Hanoi John, We Hardly Knew Ye

John Kerry confesses to treason on Meet The Press:

MR. RUSSERT:  And you have a hat that the CIA agent gave you?

SEN. KERRY:  I still have the hat that he gave me, and I hope the guy would come out of the woodwork and say, "I'm the guy who went up with John Kerry. We delivered weapons to the Khmer Rouge on the coastline of Cambodia."  We went out of Ha Tien, which is right in Vietnam.  We went north up into the border.  And I have some photographs of that, and that's what we did.  So, you know, the two were jumbled together, but we were on the Cambodian border on Christmas Eve, absolutely.

Running guns to the Khmer Rouge?  Uhh, Tall Dour One, they were on the other side. 

Now, let's be fair here.  Since Sen. Kerry is a former prosecutor, it is possible that he has simply retained the hat as evidence, with the hope that Mystery Guy will come out of the woodwork and confess so that Kerry can slip the cuffs on him.

One thing is for certain - when Kerry says events were "jumbled together", he is utterly convincing - his memory of that era seems to be just a little bit toasty.  Well, if he signs the Form 180 as he promised, maybe it will all come rushing back to him.

Hat Tip to Roland; Kerry's confusion on abortion is here.

UPDATE:  More on the ever-inconstant Wikipedia, and an extended Kerry transcript.

EXTENDED CONTROVERSY:  A careful study of the audiotape by the folks in Bryan's Basement suggests that "maybe Kerry was actually smuggling baguettes into France for the Moulin Rouge."

Who would be surprised?

QUE SERA, SERA: Or, "Can't tell the Khmer without a scorecard" - if it happened at all, presumably Sen. Jason Bourne was recalling the Khmer Serai, aka Khmer Serei.

Comments

[AH]

I'll bet Kerry's treason is a big story Kerry would like to break, a big case he'd like to prosecute...

[Shannon Love]

It is these constant verbal gaffes that demonstrate what a true idiot George Bush really is. Only someone lacking in basic intellect and education could make such an error. This just demonstrates how unfit for office Bush...

Wait, Kerry said that?

Uhm, never mind.

[capt joe]

Nah, it's a freudian slip.

This is what he really wanted to do.

[Randal Robinson]

I wonder why the guys on Kerry's boat - his Band of Brothers - didn't come out of the woodwork and support his Cambodia story. It seems like they would be easier to track down than a mysterious hatless CIA spook, especially since they were showing up on stage with Kerry.

[Jim Martin]

This explains why John Kerry's face is long and narrow, like an old shoe, it is taking the shape of his foot. ;)

[Beto Ochoa]

Perhaps it was the Washington Ave. Khmer Rouge or the Khmer Rouge dart team from Turk's Head pub in Chelmsley Wood. Now if it was the other Khmer Rouge he has some serious explaining to do.
My God! This maniac makes stuff up on the fly like Michael Moore.

[JLawson]

And to think, he was THIS>..

(Shudder.)

J.

[Bryan C]

Wait, I'm confused. Where does VC the Flying Dog fit in again?

Rather than sneaking guns into Cambodia for the Khmer Rouge, maybe Kerry was actually smuggling baguettes into France for the Moulin Rouge. Given his past statements I can see how he might get those two events mixed up.

[narciso]

You know; Tim’s no South Asian expert, but you think he would have
Realized the difference between the Khmer Rouge, the enemy and
The Khmer Serai; the other side, Here’s one reference
Href*<http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/history/seeds.html
Meanwhile in Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk asserted himself as the shrewd and ruthless politician that would later make him infamous in the West. As the Japanese withdrew Sihanouk appointed Son Ngoc Thanh as prime minister. Sihanouk hated Son but he recognized that his political rival would bear the brunt of French retribution because of his new official government position. As expected, Son was eventually arrested by the allies and exiled. And though he had once been willing to work with Ho Chi Minh and his communist forces, Son Ngoc Thanh now concluded it would be expedient to seek independence through the Thai and US governments, which both wanted to take advantage of waning French colonialism. So Son abandoned his left-wing Khmer Issarak movement and joined the right-wing Khmer Serai guerrillas, anti-Sihanouk rebels who fought for the end of Cambodia's monarchy.
King Sihanouk now focused his efforts on negotiating independence from the French and expanding his own authority. By all accounts, Sihanouk was arrogant and autocratic, yet his kingly status, charisma, and love for Cambodia made him popular with the people. Sihanouk also demonstrated amazing political pliability as he created and destroyed allegiances whenever it served his interest. This ability to shift alliances at the drop of a hat would eventually cause problems in his relationship with the United States, which didn't understand Sihanouk's ever-changing loyalties and the idiosyncratic nature of Cambodia politics. Yet for the time being, public posturing served Sihanouk well - the French granted Cambodia significant autonomy in 1949, though the economy and the military were still in the hands of the colonists.
Because of France's long-standing influence in Cambodia, certain young Cambodians were fortunate enough to receive scholarships for study in Paris. These students often came from middle class, well educated families with the right connections. During the late 40s and early 50s, many of these students became enamored with left-wing French intellectualism, preferring to spend more time on private political gatherings than on their homework. Among these student activists, a handful of them joined the French communist party, including four young men with strong anti-colonial and socialist leanings - Son Sen, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Saloth Sar. Saloth Sar, who came to France to study radio electronics, eventually flunked out of his scholarship because of his excessive time spent on politics. Khieu Samphan, on the other hand, was scholarly to the point of being obsessive; in 1959 he wrote a dissertation arguing for an agrarian collectivist society as an end to traditional Cambodian feudalism and class structure. For many politically active Khmers studying in Paris, the communist party was a convenient way of taking part in the trendy Paris intellectual scene. But for these four particular students and their friends, this time spent in France planted the ideological seeds that would later destroy their homeland. Here’s another; from theleft;Href*<http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Foreign_Policy/
RollbackDoctrine1945-80.html>“In 1969, Lon Nol was approached by agents of U.S. military intelligence and asked to overthrow Sihanouk. The ClA-financed Khmer Serai and the Khmer Krom were anti-Sihanouk Cambodian groups working under direct U.S. military command in the Green Beret special forces. The United States had a plan code-named "Dirty Tricks" to infiltrate mercenaries from both groups into the Cambodian army which was generally loyal to Sihanouk. By the end of 1969, 4,000 Khmer Serai and Khmer Krom members-presumably still under U.S. command- had joined Lon Nol's forces. The U.S. military had several days notice of the coup and a request for assistance if needed.” From the right;off a particular thread;Href*<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1230744/post;>
“You and your fellows and your ARVN and Montagnard and Khmer Serai ("Mike") allies killed over a million Communist cadres on the battlefield and eviscerated a generation of their best soldiers”And a Babelfish translation from a German
site;Href*<http://www.sinistra.net/lib/upt/kompro/ciqa/ciqaihacad.html#a1>

[TallDave]

And you thought he was anti-American AFTER the war!

[John Moore (Useful Fools)]

Remember the two "comrades in arms" who stood up for Kerry at the Democratic National Convention?

One had served with him 4 days. The other 2.

On the other hand, his regular gunner, who has denounced Kerry, served with him longer than anyone else.

Also, the Kerry camp and their friends, the main stream media, tried to muddy the waters by implying that only Kerry's crew could know what he did.

In fact, it was the commanders of other boats who knew more about Kerry. Swift Boats never went out alone in riverine work (another reason to doubt Kerry's Cambodia fantasy). They travelled in packs for fire support and rescue. The people who best knew Kerry, the skippers of the other boats, and his commanders were the core of the sworn witnesses used by the Swift Boat Veterans For The Truth (SBVT).

Kerry was a liar and worked the system. He never released his full military records, but when he released partial records, his dates of service on his web site changed, as the records revealed that he covered up the fact that he was a sworn officer in the Active Reserves during all of his anti-war status.

John Moore

Webmaster, kerrylied.com (Vietnam Vets for the Truth)

[BJD]

At least he didn't admit to smuggling arms to the Mongols ...

[Pluto's Dad]

Yeah I at first though maybe it was a slip of the toungue and he met the other Khmer, but then, would any vet mix up ARVN and NVA? I don't think so.

Aren't there plenty of SOGs around that would know for sure if he was there? Aren't all these "secret" missions declassified? I mean, hell you can watch them on the History channel.

Kerry's story reminds me of the guys who my dad meets who pretend they are vets, then cannot give details about their service, but say "I was doing covert ops" yeah right. The thing is my father being in 1st Force Recon knew several SOGs who were doing the real covert ops, and of course all those are pretty much known so no real person would still be hiding it. It's really funny that these pretenders pretend they're from my dad's own company. He just goes along with it.

I guess John Kerry is now one of them. Poor guy hates himself so much he has to make up stories to prove he's a man.

I just finished a spoof of his contention that the SBV were a conspiracy by Karl Rove. Click on my name if you want to see it.

[Otto]

The truth will out! John Kerry is Jason Bourne. He's had many missions and killed more than a few people, but he can't remember where, or when. Let us recommend him to Ho-Lie-Wood for the next Ludlum blockbuster, The Bourne Calamity. Action scenes to include: A snowboard, an SUV, and windsurfing. It'll play in Peoria!

[jj]

and yes,sure Tim I'll sign the Form 180.

[Appalled Moderate]

It's nice to know that so many people still care about John Kerry's hat. Kerry is now irrelevent, as is his hat, hair, botox, purple hearts, flips, flops, and ketchup heiress.

Time to move on...nothing to see here except the charred remains of the worst campaign since Dole '96.

[Frank Dukes]

Kerry equivocated when saying he would sign the 180, saying he would do so if the Swifties would sign theirs. Kerry will never sign the 180 because it would show the nature of his original discharge (Other than Honorable, I firmly believe). I just received my military records after signing a 180 (about 200 pages). They contained my induction physical and discharge papers, as well as OERs (which, I believe Kerry would not be anxious to have the public examine). In other words he will continue to equivocate in senatorial language.

[Diogenes]

According to Wiki, the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. According to the Swiftvets web site, Kerry left Viet Nam in 1969. That's the trouble with lying, you gotta' be smart enough to keep up with all the details...

[Dman]

Jumbled together, seared. I guess they have the same definition to Kerry.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Btw, the action has shifted from the rivers to the coast of Cambodia. His story now is that he conflated patrolling the river north of Sa Dec with a trip from Ha Tien into the Gulf of Thailand and onto the Cambodian coast. Some sailor.

Amazing that 48% of the electorate chose a guy who's living a Hemingwayesque fantasy life. Next; he's the guy from The Sun Also Rises for whom It Wouldn't Rise?

[Dan Patterson]

This man has fainted! A memory seems to have un-seared.
Is there a doctor in the house?
Paging doctor Dean, paging doctor Dean...

Dan

[Paul Zrimsek]

I remember meeting Kerry when we were on the watery border of Chinatown, smuggling heaters and roscoes to the Film Noir. I still have the fedora he gave me.

[MattJ]

Kherry Khonfuses Khmers?

[PlutosDad]

Apalled Moderate,
I would agree except for people are not going out of their way to attack him. He is going out of his way to get on TV and spout his opinions. So of course people respond.

If he stayed out of the spotlight like Gore had the decency to do, then he would not keep getting attacked.

But when he does things like continually assert he spent Christmas in Cambodia, or like a few weeks ago goes to Syria for fact checking on what our enemies want (shadows of Paris) and then asserts on Meet the Press that we need to listen more to Syria and Iran, well how can we not criticize him. (Would people advocate listening to the Klan?)

OH and let's not forget him going to Baghdad and giving an "anti-pep talk" to the troops. Demoralization Tour 2005

We rip on him because he keeps opening himself up. He should just go away gracefully if he had any pride.

[Lurking Observer]

Appalled Moderate:

That's right, Kerry is sooooooo irrelevant that, on the occasion of Iraq's first elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who does "Meet the Press" invite to discuss the news?

John Kerry!

Apparently, Tim Russert and company seem to view him as more newsworthy and relevant, even on Iraq, than, say, George Tenet, Brent Scowcroft, or Tom Daschle.

[ed]

Hmmmm.

I really wonder just how many people actually voted for Kerry. Considering the massive amounts of voter fraud exposed in Washington State and Wisconsin. It's possible that a rather large percentage of Kerry "voters" are actually repeat voters.

Are the Democrats far far weaker than even they suppose?

Right now all the calculations are based on a somewhat close Presidential race. This is why the Democrats are veering left so hard. But if the actual margin of victory was several points greater than the official tallies show, then the Democratic Party could actually be on the precipice of destruction.

Curious. Definitely would be interesting to have a real vote with serious controls on voting fraud.

[TM]

Jumbled together, seared. I guess they have the same definition to Kerry.

Well, sure - hamburgers, scrambled eggs, (Kerry's memory...)

[RC]

Kerry probably took too much LDS [sic] either during his time in Vietname or after and his memories have the characteristics of eggs after meeting Mr. Beater.

[Razorgirl]

Appalled Moderate

This nincompoop is still a US Senator. He needs to be dealt with and soon. Doesn't Massachusetts have anything better to offer than their rich buffoons?

[Dr. Charles G. Waugh]

Kerry's not the Manchurian Candidate--he's the Munchausen Candidate.

[Brainster]

Great minds think alike, Tom! I also linked to the Wikipedia entry (several hours after your post).

[Crank]

Razorgirl - You don't want the answer to that . . .

Actually, Massachusetts could have a Republican presidential candidate to offer by 2008.

[TM]

Great minds think alike!

Oh, you are a sly one.

[Old Patriot]

I served in Vietnam 1970-71, at the 12th RITS - the imagery intelligence center assigned to 7th Air Force. We were involved with just about everything that went on in the entire theater. I know it's long after sKerry had left, but we had almost six years of archived information to refer to.

I can't remember ANYTHING about southern Cambodia being 'active'. We had some special ops going on up in the tri-border area, and there were some things going on in a couple of rubber plantations, but none of these were near the Mekong, or the southern Vietnam/Cambodia border.

Let's face it - John Kerry took a mediocre part-tour and jazzed it up to make himself look big. I've known a lot of Vietnam vets (and even more non-Vietnam vets) like him. Then there are the ones that never say a word, but who have all kinds of medals to show for what they did. Those guys are the true heros. I've been lucky enough to know a number of them.

[JoeS]

Appalled Moderate,

You must be Appalled at the prospect of Khmer Khristmas Kherry, Drunken Buffoon Teddy and his new best friend Osama Obama, (if their name isn't Johnny Walker, he can't tell the difference), and Brain Dead Boxer representing you for the next four years.

Did Duh-Ray-Sa ever respond to the Newsweek article about her behavior during the campaign? It was so interesting to hear that the Kerry campaign felt the same way about her that I did.

Brain Dead: If Dr. Rice lied to us, why did Diane Feinstein and 30 other democrats vote FOR her? Don't they understand how brilliant you and your inebriated colleague are? Why did Osama Obama vote FOR her? Does Harry Bellafonte call Sen. Obama a "house negro" too?

or, maybe, they think you are Brain Dead. Keep standing up for what you think is right, the Republican Party needs you, Michael Moore, Babs, Afflac, etc.

Blogs are way more fun than tv.

[Breakfree]

Just dropping by this blog. Reads like you guys want truth and freedom. I'll be commenting as I pick up on your threads. One thing for sure: we need less centralized control of our lives. Too many departments and agencies and rules covering everything. I'm hoping that one day the vast majority of us will break free from all the brainwashing going on--in schools, medicine, law, taxes, politics. One has to look very, very hard for the truth. I think that most of what we believe is, in fact, untrue. It's too hard to really check things out. Too easy to believe someone else's
words and opinions.

[Archie Leach]

Paul Zrimsek is right about Kerry smugglin' "heaters and roscoes to the Film Noir" but Kerry's hat is NOT a fedora.

The "CIA agent" who gave Kerry his "lucky hat" is Valerie Plame, wife of Yellowcake Joe Wilson, and the hat is a nice pink pillbox number - very Jackie K-ish.

Kerry wears it when he's a-deer-huntin' in Wisconsin, crawlin' around on his belly with his 12-gauge.

Don't ask me-HE! said it.

[dan]

Perhaps you should all educate yourselves further than merely knowing which factions called themselves 'Communists' and then assuming they were all allies in a gigantic monolithic movement. The pro-Chinese Khmer Rouge were enemies of the pro-Soviet Vietnamese Communists (leading to the 1979 invasion of Cambodia and installation of a pro-Vietnamese ruler), and as such were supported by the US through a succession of presidential administrations.

Among their supporters in the US were Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Ronald Reagan, who refused to unseat the Khmer Rouge's representative at the United Nations.

[dan]

Perhaps you should all educate yourselves further than merely knowing which factions called themselves 'Communists' and then assuming they were all allies in a gigantic monolithic movement. The pro-Chinese Khmer Rouge were enemies of the pro-Soviet Vietnamese Communists (leading to the 1979 invasion of Cambodia and installation of a pro-Vietnamese ruler), and as such were supported by the US through a succession of presidential administrations.

Among their supporters in the US were Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Ronald Reagan, who refused to unseat the Khmer Rouge's representative at the United Nations.

[bob]

The U.S. Government supported the Khmer Rouge. More troubled by the concurrent Vietnamese communist defeat of Saigon, Washington sacrificed Cambodia to a new coalition against Hanoi. Eight months into the Khmer Rouge genocide, President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger visited Indonesia’s then dictator, President Suharto. On December 6, 1975, Ford told Suharto that “we hope to expand” U.S. influence in Asia. Kissinger explained that “China does not have expansionist aims now,” but was opposed to the USSR and Vietnam. Sharing this view, the US accepted China’s support for the Khmer Rouge regime. A deal had been struck; Cambodia was the stakes. As Ford put it to Suharto: “The unification of Vietnam has come more quickly than we anticipated. There is, however, resistance in Cambodia to the influence of Hanoi. We are willing to move slowly in our relations with Cambodia, hoping perhaps to slow down the North Vietnamese influence although we find the Cambodian government very difficult.” Kissinger noted Beijing’s similar strategy towards the Pol Pot regime: “the Chinese want to use Cambodia to balance off Vietnam….We don’t like Cambodia, for the government in many ways is worse than Vietnam, but we would like it to be independent. We don’t discourage Thailand or China from drawing closer to Cambodia.” With this statement to the head of Southeast Asia’s largest state, Washington acknowledged the geopolitics that now authorized diplomatic approaches to succor the Khmer Rouge regime.

U.S. and Chinese support for Pol Pot continued long after Hanoi’s 1979 invasion ended the genocide and established the Cambodian regime that came to be led by Hun Sen. The former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski recalled that in 1979, “I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot... Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him but China could.” They both did. Washington “winked, semi-publicly,” Brzezinski said, at Chinese and Thai aid to the Khmer Rouge forces. “I do not understand why some people want to remove Pol Pot,” was how Deng Xiaoping put it in 1984; “he made some mistakes in the past but now he is leading the fight against the Vietnamese aggressors.” China gave his Khmer Rouge forces US$100 million each year during the 1980s. American military aid to guerrillas allied with the Khmer Rouge reached $17-32 million per annum.

[bob]

Link to the complete paper on this: http://www.yale.edu/cgp/KiernanCambodia30thAnniversaryEssay.doc

[sophy]

We all love game, if you want to play it, please buy 12 sky gold and join us.

[Atlantica online money]

At last, you can get more Atlantica online money!