August 11, 2004

HERE IS Chapter 3 of Unfit for Command by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi. Quotable:
All the living commanders in Kerry�s chain of command .. 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 ..

The truth is that Kerry made up his secret mission into Cambodia. Much like Kerry�s many other lies relating to supposed �war crimes� committed by the U.S. military in Vietnam, the lie about the illegal Cambodian incursion painted his superiors up the chain of command�men such as Commander Streuhli, Commander Elliott, Admiral Hoffmann, and Admiral Zumwalt, all distinguished Naval heroes and men of integrity�as villains faced down by John Kerry, a solitary hero in grave and exotic danger and forced illegally and against his will into harm�s way.

The same sorts of lies were repeated over and over in Kerry�s antiwar book, The New Soldier, a book filled with preposterous, false confessions of bogus war crimes committed by the participants (who were often not even real veterans) against their will and under orders from dishonest superiors. Kerry�s Christmas in Cambodia typifies the sort of lie upon which Kerry has built a false persona and a political career.

UPDATE: Just One Minute takes a look at the most recent John Kerry version of the "Kerry in Cambodia" story published in Douglas Brinkley's Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War.

UPDATE II: He also has this reminder for those on the "Kerry in Cambodia" story: ""Christmas is Cambodia" is a Kerry creation, and he deserves to be hammered on it. However, "St. Patrick's in (or near) Cambodia", especially with SEALs, has got life. Be careful with the undated "hat" story - SEALs and CIA both operate covertly, and that mistake would be easily overlooked. I'm just sayin'." Just One Minute. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack