posted on August 12, 2004 08:38:18 PM
Kerry backtracking to cover his azz or another instance of flip flopping? I smell an attempt at a cover up. Too bad john, you're LIES ARE catching up to you.
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JANUARY -- NOT CHRISTMAS -- KERRY IN CAMBODIA
**Exclusive**
TOUR OF DUTY author and John Kerry historian Doug Brinkley is rushing a piece for the NEW YORKER: to set-the-record-straight on Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia tale, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Kerry has turned to author Brinkley for a "modification" after it was exposed that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968, as he once claimed from the Senate floor.
The Brinkley piece for the NEW YORKER will now say that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas, but rather in January, publishing sources tell DRUDGE.
MORE
Since the early 1970s, Kerry has spoken and written of how he was illegally ordered to enter Cambodia. Kerry mentioned it in the floor of the Senate in 1986 when he charged that President Reagan’s actions in Central America were leading the U.S. in another Vietnam. Here’s what he said as excerpted from the new book, UNFIT FOR COMMAND:
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the 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."
John O’Neil’s, author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, comments on the “clarification:”
“John Kerry describes Christmas Eve in Cambodia as a critical turning point in his life. We now know that his story is completely false. My question is how many people do you know have invented a turning point, one that is seared in his memory? While it makes sense for John Kerry to come clean about the Cambodia story, it is one of several tales that the Kerry campaign will have to face and clarify.”
“By claiming we were engaged in a war crime and crossing international borders, John Kerry damaged the credibility of all the commanding officers above him and insulted the sailors who served with him,” said John O’Neill, member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.”
posted on August 13, 2004 10:45:50 AM
As Bill O'Reilly said , whether Kerry remembers the date correctly makes no difference. BVut if they crossed the borber does make a difference. And it is a historical fact that US forces did cross the Cambodian border in direct contravention of the Congress.
posted on August 13, 2004 11:14:17 AMBVut if they crossed the borber does make a difference
Whether December or January kerry was never anywhere near Cambodia.
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Despite the dramatic memories of his Christmas in Cambodia, Kerry’s statements are complete lies. Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War. In reality, during Christmas 1968, he was more than fifty miles away from Cambodia. Kerry was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there.
During Christmas 1968, Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo. Coastal Division 13’s patrol areas extended to Sa Dec, about fifty-five miles from the Cambodian border. Areas closer than fifty-five miles to the Cambodian border in the area of the Mekong River were patrolled by PBRs, a small river patrol craft, and not by Swift Boats. Preventing border crossings was considered so important at the time that an LCU (a large, mechanized landing craft) and several PBRs were stationed to ensure that no one could cross the border.
A large sign at the border prohibited entry. Tom Anderson, Commander of River Division 531, who was in charge of the PBRs,confirmed that there were no Swifts anywhere in the area and that they would have been stopped had they appeared.
All the living commanders in Kerry’s chain of command—Joe Streuhli (Commander of CosDiv 13), George Elliott (Commander of CosDiv 11), Adrian Lonsdale (Captain, USCG and Commander, Coastal Surveillance Center at An Thoi), Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (Commander, Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam, CTF 115), and Rear Admiral Art Price (Commander of River Patrol Force, CTF 116)—deny that Kerry was ever ordered to Cambodia. They indicate that Kerry would have been seriously disciplined or court-martialed had he gone there. At least three of the five crewmen on Kerry’s PCF 44 boat—Bill Zaldonis, Steven Hatch, and Steve Gardner—deny that they or their boat were ever in Cambodia. The remaining two crewmen declined to be interviewed for this book. Gardner, in particular, will never forget those days in late December when he was wounded on PCF 44, not in Cambodia, but many miles away in Vietnam.
posted on August 13, 2004 12:11:50 PM
kerry's lawyers are working overtime....but hey...they've go plenty of lawyers at their command now that Edwards is running as his VP.
An article from the Federalist this morning says pretty much the same thing....with a couple of additional items mentioned:
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From the JFK DEMO-lition derby...
John Kerry this week has been painfully and determinedly trying to change the subject.
After investing most of his convention capital on his Vietnam military service, he now prefers to talk about anything but exactly what he did during that war.
We suppose the Demos believed that, after skating through those two elections with draft-dodger Bill Clinton punching the top of their ticket, Kerry would only have to cover himself (and his anti-war Senate voting record) with references to his four-month tour of duty. This, they must've convinced themselves, would remove all doubts about his leadership in confronting the terrorists. But here's the pesky part where nuances collide:
How could Kerry be proud of his service combat medals when he prominently threw them (or replicas or associated ribbons) away in a protest display of contempt?
Kerry is clearly uncomfortable with the details of his brief Vietnam tour. His legions of lawyers, in fact, have been trying to silence those who would challenge him for a full accounting of his military service.
(Ever notice how the First Amendment tends to be the first casualty when a Demo pol is on the ropes? Ever notice how the Leftmedia tends to swallow its microphones at such times, too?)
Unfortunately for Kerry, the book Unfit for Command by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, and the companion television ad from "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," tackle the Massachusetts senator's service record head-on.
(To view the ad and letters from Kerry campaign lawyers' attempting to silence it, link to --
In doing so, they lay waste to Kerry's claim that he has the toughness and trustworthiness necessary in a wartime commander.
In addition, the Swiftees expose Kerry as a shameless opportunist.
Quick -- name another Vietnam vet who hauled around a Super-8 movie camera in order to re-enact his exploits on film. Quick -- name another Vietnam vet with the audacity to request a Purple Heart for a "wound" that was treated with tweezers and patched with a Band-Aid.
The sheer number of his fellow swift boat officers who challenge Kerry's record, and the detail and mutual corroboration in their remembrances, paint a picture that is both credible and devastating.
Ominously for Kerry, he's already started backtracking on his service record. [i]In
1979, Kerry claimed, "On more than one occasion, I...took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact, I remember spending Christmas Day of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border[/i]. ...A country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."
He reaffirmed his statement in the Senate in 1986 claiming that he was under orders from President Richard Nixon.
"Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas, 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War," said John O'Neil. Douglas Brinkley, in Tour of Duty, Kerry's biography, confirms O'Neil's statement. Oh? Kerry says the events had been "seared" into his memory.
Unfortunately, Nixon wasn't sworn in until January, 1969 -- Lyndon Johnson was still president when Kerry's memory was so burned.
Kerry spokesminions are now saying that Kerry was perhaps "near" Cambodia, to deflect the contradiction.
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posted on August 13, 2004 01:17:30 PM
Linda, I also like the following.
The American Spectator's George Neumayr notes, "Kerry is being hoist by his own petard. Did he really think that he could launch his political career on discrediting the Vietnam war,
including his role in it, and then complete that career by taking credit for fighting in it? Kerry has never persuasively explained why he deserves so much credit for fighting in a war he said was utterly discreditable."
posted on August 13, 2004 01:28:20 PM
Bear. Are we to base the entire election on Kerry's war record? I am not sure that it is all that important. The way I see it, he served..case closed. Our President did not. case closed. Some believe that Kerry lied about his record, others believe Bush evaded the war. My point is, should we not concern ourselves with the now and vote according to the present issues? Why beat a dead horse? DrD
posted on August 13, 2004 01:52:58 PM
But dr dolittle he is basing his campaign on being in Vietnam. The ad that is running now starts out "As a young man I served in Vietnam". So what are we to think. Just disregard what he says. Now I know that Bush's record is not pristine but he doesn't come out and say he was in the National Guard and BTW many young men did serve in the NG as they are prepared to go into service at a moments notice. Like the entire Red Arrow division from the state of Wisconsin was called to Ft. Lewis during Kennedy's Bay of Pigs.
posted on August 13, 2004 02:17:16 PM
Exactly, Libra.
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Dr.Doolittle asks:
Bear. Are we to base the entire election on Kerry's war record?
No, we wouldn't be IF kerry hadn't chosen to use his service as a HUGE part of his campaign to try and convince Americans he's a veteran who will defend this Nation. If HE hadn't of brought it up, in EVERY speech he's given in the last year and a 1/2 some wouldn't be answering back. But HE DID....and now he has to deal with others, and their comments, as to how they saw his veteran war hero service.
I am not sure that it is all that important.
I'd agree.... but obviously kerry felt it was VERY important or he wouldn't have made it such a big part of his election run.
The way I see it, he served..case closed. Our President did not. case closed.
An untrue statement, as worded. OUR President DID serve and was given an honorable discharge...just like approx. 400,000+ OTHER National Guardmen were who also served. Please don't discount their service to our country....just because they weren't all sent to VN. They still served this country.
My point is, should we not concern ourselves with the now and vote according to the present issues?
This is THE MOST important issue in regards to who should be elected....who would be best suited to be Commander-In-Chief of our Armed Forces....it will GREATLY affect the direction we take with the war on terror. And a traitor to this country shouldn't be CIC, imo. NOT EVER....no matter which party they're representing. Kerry said our democricy was a farce. He said our soldiers were war criminals...he said they all committed atrocities. Read what his own commanders have said about him.
Why beat a dead horse? DrD
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Those are only two reasons why we need to:
posted on August 13, 2004 02:57:39 PM
Sorry in the previous post I made an error in his advertisement. The corrected one follows.
Kerry said: ``I defended our country as a young man when others chose not to, and I will defend it as president of the United States. I will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary with the right, legitimate intelligence with swiftness and certainty.
So this is one reason people focus on HIS service record because HE keeps reminding us and reminding us.. HE needs to find something else to focus on and maybe everyone else will.
posted on August 13, 2004 05:11:52 PM
Yep....looks now like he's backpeddling alright. The proof was there...he HAD to admit it.
from the Washington Times
Kerry's Cambodia confusion
On Wednesday, the Kerry campaign acknowledged that John Kerry probably was not in Cambodia on Christmas 1968, contrary to the senator's decades-old assertion. Speaking on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," Kerry campaign aide Jeh Johnson said, "John Kerry has said on the record that he had a mistaken recollection earlier. He talked about a combat situation on Christmas Eve 1968 which at one point he said occurred in Cambodia. He has since corrected the record to say it was some place on a river near Cambodia and he is certain that at some point subsequent to that he was in Cambodia. My understanding is that he is not certain about that date." Recall that this is the date that Mr. Kerry, speaking on the Senate floor in 1986, said was "seared" into him.
Case closed? Not quite. Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign adviser speaking on NBC News, offered an explanation for Mr. Kerry's confusion: "The Mekong Delta consists of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, so on Christmas Eve in 1968, [Mr. Kerry] was in fact on patrol ... in the Mekong Delta between Cambodia and Vietnam."
Unfortunately for Mr. Kerry, this explanation raises more questions than it answers. First, at the point where the Mekong River intersects the Cambodian/Vietnam border, there is no "between." As the map on the opposite page reveals, the river in fact runs from Cambodia to Vietnam, unlike, say, the Potomac River, which creates the border between Maryland and Virginia, and Virginia and Washington. If there is a point where the river meanders in a way that Cambodia is on one side and Vietnam the other, it constitutes such a small area that for Mr. Kerry to be in that exact spot on the river would be highly dubious, although not, we add, impossible.
Furthermore, the nature of the Cambodia/Vietnam border, especially at the Mekong intersection, was a point of extreme tension in 1968. As Andrew Antippas writes on the opposite page, both the Cambodian and the Vietnamese officials were very sensitive to Cambodia's neutrality, though North Vietnamese incursions did occur.
For U.S. forces, entering Cambodia was forbidden. As the Foreign Service officer in Saigon responsible for Cambodian border incidents, Mr. Antippas remembers just one occasion in 1968 where a Navy vessel ventured into Cambodia, most likely because the accident created such a diplomatic nightmare for the Americans.
But why would Mr. Kerry tell such a misleading tale on the floor of the Senate?
Throughout his political career, Mr. Kerry has referred to his Christmas in Cambodia as the moment when he became disillusioned with the American political leadership, and why he became such a vociferous opponent of the war upon his return from duty. Indeed, it is a moving lesson, as he recounted in 1986 on the Senate floor: "I have that 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 in order to avoid that kind of conflict."
But it didn't happen.
And what are Americans to make of a presidential candidate whose life-altering moment was a figment of his imagination?
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My answer to that question is he lied....got caught with the proof....and now 'was confused'. right....
