Posted on 08/25/2004 4:47:21 PM PDT by kezekiel
WASHINGTON - The chief critic of John Kerry (news - web sites)'s military record told President Nixon in 1971 that he had been in Cambodia in a swift boat during the Vietnam War — a claim at odds with his recent statements that he was not.
Photo AP Photo
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"I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border," said John E. O'Neill in a conversation that was taped by the former president's secret recording system. The tape is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Md.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, O'Neill did not dispute what he said to Nixon, but insisted he was never actually in Cambodia.
"I think I made it very clear that I was on the border, which is exactly where I was for three months. I was about 100 yards from Cambodia," O'Neill said in clarifying the June 16, 1971, conversation with Nixon.
Chad Clanton, a spokesman for the Democratic presidential candidate, said the tape "is just the latest in a long line of lies and false statements from a group trying to smear John Kerry's military service. Again, they're being proven liars with their own words. It's time for President Bush (news - web sites) to stand up and specifically condemn this smear."
O'Neill served in Vietnam from 1969-70 and says in a recent book that he took command of Kerry's swift boat after the future Massachusetts senator returned home from the war.
O'Neill has emerged as a leading figure in the attacks on Kerry's war record. He is co-author of "Unfit for Command," which accuses Kerry of lying about his record, and is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has aired two television commercials harshly critical of Kerry.
In the book, O'Neill wrote that Kerry's accounts of having been in Cambodia on Christmas Eve of 1968 "are complete lies."
"... Kerry was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there," he wrote. O'Neill wrote that the Navy positioned its own craft along the border area to make sure no American vessels strayed across the border from Vietnam.
In an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week" O'Neill said: "Our boats didn't go north of, only slightly north of Sedek," which he said was about 50 miles from the Cambodian border.
Kerry's campaign has acknowledged that he may not have been in Cambodia on Christmas Eve of 1968, as he has previously stated. The campaign says Kerry does recall being on patrol along the Cambodia-Vietnam border on that date, although it's unclear if he crossed into Cambodia.
Referring to the tape of the Oval Office meeting with Nixon, O'Neill criticized Kerry for making claims, including in the Senate, that he was in Cambodia.
"I've never represented on the floor of the Senate, or told people 50 times like John Kerry did that I was in Cambodia. That never happened. And I don't think he was ever there either," O'Neill said.
The snippet of taped conversation surfaced after more than a week of controversy surrounding claims that Kerry lied about his actions in a war in which he won five military medals. The Democrat and his allies have vigorously attacked such claims as a smear, laboring to undermine the charges as well as cast doubt on the men who are making them.
For his part, Kerry accused the swift boat group of being a "front group" that was doing Bush's dirty work.
The Bush campaign denies any involvement with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Instapundit takes this latest MSM- Skerry joint apart.
O'Neil should sue Yahoo.
That will get their attention and get them to remove the Left Wing Freak that writes their news headlines.
The lamestream mediots don't understand the difference between across and along.... Why am I not shocked. They really are grasping at straws. Idiots.
Given these facts:
1. A man who is not running for President was possibly caught lying.
2. A man who is running for President has definitely been caught lying.
Please explain why the former is more important than the latter.
Not just that, but Kerry's claims were in 1968... when they WEREN'T IN OR NEAR CAMBODIA. O'Neal claimed to be there in 1971. HUGE DIFFERENCE.
The left wing media pisses me off.
Not just that, but Kerry's claims were in 1968... when they WEREN'T IN OR NEAR CAMBODIA. O'Neal claimed to be there in 1971. HUGE DIFFERENCE.
The left wing media pisses me off.
John O'Neil explained this last night on Hannity/Colmes; but perhaps like Colmes; Ms Wolf; just cannot be bothered to 'go there'.
This story is a lie; and deliberate misrepresentation of what John O'Neil said to President Nixon.
These people are worse than scum; pathetic how they can never just be truthful/honest. Never; ever. . .the LIE is their modus operandi.
And it does not bother them in the least.
Here is a little secret...
JOHN O'NEIL IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT
JOHN O'NEIL NEVER SAID, "I WAS IN CAMBODIA!!!"
It's not that difficult.
The more recent headline being used for this AP story is:
"Swift boat author tells Nixon he was in Cambodia, later clarifies statement"
See:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&q=cambodia&btnG=Search+News
If he was supporting the SOG guys, he would have had a security oath obligation to notify the FBI he was going to Paris to meet with the communists. I am sure that RM Nixon would have loved to have had him arrested on that. I don't think anyone is well connected enough not to at least get charged with violating his security oath (10yrs-$10,000). Although as a service member, he could get the death penalty in time of war.
The entire story smells big time.
Correct me MACVSOG68 if I am wrong. (I just worked on the cryto gear)
So this was the guy that gave him the magic hat, right? Right? Welcome to FR, however briefly.
That's it ... muddy the water so truth doesn't matter.
If you hit the link at the top of the thread, the "Lied" headline still stands.
The AP has been terrible for months. Purveying outright propaganda.
LOL!! Beer's on me if this poser actually replies to you.
"I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border," said John E. O'Neill in a conversation that was taped by the former president's secret recording system. The tape is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Md.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, O'Neill did not dispute what he said to Nixon, but insisted he was never actually in Cambodia.
Yahoo story here
A military policy change in regards to Cambodia resulted in O'Neill, who took over Mr. Kerry's boat when Kerry returned to the United States, being assigned to a much closer patrol of the Cambodian border.
That's how I see it.
If O'Neill was sent over the border on secret missions, I wouldn't be surprised... He was in Vietnam when such missions would've taken place.
Kerry, on the other hand, had left by the time such policies were enacted. I bet he borrowed the story from an associate in the anti-war movement who is complicit in not contradicting Kerry by coming out against Kerry... Or who might already be dead, after which, Kerry felt confident using that story, but in his first tellings he did not adjust it to his own personal history, which tells how Nixon still figured in the story in its early tellings.
I like ONeill's version of the truth. It sounds a lot more like reality than Kerry's. Kerry's reads like a badly written Clive Cussler novel.
Try "shills", "lickspittles", or "traitors".
Good Heavens the Left never stops.
"Next time you're in the bar, ask him a few questions. To whom did he report at MACV SOG? What was his mission? How was he extracted? What sort of sanitizing was he subjected to? What Army unit personnel did he work with? What was his security clearance?"
Dude, it was Al Hubbard!!!
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