Just POlitics

Will Kerry sign Form 180?

Defeated Presidential candidate John Kerry caused quite a stir with his 1-hour live interview last Sunday by Tim Russert/Meet The Press. And one of the issues that’s getting a lot of attention is Kerry’s lack of full disclosure of his military records – something numerous Vietnam Veterans groups tried to pressure Kerry into doing by having him sign Form 180 to give the military permission to release all records.

Here are some excerpts from a great NewsMax.com [LINK] article on the matter:

Three months after he lost his presidential bid, Sen. John Kerry has finally agreed to a full release of his military records, after being cornered on the issue Sunday by "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.

Appearing on the same show last April, Kerry insisted all his military records were already in the public domain, telling Russert, "I've shown them - they're available to you to come and look at."

But in August the Washington Post reported:

"Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records shown briefly to reporters earlier this year), they have not permitted independent access to his original Navy records.

"A Freedom of Information Act request by The Post for Kerry's records produced six pages of information. A spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command, Mike McClellan, said he was not authorized to release the full file, which consists of at least a hundred pages."

On Sunday Kerry attempted to explain the discrepancy, telling Russert, "We put all the records out that I had been sent by the military."

"Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren’t even relevant to the record. So when we get - I’m going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn’t in the record and we’ll put it out. I have no problem with that."

When Russert pressed Kerry, "Would you sign Form 180?" - authorizing the Pentagon to release of his full file, Kerry at first tried to dodge the question.

But after he was asked about Form 180 for the third time, the top Democrat finally relented, telling the "Meet the Press" host, "Yes, I will."

Kerry then added a bizarre demand of his own, saying that the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, the group of Vietnam veterans who led the questioning of his military record, should also sign Form 180:

"I'd call on those who have challenged me, let's see their records," he said. "I want to see the records of each of those people who have put up a challenge, because some of them have some serious questions in them, and it hasn't been appropriate."

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