John F. Kerry's Cambodia Adventure

John F. Kerry’s traitorous association with communist organizations seems to go back farther than we suspected. He just reaffirmed on Meet the Press that he was not only in Cambodia in December 1968 but that he went there to deliver weapons to the Khmer Rouge. As we all know, the Khmer Rouge was the communist insurgency in Cambodia that eventually overthrew the legitimate government and murdered millions of Cambodian civilians.

Of course, Kerry was never in Cambodia in 1968, and every time he tells that lie he digs himself in just a little bit deeper.

From PoliPundit.com:

Sunday, January 30th, 2005

Sourpuss Kerry

John Kerry is on Meet the Press and here’s what he just said: “No one in the United States should try to over-hype this election.”

UPDATE: And now he just said, “I think this election is important. I was for the election taking place.”

He was for it before he was against it.

Why is this guy on Meet the Press? He’s the losing presidential candidate. His party lost seats in the Senate and the House. They now have virtually zero influence on anything. Condi Rice was just confirmed, despite yet another “contentious, but futile protest vote” by Kerry and Barbara Boxer, his colleague from the X-Files wing of her so-called party. The last person whose opinion counts is John Kerry.

From the MSNBC transcript:

< snip >

MR. RUSSERT: Now, the New York Daily News editorial wrote an editorial, and it said this. "As for Kerry, he might ask why the Swifties' attacks have been effective. The answer is his propensity to exaggerate. ... It's looking more likely that he exaggerated, if not worse, when he claimed through the years that he was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve '68. He said the memory was `seared' into him, but it's now clear Kerry was elsewhere, at least at that time. He has yet to explain. Until he does, the Swifties will have a powerful weapon in their arsenal."

And they refer, Senator, to a speech on the floor in which you said that you were there, that the president of the United States was saying you were not there, that there were troops in Cambodia. You have the memory seared in you. In a letter to the Boston Herald, you remember spending Christmas Eve '68 five miles across the Cambodian border. You told The Washington Post you have a lucky hat given to you by a CIA guy "as we went in for a special mission to Cambodia." Were you in Cambodia Christmas Eve, 1968?

SEN. KERRY: We were right on the border, Tim. What I explained to people and I told this any number of times, did I go into Cambodia on a mission? Yes, I did go into Cambodia on a mission. Was it on that night? No, it was not on that night. But we were right on the Cambodian border that night. We were ambushed there, as a matter of fact. And that is a matter of record, and we went into the rec-- you know, it's part of the Navy records. It's been documented by the other guys who were on my boat. And Steve Gardner, frankly, doesn't know where we were. It wasn't his job, and, you know, he wasn't involved in that. But we did go five miles into Cambodia. It was on another day. I jumbled the two together, but we were five miles into Cambodia. We went up on a mission with CIA agents--I believe they were CIA agents--CIA Special Ops guys. I even have some photographs of it, and I can document it. And it has been documented.

MR. RUSSERT: You'll release those photographs?

SEN. KERRY: I think they were shown. I gave them to the campaign, but...

MR. RUSSERT: And you have a hat that the CIA agent gave you?

SEN. KERRY: I still have the hat that he gave me, and I hope the guy would come out of the woodwork and say, "I'm the guy who went up with John Kerry. We delivered weapons to the Khmer Rouge on the coastline of Cambodia." We went out of Ha Tien, which is right in Vietnam. We went north up into the border. And I have some photographs of that, and that's what we did. So, you know, the two were jumbled together, but we were on the Cambodian border on Christmas Eve, absolutely.

< snip >

For Immediate Release
Feb 2, 2005 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172

SENATOR KERRY ASKED TO SIGN RECORDS RELEASE FORM

Watchdog Asks Kerry to Keep His Word Concerning Signing Standard Form 180

Kerry’s Opportunity to Release Full Naval Service Record to the American People

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today asked Senator John F. Kerry to keep his word to the American public and sign a Standard Form 180 (SF 180), “Request Pertaining to Military Records.” On Sunday, January 30, 2005, during an appearance on the NBC News show “Meet the Press,” moderator Tim Russert asked Senator Kerry (three times) if he would sign an SF 180 and release all of his military records. On the third attempt Senator Kerry answered Mr. Russert plainly:

MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?

SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will.

In a letter hand delivered to Senator Kerry’s office, Judicial Watch asked him to execute the SF 180 immediately and thereby put to rest the controversies surrounding his service as a U.S. Navy officer.

Judicial Watch requested release of Senator Kerry’s military service records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Navy Personnel Command withheld thirty-one (31) pages of documents because Senator Kerry refused to sign an SF 180 and release them to the public. The records pertained to: “Personnel service jackets and service records, correspondence and records in both automated and non-automated form concerning classification, assignment, distribution, promotion, advancement, performance, recruiting, retention, reenlistment, separation, training, education, morale, personal affairs, benefits, entitlements, discipline and administration of naval personnel.”

“Senator Kerry has yet to come clean with the American people,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “We hope he will finally keep his promise to release his military records.”

Much of the information concerning Sen. Kerry’s questionable awards for valor, and allegations concerning his actions both on Active Duty and as an Inactive Naval Reserve officer was detailed in the best-selling book “Unfit for Command,” by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, PhD.

To read the Meet the Press transcript, click here.

To view the letter from Judicial Watch, click here (for html version, click here).

http://www.judicialwatch.org/4275.shtml
Judicial Watch, Inc.

"You might want to reconsider blindly throwing around racial slurs"

I have no idea as to your background, but I spent some time in Southeast Asia, about 10 months before they had to ship me back to a hospital. If you had seen what was done to American military members during capture, or locals that helped us, or ever been in a postiion where you had to shoot a VC abour 4 to 5 times when they just kept coming high on drugs and killed the guy next to you that you shared a smoke with the day before because you couldn't get them to stop, you'd call them a lot worse than gook. I did at the time.

Also, I am not throwing around a statement, I'm aiming it at a particular group that has brutalized thousands of their people. I thought I was being kind with my word because Mr. Robinson would have slashed me for calling them what they were and still are. I haven't forgotten that there are still MIA's they claim don't exist and we continue to find out information on a little at a time.

Red

Also, I am not throwing around a statement, I'm aiming it at a particular group that has brutalized thousands of their people. I thought I was being kind with my word because Mr. Robinson would have slashed me for calling them what they were and still are. I haven't forgotten that there are still MIA's they claim don't exist and we continue to find out information on a little at a time.

The way your post was written, there was no distinction between Asians, Vietnamese, NVA, or any others. I am sure you can see where it could be assumed that you were using it very broadly.

In the past ten years, I have traveled extensively around Southeast Asia. This includes traveling around Vietnam and Laos. When I first went to Vietnam in 1996, being an American, I was very worried about the reaction I would get. At first I hesitated to say I was American, but I let it slip when talking to a group of high school children. As soon as they heard it, their eyes grew very wide and smiles broke out from all of them.

After that, I told everyone I was American and had no negative reaction at all. Everyone, without exception, welcomed me including going so far as buying me meals and drinks. This is not only from children but from adults including soldiers and veterans who I have no doubt fought against US forces. Again, they showed incredibly hospitality towards me.

I have had the same experiences in Laos. This includes a run-in with a very hardcore ex-Pathet Lao officer. In all my travels, this individual was one of the scariest people I have met, but again, was quite warm towards me and payed me the utmost in respect.

Having had these experiences has caused me to really wonder about the outright hostility shown by American Veterans. If these people are willing to forgive, why can't we?

Everyone, without exception, welcomed me including going so far as buying me meals and drinks. This is not only from children but from adults including soldiers and veterans who I have no doubt fought against US forces.

Same here, although most of my experience is in the Delta and Saigon rather than the north (but I had a great time visiting Hanoi and detected no animosity).

I think ThankPhero will confirm that the Vietnamese are generally pretty welcoming of Americans, and no matter what, they want to forget the war and move on.

I will say that the Hanoi government can be pretty bizarre; policemen are to be avoided at all costs; instant "village justice" is public, fast, and furious; and speaking badly of the government can get you a 24 hour deportation (also in bad taste, like someone making awful jokes about one's problem-drinker uncle).

I had a great moment in Nov 2003, when the USS Vandegrift docked at the Port Of Saigon, and sailors were taking leave in uniform in downtown Saigon. We (the US) had to make some concessions to (North) Vietnamese pride (e.g., Port Of Saigon is directly behind Ho Chi Minh museum) but I think symbolically even Hanoi could no longer assert a warlike mentality. Oddly, that takes away some of their political power.

the Vietnamese are generally pretty welcoming of Americans, and no matter what, they want to forget the war and move on.

For the government it is not so much that they want to forget the war, they very much want to be a sort of protectorate of the US in that they want de facto guarantees against the perceived real threat, China. The US was never perceived as a real long term threat to Viet Nam and the Vietnamese, even as the Communists in the north were contemplating surrender in 69-70. Westerners are a temporary thing. China is everpresent and ever a threat. The Vietnamese focus has been to prevent or to throw off Chinese domination for two thousand years. America is a sometime thing but China will get you smoked.

If these people are willing to forgive, why can't we?

The question is not even forgiveness. Most Vietnamese do not see that there is anything to forgive. America was fighting for at least some of the Vietnamese people and that is understood by almost all of them. America was never seen as wanting to colonize or dominate. War is a natural condition. When it is over you get back to doing business and the Vietnameswe, along with the Koreans, are the natural businessmen of Asia.

Neither the people nor the "Communists" bear any ill will toward the Americans. The government-the bureacurats- are looked upon with disdain by pretty much the whole population. Old VC and NVA vets suggested to me or outright told me that they were on the wrong side in the war or that the war was foolish on their part.When you ask about My lai, they just say that those things happen in war and in their part of the world it is more like how war is done, at least in the past.

As for government reaction to improper talk, in summer 2003 I had political/philosophical discussions with individuals and with one group of 20 or so with no one looking over his shoulder. At one point I commented on it and was told that "one year ago we would not have spoken like this but things change". I did feel that I had been foolish then and was more careful after that, but consider, in any Communist country any group of 3 or more will include at least one who will repeat conversations to the police. I know that was still true in Sai Gon when the neighbors of the fellow whose apartment I was staying in ratted out the foreigner to the bo dois which got me a forceful bribe solicitation and induced me to move upcountry forthwith.

True enough. But at the same time, Hanoi bureaucrats appear to be lining their pockets by selling Vietnamese natural gas rights to the Chinese.

Latest Gulf of Tonkin Incident Reveals China's Imperialist Designs

Commentary, Thi Q. Lam,
Pacific News Service, Feb 14, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO--Vietnamese communities in the United States, Europe and Australia are protesting the Jan. 8 killing of Vietnamese fishermen by the Chinese navy. On that day, navy ships from the People's Republic of China shot and killed nine Vietnamese fishermen and injured seven others in the Vinh Bac Bo (Gulf of Tonkin). Eight fishermen were kidnapped.

[snip]

The 2000 Vinh Bac Bo Pact [with China] includes only a vaguely worded clause stipulating that "when gas is confirmed, the two sides will explore it together." Nguyen Dinh Sai, an engineer who has done extensive research on the Vinh Bac Bo, has written about a secret agreement between Vietnam and China that spells out in detail how the proceeds from gas production would be distributed between the two parties. From this we can infer that some kind of understanding between the two countries regarding the allocation of the proceeds from gas production must have been reached before the exploration operations can begin.

If true, the fishing rights issue may be only a cover, and the Jan. 8 massacre may be part of a well-concocted scheme to terrorize Vietnamese fishermen and to discourage them from venturing into Chinese gas exploration areas.

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=48b8f8c6203529cbd50b4ca149abeac4

Those are The Old Men that I even heard lesser fonctionaires speak of as the ones who all are waiting to pass away. Communism in Viet Nam resembles now the Mafiaism of New York and Chicago more than it does Marxism or Leninism. Beneath the level of the Old men who survive from The War the communists want to retain the system only to the extent that it provides them sinecures. They want to Americanize just so far as they do not lose their jobs. They will lose their jobs.

The Vietnamese are not Chinese. They do not revere the Center, they see no Mandate of Heaven. The bosses cannot get away long with allowing them economic freedoms without the whole kit. The Veecee (the universal Vietnamese term for the government people) think to emulate China in allowing the freedom to get rich and withholding the liberties that threaten their positions but, again, they Vietnamese are not Chinese. Things Communist will fall apart.

Old VC and NVA vets suggested to me or outright told me that they were on the wrong side in the war or that the war was foolish on their part.

Colonel Bui Tin (NVA) emigrated to Paris due to his disillusionment with the aftermath, mainly the reeducation camps which he thought were vindictive and wrong. He writes about it extensively in his autobiography.

The father of my wife's friend was just released from 16 years in prison, for writing some fairly innocuous tracts about democracy in Vietnam.

http://www.pttndt.org (click on Manifesto, which is in English)

"The blind adherence to Marxist doctrine led to an totalitarian state at the expense of the health and welfare of the people. Communism has now proven to be miserable failure, but there are those in Vietnam who are hypnotized by this archaic ideology. It is not a time for failed system or for ideologues." - Prof. Nguyen Dinh Huy

BTW, they commuted his sentence and released him from jail last week for Tet.

Things Communist will fall apart.

I've met several children of Communist Party officials, some here in the States, some in Vietnam.

Those in the States are easily identified because they came here on student visas (only avalable to CP families) and found inventive ways to stay. They're by no means Communists, and they sure as heck don't want to go back until there's some sort of freedom.

Those in VN are ID'd by their odd Aussie English accents. They've also been educated abroad, something only a CP official could afford and swing for the kids.

In neither case do they even minutely believe in Marxism as an ideology, and the CP is seen only as the strange vehicle by which they were granted favors.

Even my Vietnamese USPS mailman believes the CP will throw in the towel the minute the old fogies pass away.

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