And as my first act of office, I am sending
Kerry's Swift Boat to this spot in Cambodia.
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...
How can he brag about his exploits and vilify the military at the same time? John Fn Kerry should know you can't have it both ways.
Very funny!
It was NEITHER December 1968 nor January 1969. Nixon didn't order any troops into Cambodia until April 30, 1970. OVER a year later.
O'Neill wants to see Kerry's journals in the worst way. More than likely, they would prove that he was delusional. There could be no other source for Brinkley's assertion than Kerry and perhaps his journals. I wonder if the crew would go along with such BS stories. At the risk of repeating myself, anyone tasking Kerry would have to go through his superiors. Moreover, it would have to be more than one boat and a PCF would not be the vehicle of choice.
The bombing of Cambodia started on March 9, 1969, so it makes sense that there might have been some secret intelligence gathering missions into Cambodia prior to that.
Any operation of that magnitude would have to involve ADM Hoffmann and LCDR Elliott. If they said it didn't happen in terms of ferrying operatives into Cambodia using PCFs, are we to draw the conclusion that Kerry was dealing directly with the CIA, et. al. This scenario is worthy of Secret Squirrel or a Peter Seller's movie.
On the other hand, if they do prove the Cambodia story, it will be used by the Kerry side to bash the SwiftVets for Truth guys into the ground.
Unfit for Command mentions the XMAS in Cambodia story and Kerry's testimony on the Senate floor saying it was seared into his memory. Now Kerry/Brinkley are moving the goal posts and fabricating another story. It will be up to them to prove it and not the SBVFT to disprove. Brinkley has a vested interest in trying to protect his reputation as a serious historian. I am hard pressed to figure out how they are going to prove it aside from Kerry's journals and his Stepford Band of Brothers.
You are absolutely right. CD 11 was at Phu Quoc (An Thoi is on that island) (Been there). CD 13 was at Cat Lo (Vung Tau - Also been there). CD 14 was at Cam Rahn Bay (never got there).
When he was transferd to CD13 from CD11 he actually was sent to Cat Lo, not Cam Rahn Bay. I actually take it as a typo.
What I do not understand is that his "citations" read, While serving as a member of Coast Division ELEVEN, blah blah blah. Yet I see nothing indicating that he was reassigned to CD11. (Apparently they wanted to get rid of him). I remember reading he protested the transfer because he didn't want to sail against the monsoon seas. This was on Dec 13. Problem is that the monsoon season down south is August. December is the 4th driest month of the year, drier than June in Mass.
The link to the thread discussing that photo with Alston has been posted in #199.
Alston could have served some time on Kerry's PCF-44. If Alston was wounded in the head on January 29 as a member of the PCF-94 crew under Peck, and evacuated for treatment, he would have a very short timeframe to be part of Kerry's crew on the 94. Kerry left the PCF-94 effectively on March 17. Someone needs to find out when these varioius Band of Brother's served with Kerry. Most served with him less than two months.
Where are the "crew" that were in Boston???
Bet he got "covert Purple Hearts" too!
According to Kerry's fitness reports, he was transferred to Coastal Division Eleven on December 14.
Take a look at the later posts on that thread, the one linked in post 199 on this thread.
There's a lot of interesting discussion about the shadows.
HAR HAR
While visions of sugar plums danced in his head.
---Where are the "crew" that were in Boston???---
Where indeed! We need to depose these people.
Kerry served on two boats, so there are two crews. Kerry's Band of Brother was with him in Boston, but in addition to crew members (minus Gardner and maybe others), there were people like Rassman and Hurley (an old VVAW guy).
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