senate testimony became the archetype

for Hollywood films depicting the Vietnam War, such as "Apocalypse Now," for the next three

decades.

27. Sherwood produced Stolen Honor to bring this otherwise ignored history to light,

to reclaim the honor of America s Vietnam veterans, and to explain to the public the sense of

betrayal felt by many Vietnam veterans — particularly among former POWs—against Kerry and

others who had built their reputations by slandering America s Vietnam veterans.

28. This documentary received its initial funding entirely from Pennsylvania veterans.

No political campaign, candidate or political party was involved in any way in the financing or

production of Stolen Honor.

29. At the time of the Winter Soldier "investigation" and Kerry s subsequent Senate

testimony, there were approximately 700 American POWs being held by the North Vietnamese.

Stolen Honor explained that Kerry s false testimony before the Senate was used at the time by the

North Vietnamese to further threaten and demoralize these POWs, and that this testimony had

remained as a stain against the honor of all Vietnam veterans.

30. Stolen Honor told this history through interviews with former POWs — all highly

decorated and two of whom are Medal of Honor recipients. These were men like Col. George B.

"Bud" Day, Medal of Honor recipient, who had been held as a POW for 5 years, 7 months and 13

days, who had served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and who is the Air Forces most

highly decorated combat veteran.

31. In all, Sherwood interviewed 17 former POWs who had spent a combined 109

years and three months in captivity.

32. These men explained that, during their years of captivity— which ranged from

five years to almost eight years — they had been subject to extreme torture by their captors and

forced to write false confessions to war crimes and to condemn the United States Government s

actions in Vietnam.

33. In contrast to the heroism shown by these men, Kerry voluntarily lied about

claimed war crimes and gave the North Vietnamese the tools for propaganda that the POWs had

suffered torture to deny them. And Kerry s own words, which characterized all servicemen in

Vietnam as war criminals, were then used against those POWs still in captivity.

34. For example, in Stolen Honor, one former POW, James H. Warner, who was held

as a POW for five years, five months and one day, and who is the recipient of the Silver Star, the

Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, eleven Air Medals, and the Navy

Commendation Medal, told how while he was still a captive, one interrogator went through

Kerry s public statements and told Warner that Kerry, a naval officer, had admitted that Warner

was a war criminal who deserved punishment.

35. Stolen Honor also let the former POWs tell how they were betrayed by American

celebrities and anti-war activists, such as Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, who traveled to Hanoi to

support the North Vietnamese, and how the POWs were ordered to appear supportive of the

efforts of Fonda, Hayden and others during those visits.

36. In the documentary, former POW Ron Webb told how Fonda had made tapes

stating that the American POWs were all war criminals who should be punished and that any

punishment they received from the North Vietnamese was deserved, and that these tapes were

then played in the cells of the POWs.

37. In contrast to her willingness to brand America s servicemen as war criminals,

Fonda later attacked these POWs as liars when they reported the extent of the torture and

suffering they experienced at the hands of the captors.

38. The history told in Stolen Honor is accurate and compelling, and Sherwood

desired to reach as wide an audience as possible for the film in the weeks leading up to the

Presidential election in 2004, when the public s interest in Kerry s antiwar activities—and the

potential to educate the public about Kerry s longstanding slander against Vietnam veterans —

would be at its peak.

39. To accomplish that end, plaintiffs entered into an agreement with Sinclair

Broadcasting, through which Sinclair agreed to show the 42 minute film in its entirety on all of

Sinclair s 62 stations nationwide on October 22, 2004. Those broadcast stations had the potential

to reach 24 percent of the nation s television audience.

40. Plaintiffs also intended to show the film at local theatres and on September 26,

2004, Red, White & Blue had entered into a contract with Baederwood Movie Theatre, Inc.

(Baederwood) for the rental of the Baederwood Theatre in Abington, Pennsylvania, for the

purpose of showing Stolen Honor on October 19, 2004. Red, White & Blue paid for the theatre

rental in advance and had furnished Baederwood with a copy of the documentary.

41. This lawsuit arises out of a coordinated conspiracy and campaign by defendants

Kerry, Podesta and others acting in concert with and on behalf of Kerry, to discredit and silence

Sherwood and Stolen Honor, through a campaign of knowing, deliberate and malicious

falsehoods about Sherwood and Stolen Honor and of illegitimate and malicious threats directed

at Sinclair and Baederwood which caused Sinclair to show only minutes of the documentary and

caused Baederwood to refuse to allow Stolen Honor to be shown at the theatre.

42. These actions cast a wholly unwarranted shadow across Stolen Honor, and

damaged the reputation of Sherwood, thereby substantially limiting the audience for the

documentary and causing substantial monetary and reputational harm to plaintiffs.

43. The so-called "Winter Soldier investigation" that was a focal point of Stolen

Honor, was organized by the VVAW and its supporters, including Jane Fonda, Mark Lane (an

activist and friend of Fonda), and other prominent anti-war activists. It took place in a Howard

Johnson motel in Detroit from January 31 to February 2, 1971.

44. The stated intent of the "investigation" was to have Vietnam veterans "testify"

about atrocities they had either committed or witnessed while in Vietnam.

45. Al Hubbard was the Bxecutive Secretary of the VVAW and a main organizer of

the Winter Soldier "investigation." Hubbard was a hard-line radical with ties to the Communist

Party, and who later traveled to Paris in a trip paid for by the Communist Party, to meet with

delegates from the government of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

46. Kerry had been directly recruited into the VVAW leadership by Hubbard, and

would subsequently appear on NBC s Meet the Press with Hubbard to allege widespread

atrocities by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.

47. Hubbard falsely represented himself to the public as a former Air Force Captain

who had spent two years in Vietnam, and who had been decorated and injured during that

service. Hubbard was later forced to admit that he had lied about his service and that he had

never been an officer or a pilot. It was later revealed that the Defense Department had no record

of Hubbard ever having served in Vietnam or having been injured in Vietnam.

48. By this time Fonda was well-known as a supporter of North Vietnam and the Viet

Cong. During a fundraising tour for the VVAW, Fonda had publicly said: "I would think that if

you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we

would someday become communist," and expressed the belief that "the Viet Cong are the

conscience of the world."

49. Fonda agreed to help plan and fund the Winter Soldier "investigation," and in

return she was named the VVAW s honorary national coordinator by Hubbard.

50. Lane, a lawyer and anti-war activist, had previously written "Conversations with

Americans," a book which purported to set forth conversations with Vietnam veterans who had

committed atrocities in Vietnam. Lane s book was immediately discredited. A review in the New

York Times described the book as "full of false tales of war horrors that never happened, based

on interviews with supposed veterans who had never seen a day of military service in Vietnam."

51. For example, one of the stories in Lane s book concerned a man who told Lane

that he had shot three peasants in cold blood and had been ordered by his superiors to attach

wires from a field telephone to a mans testicles and to kill prisoners, and also claimed that he

deserted Vietnam and fled to Europe because he could not take the trauma of war any longer.

Upon investigation, it turned out that this man s stories were pure fantasy, and that he had not

served in Vietnam and had actually deserted from Europe. He was later arrested on an Oklahoma

murder charge.

52. Another subject in Lane s book claimed that as a Navy medic corpsman he had

witnessed numerous atrocities, when in fact he had actually been assigned to an aid station at a

battalion headquarters, well out of the combat zone.

53. Another "witness" in Lane s book was a man who claimed he had attended

parachute, frogman, and jungle survival schools and had received special training in torture

techniques, and who claims that he was told that he "could rape the girls all we wanted." He

claimed to have been a member of a Long Range Recon Patrol (LRRP). However, his military

records revealed that he had attended Aviation Mechanical Fundamental school in Memphis, not

frogman, parachute, and jungle survival school. Also, he had had never belonged to an Army

LRRP unit; rather he worked as a stock room clerk at a Marine base in South Carolina.

54. As set forth in Stolen Honor, similarly lurid, yet completely false, "testimony"

about atrocities committed by Vietnam veterans was presented at the Winter Soldier

"investigation" in Detroit.

55. Stolen Honor shows an excerpt of a contemporaneous film of the Winter Soldier

"investigation" (the Winter Soldier film) in which Kerry is shown interviewing a Vietnam

veteran, later identified as Steve Pitkin. Kerry asks Pitkin if there was something he wanted to

say "in terms of the crimes and why they happened," and further asks Pitkin, "What brings you

here, what makes you say ‘I want to testify?" After pausing to think, Pitkin responds by stating, "I

almost need a book to answer that, man, it s like, uh, just so many things bothered me about just

that short period of time that I was over there." Pitkin went on to appear on a panel at the Winter

Soldier "investigation" describing atrocities committed against the Vietnamese people.

56. However, Kerry knew that all of Pitkin s statements were false.

57. Pitkin has signed an affidavit which states, in relevant part, that he "neither

witnessed nor participated in any American war crimes or atrocities against civilians" nor was he

"ever aware of any such allegations."

58. Pitkin has further stated under oath he "rode in a van with John Kerry, a national

leader of the VVAW, and others from Washington D.C. to Detroit to attend the Winter Soldier

Investigation, a conference intended to publicize alleged American war crimes in Vietnam.

Having no knowledge of such war crimes, [he] did not intend to speak at the event."

59. Pitkin further stated that once he reached Detroit, however, "John Kerry and other

leaders of that event pressured [him] to testify about American war crimes, despite [his] repeated

statements that [he] could not honestly do so." Pitkin explained that one leader "strongly implied

that [Pitkin] would not be provided transportation back to [his] home in Baltimore, Maryland, if

[he] failed to comply," and that "Kerry and other leaders of the event instructed [him] to publicly

state that [he] had witnessed incidents of rape, brutality, atrocities and racism, knowing that such

statements would necessarily be untrue."

60. Stolen Honor also shows an exchange during the Winter Soldier "investigation"

between a man named Scott Camil and another organizer of the event, in which Camil is

apparently coached to "remember" a massacre of Vietnamese civilians.

61. In the documentary, the questioner states that he is looking for someone who

knew about a massacre in a village in Quang Tn. Camil responds, "I was there we went into the

area and to set the example to show that we weren t [bleeping] around the first thing we do is

bum down the village and kill everyone." Camil continues, laughing, "When they are questioning

me they will have to get me to elaborate on that. I forgot all about that one."

62. This is the same Scott Camil who, within two months, would he developing a plan

to assassinate high-ranking politicians who supported the Vietnam War.

63. In April 1971, the VVAW held a protest in Washington, D.C. which they called

"Dewey Canyon III." Camil has publicly stated that "My plan was that on the last day at a certain

time, probably 11:30 or 2:30 (either right before or after lunch), we would go into the offices —

in our schedule with our congressmen, we would schedule the most hard-core hawks for last—

and we would shoot them all. . . I was serious.,."

64. Later that year, at the \TVAW s national meeting in Kansas City, Missouri,

attended by Kerry, Camil presented another plan to the VVAW leadership that he named

"Operation Phoenix." At that meeting, Camil proposed that the VVAW assassinate a group of

United States senators who supported the war, including Senator John Tower of Texas, Senator

John Stennis of Mississippi, and Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. The VVAW took

this proposal seriously enough to hold a vote on Camil s plan.

65. Another member of the VVAW who helped organize the Winter Soldier

"investigation" was Kenneth Campbell, who currently resides in Philadelphia. Campbell

recruited veterans to "testify" at the "investigation," and he himself deliberately made up and

exaggerated stories about witnessing and participating in war crimes and atrocities against the

Vietnamese people during the "investigation," testifying to events that did not take place, or that

bore no resemblance to the description provided by Campbell.

66. Four months later, in June 1971, Campbell traveled to Moscow and met with the

Chargé dAffairs of North Vietnam at his office. From there Campbell traveled with the North

Vietnamese delegation to the International War Crimes Conference in Oslo to testify.

67. On his return to the United States from the Oslo Conference, Campbell went

through Moscow and met with representatives of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam at the

embassy of North Vietnam. He also sought and received permission from his Soviet sponsors to

stop in Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace talks. Although

scheduling changes prevented a meeting at that time, Campbell has stated that while other

American tourists cheered the American Ambassador s arrival at the peace talks, he cheered the

arrival of Madame Bihn, the representative of Viet Cong.

68. Another participant in the Winter Soldier "investigation," was Joe Bangert. In

1971 Banger, like Hubbard and Campbell, traveled to Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese

and Viet Cong delegations. Bangert has stated that a highlight of his visit was a banquet with the

diplomatic delegations of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, at which Bangert wore a shirt

portraying the flag of the Viet Cong and at which he reveled in singing "We Will Liberate the

South (the anthem of the Viet Cong) and the "Ballad of Uncle Ho."

69. Another attendee with Kerry at the Winter Soldier "investigation" in Detroit was

George Butler, a long-time friend of Kerry s who later became a film-maker, published a photobiography

of Kerny, and produced a pro-Kerry film during the presidential campaign of 2004.

70. Kerry, like fellow VVAW members Hubbard, Campbell, and Bangert, also

traveled to Paris to meet with representatives of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

71. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the former acting chief of Romania s espionage service and

national-security adviser to that countrys president, has admitted that as early as 1965, the KGB

had organized a vitriolic conference in Stockholm to condemn America s "aggression" against

Vietnam. The KGB then financed the Stockholm Conference on Vietnam as a permanent

international organization, with one of its purposes being to demoralize America s army with

anti-American propaganda. Pacepa stated that "the quote from Senator Kerry [set forth in

paragraph 18, above] is unmistakable Soviet-style sloganeering from this period. I believe it is

very like a direct quote from one of these organizations propaganda sheets."

72. Pacepa further explained that "as a spy chief and a general in the former Soviet

satellite of Romania, I produced the very same vitriol Kerry repeated to the U.S. Congress almost

word for word," and that KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov "bragged about having damaged the

U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap

between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations."

Andropov described Vietnam to Pacepa as "our most significant success."

73. All of the foregoing is the historical context to the "investigation" that was

recorded in the Winter Soldier film, which Stolen Honor and other investigations have shown to

consist of misinformation, exaggeration, and lies, and to the later testimony by Kenny before the

U.S. Senate that was purportedly based on this "investigation".

74. As stated above, it was plaintiffs intention that Stolen Honor be viewed by the

largest possible audience, so that the words of the POWs could be heard, unfiltered, by the

American public, and the full measure of honor due them and all Vietnam veterans could be

restored through the exposure of the slanders made against them by Kerry and other leaders of

the VVAW.

75. In furtherance of that objective, plaintiffs entered into an agreement with Sinclair

Broadcasting, through which Sinclair agreed to show the 42 minute film in its entirety on all of

Sinclair s 62 stations nationwide on October 22, 2004.

76. Plaintiffs also intended to show the film at local theatres and on September 26,

2004, Red, White & Blue entered into a contract with Baederwood Movie Theatre, Inc.

(Baederwood) for the rental of the Baederwood Theatre in Abington, Pennsylvania, for the

purpose of showing Stolen Honor on October 19, 2004. Red, White & Blue paid for the theatre

rental in advance and had furnished Baederwood with a copy of the documentary.

77. When word of Stolen Honor reached Kenny, he set in motion his entire campaign

organization, and upon information and belief, directed and induced former VVAW members,

and others, toward the goal of falsely discrediting Sherwood and preventing the public from

seeing Stolen Honor and to shield from the public Kenny s participation in the Winter Soldier

"investigation."

78. On October 12, 2004, on behalf of and at the direction of John Kerry, the

Democratic National Committee (DNC) issued an "Action Alert" making the false statement that

Stolen Honor was "wnitten produced and funded by extreme right-wing activists" and was

"false."

79. These statements wene false and malicious and made with the sole intent to

defame Sherwood and discredit Stolen Honor. In fact, Stolen Honor was pnoduced and written

by Sherwood, an award-winning journalist, and was funded entirely by Pennsylvania veterans.

These statements were also false and defamatory because they wrongly stated that the

information presented in Stolen Honor was "false," when, in fact, the facts in Stolen Honor are

true.

80. Kerry, who directed and/or approved these statements by the DNC, had actual

knowledge that the statements about Stolen Honor were untrue, because he was a participant in

the events at issue and knew that Stolen Honor presented a truthful account of his activities as a

member of VVAW.

81. Kerry conspired, however, with those individuals at the DNC to spnead knowing

falsehoods about Sherwood and Stolen Honor in order to silence Sherwood and to advance his

political campaign.

82. This Action Alert further disparaged Sherwood by stating that Sinclair

Broadcasting would be compromising "journalistic integnity" if it showed the documentary, thus

stating directly or by implication that Sherwood s work fell below the standard of "journalistic

integrity." This false statement also was made knowingly and maliciously to damage Sherwood s

reputation as a journalist and to discredit Stolen Honor.

83. On October 15, 2004, an email was widely circulated by defendant Podesta, who

was the Pennsylvania Campaign Manager for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. In this email, which

upon information and belief was issued at the behest of and on behalf of Kenny, Podesta

described Sherwood as a "disgraced former journalist" who "crawled out of the gutter" and a

"Bush hack." Podesta described Stolen Honor as a deceitful attack, and stated that Sherwood had

not been honest with the managers of the Baederwood Theatre about the documentary s content.

Podesta wrote further that "Carlton Sherwood should be ashamed of his dishonesty, and the

Republican attack machine should be ashamed for stooping below even its own miserable

standards in relying on Carlton Sherwood."

84. These statements were false and defamatory and were made maliciously to

discredit Sherwood and to silence Stolen Honor, by falsely stating that Stolen Honor was

deceitful. Again, John Kenny had actual knowledge of the falsity of these statements made by his

representatives on his behalf, but he conspined with Podesta, who acted on Kenny s behalf in

Pennsylvania, to spread knowing falsehoods about Sherwood and Stolen Honor in order to

advance Kenny s political campaign.

85. Based upon these lies, Podesta s email also improperly encouraged those who

received his email to contact the general manager of the Baederwood Theatre and state that the

theatre should not allow Stolen Honor to be shown.

86. On October 18, 2004, a press release was issued on behalf of former VVAW

member Campbell, announcing that Campbell would file that day a defamation lawsuit against

Sherwood and Red, White & Blue. The press release stated that Stolen Honor accuses "Campbell

of fabricating stories of wrongdoing by American solders and higher ups in the chain of

command in Vietnam. All of these allegations are false...." Upon information and belief,

Campbell made these statements neflected in the press release.

87. Upon infonmation and belief, Campbell was acting at the behest~ of, and on

behalf of, Kerny in filing this lawsuit and in publicly stating that Stolen Honor was false, in an

effort to prevent the public from seeing the film.

88. Because they were actual participants in the Winter Soldier "investigation" both

Campbell and Kenny had actual knowledge that Campbell and Kenny did, in fact, fabricate

stories and/or encourage others to fabricate stories of atrocities by American soldiers in Vietnam,

and that therefore the facts set forth in Stolen Honor are true— and therefore that the statements

in Campbell s press release were knowing falsities.

89. These statements were made maliciously to damage Sherwood s reputation as a

journalist and to falsely discredit Stolen Honor.

90. Upon information and belief, the Kerry campaign, acting at the behest of and on

behalf of Kenny, also contacted members of the film collective that claims ownership of the

Winter Soldien film and informed them that the Kerry campaign wanted to keep the film from

being distributed until after the election.

91. Subsequently, as part of Kenny s campaign against Stolen Honor, Kenny s longtime

friend Butler, who had created the pno-Kerry film "Going Upriver: The Long War of John

Kerry," filed a complaint dated October 20, 2004 (the Butler lawsuit) against Shenwood and Red

White and Blue in federal court in New York, alleging that Stolen Honor infringed on certain

copyrights held by Butler. Co-plaintiffs in the Butler lawsuit were Swift Boat Films, LLC, a

company created by Butler to own Going Upniven, and Winter Film on Winter Film Collective,

the alleged owner of the rights to the Winter Soldier film.

92. In this same lawsuit, the plaintiffs also sued Sinclair Broadcasting, and requested

an injunction barring the showing of Stolen Honor.

93. Upon infonmation and belief, Butler was induced by Kerry to file this lawsuit, and

did so in concert with and on behalf of Kenny, for the improper purpose of trying to keep the

American public fnom viewing the film before the election, not to enforce or protect any legal

interest that the Butler lawsuit plaintiffs had in any copynighted material. Once the 2004 election

had passed, the Butlen lawsuit plaintiffs made no furthen effort to enforce their purported

copyrights, to obtain an injunction, or to recover any damages.

94. Former VVAW member Bangert, who had participated in the Winter Soldier

"investigation" and who had falsely testified to "atrocities," campaigned with Kenny during the

Presidential Primaries, and stood onstage with Kenny at the

Democratic National Convention, wrote publicly about Stolen Honor, describing it as "pure

partisan politics unhinged. Every word they uttered about Kerry, VVAW, Winter Soldier

Investigations [is] not true at all."

95. Upon information and belief, Bangert was acting at the direction of and fon the

benefit of Kenny in making these statements.

96. Both Kenny and Bangent had actual knowledge that Banger s statements

regarding Stolen Honor were false, because, as participants in the Winter Soldien

"investigation," Banger and Kenny were aware that what Stolen Honor had reported about

Kenny, the VVAW and the Winter Soldier investigation were true.

97. Bangent s statements were made maliciously with the intent of damaging

Sherwood s reputation and falsely discrediting Stolen Honor for the benefit of Kerny.

98. During this same time, seventeen Democratic U.S. senators, upon information and

belief acting at the behest of and on behalf of Kenny, wrote a letter to the Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) asking for an investigation of Sinclair Broadcasting s plan

to air Stolen Honor.

99. The senators letter was intended as pure intimidation. As a broadcaster, Sinclair

relies upon licenses granted by the FCC to operate its stations, and Congress supervises the FCC

s award of licenses. The meaning of the letten was clean: if Sinclair were to broadcast Stolen

Honor as planned, its applications to renew its stations licenses could face opposition in

Congress, particularly if the Democrats obtained a majority in the upcoming election.

100. This threat to Sinclair was made explicit by Kenny campaign senior adviser Chad

Clanton, who publicly stated, on behalf of Kerry, that "Listen, they better look out there at

Sinclair Broadcasting." He also stated that "I think they are going to regret doing this" and that

"[Sinclair] better hope we don t win."

101. In the end, Sinclair backed out of its agreement to show Stolen Honor in its

entirety, and instead, showed only 5 minutes of the documentary as part of an Octoben 22, 2004

program entitled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," which the station described

as a program to explore "the use of documentaries and other media to influence voting."

102. Also as a result of the actions described above, coordinated by Kenny, on October

18, 2004, one day befone the scheduled showing, Baederwood terminated its contract with Red,

White & Blue and refused to allow the scheduled showing of Stolen Honor.

103. Plaintiffs incorponate the allegations of the pneceding panagnaphs as though fully

set forth herein.

104. As described above, during the fall of 2004, Campbell, Bangert, Podesta, and

others, acting at the behest of or in concert with Keriy and other individuals directed by Kenny,

made disparaging statements about Sherwood s abilities as a journalist and directly stated or

implied that Sherwood s documentary, Stolen Honor, was deliberately false and was created with

the intention to mislead the American people, and made other similar disparaging remanks

against Sherwood and his documentary.

105. The aforementioned statements were false and defamatory, for the reasons

described above.

106. Defendant Kenny had actual knowledge that these statements wene false, on was

reckless with regard to the truth or accuracy of the statements, and yet directed his agents and

others wonking in concert with him to make these false statements.

107. These statements were made maliciously, for the sole purpose of injuring the

business and reputation of Sherwood and Red, White & Blue and discrediting Stolen Honor, in

onden to advance Kenny s presidential campaign.

108. As a direct result of the afonementioned false and defamatory statements,

Sherwood s reputation and ability to conduct business has been damaged, and he has incurred

embarrassment, humiliation, and emotional distress.

WHEREFORE, plaintiffs demand that judgment be entered in their favor and against

defendants and that plaintiffs be awarded compensatory damages, consequential damages, special

damages, punitive damages, interest, costs, attorney s fees, and such further relief as this Court

deems proper and just.

109. Plaintiffs incorporate the allegations of the preceding paragraphs as though fully

set forth herein.

110. As a direct and proximate result of defendants actions, plaintiffs suffered

economic harm including loss of sales and revenue that would have been generated by Stolen

Honor, and damage to their reputations.

WHEREFORE, plaintiffs demand that judgment be entened in their favor and against

defendants and that plaintiffs he awarded compensatory damages, consequential damages, special

damages, punitive damages, interest, costs, attorney s fees, and such further relief as this Court

deems proper and just.

111. Plaintiffs incorporate the allegations of the preceding paragraphs as though fully

set forth herein.

112. Defendants knew on should have known that the false and defamatory statement

made by defendants, their agents acting on their behalf, or others acting in concert with them

would disrupt Red, White & Blue s existing contractual relations with Sinclair Broadcasting and

Baederwood, and would discourage other broadcasters or theatres from conducting any business

with Sherwood or Red, White & Blue.

113. In fact, defendants sole purpose in taking the actions descnibed above was to

prevent the public from seeing Stolen Honor, by directing threats at broadcasters on theatres who

might otherwise choose to show the documentary.

114. These actions were not privileged or otherwise protected or justified.

115. As a direct and proximate result of these wrongful and unjustifiable actions,

plaintiffs have suffered damages, including loss of business, goodwill and damage to their

reputation, and continue to suffer damages.

WHEREFORE, plaintiffs demand that judgment be entered in their favor and against

defendants and that plaintiffs be awarded compensatory damages, consequential damages, special

damages, punitive damages, interest, costs, attonney s fees, and such further relief as this Count

deems proper and just.

116. Plaintiffs incorporate the allegations of the preceding paragraphs as though fully

set forth herein.

117. In taking the actions described above, defendants and those other individuals and/or

entities identified acted in combination and/or agreement with the intent to defame plaintiffs and

to interfere with plaintiffs existing and/or prospective business relationships.

118. In taking these actions, defendants acted maliciously, and without justification.

WHEREFORE, plaintiffs demand that judgment be entered in their favor and against

defendants and that plaintiffs be awarded compensatory damages, consequential damages, special

damages, punitive damages, interest, costs, attorney s fees, and such further relief as this Court

deems pnoper and just.

BUCHANAN INGERSOLL

PROPES SIONAL CORPORATION

/s/________________________________

Howard D. Schen (PA ID No. 03673)

Thomas P. Manning (PA ID No. 84912)

BUCHANAN INGERSOLL PC

1835 Market Street, 14th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19 103-2985

Telephone: (215) 665-8700

Facsimile (215) 665-8760

--------------------------------------

https://www.grasswave.com/vvlf/donate.php Support the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Setting the record straight

Your donation will help us tell the truth about the honorable service of America's troops in Vietnam. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation is fully tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for Federal income tax purposes. Donations may also be mailed to: Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation P.O. Box 95000-1655 Philadelphia, PA 19195-1655