Kerry's Medals are OK. :)

[MicroBalrog]

Navy Says Kerry's Service Awards OK'd

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Navy's chief investigator concluded Friday that procedures were followed properly in the approval of Sen. John Kerry's Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals, according to an internal Navy memo.

Vice Adm. R.A. Route, the Navy inspector general, conducted the review of Kerry's Vietnam-ear military service awards at the request of Judicial Watch, a public interest group. The group has also asked for the release of additional records documenting the Democratic presidential candidate's military service.

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Judicial Watch had requested in August that the Navy open an investigation of the matter, but Route said in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press that he saw no reason for a full-scale probe.

``Our examination found that existing documentation regarding the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals indicates the awards approval process was properly followed,'' Route wrote in the memo sent Friday to Navy Secretary Gordon England.

``In particular, the senior officers who awarded the medals were properly delegated authority to do so. In addition, we found that they correctly followed the procedures in place at the time for approving these awards.''

Some veterans have challenged Kerry's version of the circumstances surrounding the incident that led to his Silver Star award for battlefield heroism, as well as his three Purple Heart medals.

The Silver Star was awarded for his actions in pursuit of enemy forces while commander of swift boat unit PCF-94 in Vietnam in February 1969.

Judicial Watch also asked the Navy inspector general to investigate Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam and left active duty.

Route concluded that there was no justification for looking further into the decisions to award the medals or the anti-war activities.

``Conducting any additional review regarding events that took place over 30 years ago would not be productive,'' he wrote. ``The passage of time would make reconstruction of the facts and circumstances unreliable, and would not allow the information gathered to be considered in the context of the time in which the events took place.

``Our review also considered the fact that Senator Kerry's post-active duty activities were public and that military and civilian officials were aware of his actions at the time. For these reasons, I have determined that Senator Kerry's awards were properly approved and will take no further action in this matter.''


09/17/04 19:14

© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

 

[Quartus]

Hmmm. I'm wondering how procedures could have been followed when there were two re-writes and he's displaying that medal with a non-regulation V for valor....


Of course, all that leaves out the most important question - was shooting a fleeing VC in the back really deserving of anything?

 

[trapshooter]

You have to keep in mind what the IG is saying. The IG didn't make an evaluation of current allegations. Only the documentation in the files. This is a key point. IOW, the IG says that everything is good in the official records.

That says nothing about the bogus "V", or any allegations being made currently in the media, etc., and makes no judgement as to the propriety of what the records say. Only that all the forms were filled out properly, by the proper people, in accordance with proper procedure at the time.

In essence, regarding the awards, the IG says exactly what I would expect, and the request by Judicial Watch was probably a waste of time before they filled out the forms.

On the post war-zone activities of the Senator, what else would you expect the IG to say? "Oh, yeah, we're going to charge him with "XXXX" and "XXXX". I could be wrong, but this isn't the IG's baliwick, strictly speaking, and as mentioned by the IG, should have been done at the time.

Yep, I know why nothing was done back then. For the same reason nothing will be done now. Politics. As I have said before, all politics, and most politicians, suck.

Here's the answer. If Senator Kerry is to be 'punished' for this, or his actions in the Senate in the last twenty years, (more appropriate to the moment), then we all have the ability to take the most currently appropriate action on November the 2nd.

"If you can't find someone to vote for, then find someone to vote against.", to paraphrase Heinlein.

 

[Fred Hansen]

Navy Contradicts Kerry on Release of Military Records
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
September 16, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Navy released documents Wednesday contradicting claims by Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry that all of his available military records have been released.

The Navy, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, also referred interested parties to Kerry's campaign web site for government military documents.

Navy Personnel Command FOIA Officer Dave German wrote in an e-mail to Judicial Watch that the Navy "withheld thirty-one pages of documents from the responsive military personnel service records as we were not provided a release authorization."

A "release authorization" would have to come from Kerry filling out and signing a Standard Form 180, something he has yet to do. A Standard Form 180 would authorize the complete release of all his military records. Judicial Watch filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in August to obtain Kerry's military records.

The official U.S. Navy response was received by Judicial Watch on Wednesday, the same day that Kerry told syndicated radio and MSNBC TV host Don Imus that "We've posted my military records that they sent to me, or were posted on my website. You can go to my website, and all my -- you know, the documents are there."

When Imus pressed Kerry as to whether all of his documents were in fact included on the campaign website, Kerry responded, "To the best of my knowledge. I think some of the medical stuff may still be out there. We're trying to get it.

"We released everything that they (the Navy) initially sent me," he added.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the Navy's correspondence confirms that Kerry has not been forthright in releasing his military files.

"It's written confirmation from the U.S. Navy that there are additional documents from Kerry's service record that have yet to be made publicly available," Fitton told CNSNews.com.

Fitton called the Kerry campaign's contention that all of the candidate's military files have been released, "wrong."

"They (the Kerry campaign) are either ignorant or misleading us. The simple solution is to authorize the release of all records related to his service," Fitton said.

German in a letter dated September 15, also referred Judicial Watch to Kerry's campaign website for more information on Kerry's military records.

"Numerous responsive U.S. Navy service record documents, as well as service record documents not subject to disclosure requirements under the FOIA, may be accessed at" the Kerry campaign's website applying to his military records, wrote German.

"Right now we are in the 'Alice in Wonderland' situation, where the U.S. Navy is telling us to go to a campaign Internet site to get government FOIA documents," Fitton said.

"I am not aware of any other instance where [a government agency] told us to go to a political website for documents," he added. "It's not a reliable repository of government documents."

In additional correspondence with Judicial Watch dated Sept. 15, the Navy stated that it did not have a copy of Kerry's Discharge Certificate (DD Form 256N), adding that the Navy did not keep files of the certificate in its records.

German wrote in a letter dated Sept. 15, "A copy of an honorable discharge certificate (DD256N) is not placed in the U.S. Navy Service record when issued."

Jerome Corsi, co-author of the best-selling book "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," told CNSNews.com the he was "surprised" the Navy did not have a copy of Kerry's discharge file.

"That means [Kerry's] got it," Corsi said. "It goes against his contention that he has released everything that is in his possession, because certainly that form is in his possession."

Corsi believes that the Navy's official response proves that "it's Kerry who is blocking the release of the [military] documents and nobody else."

"What's Senator Kerry got to hide?" Corsi asked. "By not releasing these files, he is creating the impression that there is something there he doesn't want anybody to see. What is it?"

Judicial Watch is also awaiting the U.S. Navy's response to its inquiry regarding Kerry's "Silver Star with combat V." The citation appears in Kerry's DD214 military form on his website, but according to military officials, no such medal exists.

"Kerry's record is incorrect. The Navy has never issued a 'combat V' to anyone for a Silver Star," said a Naval official to reporter Thomas Lipscomb in an article for the August 27th Chicago Sun Times.

According to the Sun Times article, "Naval regulations do not allow for the use of a 'combat V' for the Silver Star, the third-highest decoration the Navy awards. None of the other services has ever granted a Silver Star 'combat V,' either."

Not to mention the numerous times that Kerry said that he gave those medals back, since they meant only shame to him.

 

[Fred Hansen]

One example.

Swift boat vets hit Kerry again



Washington, DC, Sep. 17 (UPI) -- Sen. John Kerry's truthfulness on discarding his war medals to protest the Vietnam conflict was targeted Friday by anti-Kerry veterans.


Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the 527 advocacy group made up of Kerry's former Navy colleagues in Vietnam, said Kerry's conflicting accounts make him unrealiable and that the act itself was a betrayal of veterans and his country.

"When John Kerry threw his medals away, he betrayed his fellow veterans, he betrayed his country, and he betrayed every American our armed forces have fought to protect, retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann, founder of the group said. "Now Kerry wants us to forget what he did as he attempts to rewrite history." The ad ends with" "Can you trust anything he says?"

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have hammered Kerry over alleged fabrication of his war exploits to gain three Purple Hearts and two awards for bravery and for his later anti-war activism. Their cammpaign is believed at least partially responsible for the drop in Kerry's favorability rating among veterans.

Kerry became a prominent anti-war activist after service in Vietnam and in 1971 was seen to throw his medals over the White House fence. He said in a later interview he threw at least six medals away; in a 2004 he said he only threw away the ribbons, not the medals themselves.