In search of denial....

Glenn Reynolds asked whether Richard Nixon denied having United States forces in Cambodia during John Kerry's periods of Vietnam service.

A good question. I'd like to know too, so I did some preliminary research.

As to John Kerry's service in Vietnam his campaign web site says it ended on March 17, 1969:

March 17, 1969 The policy of Coastal Squadron One, the swift boat command, was to send home any individual who is wounded three times in action. After sustaining his third wound from enemy action in Vietnam, Kerry was granted relief under this policy.

Unbelievable as it sounds, Nixon's secret bombing (denied, obviously) of Cambodia began on March 18, 1969.

The day after Kerry left.

Now, I don't know when Nixon began denying secret operations in Cambodia, but I think it's unlikely he'd have denied them before they began.

As to the official incursion into Cambodia, that did not happen until April 30, 1970 (after Kerry was separated from active duty). Nixon's speech announcing the incursion made no mention of the previous secret bombing.

NOTE: Kerry's web site states that he did not leave Vietnam until "early April," so I am assuming that between March 17 (the date they decided to send him back) and then he was in the status of being processed out, with no further combat duty. (He had been wounded on March 13.)

MORE: The March 13 wound occured during operations on the Bai Hap River, which is not near the Cambodian border.

posted by Eric on 08.25.04 at 05:23 PM





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Comments

Good snoopin', gumshoe!

a loyal fan   ·  August 26, 2004 11:13 AM

At this rate, we'll know what both Bush and Kerry were eating for breakfast each day between 1968 and 1972.



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