Kerry Pressing Swiftboat Case, Long After Loss ["They lied and lied and lied about everything,"]

New York Times ^

[Sub-Driver]

Kerry Pressing Swiftboat Case, Long After Loss By KATE ZERNIKE

John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: "Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia."

He moves on to the photographs: his boat leaving the base at Ha Tien, Vietnam; the harbor; the mountains fading frame by frame as the boat heads north; the special operations team the boat was ferrying across the border; the men reading maps and setting off flares.

"They gave me a hat," Mr. Kerry says. "I have the hat to this day," he declares, rising to pull it from his briefcase. "I have the hat."

Three decades after the Vietnam War and nearly two years after Mr. Kerry's failed presidential bid, most Americans have probably forgotten why it ever mattered whether he went to Cambodia or that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth accused him of making it all up, saying he was dishonest and lacked patriotism.

But among those who were on the frontlines of the 2004 campaign, the battle over Mr. Kerry's wartime service continues, out of the limelight but in some ways more heatedly — because unlike then, Mr. Kerry has fully engaged in the fight. Only those on Mr. Kerry's side, however, have gathered new evidence to prove their case.

The Swift boat group continues to spend money on Washington consultants, according to public records, and last fall it gave $100,000 to a group that promptly sued Mr. Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, for allegedly interfering with the release of a film that was critical of him.

Some of the principals behind the Swift boat group continue to press their claims.

[knuthom]

"Mr. President, I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the President of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
I have that memory which is seared — seared — in me . . . ."
— Congressional Record - Senate of March 27, 1986, page 3594.

“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 killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real.”
Article Kerry wrote for the Boston Herald on October 14, 1979.

But Mr. Kerry's researcher, using Vietnam-era military maps and spot reports from the naval archives showing coordinates for his boat, traced his path from Ha Tien toward Cambodia on a mission that records say was to insert Navy Seals.

"Toward" Cambodia and in February. Pretty low standards for accuracy.

[L.N. Smithee]

So they have returned, for instance, to the question of Cambodia and whether Mr. Kerry was ever ordered to transport Navy Seals across the border, an experience that he said made him view government officials, who had declared that the country was not part of the war, as deceptive.

The Times reporter is either too dense to know Kerry is deliberately mischaracterizing the dispute over Cambodia, or she's a liar. Kerry has told and retold the story of his deployment into -- not "near" -- Cambodia, and of "the absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country that President Nixon claimed there were no American troops..."

The Swift boat group insisted that no boats had gone to Cambodia. But Mr. Kerry's researcher, using Vietnam-era military maps and spot reports from the naval archives showing coordinates for his boat, traced his path from Ha Tien toward Cambodia on a mission that records say was to insert Navy Seals.

Let's set aside for the moment that Kerry's researcher couldn't be expected to provide unbiased answers. More important is this: The Swift Vets site doesn't even mention Navy Seals in regard to this topic. It focuses on Kerry's constant use of his bitter anger at Nixon (or, in some instances, "The President of the United States") at denying that there were troops sent to Cambodia in December 1968, which, of course, was after Nixon had been elected, but prior to his inauguration; Lyndon Johnson was President at the time. The Swifties contradict Kerry with his own journal circa Christmas 1968, which ended this way:

---

It's cool now and the evening has closed around you to become full night. The night for once is comforting and you take a coke and some peanut butter and jelly and go up on the roof of the cabin whit your tape recorder and sit for a while, quietly, watching flares float silently through the sky and flashes announce disquieting intent somewhere in the distance. You call down to one of your men and ask him to draft a message to the Admiral in Command of all Naval Forces in Vietnam and also to the Commander of Market Time. IT says "Merry Christmas from the most inland Market Time unit." You hope that they'll court marshal you or something because that would make sense. But the night soothes everything and the people and things that are close to you dart through the mind and bring the only warmth and peace that there is. Visions of sugar plums really do dance through your head and you think of stockings and snow and roast chestnuts and fires with birch logs and all that is good and warm and real. It's Christmas Eve.

---

"Visions of sugar plums?" If South Vietnamese were trying to kill me on Christmas Eve, sugar plums would be among the last things on my mind.

After the Swifties proved Kerry's claims -- which were used in Senate arguments against funding of Nicaraguan Contras -- were undeniably false, a Kerry campaign spokesman released a statement that Bill Clinton would have been proud to call his own. This WSJ editorial recalls:

---

Last Wednesday Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan sent me a statement saying that "During John Kerry's service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia. . . . On December 24, 1968 Lieutenant John Kerry and his crew were on patrol in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia deep in enemy territory." I asked for clarification as to whether the "one occasion" was Christmas Eve 1968. "No," was the reply.

---

It appears the Times is ready, willing, and able to slime the Swifties whenever Kerry brings them up, just like they did with that bogus family tree 'proving' that the Swift Vets were controlled by the President, and that they would stop their campaign against Kerry if Bush gave the word.

[mylife]

L0L...never forget!

Thanks for the clip

[Chode]

isn't he though...

[Rembrandt]

"Mr. Kerry and his defenders say that they did not have the extensive archival material, and that it was too complicated to gather in the rapid pace of a campaign. He was caught off guard, he says; he had been prepared to defend his antiwar activism, but he did not believe that anyone would challenge the facts behind his military awards. "We should have put more money behind it," Mr. Kerry says now. "I take responsibility for it; it was my mistake."

Isn't this just a replay of John Belushi in the sewer during "The Blues Brothers" confronting his former fiancee, she carrying a shotgun, he explaining why he didn't make it to their wedding? Oh, c'mon baby, pleeeeeeeze.

[Smartass]

Thanks for the beautiful pic.
We all know "Hanoi John," to be a pathological liar.   He was a liar yesterday, today, and will be tomorrow.   Until he signs his 180 form (which he claims he did, but really didn't), and allows access to all records, he will be viewed as a Snake Oil salesman.   You can bet, if records were released, the MSM would be all over them to clear their fair haired Botoxed hero!

 

[AZRepublican]

Best irrefutable evidence of Kerry fraud I have ever seen:

http://idexer.com/articles/kerry_medals.htm

[nicmarlo]

Until he signs his 180 form (which he claims he did, but really didn't), and allows access to all records, he will be viewed as a Snake Oil salesman.

Just what could be in his military records....gee, I'm so perplexed. Surely, someone who's history is so brave and glowing, with someone who's ego is as huge as his, you'd think he'd want copies of it spread near and far, far and near, for all to see and be able to worship him from afar. : )

[EQAndyBuzz]

Al Gore syndrome.

[nicmarlo]

who's = whose (I'm tired...sorry for dumb grammar error...sheesh)

[cookcounty]

Did the NYCrimes reporter ask about the long-promised full DD Form 180? (release of documents).

.....Gee, I wonder why the NYT forgot.

[Smartass]

POOEY...don't sweat it...

 

[ottersnot]

awesome. whine and whine again. never stop.

[Delta 21]

[Smartass]

I think his 180, would show, that him being an officer,
would show he wrote his own military citations!

 

[GeronL]

lol... Kerry doesn't have a clue.

I hope they ALL run in '08... how sweet will that be? The Republicans can call them reruns... even Hillary

[nicmarlo]

he wrote his own military citations!

lol...of course!

[CedarDave]

Thanks for the beautiful pic.

Forgot to title it: "The "Peaceful" Mountain in Ha Tien, South Vietnam".

[Candor7]

"We should have put more money behind it," Mr. Kerry says now. "I take responsibility for it; it was my mistake." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

See Kerry just doesn't get it. For him it is an image problem which can be spun and managed so that he comes out looking good. Just throw more money at the problem, hire a Publicity Firm etc.

He doesn't have enough chracter to realize that his character is UNFIT FOR COMMAND!

He is dumber than a box of Cambodian rockets!

If he could really look at himself, how ridiculous he is, he would never run for public office again in his life!

Kerry is desperate for power, and he will not get it!

Thank You Swifties for continuing your valuable service to our nation.

[Interesting Times]

"They lied and lied and lied about everything," Mr. Kerry says in an interview in his Senate office.

I think the technical term for this is "projection."