Memories. Pressed Between... What? Oh, I Forget....

John Kerry's campaign coughed up some more records, as the Boston Globe reports, yesterday:

Senator John F. Kerry, under pressure to make his military records public, yesterday released dozens of pages from his four years of service in the Navy, including evaluations that characterized him as an outstanding and aggressive officer.

One document said Kerry was "unofficially credited with 20 enemy killed in action" in December 1968 while he commanded a naval "swift boat" near Cambodia. Kerry's unit was involved in an ambush and fighting that broke out at the time of a shaky "Christmas truce."

But both of the commanding officers who signed that fitness report said in telephone interviews yesterday that they do not recall an event at that time in which 20 enemy were killed. Kerry himself has never publicly claimed to have killed such a high number of enemy combatants. Campaign spokesman Michael Meehan said, "Senator Kerry recalls killing one enemy face to face. He does not dispute the fitness reports. He was the skipper of a craft that killed many enemy." The one enemy Kerry recalled killing was the Viet Cong that he killed in a separate event for which he received the Silver Star....

John Kerry: murdering! pillaging! soldier of fortune!

Oops. Sorry. He's a liberal, so he gets a pass.

Anyway, the article concludes with some really interesting quotations:

.... After leaving that division, Kerry went on to command six-man swift boats. One of the evaluations from that period says that Kerry, in an event during what was supposed to be Christmas truce, "effectively suppressed enemy fire and is unofficially credited with 20 enemy killed in action." The report was signed by two of Kerry's commanders: George Elliott and Joseph Streuli. But both said in telephone interviews yesterday that they did not recall the fighting.

"That number is so high I just don't recall anyone coming back and saying we got 20 of the enemy," Elliott said, adding that the timing of the fighting meant it would have happened when Streuli oversaw Kerry. Streuli, however, said, "I just don't remember it."

One of Kerry's crewmates, Steven Michael Gardner, said he remembers the firefight but does not recall 20 enemy killed. He said the crew would not have been able to verify the deaths.

Kerry, in interviews with the Globe, has not claimed to have been responsible for 20 enemy dead. The Globe has previously described the event, quoting a Kerry crewmate who said the crewmate had killed an old man in the crossfire and citing reports that two South Vietnamese allies were wounded or killed and a machine-gun nest manned by a dozen Viet Cong was silenced. Kerry provided the Globe last year with a lengthy diary entry about the event. It describes the firefight, but it does not mention 20 enemy being killed.

I just don't remember it. In case you don't remember, Faithful Reader, very similar statements sparked the mainstream-media feeding-frenzy — four years later! — about George W. Bush's ANG service in Alabama:

.... Finally, on Sept. 5, 1972, Bush requested permission to do duty for September, October, and November at the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery. Permission was granted, and Bush was directed to report to Turnipseed, the unit's commander.

In interviews last week, [retired Brig. Gen. William] Turnipseed and his administrative officer at the time, Kenneth K. Lott, said they had no memory of Bush ever reporting.

"Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," Turnipseed said. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered." ....

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution put a little perspective on the issue, Feb. 13:

.... But the general's own memory apparently isn't so sound. In 2000, Turnipseed told The Boston Globe that he would have remembered Bush had he reported for duty — and that he didn't recall seeing the young pilot.

On Friday, he said, "I don't even remember if I was there."

"All I was trying to do is tell the truth about it. I'm beginning to find out my memory is not any good anymore. I'm 75 years old and getting Alzheimer's," Turnipseed said....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 04/23/04 07:57:00 AM
Categorized as Media.