Posted on 08/08/2004 5:09:55 PM PDT by Steven W.
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN AUG 08, 2004 19:04:35 ET XXXXX
SWIFT OFFICERS AND VETS: KERRY LIED ABOUT SPENDING CHRISTMAS IN CAMBODIA
Since the early 1970s, Kerry has spoken and written of how he was illegally ordered to enter Cambodia. Kerry mentioned it in the floor of the Senate in 1986 when he charged that President Reagan’s actions in Central America were leading the U.S. in another Vietnam. Here’s what he said as excerpted from the new book, UNFIT FOR COMMAND:
I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared--seared--in me.
DRUDGE has learned from the accounts of Swift Boat officers and Kerry’s crewmembers that Kerry was never in Cambodia. UNFIT FOR COMMAND authors charge that Kerry made it all up.
“Despite the dramatic memories of his Christmas in Cambodia, Kerry’s statements are complete lies,” according to John O’Neil, co-author and the Swift Boat commander who took over Kerry’s boat. “Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War. . . . he was more than fifty miles away from Cambodia.”
Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo. Coastal Division 13’s patrol areas extended to Sa Dec, about 55 miles from the Cambodian border. . . . Tom Anderson, Commander of River Division 531, who was in charge of PBRs (small river patrol crafts] confirmed that there were no Swifts anywhere in the area and they would have been stopped had they appeared.
All the living commanders in Kerry’s chain of command . . . deny that Kerry was ever ordered to Cambodia. They indicate that Kerry would have been seriously disciplined or court-martialed had he gone there. At least three of the five crewmen on Kerry’s boat, Bill Zaldonis, Steven Hatch, and Steve Gardner, deny that they or their boat were ever in Cambodia.
O’Neill observed that the Cambodia incursion story is not included in Tour of Duty (Kerry’s recent biography). Instead, Kerry replaced the story with a report about a mortar attack that occurred on Christmas Eve 1968 “near the Cambodian border” in a town called Sa Dec and Christmas day was spent at the base writing entries in his journal.
After conducting interviews and research, authors of Unfit for Command conclude, “The truth is that Kerry made up his secret mission into Cambodia.... the lie about the illegal Cambodian incursion painted his superiors up the chain of command. . . . as villains faced down by John Kerry, a solitary hero in grave and exotic danger and forced illegally against his will into harm’s way.”
Developing...
Looks like the whole Kerry warhero myth is beginning to rapidly fall apart...
Is John "F." Kerry his real name? I am to that stage with John Kerry. This is just mind boggling. Why would he tout Vietnam so much when it is clear that there are a lot of questions not only about his medals but now what he says happened? Guess he thought he could get a free pass from the media and no one would question a true Vietnam "hero." Boy was he wrong!
http://www.wabcradio.com/listenlive.asp
Tune in LIVE at 9:30..........
The strange thing is, had he just remained a Mass. Senator he could have died with the war hero myth alive and well! But being the nominee like this, we all will find out the truth after decades. Well, anyone with an open mind who listens and reads beyond the likes of Dan Rather anyway!
Kerry is crazy I believe. And he scares me. I am praying more than I ever have!!
Bump
that's what happens to myths which are totally fabricated from whole cloth and finally given the slightest bit of true scrutiny. his Cambodia story doesn't even pass the smell test and when you see, hear or read his claims that the lessons from that (false) "experience" were "seared into his soul" one quickly realizes the only possible explanation for such is that he truly lacks any soul or sense of being and conscience. The vets have the strength of their convictions and the truth on their side.
Trying to figure out what's new here. Isn't this the same info included in the first chapter of "Unfit for Command" which we all downloaded a few nights ago?
Drudge to the rescue!
Some of the vets have recently said that as long as Mass. was willing to have him as their senator they didn't care (as) much ... but the idea of him being POTUS was too much to bare for such men of true honor & integrity.
Damn, I'm surprised the b*stard Kerry didn't write a song about it!
"Christmas in Cambodia"
All of this stuff about Mr. Kerry and what he did and didn't do in Vietnam is very unseemly. Mind you, I am no fan of Mr. Kerry. What concerns me is that this sort of advertising(and recantations) is not good for President Bush. It is a sure loser of a propostition.
Those of us who like President Bush should know better.
The country will not buy it...and neither should we.
The president's record is more than sufficient to win the election.
How's that for hijinks?
4-More years fro President Bush!
I don't believe the SwiftVets had (yet) combined their account with the admissions of Kerry's own "band of brothers" that they don't believe his story either. My expectation is that Drudge is leading with this for his evening show & that's where I'll expect more details to be forthcoming.
Yet here he is, an odds on favorite to be elected President. And we conservatives are pushing for the lesser of two liberals...it's over folks, pray for the revolution, it's our only hope to revive the Constitution as originally penned. (sorry to be such a downer)
Interesting.... so many lies to uncover...
Check this out.
I've stopped visiting Drudge's site. His *(#&(@^! popup ads make it past my blocker and have crashed my browser TWICE.
The jury is still out on that. This, and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisment, might well be buried by a media that is inclined to protect the myths of John Kerry. Further, the "powers that be" in the GOP do not want these issues to be raised, and a fair number of Freepers concur (that these issues should not be raised, at all).
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