Kerry: I Actually Did Sign The 180....Even Joan Venocchi
is suspicious.
''I have signed it," Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ''still going through it" and ''very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it."
The devil is usually in the details. With Kerry, it's also in the dodges and digressions. After the interview, Kerry's communications director, David Wade, was asked to clarify when Kerry signed SF 180 and when public access would be granted. Kerry drifted over to join the conversation, immediately raising the confusion level. He did not answer the question of when he signed the form or when the entire record will be made public.
Several e-mails later, Wade conveyed the following information: On Friday, May 20, Kerry obtained a copy of Form 180 and signed it. ''The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days. The Navy will then send out the records," e-mailed Wade. Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on ''Meet the Press."Where will the records be sent out? If it's directly to Kerry, this is worse than useless, as you can bet the records will be scrubbed before they are released to the press. The idea of the Form 180 is for the Navy to release the records to a third party for their independent review. We've seen the records Kerry wants us to see; what we need a look at are the infamous other 100 pages or so.
Hat Tip:
LucianneCaptain Ed & has
similar thoughts. But
Michelle Malkin says John O'Neill claimed that Form 180 authorizes the military to release the information to anybody who asked. Looking at
the form here, that appears to be incorrect, as the form asks for the address to which the reply is to be sent.
3. Where reply may be sent. The reply may be sent to the member or any other address designated by the member or other authorized requester.My suspicion, as I
mentioned in the comments here, is that Kerry will fill in his own name and address in that block and then try to hand the (scrubbed) files out to the media.
