Posted on 08/12/2004 7:13:16 PM PDT by wagglebee
**Exclusive**
TOUR OF DUTY author and John Kerry historian Doug Brinkley is rushing a piece for the NEW YORKER: to set-the-record-straight on Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia tale, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Kerry has turned to author Brinkley for a "modification" after it was exposed that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968, as he once claimed from the Senate floor.
The Brinkley piece for the NEW YORKER will now say that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas, but rather in January, publishing sources tell DRUDGE.
MORE
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."
John O’Neil’s, author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, comments on the “clarification:”
“John Kerry describes Christmas Eve in Cambodia as a critical turning point in his life. We now know that his story is completely false. My question is how many people do you know have invented a turning point, one that is seared in his memory? While it makes sense for John Kerry to come clean about the Cambodia story, it is one of several tales that the Kerry campaign will have to face and clarify.”
“By claiming we were engaged in a war crime and crossing international borders, John Kerry damaged the credibility of all the commanding officers above him and insulted the sailors who served with him,” said John O’Neill, member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.”
Developing...
January won't work. President Nixon didn't take office until January 20th.
Oh, you thought he said Cambodia? No, no he meant Cambridge, Massachusetts. And it wasn’t drunken South Vietnamese, it was drunken sophomores…Yeah, that’s the ticket. "I was in Cambridge, and... and... and it was SOPHomores shooting. Yeah… yeah… that’s my story."
But on the chance he was sent on a mission, his comments about it are still unbecoming a navy officer and are the product of an extreme leftist agenda. Any officer in a war zone who is sent on a secret mission into a bordering country would 1) Be proud and 2) Keep his mouth shut.
Only an extremely immature person would complain how awful it was to be on a secret mission which (surprise?) the President disavowed in his public statements. Kerry is and has long been a kooky leftist and his every instinct is decidedly anti national security.
Now now. It just ocurred to me what the logical explanation is.
You see, the Kerry family had long had a quirky tradition, (but being reticent, it was not common knowledge), of celebrating Christmas exactly one month later than everybody else! Kerry simply forgot to mention this detail and when he said "Christmas" in his head he was thinking of the family observance of *January 25*.
This would work, too, since Nixon would have been sworn in just 5 days prior--well 4, since Kerry actually said Christmas EVE...
Kerry's site only starts February 17. But an older post goes into "January" but doesn't mention what he did for most of Janaury.
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits/cctblogs/jc/archives/000295.htm
"The following is a summary of combat actions of PCF94 from Jan 1 to March 17, 1969 taken from after-action reports and the Coastal Division Eleven Command History on file at the Naval Operational Archives. All locations are near the south end of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
26 JAN 1969 Ong Doc River
PCFs 94 and 66 escorted troops up the Ong Doc River early in the morning when they were ambushed by gun and rocket fire from approximately 40 men on both sides of the river. Two B-40 rounds hit close to Kerry’s boat, while PCF 66 received 2 B-40 rocket hits. Three men on PCF66 were wounded. A junk containing South Vietnamese troops was also sunk, killing 11 South Vietnamese troops. Intelligence reports after the mission indicated that the Viet Cong troops may have planned the ambush in advance.
27 JAN 1969 Cua Lon and Dam Doi Rivers
Five swift boats conducted operations in the Cua Lon and Dam Doi Rivers. The units received hostile fire twice during the operation.
29 JAN 1969 Cua Lon Rivers
Early in the morning seven swift boats embarked on a mission to destroy enemy installations along the Cua Lon River. While Kerry’s boat and another (PCF72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry’s boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry’s crew -- Forward Gunner David Alston – suffered shrapnel wounds in his head. His injuries were not considered serious and he was sent to the 29th Evac Hospital at Binh Thuy.
12 FEB 1969
Two swiftboats inserted Navy Seals and conducted normal river patrols the night of February 12 and early morning of February 13.
13 FEB 1969
PCF 94 conducted routine Psyops mission.
14 FEB 1969
Two swiftboats inserted seal team and provided protection for mission.
I remember reading about that .. but I didn't know the other commanders traveled with him
Sorry, no can do, Brinkely hasn't finished writing them yet!
Yes, he was!
Dang. I forgot the drunken natives shooting off guns to celebrate "Christmas". There goes my "Kerry Family Tradition Unheard of Until Now" theory...
The lies just keep on coming...
| Kerry's confusion over Cambodia |
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| Posted by NavySEAL F-16 On 08/12/2004 9:48:20 PM CDT · 6 replies The Telegraph ^ | 13 August 2004 | David Rennie The biographer of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, said yesterday there was no basis for one of the senator's favourite Vietnam War anecdotes - that he spent Christmas 1968 in Cambodia, a neutral nation which US leaders vowed was off limits for American forces. "On Christmas Eve he was near Cambodia; he was around 50 miles from the Cambodian border. There's no indictment of Kerry to be made, but he was mistaken about Christmas in Cambodia," said Douglas Brinkley, who has unique access to the candidate's wartime journals. But Mr Brinkley rejected accusations that the senator had never been... |
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If he was ferrying in South Vietnamese, those troops could have been Roman Catholic.
CIA Commander: Let's put our heads together guys. We need a guy who we can trust to ferry our agents into Cambodia, you know, a tough guy with a lot of experience captaining a PBR boat. Another CIA Commander: Hey, let's get that Junior Grade Lieutenant guy who captains that big clunky Swift Boat who just arrived in-theater a few weeks ago for the first time ever. You know, the one who was an Electrical Officer on the USS Gridley for so many months. He sounds like the perfect guy to ensure a successful mission!
Frosted window panes
Candles gleaming inside
Painted candy canes on the tree
Santa's on his way,
He's filled his sleigh
With things, things for you and for meIt's that time of year
When the world falls in love Every song you hear
Seems to say
Merry Christmas
May your New Year dreams come true
--Frank Sinatra, 1958
Kerry had some sort of top secret clearance. Get it from his campaign website before it is purged.
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Top_Secret_Clearance.pdf
There are no American combat troops in Cambodia. There are no American combat advisers in Cambodia. There will be no American combat troops or advisers in Cambodia. We will aid Cambodia. Cambodia is the Nixon doctrine in its purest form...." - President Richard M. Nixon, November 1971
You don't use a big noisy boat like a 50 foot PCF to go on a secret mission and drop someone off inside Cambodia. You would also have to pass through a gauntlet of ships protecting the border. This is all nonsense. His people have come out in the last several days with a bunch of different stories. This is the latest one. Who knows, maybe they leaked the Brinkley story to gauge the reaction of the SBVFT.
This is really dumb on Kerry's part because it will invite greater press scrutiny and a demand for his complete military record.
You mean besides Kerry, Edwards, Algore, Bill, Hillary, Lanny Davis, Carville, Teddy Kennedy….etc….etc… the entire Dimocratic Party??
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