YES, I KNOW KERRY SAID 'DELIVERED WEAPONS TO THE KHMER ROUGE'

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." Actually, looking back at the original article in which Kerry mentions the lucky hat, Kerry didn't quite specify the purpose of his mission with the man who wore the hat.

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.

Of course, Kerry has said "I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians," suggesting that he was being shot at by the Khmer Rouge.

could Kerry have come under fire from the Khmer Rouge and Cambodians? At the very least one wonders how he knew the identity of those who were shooting at him. The claim of having faced off with the Khmer Rouge is most suspect. In the period in question, Pol Pot's band was not very large, and was based mainly in the mountains in the northeast corner of the country. The Khmer Rouge did not become a major fighting force until 1970, when with Chinese and North Vietnamese support, they expanded from a few thousand to 100,000 fighters. Instapundit looked at the Khmer Rouge claims during the campaign, with many links.

The Powerline guys looked into this and concluded, "Different sources assign different dates to the beginning of military action by the Khmer Rouge, but we've seen no support for the proposition that the Khmer Rouge were in the field (as opposed to existing as a political organization) in January 1969."

Short version: I have no idea why Senator Kerry claimed on Sunday to have been on a mission to ferry weapons to the Khmer Rouge, the Communist army under the direction of Pol Pot.

This was posted during the campaign:

"On more than one occasion, I like Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now," took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real.John Kerry “Apocalypse Now" on Oct 14, 1979 in the Boston Herald.

The Kerry Campaign has now admitted that this was a fabrication. This is far from a slip of the tongue this is a well thought out written attack on a President and country that not only impugned them, but the Ex-Government of South Vietnam. This soon became the basic prejudice of the history of the Vietnam War. The damage by this statement and further statements shamed an entire generation of men who gave their heroic service to their country and turned it to humiliation.

John Kerry came back from the war a decorated hero and soon parlayed that into the most decorated witness of war crime atrocities committed by the United States and South Vietnam. Nobody would question his truthfulness because he had chest full of medals and had no motivation to lie. Anybody who questioned him was quickly painted as a war criminal and a tool of the military. He was subsequently announced as the only moral person in an immoral war and this is exactly why this lie is so sickening.

We have now found and John Kerry has admitted that he was never in Cambodia on Christmas Eve or any other time. He never violated Cambodia’s sovereignty and neither did the South Vietnamese Army. Forget that President Nixon was not in office in 1968, but he never ordered any American Troops into Cambodia. President Nixon was telling the truth and John Kerry, decorated war hero was lying. President Nixon had to surrender to the North Vietnamese in shame and went to his grave a war criminal because of these lies. Richard Nixon we find four decades later, was telling the Truth.

His testimony and this story was the foundation of the Vietnam scar on America’s military. The stories of torturing prisoners and villagers became the visual of Viet Nam. The indiscriminate incursions into Cambodia and Laos was common knowledge. Because of these stories the soldiers came back from Nam to be spit upon by the American public. Now we find out these stories were all the fantasy of a young John Kerry who managed to keep his fabrications in the America’s consciousness. Vietnam became the rifle butt that hammered our military, over and over again. All of this was built off of the Cambodia lie and his false testimony to Congress.

John Kerry was still telling these lies as of last year when he showed off a hat he brought back from his Cambodia incursion. This he claimed was his lucky hat, given to him by a CIA agent?? What kind of dementia is this man suffering from? Did he actually believe any of his lies or did he enjoy being Mr Macho who steered his boat into another country during combat? Did he enjoy being Blood and Guts Kerry or was there something more sinister??

Because of this lie both Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon became the Pyrrhus’ of American politics. Both went to their graves as accused war criminals, violating the sovereignty of innocent countries. As we find out that they were the innocent victims of a smear campaign led by John Kerry. John Kerry painted himself as the only moral person in an immoral war. As we find out the military was indeed fighting this war morally and the only immoral person in this story was John Kerry. Because of this lie two Presidents were made war criminals and an entire generation of soldiers were spit on. What can John Kerry offer to repair his damage he has done to America?? The very least he can do is finally come clean, apologize for his atrocious lies and resign from the race!

Pray for W and Our Troops

The Christmas in Cambodia story was initially told by Kerry to indict and embarrass the Nixon Administration. However, under close scrutiny, the story falls apart.

In 2004-5 Kerry has to dance around the subject and muddle it. After all, he's only retold the story some 50 times to media and in speeches over the last 35 years. So he can't just it was all a fantasy.

Now, he has to try to make it all fit; but the pegs don't all fit.

It wasn't exactly Christmas, but sometime around that time, but maybe later but not too much later because Kerry left Viet Nam just a couple of months later.

It wasn't exactly IN Cambodia, but close, but 5 miles inside, maybe, all those shorelines looked alike in those days (as were medals and ribbons interchangeable).

It wasn't exactly the Vietnamese or Cambodians or Khmer Rouge who fired on Kerry and company that Christmas eve, or was it? Well, maybe, or, maybe not.

It wasn't exactly a mission for President Nixon, but President-elect Nixon, but President-elect wouldn't have authority to send the CIA on secret missions, or would he?

It wasn't exactly a mission with the CIA, but it was secret. So secret that even in 2004, Kerry can't talk about it.

And on and on and on....

Kerry is caught in a muddles bunch of lies and fabrications that have a 35-year-old history of his retelling. Now, he is caught with his pants down about the story. It just all won't fit together under scrutiny.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.