“Nothing is more essential … than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable character.” –Samuel Adams

Jean Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are at it again.

In October 2003, Kerry chose to make his disputed Vietnam war record as a Swift Boat “hero” the centerpiece of his campaign for the presidency. In doing so, he also called attention to his undisputed provision of “aid and comfort” to the enemy in time of war.

In response, a large contingent of Vietnam vets who also served on Swift Boats – some who served with Kerry, some who served in the same area as Kerry, and some who were Kerry’s former commanding officers (Grant Hibbard and George Elliott) – challenged Kerry’s record in a series of televised ads, and a book, Unfit for Command.

In all, more than 250 Swiftees, including Kerry’s entire chain of command, are on record as questioning his fitness to serve as Commander in Chief. Conversely, only three of Kerry’s 23 fellow officers-in-charge from Coastal Division 11 support him.

The Swiftees claimed that Kerry was “unfit to serve” because of his “willful distortion of the conduct” of American servicemen in Vietnam, and the “withholding and/or distortion of material facts” regarding his own service.

“The ads were produced to expose the braggart Kerry’s incautious claims about his service during the Vietnam War,” notes American Spectator editor R. Emmett Tyrrell. “That would be the war Kerry participated in briefly before coming home and traducing his fellow comrades in arms with vicious lies and distortions before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.”

The Swiftees’ challenge also highlighted Kerry’s participation with the radical “New Soldier” movement, but Kerry arrogantly brushed off the challenge – and his presidential aspirations were dashed.

Two weeks ago, billionaire entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens, who had funded part of the 2004 SBVT ad campaign, renewed the challenge by offering $1,000,000 to anyone who could disprove any of the accusations made by the Swiftees in that ad campaign.

That was the setup.

In a letter to Mr. Pickens, Kerry responded, “While I am prepared to show the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt.”

Pickens countered Kerry: “In order to disprove the accuracy of the Swift Boat ads, I will ultimately need you to provide the following: 1) The journal you maintained during your service in Vietnam. 2) Your military record, specifically your service records for the years 1971-1978, and copies of all movies and tapes made during your service. When you have done so, if you can then prove anything in the ads was materially untrue, I will gladly award $1 million.”

That is the trap.

Of course, Kerry’s response has gotten plenty of media play in more than 300 articles sporting headlines like “Kerry Takes Vows to Disprove Swift Boat Claims,” and even Leftmedia editorials proclaiming, “Bravo, finally, for John Kerry. Beyond any doubt he served this country bravely…”

But no evidence refuting the Swiftees’ claims has been forthcoming, nor will it be. Kerry is banking on MSM credit for accepting the Pickens challenge without ever showing up.

Kerry is now ducking the challenge, claiming that Pickens’s request for bona fide documentation constitutes “selectively backing away from your original challenge, retreat, a new bet, and changing the subject.” In other words, if Pickens won’t just accept Kerry’s word as fact, Kerry will not accept the challenge.

The debate about Kerry’s “hero” status, including questions such as why his Silver Star has three different citations (none of which account for the degree of valor commensurate with the award), will likely never be adequately resolved. In fact, Kerry’s refusal to release his DoD Standard Form 180 and DD214, accounting for all his military citations, records and discharge from the military, has fueled the debate. (Here is how Purple Hearts are really “earned.”)

Kerry requested an SF-180 back in 2005, and the Department of Defense quickly obliged, so why all the obfuscation – why not simply release the entirety of his records? Perhaps, because those records would create more questions than they answer?

Kerry did provide some of his records to his hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley, and then claimed he could not release those records to the media because of an exclusive agreement with Brinkley. However, even Brinkley says that their agreement stipulates only that quotations from those records cite his book, not that Kerry was prohibited from releasing them otherwise.

The dispute about Kerry’s Vietnam conduct and citations notwithstanding, the real issue is not Kerry’s service record, but his traitorous actions between 1971 to 1978, when he was discharged from the Navy – which is why Pickens asked for Kerry’s service records for those years.

Was Kerry’s discharge revised in accordance with Jimmy Carter’s Executive Order 4483, which provided radical protestors and draft dodgers blanket pardons? Is that why his discharge was subject to review by a “board of officers” in accordance with Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163, which pertains to grounds for involuntary separation from military service?

Here is a sure bet: Kerry will not produce those records because he knows Pickens will use them to document our case against Kerry for treason, as outlined in the Petition to Investigate and Indict John F. Kerry for acts of treason.

Kerry provided “aid and comfort” to the North Vietnamese enemy during the Vietnam War, meeting in Paris with NVA communists while he was a commissioned Navy officer.

He has supported Communist dictators in Nicaragua and Cuba, and, more recently, his flip-flopping on Iraq and claim that those serving there are “stuck in Iraq” because they are too ignorant to do anything else have served to stiffen our enemies’ resolve.

At best, Kerry, by his own account of his actions and protests, violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Code while serving as a Navy officer.

Most notable among his infractions would be the aforementioned meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in 1970 and 1971, in which he willingly placed himself in violation of Article Three, Section Three of the U.S. Constitution, which defines treason as “giving aid and comfort” to the enemy in time of warfare.

Further, the Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three, states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President … having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

It is likely that no action will be taken on the Petition to Investigate and Indict John F. Kerry for acts of treason while Kerry is a sitting senator, but if Pickens is able to obtain Kerry’s records and document his meetings with North Vietnamese principals, Kerry could be prosecuted for violations of Article Three, Section Three, and disqualified from any future campaign for national office.

Like Pickens, The Patriot is committed to holding Mr. Kerry accountable for his actions, as there is no statute of limitations for acts of treason. Indeed, we are all committed to serving Kerry with an irrevocable dishonorable discharge from public office.

Now, then, Mr. Kerry, about that million-dollar challenge from Mr. Pickens: We’re still waiting….