Posted on 08/18/2004 8:23:22 AM PDT by kattracks
John Kerry's presidential campaign claimed on Tuesday that his Christmas 1968 mission into Cambodia was top, top secret - and that's why there are no documents that verify the implausible claim.
"During John Kerry's service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group operating out of Ha Tien," Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said in a statement. But Meehan told the Boston Globe that there was no paperwork to confirm the claim and he could not supply a date for the incursion.What's more, two of Kerry's crewmates who enthusiastically back his candidacy and who served with him on missions near the Cambodian border insists the crossing never happened.
Michael Medeiros, who served on Swiftboat No. 94 with Kerry and appeared with him at the Democratic National Convention, told the Globe that Kerry and his crew chased an enemy to the Cambodian border - but stooped there. He could not recall dropping off special forces in Cambodia or going inside Cambodia with Kerry.
James Wasser, who accompanied Kerry on the Christmas mission aboard Swiftboat No. 44, said that while he believes they were "very, very close" to Cambodia, they did not enter the country. "It is very hard to tell. There are no signs," he told the Globe.
A third crewmate who opposes Kerry flatly accuses him of lying about Cambodia.
"Never happened," Steve Gardner told the Globe, insisting they never came within 50 miles of the Cambodian border.
I called the White House comment line 202-456-1111 yesterday and suggested that it would be very magnanimous of President Bush to declassify John Kerry’s “secret missions” so Kerry could tell us all about his secret missions and put this issue to rest.
Just to help out John Kerry and get back to the real campaign issues of course!
You know what?
Everyone on Free Republic (and most anyone with a brain) can poke holes through Kerry's statements. They don't hold up to ANY scrutiny.
However, I'm concerned about the large numbers of American voters who accept that Kerry is a real war hero just because he said so.
The key to winning those people over is to show otherwise.
And the mainstream media is not doing their job. If the media were reporting this story properly, Kerry's approval ratings would be falling.
Okay, now we get down to the Hat of Cambodia; politics follow. Bale if you wish, and we'll see you tomorrow. Or Monday. I hope it's the latter, because I really want to spend tomorrow night watching grainy black and white noir.>>>>>>>
Still here? Okay. Switching to rambling unedited nut-coot mode . . . there.
Hugh Hewitt interviewed a shipmate of John Kerry’s on his show today; the transcript is here. Why this happens on a radio show and not in the Washington Post is a question I’ll let you decide. It’s not like these guys live in the Fortress of Solitude, accessible only by messages relayed by carrier pigeon.
It has to do with Christmas in Cambodia – the only aspect of the SwiftVets story I care to comment on, for reasons I think I stated before. If Kerry’s story is a lie, it’s significant, but not because we have a gotcha moment – gee, a politician reworked the truth to his advantage, big surprise. This is much larger than that. This is like Bush insisting that he flew an intercept mission with the Texas Air National Guard to repel Soviet bombers based in Cuba, and later stating that this event was “seared in his memory – seared” because it taught him the necessity of standing up against evil governments, such as the ones we face today. In other words, it would not only be a lie, but one that eroded the political persona he was relying upon in the election. Kerry has made Vietnam central to his campaign. If he’s making crap up, it matters. But the story of the CIA agent he ferried into the Heart of Darkness gives the gotcha a curious twist; as lawyers say on TV courtroom dramas, it goes to state of mind. What sort of man bedecked with genuine decorations feels compelled to manufacture a story like this one?
Via Ed and the PowerLine, this from the WaPo:
A close associate hints: There's a secret compartment in Kerry's briefcase. He carries the black attaché 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."
They use this story to note that Kerry has dusted off the Secret Mission anecdote after dropping it in the bio. What struck me was the calculation here: an aide hints. Secret Compartment. The Intrepid Reporter Perseveres. Reluctantly, Kerry opens the briefcase, and explains the Origins of the Hat to the reporter. (You wonder if the Close Associate mentioned the Secret Compartment more than once. Ask him about it yet? No? Ask again, he’ll show you. He usually does.)
“He carries the black attaché everywhere.” He does? Anyone recall any shots of Kerry with the black attaché? Again, it sounds like something the reporter was told, not something the reporter observed. But here’s an interesting twist. Oh, perhaps it’s a matter of grammar and nothing more. The candidates for the of Democratic nomination filled out questionnaires, and one of the questions was “prized possessions.” Said Kerry:
"My lucky charms: My wedding band, dog tags and lucky hat from Vietnam and the Bible my friend Max Cleland gave me."
When I read this version, I saw the reply in a different light:
Kerry saw combat in Vietnam as a Navy gunboat captain sailing up rivers ringed with danger, came home a decorated veteran and joined the anti-war movement. He named his "lucky charms" as his most prized possession — his wedding ring, his dog tags and his camouflaged "lucky hat" from Vietnam — as well as a Bible given to him by fellow Vietnam veteran Max Cleland.
His ring, his tags, his hat. This does not mean that the hat doesn’t have a CIA backstory. But it could mean that this was, indeed, his hat. Hence his attachment to it. I have an old KSTP cap that hangs in my closet to this day from my old stint on the station, but I’m not going to tell anyone that Stanley Hubbard gave it to me as we were driving to fix the Maplewood transformer at 3 AM.
If the secret illegal mission was the origin of the Lucky Hat, it’s a new revelation.
Again, I’m just speculating. Who knows. But the talismans of life are usually the items we’re dealt by chance or choice, items which gather significance by their banality, ordinary nature, and the fact that they were ours during a time that seared – seared! Itself into our memory. I’ve saved some keys. A T-shirt or two. My press badges, of course. If I’d served four harrowing months in Vietnam I surely would have kept my hat. Having just spent weeks sorting the detritus of my own banal existence, and finding myself gobsmacked over an item squirreled away 20 years ago, I can testify to the power of ordinary objects. I can even see why one would keep the hat close. I think it would be rather odd to carry it around all the time; I mean, my dad was in a war for four years, not four months, and his medals and memorabilia sat undisturbed in a drawer, because that was then and this was Fargo. But there’s nowt as queer as folk.
But. But. How did this work, exactly? Did the CIA agent take off his hat as he was hopping off the boat to wade into the jungle? Here, take this, think of me. Or here you go, pal, you lost your hat back there, take mine, I have another. Square this with the narrative: Kerry was bitter as he bobbed in Cambodia, shot at from all sides – so he takes this hat, this extra hat, this spook lid back to barracks, and now it replaces his own hat as the object that spells luck. That sums up his experience. That brings it all back. Not the hat he wore on the boat in combat, but the hat he got from a spook on an illegal mission – that’s the good luck object, that’s the prized possession.
Work for you?
Maybe; again, I'm just running fiction-writer debugging scripts. If I wrote a novel with a Vietnam vet, I'd use the CIA-hat detail as a sign the character probably spent the war filing reports in San Diego.
There are ads running right now in our market, Bush ads; they say that Kerry voted to cut the CIA budget after the first WTC attack. Perhaps someone thought that these ads could be blunted by suggesting that Kerry was Felix Leiter’s right-hand man. A simple humble hat that truly had personal meaning got a narrative upgrade.
Poor hat.
At least we know this: if Kerry wins, Gary Trudeau already has the floating presidential symbol he uses to cover his inability to draw actual people. If he dared. Which he won’t. Or can't. I think the former is cover for the latter. Does it matter? BUSH WAS AWOL! Oh look, the "Daily Show" is on. He's so smart! He must be. Just look at that suit.
Well, let's just send Sandy Berger into the Navy Records Center with some extra-large Sansabelt slacks, and we should have the answer in no time!
Yeah, but candidate Willard...er...Kerry has that mission seared into his memory ever since he saw Apocalypse Now.
The anti-Kerry veterans have said Kerry's recollection does not make sense because Nixon was not inaugurated until January 1969. But Kerry campaign spokesman Meehan said Kerry was referring to a range of time that included when Nixon was president-elect and president. During the 1968 presidential campaign, Nixon opposed a change in US policy that would allow "hot pursuit" of enemy forces into Cambodia; in March 1969 he authorized the secret bombing of Cambodia, which was followed by the 1970 invasion of Cambodia.Thus, I suppose, Kerry can say he was in "Mr. Nixon's War" although LBJ sent him over there and he was back in the US a month after Nixon was inaugurated.
Even higher than that - it was "Double-Dog-Dare-Ya!"-secret...
Oh yeah?
Well, George Bush's service in the National Guard was simply cover for his real position in an elite special force that secretly disarmed Soviet ICBMs. In 1969 he disabled three missle silos in Irkutsk that were aimed at Nevada.
The government denies that such special forces exist. Since these missions were top top top top secret, there is no paperwork. Any and all lapses in Bush's military records are attributable to these top top top top top top secret missions.
However, the memory of spending Christmas in Siberia is seared, seared into Bush's memory.
LOLOLOLOL!
I'm one of them there double-naught spies too!
Skerry was probably smoking those opium laced cigarettes with Al Gore when he envisioned being in Cambodia. Skerry, your mind is a terrible thing to waste, stomp it out. Bush/Cheney 2004
It was TOP TOP SECRET thats the ticket...
"As Kerry explains here, if Nixon was only running for office and not President in Dec '68"
Actually Nixon was President-elect in December '68--remember the election was in November. In any case he wasn't sending anyone into Cambodia, though :)
LOL!
Hmmm, now how would you about those?!?
;-)
btw, They were actually Opium laced Marijuana 'joints', and time would literally stand still -- uh... from what I've heard.
Kerry: "Could I revise and extend my remarks on spending Christmas in Cambodia?"
The absurdity of being the latest Democrat to die for a mistake is just flabbergasting."
* * *
Top Ten Kerry Answers to the Question, "Were You In Cambodia, or Not?"
10. "Yes"
9. "Not really"
8. "I was pretty close"
7. "Maybe"
6. "The people making these allegations are partisans with a rooting interest in this election (unlike myself; I have no rooting interest whatsoever in seeing me become President)"
5. "It depends on the meaning of 'in'"
4. "George W. Bush has lost seventy bazillion jobs"
3. "I have a mistaken recollection that was 'seared' into my memory"
2. "What are you, some kind of narc?"
... and the Number One Kerry Answer to the Question, "Were You in Cambodia, or Not?"
1. "The question isn't whether I was in Cambodia; the question is whether I was in Vietnam, and I have surprising news for you: I was"
* * *
Note: Rumors abound that the film "Apocalypse Now" was based on Kerry's life story (just like "Love Story" was based on Al Gore's love of Buddhist Monks). In fact, if Kerry isn't able to sue the Swift Boat Vets For Truth out of existence (as his lawyers are trying to do), "Apocalypse Now Redux" may well become his new campaign slogan.
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