Democrat Endorsed Cambodia Invasion

[bijou]

Five days before U.S. and South Vietnamese troops made their surprise move into Cambodia on April 29, 1970, then-President Richard M. Nixon got the approval of the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee for that action, according for documents released yesterday by the Nixon library.

The unexpected U.S. incursion into Cambodia came as a surprise to the American public, most members of Congress and the new Cambodian government. What followed were a series of public demonstrations in Washington and later Kent State University in Ohio, which, in turn, expanded opposition to the war.

In an April 24, 1970, telephone conversation with Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Miss.), who was then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Nixon said the administration was going to provide arms to the Cambodian government to prevent its overthrow by a pro-communist element, and continue secret B-52 bombing raids, "which only you and Senator Russell know about." Richard Russell (D-Ga.) was the former committee chairman.

"We are not going to get involved in a war in Cambodia," Nixon reassured Stennis. "We are going to do what is necessary to help save our men in South Vietnam. They can't have those sanctuaries there" that North Vietnam maintained.

Stennis replied, "I will be with you. . . . I commend you for what you are doing." ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/23/AR2009062303508.html

[franksolich]

Ah, but Stennis and Russell were patriotic Democrats, back when one could be both a Democrat and patriotic.

[Thor]

Ah, but Stennis and Russell were patriotic Democrats, back when one could be both a Democrat and patriotic.

Frank, thank you for that statement. There was a time that Democrats DID believe in America and actually supported the Constitution.

[franksolich]

Frank, thank you for that statement. There was a time that Democrats DID believe in America and actually supported the Constitution.

John Stennis and Richard Russell were true statesmen, some of the finest men to come out of the south.

At times they had to take stands unpopular in much of America, but then and again, much of America never appreciated the circumstances under which these guys worked, and lived.

Great statesmen.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

What really matters is that when Nancy Pelosi was briefed by the CIA the lying bastards framed it strictly as a hypothetical invasion and not as an invasion that had already begun.