Steve Pitkin recants '71 anti-war testimony

1045Z WED 08SEP04. WinterSoldier.com.

Steve Pitkin has recanted his testimony at the "Winter Soldier Investigation" in Detroit in 1971, saying he was encouraged by Kerry and others to testify.

As reported in an earlier ACE post; in investigating some of the reports soon after the Detroit meeting, federal agents found a number of "witnesses" who didn't want to talk to them.

Here's his '71 testimony:

"My name is Steve Pitkin, age 20, from Baltimore. I served with the 9th Division from May of '69 until I was airvaced in July of '69. I'll testify about the beating of civilians and enemy personnel, destruction of villages, indiscriminate use of artillery, the general racism and the attitude of the American GI toward the Vietnamese. I will also talk about some of the problems of the GIs toward one another and the hassle with officers."

Here are the key paragraphs from his 30 AUG 04 affadavit:

4. During my service in Vietnam, I neither witnessed nor participated in any American war crimes or atrocities against civilians, nor was I ever aware of any such actions. I did witness the results of Vietcong atrocities against Vietnamese civilians, including the murder of tribal leaders.

8. During the Winter Soldier Investigation, John Kerry and other leaders of that event pressured me to testify about American war crimes, despite my repeated statements that I could not honestly do so. One event leader strongly implied that I would not be provided transportation back to my home in Baltimore, Maryland, if I failed to comply. Kerry and other leaders of the event instructed me to publicly state that I had witnessed incidents of rape, brutality, atrocities and racism, knowing that such statements would necessarily be untrue.

Paul at "Blogs for Bush" notes Pitkin's name is still mentioned at the VVAW site, on a page entitled "Defending VVAW against Swift Boat Lies:"

"Too bad that VVAW members like Barry Romo, James Duffy, Mark Lenix, Nathan Hale, Charles Stephens, Gary Keyes, Michael Hunter, Mike McCusker, Scott Moore, Donald Duncan, Steve Pitkin, and Kenneth Ruth aren't here to defend themselves against the charge that they never served in combat and invented their stories about Vietnam."