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| A lie falsely claiming that Kerry's campaign had limited inspection of his medical records only to one person: an MD selected by the campaign | |||||||||||||||||
| p. 28 | |||||||||||||||||
| On page 28 of Unfit for Command O'Neill says, | |||||||||||||||||
| Kerry has refused to execute Standard Form 180, which would release to the public all his military and medical records.7 ... Kerry has also refused to publically release his Vietnam journal or the totality of his films and photos from Vietnam. He has allowed a peek at those records only to his biographer, Douglas Brinkley, and journalists he considers friendly. Moreover, only a doctor selected by the campaign has been allowed to view Kerry's medical records. | |||||||||||||||||
| I used Lexis-nexis to see what newspaper articles I could find about Kerry's campaign releasing medical records. Searching around 85 newspapers for the past year (all newspapers of US News, for the Northeastern Region of the US) for all articles with "Kerry" and "medical w/2 records" and "reporters" I got around 25 hits. Some of the articles (several around the dates April 24-6 of 2004) said that Kerry's campaign allowed 19 reporters to view a 36 page file of military medical records. One article ( in the April 24, 2004 issue of the New York Times) used wording in it's opening paragraphs implying that this file was all of Kerry's military medical file: | |||||||||||||||||
| Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign offered a brief glimpse at his military medical file on Friday. The file showed that Mr. Kerry requested that his relatives not be notified after he was wounded in action and that he retains a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh. The 36-page file was the latest section of Mr. Kerry's military record to be released under pressure from Republicans and news media. A small group of reporters traveling with the campaign was allowed to review the records for 30 minutes. |
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| Since O'Neill's book came out in mid-August 2004, there was plenty of time for him to learn about this release that occurred on April 23, 2004. Note that the book refers to events occurring on dates after April 23, 2004. E.g., the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth conference described in detail on pages 5-6 is dated May 4, 2004. Also, I found a note in the bibliography refering to a personal statement purportedly collected on July 6, 2004. On page 206, note 11 of chapter six reads, | |||||||||||||||||
| 11. Statement of Toi Dang, July 6, 2004. | |||||||||||||||||
| July 6, 2004 is 73 days after the the April 24, 2004 New York Times article (and other such articles in other newspapers) appeared. Hence, O'Neill had plenty of time to learn of this release of a 36-page file of military medical records to the 19 reporters. Surely O'Neill knew about that release, and hence, his claim on page 28 of Unfit for Command that only a doctor selected by the campaign had been allowed to view Kerry's medical records is an intentional falsehood: a lie. |
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