A Mission to Cambodia

by Kevin Whitelaw | May 08 '00



Sen. John Kerry made his first forays into Cambodia during the Vietnam War as a Navy lieutenant on clandestine missions to deliver weapons to anticommunist forces. When he returned last week, the mission was official, but dicey nonetheless. At the request of the United Nations, Kerry is trying to broker a compromise on how to try leaders of the former Khmer Rouge regime, whose late 1970s reign of terror claimed the lives of some 1.7 million Cambodians.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wants to control any court looking into genocide charges, but U.S. and U.N. officials have demanded an international tribunal. "You can't have a situation where a justice system that many people view as inoperative will have the ability to trump the international community's consensus," says Kerry. Kerry is offering a compromise to allow for co-prosecutors and co-investigators. Both Cambodian and foreign judges would have to agree before an indictment could be thrown out. Hun Sen had initially accepted the proposal but ran into hard-line opposition from his political allies. Kerry anticipates a deal could be struck as early as this week.

Still, the parliament needs to go along, and many members of the ruling party (including Hun Sen) held low- or mid-level posts in the Khmer Rouge regime and might be reluctant to sign on. A legislative debate has been delayed until late May, ostensibly because of a termite infestation of the parliament building.

He's been acting less like a presidential candidate and more like a guy trying to pick up a chick in a bar by telling impressive stories.

"Yep, I was CIA. Can't talk about it though. But this one time, me and Lt. Zip were on a secret mission to bomb the supply depot at Daiquiri..."

Quoted: Sen. John Kerry made his first forays into Cambodia during the Vietnam War as a Navy lieutenant on clandestine missions to deliver weapons to anticommunist forces.

This would be more believable.

He dreamed the whole thing up after seeing "Apocalypse Now" (he may have also read "Going After Cacciato").  Just read today Kerry had a hard-on for Marlon Brando.  Connect the dots.

GunLvr

Quoted: A Mission to Cambodia by Kevin Whitelaw | May 08 '00 Sen. John Kerry made his first forays into Cambodia during the Vietnam War as a Navy lieutenant on clandestine missions to deliver weapons to anticommunist forces.

And where did they get this information?  Why, John Kerry TOLD them so, of course.