Posted on 08/12/2004 5:27:37 PM PDT by hope
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Kerry camp: Candidate 'inaccurate' on Cambodia Says senator mistakenly thought it was Christmas trip when he crossed border
Posted: August 12, 2004
3:45 p.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Days after charges were first made public, John Kerry's campaign is beginning to respond to allegations the senator has lied for decades about being in Cambodia for Christmas in 1968, saying he was at or near the border but not actually in the country for the holiday.
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."
Kerry was referring to President Nixon, who was not sworn into office until 1969.
Fox News Channel's Major Garrett reported on "Special Report with Brit Hume" yesterday:
"The Kerry campaign has been forced to admit errors in statements Kerry made in a 1979 Boston Herald article, and in a 1986 Senate speech … about vivid memories of his leading a Swift Boat into Cambodia and taking enemy fire on Christmas Eve 1968."
Garrett's segment included responses from John Hurley, the national director of Veterans for Kerry.
"I don't know that anyone can actually say whether or not they were in Cambodia," Hurley said.
"[It is a] very watery area. It is – there's no sign that says welcome to Cambodia. It is – it is obviously dusk and getting darker, and so they were in those waters."
FNC reported Kerry's campaign also says he was in Cambodia on a different mission with Navy Seals, but can provide no date for that mission.
Stated Hurley: "He was five miles into Cambodia, but what's happened is these two stories have gotten confused."
Hurley says Kerry was simply mistaken about the date of his incursion.
"I think that he knows that he was under fire in Cambodia," he said. "I think the date is what's inaccurate, that it was just not Christmas Eve Day."
John O'Neill, co-author of "Unfit for Duty," is pleased Kerry's people are beginning to respond to his charge.
"I understand that he is beginning, at least, to admit that he was never in Cambodia, for example, at Christmastime," O'Neill told Fox. "Which was a complete lie that he told over and over and over again."
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.
Then it proves that the exact opposite is true. You were never in Cambodia, certainly not on Christmas Eve, and definitely not sent there by Richard M. Nixon.
And you respond by saying that you were 'inaccurate'?
What a phreak.
I have to wonder if he has buried anyone in a dump lately.
Especially if the new date is not revealed and the mission was some top secret affair with Navy Seals and the CIA.
For almost every soldier in the theater there was only one Christmas in Vietnam. No one could possibly not remember EXACTLY where they were on Christmas. Kerry had exactly one Christmas in Vietnam. He knew then exactly where he was and he knows now exactly where he was and it wasn't Cambodia.
He was not "inaccurate." Anyone who reports that he was "inaccurate" is as much a liar as Kerry.
It's the clintinoid language of denial in the mode of "mistakes were made" "a burocratic snafu" "inadvertent" "It's a VRW conpiracy" "Depends on what is, is." RATs are scum and they keep proving it day after day!
Stated Hurley: "He was five miles into Cambodia, but what's happened is these two stories have gotten confused."
His commanders at the time need to comment on the likelihood that Kerry would have been assigned a secret mission with Navy Seals going to Cambodia.
Because this story smells of an absolutely unverifiable lie told to cover his previous lie.
He believes it simply cannot be checked out. He's probably right. It's clearly a smokescreen.
HOWEVER....his command group can comment on the probability that such a serious mission would have been given to a J.G. with less than 4 months in country.
"Every GI in the theater knew it was Christmas....even the military celebrates..by flying out hot chow...or lets you celebrate in some way... "
Kerry knew it was Christmas because he saw Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer flying over Phnom Penh.
A Cambodian couple was walking down the street in Cambodia the other night, when the man felt a drop hit his nose. "I think it's raining," he said to his wife.
"No, that felt more like snow to me," she replied. "No, I'm sure it was just rain, he said." Well, as these things go, they were about to have a major argument about whether it was raining or snowing. Just then they saw a minor Khmer Rouge party official walking toward them. "Let's not fight about it," the man said, "let's ask Comrade Rudolph whether it's officially raining or snowing."
As the official approached, the man said, "Tell us, Comrade Rudolph, is it officially raining or snowing?"
"It's raining, of course," he answered and walked on. But the woman insisted: "I know that felt like snow!" To which the man quietly replied: "Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"
"I was in Cambodia before I wasn't." -- John 'Waffler' Kerry, in one of his moments frothed with nuance.
In Kerry's diary " War Notes, " written in his free time when he wasn't earning 3 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star,
recreating his heroics with a Super 8 movie camera,
going on secret CIA missions into Cambodia,
ferrying SEALS into Cambodia and running arms into Cambodia-
Michael Kranish writes :
" one of the most powerful recounts of Christmas Eve..the passage, written in a second person voice, reads like a novella."
"Today, you move to the northern end of the area-towards Cambodia- and excitement tingles the nerves that appreciate the new and the unexplored."
" Kerry recalls his enjoyment in starting the engines, hearing ' it's deep throb.. and the hums as the boat reaches for the step.'
" A woman holds her baby tight against her bare breast and nipple firm, gives life; my voice asks where she is going and unabashed she bares her breast to replace the youngster's fumbling, tiny lips..."
Two points-Kerry's own diary says he was heading towards Cambodia on Christmas Eve.
Kerry also recounts the famous Christmas celebrations by the Vietnamese.
It appears that Kerry may have been writing a book in his spare time.
The breathy passages,the bodice ripping prose, the hero risking all.
All Kerry needed was a ripped, bare chested Fabio on the cover and he could have sold his diary as a romance novel.
Page 84-85 " John F Kerry, The Official Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best."
He's built up this whole charade about him being some sort of heroic patriot/victim that he's starting to believe his own lies. The fact that they weren't well-conceived when he first made them has been forgotten by Kerry.
He successfully used those lies to build his image in the past, and it has to come as quite a shock that they are actually being scrutinized for the first time.
He must have been under "double secret orders"!
STILL UNANSWERED: WHERE IS THE SECRET HAT??
They should have had time to come up with something good.
The Kerry campaign has been forced to admit errors in statements ...
Not Skerry, but his campaign. He has important presidential-nominee work that needs to be done, I suppose.
"I don't know that anyone can actually say whether or not they were in Cambodia," Hurley said.
Try telling that to the Cambodians. Then why was sKerry so adamant about and seared by the experience?
Stated Hurley: "He was five miles into Cambodia, but what's happened is these two stories have gotten confused."
Hurley says Kerry was simply mistaken about the date of his incursion.
But he wanted to make sure it was part of the Congressional Record. Do I hear any Navy Seals coming forward to verify the mission? Show us the CIA cammie hat? Weren't swift boats too loud for secret missions?
"I think that he knows that he was under fire in Cambodia," he said. "I think the date is what's inaccurate, that it was just not Christmas Eve Day."
I think he thinks he is going to to have to rethink and revisit this topic again and again.
Guess it depends upon the meaning of 'seared'.
And you've got to figure that it takes some time for the paperwork in a non-computer age to work its way up and down a chain of command for all these awards to take place, so he was doing these great heroics in the "early" part of his lengthy 4 months in country.
I simply don't buy it.
I hope some media people are savvy enough to realize that top-secret missions don't come down to lieutenant j.g.'s direct from the top without going through the commander and operations section of the unit.
Recently I heard a clip of Clinton being asked "Did you know that XXXX was happening?" Clinton's response was something to the effect of "I'm not aware of any evidence to that effect". I don't remember the exact wording of the question or answer, but I do recall noting that the question asked "DID you know..." [past tense] while the response was definitely present-tense.
My interpretation: "Yes I did know that, but I'm not aware of any evidence that I haven't destroyed."
Wasn't it Bush's last opponent who claimed: "I invented the internet'"...."the book 'Love Story' was based on Tipper and me"...I had no idea that the $5,000 contribution did not belong to the Budhist nun!"
It muust be Bush that makes them lie and exxagerate, yeah, that's it...it's all Bush's fault!
The hypocrisy, double-standards for conservatives and liberals, and blatant bias has been infuriating us for years. We've obviously made progress in countering this through talk radio, and sometimes Fox News. But the biggest weapon has been the internet, something which Al Gore probably now regrets inventing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.