Addendum:
Score One for the Good Guys
Less than 48 hours after I posted my articles regarding the attacks on Bob
Destatte by Bob Dornan and Chip
Beck, the following message flashed across the internet, from former Army Captain Jay Veith, himself a member of the Beat Up Bob Destatte
Club. Mr. Veith's message is quoted below. His message is in this typeface, my comments appear in this color.
QUOTE
From: Jay.Veith@westgroup.com
[mailto:Jay.Veith@westgroup.com]
Sent: Monday, September 06, 1999 1:18 PM
To: (I have snipped all addressees as
I am not certain that any of them would want their e-mail addresses posted.)
Subject: latest Schlatter blast (sic)
Article written by Schlatter and posted 9/5/99.
www.miafacts.org/menupg.htm. then
click on "What's New," and then you will
see a listing of recent articles written by Schlatter. This is the latest.
He accuses of others of mangling facts, yet does the same. For instance, he
claims the U.S. GPO has just printed the transcript of the Sept 1996 hearing
referred to later. Yet I have had a copy of this for well over a year. He
claims Destatte was prevented from placing his written statement in the
record. Horse hockey. I was there, and there was no effort at all by
Dornan or his staff to do this. Destatte unfortunately was one of the last
to speak, and thus the hearing ran out of time before he could fully present
his testimony.
What is even more sad is that people on the Internet news groups like
alt.war.vietnam and alt.war.powmia listen to and believe this guy. I am
sending this to everyone so that people can be aware of the vicious attacks
being created by Schlatter.
Begin article:
(Mr. Veith then quotes my Sad
Story article in its entirety.)
END QUOTE
Allow me to respond.
Publication of the hearing record
Mr. Veith is correct and I am guilty of imprecise language. I should have said
that I only received a copy of the hearing record within the past few days.
The record was, indeed, published some months ago. The dates of
publication and the date of my receipt, however, are irrelevant to the point at hand.
Removal of Destatte's testimony from the hearing room
Mr. Veith is wrong on this one. Here are the facts.
While en route to the hearing room, several DPMO staff members were in a van when they
were informed, via a cell phone call, that Congressman Dornan's staff had confiscated all
advance copies of Destatte's written statement for the record. Furthermore, they
were told that Dornan had spoken with DPMO management and had "exploded" over
Destatte's statement; Dornan threatened retribution against DPMO management if they
insisted on placing the statement on the record. Destatte voluntarily agreed to not
enter the statement into the record. By phone from the van en route to the hearing
room, DPMO passed word to Dornan of this decision and Dornan treated Destatte with
courtesy during the hearing.
Veith says "Destatte unfortunately was one of the last to
speak, and thus the hearing ran out of time before he could fully present his
testimony." It matters not when Bob Destatte spoke -- first, last, or
never. Anyone who is invited to speak before a Congressional committee has the
opportunity to submit written testimony, which becomes part of the official record -- even
if the individual does not speak. That testimony is presented separate from the
oral testimony. Veith is attempting to say that, because Destatte spoke last and did
not have time to finish, his testimony was not part of the record.
We are not talking about Bob's oral testimony, we are talking about his written
statement. DPMO submitted that written statement then, in the face of Dornan's
demands, they withdrew the statement -- Dornan's staffers had already removed the public
copies from the hearing room. However, a copy of the written statement made its way
into the printed record. Who knows how -- maybe Dornan decided later to put the
statement into the record, in the interest of having a complete record. Maybe an
efficient clerk picked up a copy of it before Dornan's staff removed the statements.
Regardless, a copy of the written statement with attachments is in the
record.
Mr. Veith is avoiding the point
Now, let's get to the heart of the matter. Mr. Veith avoids the point. I
suspect he avoids the point on purpose. The point is NOT the date
of publication of the record of the hearing. The point is NOT the
fact that Dornan's staff removed all copies of Destatte's written testimony from the
public tables in the hearing room. My articles dealing with the Dornan and Beck
attacks on Destatte would have been complete without those sideshows.
This is the point
On August 2, 1996, Dornan made a special order speech that focused largely on the
"Cuban program." In this speech, Dornan made a number of attacks on Bob
Destatte.
In a Miami Herald article, and later in a letter to the editor of the Herald,
Beck made similar attacks.
These attacks on Bob Destatte are substantial misrepresentations of fact.
Stated more plainly, the Dornan and Beck attacks on Destatte are a pack of lies
and, when one examines those parts of the record that bear
on this matter, the depth of their lies is exposed.
And this is why Veith is so excited
Why, then, does Mr. Veith dwell on the date of publication and on the removal
of documents from the hearing room? Simple: He knows that he has no defense against the facts of the case. He
knows of the Dornan and Beck attacks on Destatte, he has read the material presented in
testimony, and he is smart enough to recognize that Dornan and Beck do not have a leg to
stand on. So, he attempts to deflect attention away from the sucking chest
wound that I have inflicted on Beck by pointing to minor scratch.
Why do you suppose that Mr. Veith -- who appears not to have a dog in this fight -- has
taken it upon himself to circulate widely my article and his criticism thereof?
Precisely because he does have a dog in this fight. It's called credibility.
Mr. Veith and others like him -- Beck, Benge, Sauter, Sanders, Hall, Santoli to name but a
few -- depend on the Billy Hendon Model: That they
can, with impunity, make outrageous attacks on honest folks like Bob Destatte because they
believe that no one will stand up to them and point out their calumny. Further,
their practice is, when they are caught as they have been in this case, they try to
deflect attention away from their misrepresentations by shouting about irrelevant matters
-- Veith knows that his friend Beck and his patron Dornan have been exposed so he tries to
divert everyone's attention by making noise about publication dates and Bob Destatte's
oral testimony. Here's a news flash for you guys: It does not work any longer
because the rules have changed. The Billy Hendon Model does not work any more.
Thanks for the publicity
In closing, I wish to express my appreciation to Mr. Veith for the free
publicity that he gives to my MIA Facts Site -- by sending his e-mail message to all and
sundry, he is really helping me spread the truth.
This article was prepared at 7:00 p.m., September 6,
1999.
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