Jerome Corsi

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Jerome R. Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American author and conservative activist. Corsi received national media exposure as credited co-author (with John O'Neill), of Unfit for Command, a book that topped the New York Times bestseller list. The book, written in cooperation with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, criticized John Kerry's conduct as a naval officer during the Vietnam War and challenged the legitimacy of each of his combat medals. The book also criticized Kerry's later efforts organizing opposition to that war.

Corsi received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1972, and has since published several works on political protest and terrorism. His 1972 dissertation was titled Prior Restraint, Prior Punishment, and Political Dissent; a Moral and Legal Evaluation. In 1972, he published an extensive study of the political protest around the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, and the involvement of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (an organization that Kerry was involved with). That work was published at the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence (Brandeis University, 1974). Corsi authored Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians (2005) and co-authored Black Gold Stranglehold (2005) with Craig R. Smith. In 2006, he also co-authored Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States with Michael D. Evans.

In August 2004, during Corsi's collaboration with the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, the liberal website Media Matters for America reposted a number of anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic, and anti-gay comments [1] made by Corsi at the forum threads of the conservative website Free Republic, dating from 2001 through 2004 [2]. Corsi responded that the selected posts were failed attempts at humor [3], but the Media Matters story rapidly spread. In addition, John O'Neill responded to questions about Corsi by claiming that he was not really the coauthor of the book, but "simply an editor" ("Scarborough Country," Aug. 10, 2004; "Wolf Blitzer Reports," Aug. 11, 2004), although portions of the book are nearly identical to postings Corsi had made at an anti-Kerry website [4][5][6][7]. Subsequently, Corsi rarely appeared for media interviews regarding the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

In January 2005, Corsi told the Boston Herald that he planned to bid for Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2008. He stated that he would run as a Republican or Independent.

Corsi has also co-authored Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders (with Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist), which was published in August 2006.[8]

[edit] Accusations Of Plagiarism

Conservative author and pundit Debbie Schlussel has accused Corsi of plagiarizing elements from columns that she has published, and subsequently posting them-under his byline-on a conservative website run by Joseph Farah, World Net Daily. [9]