the Greater Nomadic Council

Confused About Cambodia

Via Captain's Quarters, I came across this Byron York article that tries to shed some light on whether Kerry was in Cambodia or not. First, quoting Steve Gardner, the SBVT member who served under Kerry, York writes:

"It was physically, totally, categorically, across-the-board impossible to get into the canal that went to Cambodia with a swift boat," says Gardner. "There were concrete pilings that were put in the water...plus, the Navy kept patrol boats there to make sure nobody went in. When I was on the 44 boat, it was a physical impossibility to take a swift boat into Cambodian waters."

But later, writes this:

[Retired admiral Roy] Hoffman said that after an earlier incident in which some soldiers had unintentionally crossed the Cambodian border, the line was very clearly marked with signs warning not to cross.

Hoffman is one of the SBVT leaders. However, his account differs significantly from Gardner's. He even acknowledges that boats had previously gone into Cambodia. Concrete pilings and Navy patrol boats are a far less surmountable barrier than warning signs. If it was the former, then there's simply no way Kerry could have gone into Cambodia, but if it's the latter, then the suggestion that he went there while disobeying orders remains plausible. But to add to the confusion, York quotes Jim Wasser, one of Kerry's supporting crew members:

Finally, another member of Kerry's crew, Jim Wasser, who supports Kerry in the presidential race, told the Dallas Observer last month that he wasn't sure where PCF-44 was at the time in question. "On Christmas in 1968, we were close [to Cambodia]," Wasser said. "I don't know exactly where we were. I didn't have the chart. It was easy to get turned around with all the rivers around there. But I'll say this: We were the farthest inland that night. I know that for sure."

This passage suggests that Kerry was confused about their position and believed them to be in Cambodia, another possibility I touched on in my previous post. Of course, given the reports that he carries around a hat from a CIA agent he took into Cambodia on a secret mission strongly suggests otherwise, which covers the last possibility from my earlier list.

In other words, I'm still confused. It seems to hinge on whether Cambodia was accessible and whether Kerry ever took a CIA agent in. Arguably, if the latter case were true, then the former would be by necessity, since those sorts of operations would certainly be granted clearance to pass regardless of the normal status of the canal.

Either way, I'm reluctant to accept the word of SBVT members without confirmation by a disinterested party (if such still exist). It strikes me as overzealous to blindly accept these allegations as truth when there are so many questions and so few facts.