Editing Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (section)

====First television advertisement====
The first SBVT ad was contradicted by the statements of several other veterans who observed the incidents, by the Navy's official records, and, in some instances, by the contemporaneous statements of SBVT members themselves.

Several major newspapers were also skeptical of the SBVT allegations. For example, a ''[[New York Times]]'' news article stated, "on close examination, the accounts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prove to be riddled with inconsistencies."<ref name="birthantikerryad">{{cite news|last1=Zernike |first1=Kate |first2=Jim |last2=Rutenberg |title=Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad |work=NY Times |date=2004-08-20 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/politics/campaign/20swift.html?ex=1250913600&en=9b6f27de16c97265&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland |access-date=2007-03-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090807224330/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/politics/campaign/20swift.html?ex=1250913600&en=9b6f27de16c97265&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland |archive-date=August 7, 2009 }}</ref> Regarding the medal dispute, a ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' editorial<ref>{{cite news|title=Battle Over Kerry's Record Continues|newspaper=LA Times|date=2004-08-24|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/682222421.html?dids=682222421:682222421&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+24%2C+2004&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=B.10&desc=Battle+Over+Kerry%27s+Record+Continues|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930225731/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/682222421.html?dids=682222421:682222421&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+24,+2004&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=B.10&desc=Battle+Over+Kerry%27s+Record+Continues|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 30, 2007|pages=B10|access-date=2007-03-29}}</ref> stated, "Not limited by the conventions of our colleagues in the newsroom, we can say it outright: These charges against John Kerry are false." The editorial argued this position on the basis that "Kerry is backed by almost all those who witnessed the events in question, as well as by documentation." On August 22, 2004 ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported: "An investigation by ''The Washington Post'' into what happened that day suggests that both sides have withheld information from the public record and provided an incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate, picture of what took place. But although Kerry's accusers have succeeded in raising doubts about his war record, they have failed to come up with sufficient evidence to prove him a liar."<ref name="accountsimcomplete">{{cite news|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|title=Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete|newspaper=Washington Post|pages=A01|date=2004-08-22|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21239-2004Aug21.html|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref>

The [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television show ''[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]'' traveled to Vietnam and interviewed [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] who were involved in the battle for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. These witnesses disputed O'Neill's charge that there "was little or no fire" that day; they said that the fighting was fierce.<ref name="abcwhathappened">{{cite news|last=Morse|first=Andrew|title=What Happened in Kerry's Vietnam Battles?|work=ABC News|date=October 14, 2004|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2004/story?id=166434|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041112093735/https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2004/story?id=166434|archive-date=November 12, 2004}}</ref> SBVT supporters question whether these witnesses are reliable because they spoke "in the presence of a Communist official",<ref name="abcnewsorspin">{{cite news|last=Sowell|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Sowell|title=ABC News or ABC spin|publisher=Townhall.com|date=October 20, 2004|url=http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2004/10/20/abc_news_or_abc_spin/page/full/|access-date=March 26, 2011}}</ref> but their account of enemy fire is substantially the same as that previously given by another former [[Viet Cong]] to an AP reporter<ref>{{cite news|last=Mason|first=Margie|title=Former Viet Cong recalls fierce fighting along Mekong Delta waterways where Kerry served.|date=2004-09-01|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> and by the American witnesses, including the only SBVT member who was actually present that day, Larry Clayton Lee.<ref name="chicagotribrood">{{cite news|title=FEB. 28, 1969: ON THE DONG CUNG RIVER; 'This is what I saw that day'
|first=William B.|last=Rood|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408220342aug22,0,7550103.story?page=2|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=August 22, 2004|at=p. 2, para. 18|access-date=October 19, 2010|quote=There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago{{nbsp}}...}}</ref><ref name="courantbattletested">{{cite news|last=Upton|first=Peter N.|title=Kerry's Leadership Is Battle Tested|pages=C01,06|work=Hartford Courant|date=2004-07-25|url=http://www.hartfordinfo.org/issues/documents/neighborhoods/htfd_courant_072504.pdf|access-date=2007-04-01}}</ref><ref>''Tour of Duty'', pp. 290–292</ref><ref>''John F. Kerry, The Complete Biography'', (Boston Globe), pp. 100–103</ref> ABC News's ''The Note'' opined, "the Swift Boat ad and their primary charges about Kerry's medals are personal, negative, extremely suspect, or false."<ref name="abcskeptical">{{cite news|title=Wise Counsel|work=The Note|publisher=ABC News|date=August 25, 2004|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_Aug2504.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050417124306/http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_Aug2504.html|archive-date=April 17, 2005}}</ref>