Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Mr. Kerry's SF 180

After refusing to release of all of his military records during the 2004 Presidential campaign, Senator John Kerry finally signed a Defense Department Special Form (SF) 180 earlier this year, granting public disclosure of those files.

Well, those long-awaited files have finally been reviewed. Today's Boston Globe, has a summary of Kerry's records, and reports little new information over what was released last year.

End of story? So, the swiftboat veterans were wrong afterall? Much ado about nothing?

Hardly. Turns out that Mr. Kerry's file remains incomplete. The records released to the Globe were apparently drawn from Navy archives, not those of National Personnel Records Center, based in St. Louis. After a military member leaves the service, the complete file is transferred to the archive in St. Louis. There may be more information in those files, which Kerry has not released, so far.

Swiftboat leader John O'Neill has weighed on Kerry's "disclosure" at Blogs for Bush. As he notes, key questions about the senator's service record remain unanswered. Ed Driscoll at Captain's Quarters has an excellent summary as well.

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