Posted on 08/11/2004 5:48:55 PM PDT by wagglebee
As more instances of Sen. John Kerry telling a story about his spending Christmas 1968 in Cambodia come to light, his campaign has yet to address the charge of fellow veterans that the presidential candidate's account is a lie.
As of press time, neither WorldNetDaily nor Fox News Channel has received a response to the charges from Kerry's staff, despite repeated requests.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the authors of the best-selling book "Unfit for Command," which refutes many of Kerry's war stories, claim that despite the senator's 1986 speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate mentioning spending Christmas Eve in Cambodia, the candidate was never in Vietnam's neighboring country.
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting in a gunboat in Cambodia," said Kerry on the Senate floor. "I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States tell the American people I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
"I have the memory which is seared – seared – in me, that says to me, before we send another generation into harm's way we have a responsibility in the U.S. Senate to go the last step, to make the best effort possible to avoid that kind of conflict."
Kerry spent four months in Vietnam as skipper of a SWIFT Boat before returning to the U.S. and becoming a vocal leader of the anti-war movement.
In a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald in 1979 Kerry wrote, "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."
The authors of "Unfit for Command" say that during Christmas 1968, Kerry "was more than 50 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.
Since WND's story ran Saturday, other media have picked it up, and citations of other comments made by Kerry have been publicized, turning up the heat on Kerry to respond to the charge he lied about the Cambodia excursion.
WorldNetDaily columnist Hugh Hewitt points out other instances of Kerry telling the Cambodia story, including a 1992 AP story.
"We were told, 'Just go up there and do your patrol,'" Kerry told AP. "Everybody was over there (in Cambodia). Nobody thought twice about it."
The AP story continued: "One of the missions, which Kerry, at the time, was ordered not to discuss, involved taking CIA operatives into Cambodia to search for enemy enclaves."
In a Jun 1, 2003, Washington Post story, Kerry talks of carrying a "lucky hat" in his briefcase. The hat, he says, belonged to the CIA agent with whom he claims to have entered Cambodia:
There's a secret compartment in Kerry's briefcase. He carries the black attach everywhere. Asked about it on several occasions, Kerry brushed it aside. Finally, trapped in an interview, he exhaled and clicked open his case.
"Who told you?" he demanded as he reached inside. "My friends don't know about this."
The hat was a little mildewy. The green camouflage was fading, the seams fraying.
"My good luck hat," Kerry said, happy to see it. "Given to me by a CIA guy as we went in for a special mission in Cambodia."
Kerry put on the hat, pulling the brim over his forehead. His blue button-down shirt and tie clashed with the camouflage. He pointed his finger and raised his thumb, creating an imaginary gun. He looked silly, yet suddenly his campaign message was clear: Citizen-soldier. Linking patriotism to public service. It wasn't complex after all; it was Kerry.
He smiled and aimed his finger: "Pow."
Hewitt mentioned how much activity the story is getting on blogs and talk radio:
The blogosphere pushed this story forward, with an early flare going up at KerryHaters on May 21, and then a gang tackle of the facts by Instapundit, RogerLSimon, JustOneMinute, Powerline, CaptainsQuarters and, of course, me.
Hewitt writes, "Why all the attention? Simply put, if John Kerry can be conclusively demonstrated to have lied about aspects of his Vietnam service, the media has to ask what else has he been lying about. The voters have to ask if he can be trusted. In short: Free fall."
Fox News Channel reported Kerry campaign staff first claimed the candidate never said that he was in Cambodia, only that he was near the country. When presented with a copy of the Congressional Record and asked about Kerry's letter in the Boston Herald, Kerry staff told FNC they would come up with an explanation. After repeated phone calls, Fox reports, there was still no clarification.
WorldNetDaily, too, attempted to secure a response from the Kerry campaign. Repeated calls were not returned by press time.
Release your records, JF'nK!
Kerry staff: We will clarify this when we come up with a more believable lie.
If Kerry was involved in cross border operations during 1968-1969, he was doubtless under the operational control of MACVSOG. He would have been attached to Command and Control South located at Ban Me Thout. He would not have had any identification, including the boat and all weapons. He would clearly have known where he was, who he was transporting, and what the targets were.
To the best of my knowledge, neither navy boats nor seals were used in cross border operations after about 1964. H-34 helocopters were used by SOG for almost all cross border operations.
That having been said, there were numerous operations in Cambodia and Laos during that time frame. Just highly doubtful that Kerry ever even heard of them, much less participated.
This is easy to solve. Just ask Martin Sheen whether he remembers Kerry being on his boat when they cruised up into Cambodia to "terminate" Marlon Brando... If Sheen remembers, well...I guess he's in the clear...
I'm fairly certain that this is the story Bubba would advise him to tell if the Ketchup Boy called and asked.
Will voters "get it"?
But wait! Lying to the United States Senate was already standard operating procedure for Kerry. He lied to them before he was a senator.
unbelievable- they can't even get their lies straight. What happens when they figure out he was never in cambodia every??
i don't think they could even commit suicide right now. A death by a thousand cuts.
Lurch... " ..now I am only going to say this once...I did not have...OOPS ! MY BAD ! I GOT MY LIARS MIXED UP FOR A MOMENT.
Never mind ! he he he
There is no record anywhere that Kerry had an "specops" or intel training, he had been in country for less than two months. Anybody as "green" as Kerry was would never have been involved, it would have put the mission in too much jeopardy.
So far, this doesn't have legs. Most people don't seem to care. Kerry seems to believe that if he says he was there secretly, how can anyone question it? In fact, Kerry hasn't a clue what we did on cross border operations!
It looks like this story will just not go away =)
That's correct. That is why MACVSOG absorbed the Special Forces Omega and Sigma projects, and used primarily Special Forces trained officers and men.
The campaign put some clown from "Veterans for Kerry" on tonight to try to wipe up the crap. He was much less than convinving when he said that Kerry had apparently just confused the dates.
If the date was seared in his memory, and he was wrong, should he have his finger on the nuclear button?
Consider this...they would like to rid themselves of Edwards in this election cycle as well. If Kerry is given the Torch treatment, Edwards will be next on their chopping block.
I thought this was already clarified. Kerry said, previously (on may occasions, including in the Congressional record), that he was in Cambodia on Christmas 1968. Now he admits that was a lie. Any advantage from the lie about being in Cambodia on CHristmas 1968 should be demolished, pronto, if possible.
MARY BETH CAHILL: OK, YOU HOGS. WE'RE SITTIN' ON THIS 'TILL OUR MSM REINFORCEMENTS MOVE THE STORY ON -- F*CK FOX & NEWSMAX. GOT IT? NO-O-O-O ONE TALKS 'TILL I SHOUT THE ORDERS, RIGHT.
THIS IS DEEP FREEZE TIME.
The powers that make politicians are behind the shadows. The powers that support Edwards are not likely to let their investment go easily. Sure, as you said, he may be "next on Clinton's chopping block," but only if Clinton HAS a chopping block. We have no clue as to what is happening behind the shadows, but my spidie sense tells me Edwards will run v. Bush is this cycle. Then, yes, he is damaged by the loss, and Hillary!, or somebody else, can emerge for 2008.
The Klintoons aren't at all worried about the Breck Girl, he can't even deliver his home state. In two years nobody will even remember who Edwards was. Look at what happened to Lieberman, he used to be well-respected by both parties, now he's a nobody, biding his time until retirement.
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