Posted on 08/07/2004 3:16:39 PM PDT by Kaslin
Has used account as evidence of war crimes, to attack U.S. policy
Over the the past three decades, John Kerry has used a story of being ordered to illegally enter Cambodia during his Vietnam service as proof of war crimes and to argue against U.S. foreign policy, but a new book by Naval colleagues of the Massachusetts senator charges the account is false.
On the floor of the U.S. Senate, March 27, 1986, for example, Kerry attacked President Reagan's actions in Central America, charging they were leading the United States into another Vietnam. He claimed he could recognize the adminstration's errors because he had firsthand knowledge that the Nixon administration lied about American incursions into Cambodia.
In a Boston Herald story, Kerry is quoted as saying, "I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."
But in "Unfit for Command," scheduled for release Aug. 15, John O'Neill, who took over Kerry's swift-boat command, and co-author Jerome Corsi say there are two problems with Kerry's claim.
One is simply that Nixon had not taken office yet.
The second, they say, is that during Christmas 1968, "he was more than fifty miles away from Cambodia. Kerry was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there."
At the time, Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo, which had a patrol areas extending to Sa Dec, about 55 miles from the Cambodian border.
All of the surviving officers in Kerry's chain of command deny he was ever ordered to Cambodia: Joe Streuhli, commander of Costal Division 13; George Elliott, commander of Coastal Division 11; Adrian Lonsdale, captain USCG and commander Coastal Surveillance Center at An Thoi; Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, commander of Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam, CTF 115; and Rear Adm. Art Price, commander of River Patrol Force, CTF 116.
Also at least three of the five crewmen on Kerry’s PCF 44 boat -- Bill Zaldonis, Steven Hatch, and Steve Gardner -- deny that they or their boat were ever in Cambodia. The remaining two crewmen declined to be interviewed for the book.
The authors say the Cambodia incursion story is not included in Douglas Brinkley's "Tour of Duty." Instead, Kerry told of a mortar attack on Christmas Eve 1968 "near the Cambodia border" in Sa Dec.
Supposedly, Kerry made a speech in the Senate in 1986 spouting this nonsense that he was in Cambodia on XMAS Eve. The speech was in connection with the Sandaistas in Nicaragua and how the situation was analagous to guess where--Vietnam of course. For Kerry, no matter what the subject is, it is related to Vietnam and his four month experience there.
Maybe the 3rd Purple Heart was the best solution to their problems, figuring Kerry would take it and split.
The media need to call him on this stuff. Kranish didn't even pick up on Kerry's reference to Nixon as being untrue. Even a cub reporter would do a better job of questioning what Kerry said. Kranish and Eason don't want any contradictory information because it destroys the myth they have built up around Kerry. They also have a vested interest since they have written Kerry's biography. They are very nervous that O'Neill has so easily poked holes in Kerry's stories. If they were real journalists, they should have done that.
As I recall the South Vietnamese were predominantly Roman Catholics while the north was more tradional Buddhists so this part of the story may not be that odd. The Indo-China War that resulted in the French leaving southeast Asia had religious overtones.
Good pick. Kerry is locked into this fantasy story along with the Boston Globe reporters, Let's hear what Kerry and his band of brothers have to say about this.
My husband was there the same time you were. He was in special op's. He doesn't like talking about it either.
When he came back from one of his tours in VN, he came in via San Francisco. He was spat on as he walked through the terminal. When he got home and told me about it, my heart broke. It still makes me cry.
THANKS for your service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How was Christmas '68 in Cambodia?
Maybe people will start asking what it means.
This is a VERY important story. For those who've followed Kerry over the years, it's the bedrock of every nuanced position or posture he's taken over the years, from his tainted war testimony in the 70's to the Senate floor speech supporting the Butcher of Managua (Daniel Ortega) against Reagan in the 80's, to his determination to undermine the US Intelligence apparatus in the 90's to his over-the-top rhetoric about war and lying at the heart of his campaign in this year's presidential election. The story is at the core of his being, he said the experience was "seared" into him ... yet it's obviously, proveably FALSE!
"Republican backed attack." THEY NEVER ASK KERRY TO RESPOND. It's unbelievable. Let him go on 60 Minutes, like Clinton did, and clear it up. Is that asking too much??? But these alleagations will haunt him, not matter what he does.
On the other hand, if it's so proveably false, why would he have used it so often and so publicly?
John Kerry is an arrogant SOB who is not used to being questioned. Recall the most famous statement by him is typically repeated as being "Don't you know who I am??" and is typically utterred as he cuts in front of people. He is not used to being questioned and is accustomed to bloviating in the Senate where half the oratory coming from the other side is outright baloney & pure falsehoods which their side never questions. This is no different except it's become lore in the maginations of his mind.
Kranish is on Kerry's payroll.
I know they call it fly over country, but that must be a busy jet route.
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JOHN KERRY = Enemy of Vietnam Vets
http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1320
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My father was 10x the war hero John Fraud Kerry is. His job in WWII was to sit in the steaming cannibal, headhunter and disease infested jungles of New Guinea in a radio truck and send out the radio signal for our planes to use to home into base. Unfortunately for him the Japanese planes could too and he had to stay until all our pilots were home.
Japanese bombs hit so close that his back was messed up for the rest of his life.
He didn't get any fancy medal like the Silver Star but instead a life cut short by the malaria, hepatitis, and jungle rot he brought back from three years in that hell hole.
My father served in New Guinea, also. He was just a lowly infantry Private (32nd Div). He was involved in a jeep wreck when it was strafed. That messed up his shoulder for the rest of his life. In Nov 44 he went to the Philippines and took part in the Battle of Leyte Island. His Company (F of the 128th) was cut off due to weather and they suffered the full extent of jungle warfare. He went MIA on 25 Dec 44 and was recovered and hospitalized 3 Jan 45. He was one of only a handful of his company to survive. He never fully recovered his health and he died in 1958. (But not before marrying and making a son!)
My father only got one purple heart for his troubles. He spent 14 months in hospitals and wasn't discharged until April 1946.
I don't like John Kerry.
I don't blame you. How many stories are there like our fathers out there? How many share our disgust with the awards given a poseur like Kerry when true heroes were never recognized.
You know in your heart this creep pulled strings to get these awards particularly since they were given for such trivial actions. His actions cheapen the awards given real heroes.
Letters to the Editor...all across The Country...
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Karen Hughes
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