The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 4)

What is the difference between the Navy and the NPRC?

The Navy, which created the documents to begin with, is legally obligated to protect the privacy of the veteran. If, as many conspiracy theorists have posited, negative material was expunged from Kerry's file, the Navy could most likely only include the final version of a document.

For example, if an individual were to have a received a less than honorable discharge, but then gained a full, honorable discharge some years later, only the honorable discharge order might appear in the Navy file, while both discharges might appear in the individual's file at the NPRC in St. Louis, Mo.

Jones, who has worked extensively at the NPRC and the National Archives, says that were Kerry to sign an SF-180 and authorize a third party full access to his NPRC records, more fodder would likely be found. "There is no way to know what is in his file unless an independent party looks at the file at the NPRC," says Jones.

But there is hope. The NRPC can open the file to the public ten years after a famous individual dies.

As to what could possibly be in the full files, the former Kerry staffer insists it's time that Republicans and anti-Kerryites got a life. "The man lost. He's now had to admit that he was [crappier] student than Bush and yet you keep hounding the man. Nothing will ever satisfy you people. I guess you're all going to go camp out back down in Mena for Hillary's 2008 run. Good luck with that."

p> TRUTH SQUAD br> Even Democrats were laughing about Sen. Hillary Clinton 's speech at a fundraiser Monday for her re-election campaign. On Tuesday, staffers for several U.S. Senators, including fellow New Yorker Charles Schumer , Sen. Dick Durbin , and Sen.

topics:
Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Military, NATO