I am shocked -- shocked !

"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."
Kerry interview. Boston Herald, October 14, 1979

"Mr. President, 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 Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
I have that memory which is seared — seared — in me, that says to me, before we send another generation into harm's way we have a responsibility in the U.S. Senate to go the last step, to make the best effort possible in order to avoid that kind of conflict"
Kerry, urging then-President Ronald Reagan not to go into Nicaragua. 1986

"But for Kerry, who spent six violent months commanding a patrol boat on the Mekong River, there's always been a ring of truth to allegations of abandoned Americans. By Christmas 1968, part of Kerry's patrol extended across the border of South Vietnam into Cambodia.
"We were told, `Just go up there and do your patrol. Everybody was over there (in Cambodia). Nobody thought twice about it," Kerry said. One of the missions, which Kerry, at the time, was ordered not to discuss, involved taking CIA operatives into Cambodia to search for enemy enclaves.
"I can remember wondering, `If you're going to go, what happens to you,"' Kerry said.
Associated Press, 1992.

"A close associate hints: There's a secret compartment in Kerry's briefcase. He carries the black attaché everywhere. Asked about it on several occasions, Kerry brushed it aside. Finally, trapped in an interview, he exhaled and clicked open his case.
"Who told you?" he demanded as he reached inside. "My friends don't know about this."
The hat was a little mildewy. The green camouflage was fading, the seams fraying.
"My good luck hat," Kerry said, happy to see it. "Given to me by a CIA guy as we went in for a special mission in Cambodia."
Kerry put on the hat, pulling the brim over his forehead. His blue button-down shirt and tie clashed with the camouflage. He pointed his finger and raised his thumb, creating an imaginary gun.
He looked silly, yet suddenly his campaign message was clear: Citizen-soldier.
Linking patriotism to public service.
It wasn't complex after all; it was Kerry."
Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post, June 1, 2003

"John Kerry was never shot at by Khmer Rouge and Cambodians. He never took CIA operatives into Cambodia to search for enemy enclaves. In fact, John Kerry's boat never came within 50 miles of Cambodia at any time."
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

"The Mekong Delta consists of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, so on Christmas Eve in 1968, he was in fact on patrol . . . in the Mekong Delta between Cambodia and Vietnam. He was ambushed, they fired back, he was fired upon from both sides, from the Cambodian side of the border and the Vietnam side during that day in 1968."
Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign adviser, on ABC Television, August 2004

P.S. It is not merely about funny look at history (like Nixon being a president in 1968) or geography (Mekong Delta consisting of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam).
It isn't complex after all; it is Kerry.

Update: according to drudgereport.com and other sources, Kerry's biographer is preparing an article for the New Yorker, where he claims that Kerry was in Cambodia in January. Apparently, that's when Cambodian's celebrate Christmas. Also, he was there on 4 (FOUR!) extremely secret missions, dropping off NAVY Seals, Green berets, CIA agents and such.
Stay tuned for the new revision of The Kerry's Memories (second edition, revised and freshly researed).