Kerry Inflates Combat Action in 'Meet the Press' Account
In his account to "Tour of Duty" author Douglas Brinkley, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry described his first encounter with enemy forces in Vietnam as an inconsequential skirmish that "hardly qualified as combat."
But on Sunday's "Meet the Press," Kerry's recollection of the episode was far more dramatic, with the top Democrat saying the confrontation not only was "frightening" but also was probably the worst combat his unit had experienced during the entire war.
Defending himself against charges that he put in for a Purple Heart for a relatively minor flesh wound after the Dec. 2, 1968 skirmish, Kerry told NBC newsman Tim Russert:
"We were in combat. We were in a very, very - probably one of the most frightening - if you ask anybody who was with me, the two guys who were with me, was probably the most frightening night that they had that they were in Vietnam."
But in his account to biograpger Brinkley, Kerry dismissed the altercation as "a minor skirmish."
"It was a half-assed action that hardly qualified as combat," he confessed, in a discrepancy first reported Sunday by FreeRepublic.com.
"I felt terribly seasoned after this minor skirmish," Kerry continued to Brinkley. "But since I couldn't put my finger on what we had really accomplished or on what had happened, it was difficult to feel satisfied."
"Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert was apparently unaware of the contradiction and did not question Kerry on his newly dramatized account.
Kerry's earlier, much tamer version of his first encounter with the enemy appears on pages 146 and 148 of "Tour of Duty." |
