Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Kerry Finally Signs Vietnam Release
After pledging to Tim Russert that he would sign a form authorizing the Defense Department to release his military records, Sen. John Kerry has finally put his signature on the document.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Jan. 30, Kerry told host Tim Russert that he would sign the form known as SF 180, but did not say when he would do it.
It took him a solid 110 days to get around to it, and then only after a continuous drumbeat of demands from some conservatives.
A Kerry spokesman told the Washington Times the form is now in the hands of the Navy, where it will be processed before being passed to the National Personnel Records Center. The process could take a couple of months.
Once they are made public, the documents will either prove or disprove claims the Swift Boat veterans leveled against the senator during the 2004 presidential election campaign.
Kerry and his media allies such as the New York Times called the Swift Boat vets a bunch of politically motivated operatives who they claimed shamelessly vilified Kerry's war record.
For their part the vets charged that Kerry's real Vietnam service was so at odds with what he had for years claimed was his heroic war record that it proved him, as they put it, "unfit for command" as America's commander in chief.
After pledging to Tim Russert that he would sign a form authorizing the Defense Department to release his military records, Sen. John Kerry has finally put his signature on the document.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Jan. 30, Kerry told host Tim Russert that he would sign the form known as SF 180, but did not say when he would do it.
It took him a solid 110 days to get around to it, and then only after a continuous drumbeat of demands from some conservatives.
A Kerry spokesman told the Washington Times the form is now in the hands of the Navy, where it will be processed before being passed to the National Personnel Records Center. The process could take a couple of months.
Once they are made public, the documents will either prove or disprove claims the Swift Boat veterans leveled against the senator during the 2004 presidential election campaign.
Kerry and his media allies such as the New York Times called the Swift Boat vets a bunch of politically motivated operatives who they claimed shamelessly vilified Kerry's war record.
For their part the vets charged that Kerry's real Vietnam service was so at odds with what he had for years claimed was his heroic war record that it proved him, as they put it, "unfit for command" as America's commander in chief.
