August 18, 2004

'KERRY IN CAMBODIA' FOR BEGINNERS -- on the Op-Ed page of today's Star Tribune. Written by bloggers John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson of Powerline. Good work guys!

Does this make them old media now?

And speaking of old media, the Boston Globe is now reporting that John Kerry denies that he merely invented the stories he'd told of conducting missions into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. That's right -- the Boston Globe -- bringing you Friday's news today. There's Internet Time and then there's Lumbering Democrat-Supporting Big City Newspaper Time. Quotable:

Kerry said in a 2003 interview that after the Christmas Eve 1968 engagement, he asked his crew to write a caustic telegram to the chief of naval forces in Vietnam, Elmo Zumwalt Jr., to wish him "Merry Christmas from the troops that weren't in Cambodia, which was us. We were."

Meehan, in his statement issued last week, described the incident this way:

"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. In the early afternoon, Kerry's boat, PCF-44, was at Sa Dec and then headed north to the Cambodian border. There, Kerry and his crew along with two other boats were ambushed, taking fire from both sides of the river, and after the firefight were fired upon again. Later that evening during their night patrol they came under friendly fire."

James Wasser, who accompanied Kerry on that mission aboard patrol boat No. 44 and who supports Kerry's candidacy, said that while he believes they were "very, very close" to Cambodia, he did not think they entered Cambodia on that mission. Yet he added: "It is very hard to tell. There are no signs."

Another crewmate who said he was with Kerry on Christmas Eve, Steven Gardner -- who is a member of the veterans group opposing Kerry's candidacy -- said Kerry was 50 miles from Cambodia at the time. He accused Kerry of lying about being in Cambodia or by the border. "Never happened," Gardner said.

Separately, according to Meehan's statement, Kerry crossed into Cambodia on a covert mission to drop off special operations forces. In an interview, Meehan said there was no paperwork for such missions and he could not supply a date. That makes it hard to ascertain or confirm what happened. Kerry served on two swift boats, the No. 44 in December 1968 and January 1969, and the No. 94, from February to March 1969.

Michael Medeiros, who served aboard the No. 94 with Kerry and appeared with him at the Democratic National Convention, vividly recalled an occasion on which Kerry and the crew chased an enemy to the Cambodian border but did not go beyond the border. Yet Medeiros said he could not recall dropping off special forces in Cambodia or going inside Cambodia with Kerry.

More here on the spinning of the Swift Vet story by the dinosaur press -- this time at the New York Times. Yep, that's right. The NY Times finally breaks with the Swift Boat story.

UPDATE: Here's something new and interesting. An interview with WinterSoldier writer and SwiftVets.com webmaster Scott Swett. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack