In an interview with Judy Woodruff of CNN in 2004, Kerry was asked about his accusations against American Troops during the Vietnam war.  Here is his answer:

No, I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops. And if you
read what I said, it is very clearly an indictment of leadership. I said
to the Senate, where is the leadership of our country? And it's the
leaders who are responsible, not the soldiers. I never said that. I've
always fought for the soldiers.

The problem with the 70s and 80s liberals is that the MSM is not the only source of information now.  A quick googling of the senate record turns up what he actually said:

Several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150
honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified
to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but
crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of
officers at all levels of command. . . . They relived the absolute
horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.

They told the stories [that] at times they had personally raped, cut off
ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human
genitals and turned on the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies,
randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of
Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and
generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the
normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which
is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

Maybe I missed it, but I did not read in there anywhere, where he said the leaders ordered it or the leaders did it. Sorry Kerry, you just plain lied.