As more instances of Sen. John Kerry telling a story about his spending Christmas 1968 in Cambodia come to light, his campaign has yet to address the charge of fellow veterans that the presidential candidate's account is a lie.
As of press time, neither WorldNetDaily nor Fox News Channel has received a response to the charges from Kerry's staff, despite repeated requests.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the authors of the best-selling book "Unfit for Command," which refutes many of Kerry's war stories, claim that despite the senator's 1986 speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate mentioning spending Christmas Eve in Cambodia, the candidate was never in Vietnam's neighboring country.
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting in a gunboat in Cambodia," said Kerry on the Senate floor. "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 tell the American people I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
"I have the memory which is seared – seared – in me, that says to me, before we send another generation into harm's way we have a responsibility in the U.S. Senate to go the last step, to make the best effort possible to avoid that kind of conflict."
Kerry spent four months in Vietnam as skipper of a SWIFT Boat before returning to the U.S. and becoming a vocal leader of the anti-war movemeny.
In a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald in 1979 Kerry wrote, "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.(1) 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."(2)
The authors of "Unfit for Command" say that during Christmas 1968, Kerry "was more than 50 miles away from Cambodia. Kerry was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there."
At the time, Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo, which had a patrol areas extending to Sa Dec, about 55 miles from the Cambodian border.
All of the surviving officers in Kerry's chain of command deny he was ever ordered to Cambodia: Joe Streuhli, commander of Costal Division 13; George Elliott, commander of Coastal Division 11; Adrian Lonsdale, captain USCG and commander Coastal Surveillance Center at An Thoi; Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, commander of Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam, CTF 115; and Rear Adm. Art Price, commander of River Patrol Force, CTF 116.
Since WND's story ran Saturday, other media have picked it up, and citations of other comments made by Kerry have been publicized, turning up the heat on Kerry to respond to the charge he lied about the Cambodia excursion.
WorldNetDaily columnist Hugh Hewitt points out other instances of Kerry telling the Cambodia story, including a 1992 AP story.
"We were told, 'Just go up there and do your patrol,'" Kerry told AP. "Everybody was over there (in Cambodia). Nobody thought twice about it."
The AP story continued: "One of the missions, which Kerry, at the time, was ordered not to discuss, involved taking CIA operatives into Cambodia to search for enemy enclaves."
In a Jun 1, 2003, Washington Post story, Kerry talks of carrying a "lucky hat" in his briefcase. The hat, he says, belonged to the CIA agent with whom he claims to have entered Cambodia:
There's a secret compartment in Kerry's briefcase. He carries the black attach 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.
He smiled and aimed his finger: "Pow."
Hewitt mentioned how much activity the story is getting on blogs and talk radio:
The blogosphere pushed this story forward, with an early flare going up at KerryHaters on May 21, and then a gang tackle of the facts by Instapundit, RogerLSimon, JustOneMinute, Powerline, CaptainsQuarters and, of course, me.
Hewitt writes, "Why all the attention? Simply put, if John Kerry can be conclusively demonstrated to have lied about aspects of his Vietnam service, the media has to ask what else has he been lying about. The voters have to ask if he can be trusted. In short: Free fall."
Fox News Channel reported Kerry campaign staff first claimed the candidate never said that he was in Cambodia, only that he was near the country. When presented with a copy of the Congressional Record and asked about Kerry's letter in the Boston Herald, Kerry staff told FNC they would come up with an explanation. After repeated phone calls, Fox reports, there was still no clarification.
WorldNetDaily, too, attempted to secure a response from the Kerry campaign. Repeated calls were not returned by press time.
(1) So kerry is 5 miles inside Cambodia & ARVN troops are shooting at him?
These same ARVN troops are celebrating Christmas?Isn't Christmas a Christian holiday? News to me that budists celebrate the birth of Christ!
(2) In my history book, LBJ was president in December 1968.
posted on August 11, 2004 06:45:17 PM
Appears that he's like clinton....deny, deny, deny until presented with absolute proof....then avoid..avoid. avoid.
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Hey bear, don't know if you read the latest Drudge gossip or not. But appears the kerry's got into a screaming match at their hotel in Arizona and took separate rooms at the hotel. Mention of the stress getting to them might have been the cause.
Like just wait until he has all the stress to deal with that President Bush has faced rather than parading around the country for the last year and 1/2 doing no work.....then what? But, I'm hopeful he won't get elected so the REAL stress and the reality of running a country and our military won't cause him to go over the edge.
posted on August 11, 2004 09:01:39 PM
No slam dunk, reamond.
clinton himself has admitted he had little to do with the thriving economy....others have stated it did well because he left it alone...he was busy with his scandals..and it thrived on it's own.
Most agree that the boom in technology is what helped our economy at that time. Neither clinton nor this President can take credit or blame for it's boom and then bust.
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"One thing is for sure: the extremists have faith in our weakness. And the weaker we are, the more they will come after us." --Tony Blair
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"The War on Terror will not be won until America is united. And as long as Democrats target the Bush administration -- not the terrorists -- as the enemy, we are in trouble." --Oliver North
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posted on August 11, 2004 09:04:04 PM
Then, of course, there's kerry's plan to spend $735 Billion dollars more. Raise taxes.....and this spending is going to create jobs?
posted on August 11, 2004 09:57:27 PM
Since you are not adverse to the comprable amount (& much more over the following 4 years) that Bush has loaded us with, what's the problem?
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"Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." --Charles Buxton
