Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia

As I mentioned earlier, there is one chapter of the Swiftvet book "Unfit to Command" out on the internet. There is enough evidence in that one chapter to convince anyone who is willing to face the issue honestly that Kerry is a dangerous man who should not be president. One example of this is Kerry's false claim to have been in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968.

First, some background. Kerry has repeatly told a story - once on the floor of the Senate and reported in the Congressional Record - that his boat was in Cambodia in Christmas, 1968. He said the memory of being shot at in Cambodia while the U.S. President was telling everyone we had no troops there was "seared" into him:

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 . . . .

Glenn Reynolds has the page from the congressional record (Congressional Record - Senate of March 27, 1986, page 3594) here:

And the particular quote here:

The problem is that Kerry wasn't in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968. He got no closer than 55 miles or so from the Cambodian border, according to the Unfit to Command book:

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.

Moreover, everyone in Kerry's chain of command denies that he or any of the boats were sent into Cambodia:

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.

The book goes on to state that all of the Swift boat commanders willing to be interviewed also denied any incursions into Cambodia.

This is not a "he said, she said" story - Kerry claimed to have been in Cambodia, and there is overwhelming evidence that this never happened. And it seems hard to understand how Kerry can be mistaken about having gone to Cambodia, and it seems equally hard to see how this can be an honest failure of memory, with what the incident being "seared" into his memory and all. So there doesn't seem to be any real question that Kerry stood on the floor of the Senate and told a preposterous fabrication, which is now coming back home to roost.

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[Roscoe]

Gregg - that's you, isn't it? Gregg? Oh Greggggg?