A question of character

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On March 27, 1986, John Kerry rose in the Senate to address the theme that launched his career: How U.S. leaders had lied about Vietnam while young warriors like John Kerry paid the price. His textbook case was how Richard Nixon had lied about U.S. forces not being in Cambodia:

"I remember Christmas of 1968, sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and the president of the United States telling the American people I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared -- seared -- in me."

Mr. Kerry had told this dramatic story before, in the Boston Herald, Oct. 14, 1979, with a different twist as to who had fired on the young Navy lieutenant on that unforgettable Christmas Eve.

"On more than one occasion, I, like Martin Sheen in 'Apocalypse Now,' took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact, I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."

Just how "very real," how "seared" in Mr. Kerry's memory that raid into Cambodia was -- with Mr. Nixon lying about our not being there as Lt. John Kerry took fire -- is now open to question.

First, because Richard Nixon was not president on Christmas Eve 1968. Lyndon Johnson was. More critically, because Mr. Kerry's fellow swift boat commanders are openly accusing him of lying.

Mr. Kerry "was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there," writes former swift boat Capt. John O'Neill in the explosive new best-seller, "Unfit to Command." On that Christmas Eve, writes Capt. O'Neill, Kerry was "more than fifty miles away from Cambodia."

"During Christmas 1968," writes Capt. O'Neill, "Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo. Coastal Division 13s patrol area extended to Sa Dec, about 55 miles from the Cambodian border. Areas closer than 55 miles to the Cambodian border in the area of the Mekong River were patrolled by PBRs, a small river patrol craft, and not by Swift Boats."

"Preventing border crossings," writes Capt. O'Neill, "was considered so important at that time that an LCU (a large, mechanized landing craft) and several PBRs were stationed to ensure that no one could cross the border. A large sign at the border prohibited entry."

According to Capt. O'Neill, all of Mr. Kerry's commanders who are still alive deny he was ever ordered into Cambodia and insist Mr. Kerry would have been court-martialed had he ever taken his boat into Cambodia.