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Posted on 08/28/2004 2:29:44 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
This month the Kerry Campaign abandoned one claim that John Kerry had made for years about his Vietnam War service and put another into question. The claim that has been dropped: that Kerry was in Cambodia at Christmastime in 1968. In a 1979 review of the movie Apocalypse Now in the Boston Herald, Kerry wrote, "I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 5 miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our Vietnamese allies." In a 1986 speech on the Senate floor, Kerry said, "I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. . . . I have that memory which is seared-seared-in me." In a 1992 interview with States News Service, Kerry claimed, "On Christmas Eve of 1968, I was on a gunboat in a firefight that wasn't supposed to be taking place." That year he also told the Associated Press, "Everybody was over there [in Cambodia]. Nobody thought twice about it."
These are vivid statements full of colorful detail-South Vietnamese soldiers shooting off guns to celebrate Christmas. But, as Emily Litella used to say on Saturday Night Live, "Never mind." Historian Douglas Brinkley's bestselling Tour of Duty, based partly on Kerry's wartime journals, places Kerry on Christmas 1968 in Sa Dec, 50 miles from Cambodia. On August 11, Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said Kerry's boat was "in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia" on Christmas Eve. That's far from an endorsement of Kerry's oft-told stories. "He was mistaken about Christmas in Cambodia," Brinkley told London's Daily Telegraph last week. But he "went into Cambodian waters three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine missions. . . . He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat which he was given by one CIA operative." Indeed, Kerry showed the hat to a Washington Post reporter last year. Similarly, in 2000 Kerry told U.S. News's Kevin Whitelaw that he had run guns into Cambodia.
The Kerry camp has provided no documentation of Kerry's missions to Cambodia; Meehan says that's not surprising because the missions were secret. Perhaps. But none of Kerry's boat mates, most of whom support him, corroborate his story, and the one boat mate who opposes him flatly denies it. Retired Adm. Roy Hoffman, commander of the swift boats during Kerry's four months in Vietnam, insists that no swift boats went into Cambodia. Hoffman is, to be sure, a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which opposes Kerry and sponsored the anti-Kerry book Unfit for Command. But there is nothing on the record except Kerry's word to prove him wrong.
There is public documentation of other secret missions to Cambodia in 1968-69. In most, if not all, cases it seems that agents and special ops were flown into Cambodia by helicopter. If boats were used, the Navy had available smaller, quieter craft than swift boats. That makes Kerry's story seem implausible, but it could still be true. If he made public the journals he provided to Brinkley, there might be more evidence that could be checked.
Character counts. On the Christmas story (which even the pro-Kerry New York Times admits Kerry has not "put to rest"), perhaps Kerry was just confused about dates, or perhaps he convinced himself that an untrue story was true, as people sometimes do, and had no intent to mislead. A more unsettling possibility is that he consciously leapt the bounds of truth to make his experience seem more spectacular or to score political points. Those are not the sort of things most people want in a president.
Will Kerry's evidently untrue statements about Christmas in Cambodia raise doubts about his as-yet-uncorroborated stories about later Cambodian missions? Will they undermine his credibility and bolster the charges of his swift boat critics? Not clear. Most of Kerry's boat mates testify to his heroism; most of those serving on other swift boats in the unit take a different view. So far as I know, all served honorably and are entitled to respectful attention; some may have political motives, in both directions. Battlefield memories inevitably and understandably differ. But character counts in presidents, and some of Kerry's statements over the years-not all, but some-count against his character.
I would like to say I know more about this writer but I don't but I did like his last sentence.
Michael Barone is good. He shows up on Fox occasionally. He is a pretty sensible guy.
"Christmas In Cambodia" almost makes me wonder if Kerry isn't from Texas.
Only my friends from Texas can fabricate a really ripping-good yarn like that!
as people sometimes do.
Well, somehow I can't imagine that something this big and this important could be an event he just convinced himself was true, even though it wasn't. Something like the color slacks you wore to an event, maybe. Or whether you took one highway rather than a different one on vacation. But this? Verrrrry unbelievable.
Round about way of saying Kerry lied about his experience for political gain. Which naturally raises the issue of what else are lies ?
This is more fundamental than character. This is about someone who can't tell fantasy from reality.
Kerry didn't lie the way Clinton lied. Clinton always knew what the truth was. Kerry lied so many times, with so much colorful embroidery, that it appears he doen't know what reality is.
The next thing that needs to be dropped?...
Kerry.
LVM
CIA guys give hats in gratitude? Whatever happened to stogies and hooch?
That is it. Now public people are actually starting to link sKerry's to the 'Toons foibles, and net even the Demodogs want a repeat of that experience. Watch out for the falling elevator carrying the Demodogs now...
Thank you for the brief bio. I had looked on the webpage and found nothing. I thought he seemed reasonable in this article.
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Meehan probably watches too many James Bond movies.
Secret missions still have written orders. They are documented. Probably with a stamp at the top and bottom that says 'Secret'. I'm sure that the Navy still has the records, even if they are classified.
I'm also sure that the Navy never sent a 50 foot long U.S. patrol craft down a narrow river to sneak into Cambodia with SEALs, CIA, or illegal arms shipments in tow. That would be like driving on the highway from Iraq to Syria in a Humvee, and thinking no one would notice when you crossed the border.
I agree with your post. He has said so many times, it is seared as truth.
Barone is a respected news person, but he is also a very liberal Democrat so this business, perhaps KErry was there, or maybe the story was not remembered right is full of cr--!! Character does count..and the man we have in the White House has character and has been a leader with determination and strength. He has told us many times his first duty is to the people and the security of the United States is number one on the list. That gets my attention.
So cool to see this story getting legs.
LOL, Barry Segal got kilos of coke and all Kerry got was a hat? I bet the slickster is laughing his ass off at this one.
Oh yeah...there is an agenda here...the author pretends to be a moderate voice...one who judges fairly and gives both sides credit due...
And plays the 'moral equivalence game'....Both sides...he says are honorable men...entitled to their "opinions"...and so both sides "stories" should be given "equal weight"
Therefore Kerry's "Lies" are just "honest" mistakes...and the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth are also making 'honest mistakes"
You say POE TAY TO ..I say PO TAh To...lets call whole thing off.....
Just another "Kerrytale"....that says there is just as much evidence to support Kerry as the Swifties so none of this should be taken for or against Kerry or the Swifties..
The author declares a tie
Ain't gonna work though...because a preponderance of the evidence says Kerry is lying through his teeth...and the SBVT aren't gonna let him up until he admits....HE LIED and is a LIAR about his entire short Naval Career and his post Vietnam Anti War War Hero rhetoric and his trips to solicit deals with the North Vietnamese Communists...
IMO
I suspect "seared, SEARED" is the "Sore Loserman" of 2004. I'm already making my Christmas card list. This year's theme is definitely Cambodia.
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