Christmas in Cambodia

Latest bushista spin: Kerry isn't qualified to be President because he wasn't in Cambodia on Christmas '68?? Man, we're really reaching the bottom of the barrel. Anyway, here's the guy who wrote Kerry's biography (with access to his wartime journals) on the subject:

"On Christmas Eve he was near Cambodia; he was around 50 miles from the Cambodian border. There's no indictment of Kerry to be made, but he was mistaken about Christmas in Cambodia," said Douglas Brinkley, who has unique access to the candidate's wartime journals.

But Mr Brinkley rejected accusations that the senator had never been to Cambodia, insisting he was telling the truth about running undisclosed "black" missions there at the height of the war.

He said: "Kerry went into Cambodian waters three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine missions. He had a run dropping off US Navy Seals, Green Berets and CIA guys." The missions were not armed attacks on Cambodia, said Mr Brinkley, who did not include the clandestine missions in his wartime biography of Mr Kerry, Tour of Duty.

"He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat he was given by one CIA operative. In a part of his journals which I didn't use he writes about discussions with CIA guys he was dropping off."

The Swifties claim: All the living commanders in Kerry's chain of command . . . indicate that Kerry would have been seriously disciplined or court-martialled had he gone to Cambodia.

Well, turns out these guys were out of the loop. Perhaps they weren't considered trustworthy enough to undertake clandestine missions? Now they're all hurt and angry because they didn't get the cool jobs? What whiners. It's one thing to be kind of limp and pathetic - it's another whole Level of Magnitude to get a whole book out of it.

If Kerry was in Cambodia in Jan-Feb, and transposed his story to Christmas for Additional Poignancy, this clearly disqualifies him for high office. *snort*

You want further dissection of the Smear-Boat Vets claims? Balta has the goods.