Former U.S. senator 'haunted' by Vietnam killings

Kerrey said he felt anguish and guilt about the wartime incident

WASHINGTON -- Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey says he feels "anguish and guilt" about the women and children accidentally killed during a nighttime mission he led in Vietnam, but he denies a report that the civilians were deliberately shot.

Kerrey's wartime heroics have been central to his political biography, but he now says an incident that earned him a Bronze Star for "heroic achievement" was actually a tragic mistake that has haunted him for 32 years.

"We expected it to be a very difficult mission, and we met some people we believed were the outpost and we killed them," Kerrey said Wednesday on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports.

"(We) went on and took fire where we expected this meeting to occur, and we returned very lethal fire. And when the firing was over, all we had was women and children that were dead."

Kerrey was describing an incident that happened in the Mekong Delta on February 25, 1969, when a squad of Navy SEALs he commanded came under fire on a moonless light and returned fire into the darkness.

The citation that accompanied his Bronze Star reads: "The net result of his patrol was twenty-one Viet Cong killed, two hootches destroyed and two enemy weapons captured"

Kerrey was presented a Medal of Honor by President Nixon in 1970

Kerrey now says the Bronze Star citation was wrong.

Kerrey decided to come forward when he learned that one of his SEAL squad members on the mission had given a different account during a joint interview with the New York Times and CBS News. The man said the squad, acting on Kerrey's orders, rounded up people and intentionally killed civilians.

Kerrey said that account, which has yet to be published, is incorrect.

According to Pentagon officials, there is currently no plan to investigate the incident.

Sen. John Kerry, a fellow decorated Vietnam veteran, went to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to defend his longtime friend:

"Bob Kerrey served with distinction," said Kerry. "He feels, obviously, anguish and pain about those events, but I don't believe they should diminish for one moment the full measure of what he has given to his country and of what he represents."

Kerrey is seen as a possible presidential contender in 2004.

Although Kerrey and his political allies have long touted the Medal of Honor he was awarded for his actions in a different battle, he has rarely, if ever, talked about what he did to earn a Bronze Star. In fact, no where in Kerrey's official biography is the Bronze star even mentioned.

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