Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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According to the London Daily Telegraph, the Kerry camp now concedes he didn't spend Christmas in Cambodia.

"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.

More Brinkley:

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."

Hold it. When Kerry was telling the tale, year after year, he's been clear about the Christmas anecdote, the drunken South Vietnamese celebrating, etc. He's also talked about it being a moment that changed his life. And as for the point of his story, that his government is lying about no American forces being in Cambodia... What, was LBJ or Nixon supposed to say, "Yes, we have U.S. Navy Seals, Green Berets and CIA guys on clandestine missions in Cambodia"? Not very clandestine then, is it?

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I expect my government to lie to me about Navy Seals, Green Berets and CIA guys being in harm's way on secret missions in hostile territory. Tell me about it when it's unclassified, when they're home, and it's safe for the public to know.

By the way, many people keep pointing out Kerry accuses Nixon of this lie. He doesn't take office until January 20, 1969. Could one of Kerry's "three or four times" in that two month period occur in the opening 40 days of the Nixon administration? Sure.

And 50 miles away counts as "near" Cambodia? Give me a @#$%^& break.

[Posted 08/13 11:11 AM]