Swift Boat Author Addresses Contradiction

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON - One of the men who helped put Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) on the defensive over his military record during the Vietnam war is answering questions about his own service during that conflict.


During an Oval Office conversation in 1971, John O'Neill tells President Nixon he was in Cambodia in a swift boat during the war — a claim that is at odds with O'Neill's recent statements that he wasn't in the country.


"I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border," O'Neill is heard telling Nixon in a conversation that was taped by the former president's secret recording system. The tape is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Md.


In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, O'Neill did not dispute what he said to Nixon on June 16, 1971, but he insisted he was never actually in Cambodia.


"I think I made it very clear that I was on the border, which is exactly where I was for three months," O'Neill said of the conversation. "I was about 100 yards from Cambodia."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20040826/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_critic_swift_boats

[Catherine Vincent]

1. "I was in Cambodia, Sir"

"I think I made it very clear that I was on the border.."

That doesn't sound very clear to me. LOL!

[kcwayne]

2. I get it, in Republicanism "I was in Cambodia" really means

I was in Viet Nam. I understand now.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Funny that O'Neill voted for Hubert Humphrey in 1968

We shouldn't try to see an issue that dates back to 1971 through the lenses of 2004 partisanship, it will give you a distorted picture.

Like John McCain said, we shouldn't try to refight the Vietnam War. Think instead of the one lesson of Vietnam that you should remember: stop sending people to die for a mistake! Does that sound familiar? It should, it was what Kerry said back in 1971. Let's talk about bringing the troops home as soon as Kerry takes office, and not fall in the Vietnam trap of seeking an elusive "peace with honor."

[madrchsod]

3. there`s a big billboard

right on the border that says-"Welcome to Cambodia"- that`s why he said it was about a 100yds...

[Mokito]

20. Just close enough to the border to see the big red dotted line.

:evilfrown:

[Shadder]

4. What part of the word "in"

don't you understand, asshole?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Depends on what the definition of "IN" is

[Philostopher]

8. Why yes.

Yes it does! First real laugh I've had over this whole thing, NSMA.

[oneighty]

6. Dry land

He did not step foot on dry land in Cambodia. Yes I believe that. But if one is in Cambodian waters he is in fact in Cambodia.

And further more this old sailor will tell you it is impossible to judge distance on open water with out a KNOWN point of reference and a means to measure it.

PS I was in the Korean war and never stepped foot on Korean soil.

180

[Lautremont]

7. For three months he stayed put on the Vietnam side.

I believe that, all right. Didn't even stick a toe across the line. No sir.

[johnfunk]

9. Does Smear Boat Liar Grand Dragon John O'Neill think we're stupid?

These two statements are NOT mutually exclusive.

"I was in Cambodia, sir."

"I worked along the border ."

And he was in Cambodia as a part and direct result of that work along the border.

What was it Abe Lincoln said? That you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, and all of the FReepers all of the time?

[AndyTiedye]

17. They Think the UNDECIDED Voters Are Stupid

[Career Prole]

26. I'm beginning to have my doubts about the intelligence of undecideds

myself, at this point...

[lottie244]

10. Well, wsn't Kerry within 100 yards of the Cambodian border too?

Didn't they all refer to being that close as being in Cambodia?

[Yavin4]

11. Did The Cambodian Border Have Some Sort of Visible Line Like The NFL's

first down line?

[yellowcanine]

14. Just a big sign: "Welcome to Cambodia. Prince Sihanouk, Rightous Ruler.

Please Buckle Up. It saves lives and it's the law!"

[Sporadicus]

13. Nixon Doesn't Seem Surprised That US Personnel Were in Cambodia

during that time period. Critics of John Kerry have said that nobody was in Cambodia during the period in question, Johnson was in office, blah blah blah. Nixon knew about clandestine ops into Cambodia that preceded his inauguration, which invalidates Smear Boat Liars' assertions to the contrary - along with various & sundry vermin touting that line as well.

[74dodgedart]

15. Lambert Speaks

New eyewitness account that supports Kerry's version of events.

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/0826/local/stories/01local.htm

Got it from Talking Points Memo...

[skip fox]

23. Not an eyewitness to anything to do with Kerry.

I misread this the first time as well. He's just saying that in the Delta they were taking fire often.

[74dodgedart]

24. I respectfully disagree

"He and another officer now say we weren’t under fire at that time," Lambert said Wednesday afternoon. "Well, I sure was under the impression we were."


"At that time" ? What "time" is he talking about....

[daleo]

16. This lie should do him in

Next we will hear: "I was in a Cambodian state of mind."

[Mokito]

21. "I never had any relations with that country, Cambodia."

[RedEarth]

18. evening kick for this lying flip flopping piece of dung

[canuckybee]

19. Didn't he say earlier

that they were never within 50 miles of Cambodia? Am I remembering incorrectly?

[skip fox]

22. The full case with hot links:

(All this and more in the file on the SBV in DU's Editorial section)

John O'Neill, having claimed recently never to have been in Cambodia,
but in 1971 claimed otherwise. In an 24 Aug. 04 report on Aaron Brown by
Joe Johns:

<snip>

JOHNS: . . . John O'Neill said Kerry made up a story about being in Cambodia
beyond the legal borders of the Vietnam War in 1968. O'Neill said no one could
cross the border by river and he claimed in an audio tape that his publicist played
to CNN that he, himself, had never been to Cambodia either. But in 1971, O'Neill
said precisely the opposite to then President Richard Nixon.

(starts tape)
O'NEILL: I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border on the water.
NIXON: In a swift boat?
O'NEILL: Yes, sir.
(end tape)

JOHNS: Now, O'Neill may have an explanation for this but he has not returned
CNN's calls. What does seem clear is that a top member of the swift boat group
is now being held to the same standard of literal accuracy they've tried to impose
on John Kerry –
. . .

BROWN: And just quickly on the O'Neill thing, just for my edification here,
Mr. O'Neill's publicist played for you a tape where Mr. O'Neill says what again?

JOHNS: Well, he says in the tape essentially that he did not go to Cambodia,
plain and simple. He says that a couple times in fact in this little short interview
that was played for me on the phone. Now, of course, as you listen to that
conversation with Richard Nixon, he says something completely different or,
at least, that's what it sounds like --

<snip>

By the 25th of Aug. on the Hannity and Colmes show, O'Neill had figured how
to seem to answer this:

<snip>

COLMES: You claimed at one point you weren't , and then you claimed
you were. This is very confusing to people.

O'NEILL: Well, it shouldn't be confused. I was never in Cambodia, and Kerry
lied when he said he was in Cambodia.

COLMES: You said to Richard Nixon you were in Cambodia.

. . .

HANNITY: On the border.

COLMES: There's a tape of you saying that to Richard Nixon.

O'NEILL: What's the next sentence? I was along the Cambodian border.
That's exactly right. What I told Nixon and was trying to tell him in this
meeting was I was along the Cambodian border.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/items/200408250004


But the problem with that is he'd earlier claimed that not only no one
went into Cambodia, that no one came within 30 miles of the border:

<snip>

O'Neill: . . .everyone familiar with the entire operation series knows
that the PCF, the Swift Boat areas, stopped just north of Sa-Dec, some
50 miles from the border. The areas further north were PBRs--smaller
boats--and that the border was heavily guarded to ensure that nobody
could go across it.

(Interviewer): There were navy gunboats anchored in the Mekong River
Channel, through which a Swift Boat would have to pass.

O' NEILL: Yes. It would have been apprehended 30 miles before. But
were placed there because in 1967 some drunken Army guys actually
went up that river and were interned in Cambodia. And so to avoid future
incidents, those gunboats were placed there. And we checked with the c
ommander of those gunboats, whose name is Tom Anderson. He's also in the book.

<snip>

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=4835

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x775416#775520

and

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20040826/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_critic_swift_boats

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

25. O'Neill's alibi...

He should just say, "I was talking to Richard Nixon, for God's sake. He was such a fucking liar I didn't think it would make any difference!"

I'd buy that...

[skip fox]

27. New version of Swift Boat file. O'Neill's prevaracations in section IV.

A solid overview of the Swift Boat Story including

I. Introduction and History of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (hereafter SBVT)

II. Recent Accounts of Other Swift Boat Vets and Others
--a. Vets Who Were Actually with Kerry Contradicting the SBVT
--b. People with Special Information Contradicting SBVT
--c. New Vets Contradicting Kerry

III. New Charges against Kerry About his Service

IV. Changes or Qualifications in Stories of Individual SBVT

V. Points of Collusion Between Republicans and the SBVT

Broken into separate posts (for ease of jumping) and all with easy-to-use hot links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x70318

Please inform me of new stories and links as they occur and I'll up-date this on Monday or Tuesday. (Sooner if some SBVT stories break over the weekend.