The Boston Globe reported this week it had finally obtained an unedited set of Sen. John Kerry??¢â???¬â???¢s (D.-Mass.) military and medical records from the Navy. Kerry, the paper reported, had finally signed Standard Form 180, allowing the disclosure. The Globe also said its review of the documents revealed pretty much the same information released during the 2004 presidential campaign when Kerry came under attack from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for distorting his service in Vietnam.
But in a Chicago Sun-Times column, Thomas H. Lipscomb questions whether the Globe actually did receive Kerry??¢â???¬â???¢s full record. The Standard Form 180 can authorize full or only partial release of a serviceman??¢â???¬â???¢s record, depending on how it is filled out. ??¢â???¬?????It??¢â???¬â???¢s sort of like your checkbook,??¢â???¬ former Naval Judge Advocate General Mark Sullivan told Lipscomb. ??¢â???¬?????You can fill out a check for one dollar or a million. It is the same check form.??¢â???¬ Lipscomb asked Globe Managing Editor Mary Jane Wilkinson if she had seen the form filled out by Kerry. ??¢â???¬?????I haven??¢â???¬â???¢t seen it,??¢â???¬ she said, ??¢â???¬?????and I don??¢â???¬â???¢t know if anyone here has.??¢â???¬
