Swift Boat II: Jonah Goldberg as a Geographical Genius

Did Jonah Goldberg bore even himself with those pointless attacks on Al Gore? It seems he is now pointing to a redux of the Swift Boat Liars leading with some long-winded nonsense from Tom Maguire. The geography lesson from Confederate Yankee cracked me up:

John Kerry did not take anyone into Cambodia from his swift boat based at Ha Tien. The navigable Giang Thanh River runs near the Cambodian border, but at no point does it ever cross.

But look at Confederate Yankee’s own map – there are rivers that flow off the Giang Thanh that do cross into Cambodia.

Confederate Yankee did reply to my comment with a portion of the cited in the source that described part of the logistics. His devastating evidence is that Lt. Kerry did not mention entering another body of water. As Confederate Yankee stated – Kerry may not have had a map. Confederate Yankee also notes there were rivers to the east. Maybe he should check his own map – as there were rivers to the west as well.

But ask let’s brave soldier Jonah Goldberg if he ever ventured out in the jungles of Indochina along with Lt. Kerry. Maybe he might be able to settle this geographical dispute with his personal knowledge from the battlefield

Update: The August 15, 2004 article by Scott Canon may be a little help here:

Yet the Kerry campaign said it was far from rare for American forces to pursue Viet Cong over the border. “Swift Boat crews regularly operated along the Cambodian border from Ha Tien on the Gulf of Thailand to the rivers of the Mekong south and west of Saigon,” Michael Meehan, a senior adviser in the Kerry campaign, said Friday. “Boats often received fire from enemy taking sanctuary across the border. Kerry’s was not the only United States riverboat to respond, inadvertently or responsibly, across the border.” “Many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group operating out of Ha Tien” on the Gulf of Thailand, Meehan said in his statement.

Confederate Yankee traces through the details of one trip up the Ha Tien where he notes Lt. Kerry’s boat went near the border. Kerry’s account seems to be consistent with that for some of his missions – but there were many such missions. If on any one such mission – Kerry’s crew crossed into Cambodia – he told the truth. But don’t expect Confederate Yankee to even acknowledge as much.

In addition, note that John O’Neill claimed he took the boat that Kerry used to command (before O’Neill did) into Cambodia. I guess Confederate Yankee will have some magic explanation as to how O’Neill is a better sailor than Kerry.