By David Allen Jared
Aug 25, 2004

An extraordinary thing happened today. John Kerry's campaign tacitly admitted that Kerry's first Purple Heart was probably unearned--just as his doctor and commanding officer at that time had told him. He mysteriously received that medal a few months later, after his original CO had rotated home. Since he won't release all of his records, we don't yet know HOW he came to be recommended for that award since we know that his original CO did NOT recommend it. It bears examination, in my opinion. Did John Kerry put HIMSELF in for that PH? If he did, then he fraudulently "bugged out" from Vietnam and wasn't NEARLY the hero he's claimed to be all these years.

That makes two absolute lies that he's been caught in--so far. He's mouthy enough that he's caught himself in both of them. He maintained in "Tour of Duty" that he'd received his first Purple Heart for action on December 2, 1968. Then, a bit later, he wrote in his own journal on December 11th that he and his men were "feeling a bit cocky" because "we hadn't been shot at yet." If he hadn't been shot at yet by December 11th, how could he POSSIBLY have earned that Purple Heart on December 2nd? The answer is--he couldn't have. The second lie, at which his own words have caught him was the infamous, "Christmas in Cambodia" story that he read into the Congressional Record in the mid- 1980's and described it as THE defining moment of his life and said that it was "seared.....SEARED, into my memory." He wrote of his "clear memories" of being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968, being shot at by VC, The Khmer Rouge AND the South Vietnamese who were drunk and "celebrating Christmas." He tells how "distraught" he was to be there at the same time President Nixon was telling the world that we were NOT in Cambodia. His story is full of holes and his biographer, who claims to be an "historian" SHOULD have seen through it right away. President Nixon was NOT President on Christmas OR Christmas Eve of 1968. He took his oath of office on January 20, 1969! Secondly, the Khmer Rouge didn't EXIST prior to their formation by Pol Pot in 1972--LONG after Kerry had left the service. Thirdly, the South Vietnamese weren't all Christians and would likely NOT have been celebrating Christmas-- certainly not in that fashion and not in Cambodia themselves. Finally, not a single one of his so-called "band of brothers" has any recollection of any such incursion. THEY all say that they were near their base of operations some 50 miles from the Cambodian border. Fifty miles would be a LONG trip by boat. The Kerry campaign has finally conceded that Kerry was NOT in Cambodia when he said he was.

It appears that Kerry's war stories are unraveling one by one. As of this writing, he's been caught in two provable lies and they are both provable because of his own words--oral or written. It's becoming apparent that he made a BIG tactical mistake in emphasizing his Vietnam service as almost his sole qualification for the Presidency. He's in inveterate liberal and couldn't possibly have been elected on his voting record in the Senate alone, so I suppose it's understandable why he did so. He's voted against every major military weapons system since he's been in the Senate, against both the first Gulf War and funding for THIS one. He tried to get the intelligence agency budget cut by 6 billion dollars over 5 years--a proposal so reckless and dangerous that not even Teddy Kennedy could support him. He proposed unilateral disarmament during the 80's at the same time when President Reagan was in the process of winning the Cold War. Wanting to "give up" while winning seems a bit silly in retrospect, but then...maybe he really IS French.

------------

About the author: A semi-retired middle-manager in the oil and gas industry, Mr. Jared is currently writing his first book, which will contain TRUTHFUL accounts of his two tours in Vietnam, which should be a refreshing change from anyone who's read "Tour of Duty."