Tell me about the Bob Kerrey scandal

A. Bob Kerrey - a former senator, governor of Nebraska, and war hero - has admitted leading a disastrous mission in Vietnam in which 21 civilians were killed. Kerrey, often mentioned as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, said he initially believed his squad was attacking a Viet Cong district meeting.

Q. What did he say

A. Kerrey was a 25-year-old lieutenant in the elite Navy Seal squad at the time of the incident on 25 February, 1969. He said: 'We entered two hours after sunset on a dark and moonless night. It was the most risky mission I had led in my short time in the country. My greatest fear was that some mistake on my part would end in the death of my men. When we received fire, we returned fire. But when the fire stopped, we found that we had killed only women, children and older men. It was not a military victory. It was a tragedy and I had ordered it. Though it could be justified militarily, I could never make my own peace with what happened that night. I have been haunted by it for 32 years.'

On the authoritative 60 Minutes CBS TV programme, he was asked by interviewer Dan Rather: 'You let 'em have it ' He replied: 'Well a bit more than let them have it ... We fired in M-79s, M-60s, we stood back and we just emptied everything we could into this place and we were taking fire. And we came into the village and it wasn't a big village ... There was a cluster of women and children. They were all dead. So that's the outcome.'

Q. So why has he come forward

A. Kerrey, now president of New School University in New York, said he was speaking out because Gerhard Klann, a former member the squad, was telling a different version of the story. Klann has claimed the squad rounded up civilians and shot them because they did not feel they could retreat safely otherwise.

Q. Any support for him

A. Yes - for Kerrey. Mike Ambrose, another Seal, said: 'Bob's account is absolutely accurate. We had a bad night. The rest of the action was unfortunate.' Kerrey was also awarded a Bronze Star for his actions and its citation tells yet another version. It says Kerrey's squad killed 14 Vietcong, destroying two huts and capturing enemy weapons in Thanh Phong, a peasant hamlet in the Mekong Delta. Then, the citation says, the squad came under attack again and killed seven more Vietcong.

Q. So that proves Kerrey acted correctly, doesn't it

A. Difficult. He certainly feels shame over something. Kerrey also won a Medal of Honor - America's highest award - but he never mentions the Bronze Star in his official biographies.

Q. What did he do after the war

A. Seventeen days after the incident, he lost part of his leg in a grenade explosion. He spent months recovering in a Philadelphia veterans hospital before returning to Nebraska and going into business. He was elected governor in 1981 and to the Senate in 1988. After two terms in the Senate he decided not to seek re-election. In January he became president of New School University, New York. He ran for president in 1992 but decided against taking on Al Gore last year. He was mentioned as a possible candidate in 2004.

Q. Final word

A. Kerrey: 'I've lived with this privately for 32 years. I felt it best to keep this memory private. I can't keep it private any more. My conscience tells me some good should come from this.' Asked if he thought the 60 Minutes broadcast would end the controversy over differing accounts, Kerrey replied: "I have no idea. The truth is, I'm afraid, it won't end until the last Vietnam veteran is dead and in the grave. We are going to be in a free-fire zone the rest of our lives. They will go back and keep second-guessing what the soldiers did instead of the decision the politicians made.'

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By Steve Cunningham