Posted on 08/11/2004 5:17:43 PM PDT by blam
Kerry 'invented Christmas in Cambodia claim'
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 12/08/2004)
For the first time, Sen John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, has been left floundering by allegations that he invented a key episode of his decorated wartime service in Vietnam - a central plank of his election platform.
Mr Kerry has fought off charges for several years that he did not deserve all the medals he won in Vietnam, which included a Bronze Star and Silver Star for gallantry, and three Purple Hearts for combat wounds.
John Kerry: Vietnam record central to his election bid Crewmates from the small patrol boats in which he served in the Mekong Delta have always rallied to his support, contradicting allegations from other, hostile veterans.
Yesterday, however, the Kerry campaign was left in verbal knots after a new book accused the senator of inventing stories about being sent, illegally, over the border into neutral Cambodia.
The Kerry campaign responded, initially, that Mr Kerry had always said he was "near" Cambodia. Then a campaign aide said Mr Kerry had been in the Mekong Delta "between" Vietnam and next-door Cambodia - a geographical zone not found on maps, which show the Mekong river running from Cambodia to Vietnam.
The book, Unfit for Command, is based on recollections from dozens of veterans who served in the same naval unit as Mr Kerry, including crewmen on small patrol craft under his direct command.
In newspaper articles, interviews and at least one Senate speech, Mr Kerry has claimed that he spent Christmas 1968 inside Cambodia, at a time when even the US president was publicly denying that American forces were inside that country.
He has cited the missions as a psychological turning point, when he realised that American leaders were not telling the truth to the world about the war in south-east Asia.
Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign adviser, told ABC Television: "The Mekong Delta consists of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, so on Christmas Eve in 1968, he was in fact on patrol . . . in the Mekong Delta between Cambodia and Vietnam. He was ambushed, they fired back, he was fired upon from both sides, from the Cambodian side of the border and the Vietnam side during that day in 1968."
It remains to be seen how serious an impact the row has on the Kerry campaign.
Vietnam has been central to Mr Kerry's election bid, with his four and a bit months in combat receiving infinitely more attention during last month's Democratic national convention than his 20 years in the US senate.
However, his campaign was able to counter attack the accusing veterans. It seized on the revelation that the co-author of Unfit for Command, Jerry Corsi, recently posted a string of remarks on a conservative website accusing Muslims and Catholics of paedophilia, and calling the Pope "senile".
In a March posting, Mr Corsi also suggested Mr Kerry and his wife Teresa, both Catholics, might be secretly Jewish.
Mr Corsi said this week that the remarks were meant to be a "joke".
Democrats also noted that the supposedly independent group linked to the new book, Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, has hired Republican public relations consultants, and is largely funded by a wealthy Republican property developer from Texas.
The to and fro may lead undecided voters to turn away from the whole row as an unseemly partisan squabble.
The Bush campaign has a standing policy of not commenting on Mr Kerry's Vietnam service, a stance partly explained by their desire not to focus attention on Mr Bush's wartime service in the United States, using family connections to secure a coveted slot in the Texas Air National Guard.
This will come back to bite him in the butt. Americans are very tolerant and forgiving people but we don't like being lied to.
So while kerry was writing in his "diary" 50 miles away from Cambodia, he was STILL TAKING ENEMY FIRE from EVERYONE with a weapon;(i.e.Cambodians Khmer Rouge,VC,S VN etc.)within at least a distance of 50 plus miles from him.
hmmmm....That's pretty brave of kerry!! Wow, to know that the enemy must have feared and heard about his "Audie Murphy" heroic exploits, that he was even attacked while "relaxing".
I don't know if I could concentrate taking all that fire,and try to type AND write.Isn't there a "medal" for that also that kerry forgot to "apply" himself for??
So while kerry was writing in his "diary" 50 miles away from Cambodia, he was STILL TAKING ENEMY FIRE from EVERYONE with a weapon;(i.e.Cambodians Khmer Rouge,VC,S VN etc.)within at least a distance of 50 plus miles from him.
hmmmm....That's pretty brave of kerry!! Wow, to know that the enemy must have feared and heard about his "Audie Murphy" heroic exploits, that he was even attacked while "relaxing".
I don't know if I could concentrate taking all that fire,and try to type AND write.Isn't there a "medal" for that also that kerry forgot to "apply" himself for??
The last sentence which states the Bush campaign doesn't want to take issue because it doesn't want anymore attention on W's wartime service is simply out of the question. They have stated time and time again they do not question Kerry's service record, period. End of subject.
I follow politics quite closely, and I've never heard Kerry mention his service in Vietnam.
Is this a new thing?
The news media believes that politics is strictly a "gotcha" game of one-upsmanship, where charges can be countered by carefully parsed, Clintonesque verbiage. The reason that Kerry is having difficulty "countering" the attack is because he has been lying through his teeth for over a third of a century about "Christmas in Cambodia," his statements are a matter of public (and Congressional) record, and he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, up to the elbow. How do you counter that?
I hope it wasn't this web site. As it says in red when you post, "Loose lips sink ships."
Heh heh...
Yes, here on FR. Most of that stuff he posted was true! And certainly valid in the context of an informal free-wheeling discussion, as opposed to a formal public presentation.
The row? That is what this is to the Brits? Sheesh! What a bunch of sissies.
Are you kiddin'? Half of the country loves being lied to and will elect the lying shmuck who fibs the most - because he's a cad, a ne'er-do-well.
They think it's cute and charming. After all - he's just a little boy at heart. And if he's promising more freebies for the parasites, the non-producers and the slack-asses - that's more the better. Because they're voters, too.
It was Freerepublic according to the news reports I've read....which doesn't mean that's true. Could be the press seizing the opportunity to slam FR.
Yes, but did you know John Kerry served in Vietnam? That's right - received three purple hearts.
WHAT?!
Isn't it interesting what news articles will hedge with "alleged" and "claims" and what they'll just flat out state as if it was established fact.
Oh, well, in that case, I guess truth isn't truth anymore. What a bunch of shameless political sluts.
Could be. I don't watch movies much and didn't think of this. Instead, I thought that the "Cambodian Incursion" was so central to the liberal view of the war that Kerry couldn't resist imagining himself into it.
This sounds like it would be too good to be true, but has anyone ever heard of Kerry claiming he was mixed up in the Tet Offensive?
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