RCMan
2004-08-22 19:02:56 UTC
Winter in Cambodia?
USNews.com
By Michael Barone
8/30/04
This month the Kerry Campaign abandoned one claim that John Kerry had
made for years about his Vietnam War service and put another into
question. The claim that has been dropped: that Kerry was in Cambodia
at Christmastime in 1968. In a 1979 review of the movie Apocalypse Now
in the Boston Herald, Kerry wrote, "I remember spending Christmas Eve
of 1968 5 miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our
Vietnamese allies." In a 1986 speech on the Senate floor, Kerry said,
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. . . .
I have that memory which is seared-seared-in me." In a 1992 interview
with States News Service, Kerry claimed, "On Christmas Eve of 1968, I
was on a gunboat in a firefight that wasn't supposed to be taking
place." That year he also told the Associated Press, "Everybody was
over there [in Cambodia]. Nobody thought twice about it."
These are vivid statements full of colorful detail-South Vietnamese
soldiers shooting off guns to celebrate Christmas. But, as Emily
Litella used to say on Saturday Night Live, "Never mind." Historian
Douglas Brinkley's bestselling Tour of Duty, based partly on Kerry's
wartime journals, places Kerry on Christmas 1968 in Sa Dec, 50 miles
from Cambodia. On August 11, Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said
Kerry's boat was "in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia"
on Christmas Eve. That's far from an endorsement of Kerry's oft-told
stories. "He was mistaken about Christmas in Cambodia," Brinkley told
London's Daily Telegraph last week. But he "went into Cambodian waters
three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine
missions. . . . He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was
dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat which he was given by one CIA
operative." Indeed, Kerry showed the hat to a Washington Post reporter
last year. Similarly, in 2000 Kerry told U.S. News's Kevin Whitelaw
that he had run guns into Cambodia.
The Kerry camp has provided no documentation of Kerry's missions to
Cambodia; Meehan says that's not surprising because the missions were
secret. Perhaps. But none of Kerry's boat mates, most of whom support
him, corroborate his story, and the one boat mate who opposes him
flatly denies it. Retired Adm. Roy Hoffman, commander of the swift
boats during Kerry's four months in Vietnam, insists that no swift
boats went into Cambodia. Hoffman is, to be sure, a member of the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which opposes Kerry and sponsored the
anti-Kerry book Unfit for Command. But there is nothing on the record
except Kerry's word to prove him wrong.
There is public documentation of other secret missions to Cambodia in
1968-69. In most, if not all, cases it seems that agents and special
ops were flown into Cambodia by helicopter. If boats were used, the
Navy had available smaller, quieter craft than swift boats. That makes
Kerry's story seem implausible, but it could still be true. If he made
public the journals he provided to Brinkley, there might be more
evidence that could be checked.
Character counts. On the Christmas story (which even the pro-Kerry New
York Times admits Kerry has not "put to rest"), perhaps Kerry was just
confused about dates, or perhaps he convinced himself that an untrue
story was true, as people sometimes do, and had no intent to mislead.
A more unsettling possibility is that he consciously leapt the bounds
of truth to make his experience seem more spectacular or to score
political points. Those are not the sort of things most people want in
a president.
Will Kerry's evidently untrue statements about Christmas in Cambodia
raise doubts about his as-yet-uncorroborated stories about later
Cambodian missions? Will they undermine his credibility and bolster
the charges of his swift boat critics? Not clear. Most of Kerry's boat
mates testify to his heroism; most of those serving on other swift
boats in the unit take a different view. So far as I know, all served
honorably and are entitled to respectful attention; some may have
political motives, in both directions. Battlefield memories inevitably
and understandably differ. But character counts in presidents, and
some of Kerry's statements over the years-not all, but some-count
against his character.
USNews.com
By Michael Barone
8/30/04
This month the Kerry Campaign abandoned one claim that John Kerry had
made for years about his Vietnam War service and put another into
question. The claim that has been dropped: that Kerry was in Cambodia
at Christmastime in 1968. In a 1979 review of the movie Apocalypse Now
in the Boston Herald, Kerry wrote, "I remember spending Christmas Eve
of 1968 5 miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our
Vietnamese allies." In a 1986 speech on the Senate floor, Kerry said,
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. . . .
I have that memory which is seared-seared-in me." In a 1992 interview
with States News Service, Kerry claimed, "On Christmas Eve of 1968, I
was on a gunboat in a firefight that wasn't supposed to be taking
place." That year he also told the Associated Press, "Everybody was
over there [in Cambodia]. Nobody thought twice about it."
These are vivid statements full of colorful detail-South Vietnamese
soldiers shooting off guns to celebrate Christmas. But, as Emily
Litella used to say on Saturday Night Live, "Never mind." Historian
Douglas Brinkley's bestselling Tour of Duty, based partly on Kerry's
wartime journals, places Kerry on Christmas 1968 in Sa Dec, 50 miles
from Cambodia. On August 11, Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said
Kerry's boat was "in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia"
on Christmas Eve. That's far from an endorsement of Kerry's oft-told
stories. "He was mistaken about Christmas in Cambodia," Brinkley told
London's Daily Telegraph last week. But he "went into Cambodian waters
three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine
missions. . . . He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was
dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat which he was given by one CIA
operative." Indeed, Kerry showed the hat to a Washington Post reporter
last year. Similarly, in 2000 Kerry told U.S. News's Kevin Whitelaw
that he had run guns into Cambodia.
The Kerry camp has provided no documentation of Kerry's missions to
Cambodia; Meehan says that's not surprising because the missions were
secret. Perhaps. But none of Kerry's boat mates, most of whom support
him, corroborate his story, and the one boat mate who opposes him
flatly denies it. Retired Adm. Roy Hoffman, commander of the swift
boats during Kerry's four months in Vietnam, insists that no swift
boats went into Cambodia. Hoffman is, to be sure, a member of the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which opposes Kerry and sponsored the
anti-Kerry book Unfit for Command. But there is nothing on the record
except Kerry's word to prove him wrong.
There is public documentation of other secret missions to Cambodia in
1968-69. In most, if not all, cases it seems that agents and special
ops were flown into Cambodia by helicopter. If boats were used, the
Navy had available smaller, quieter craft than swift boats. That makes
Kerry's story seem implausible, but it could still be true. If he made
public the journals he provided to Brinkley, there might be more
evidence that could be checked.
Character counts. On the Christmas story (which even the pro-Kerry New
York Times admits Kerry has not "put to rest"), perhaps Kerry was just
confused about dates, or perhaps he convinced himself that an untrue
story was true, as people sometimes do, and had no intent to mislead.
A more unsettling possibility is that he consciously leapt the bounds
of truth to make his experience seem more spectacular or to score
political points. Those are not the sort of things most people want in
a president.
Will Kerry's evidently untrue statements about Christmas in Cambodia
raise doubts about his as-yet-uncorroborated stories about later
Cambodian missions? Will they undermine his credibility and bolster
the charges of his swift boat critics? Not clear. Most of Kerry's boat
mates testify to his heroism; most of those serving on other swift
boats in the unit take a different view. So far as I know, all served
honorably and are entitled to respectful attention; some may have
political motives, in both directions. Battlefield memories inevitably
and understandably differ. But character counts in presidents, and
some of Kerry's statements over the years-not all, but some-count
against his character.