Cleland: Kerry Won't Release Vietnam Medical File

NewsMax ^ | 2/29/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Former Sen. Max Cleland said Sunday there was no reason for Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry to release his full medical file - including records documenting the injuries that won him three Purple Hearts in Vietnam - calling requests for the Vietnam records "the height of hypocrisy."

"That might be the height of hypocrisy, for people who never went to Vietnam [to ask for Kerry's wartime medical file]," Cleland, a leading Kerry backer, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.

"I mean - I felt a wound. John Kerry felt a wound," he added.

Sen. Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam but never received a Purple Heart, said Kerry's physical sacrifice had been just as great as his own, telling Malzberg, "I don't see any difference."

When pressed on why he thought Kerry didn't need to release his full medical file, Cleland shot back, "You read the book 'Tour of Duty.' I'm not going to get into an argument with you here. Let's just say, we have a clear choice in America."

However, when asked two weeks ago about the severity of Kerry's wounds, "Tour of Duty's" author Douglas Brinkley explained, "They were minor."

The issue of whether Sen. Kerry should release his medical files could become a prickly one for the candidate, especially since he has been less than forthright about personal medical issues in the past.

In Feb. 2003, Kerry underwent an operation for prostate cancer. But he had declined to reveal the condition for months, even when reporters asked about his health. When he finally went public with the news, Kerry claimed that the cover-up had been necessary because his doctors "had not settled on a course of treatment."

When he ran for president in 2000, George Bush released his full medical file, a disclosure so complete that it came to include Bush's 1970s dental files this year.

The exchange between Cleland and Malzberg went like this:

MALZBERG: There's been criticism, fair or unfair, that within the first 24-hours [John Kerry] had his first purple heart. He got three in four months without even a day of duty lost from wounds, according to his training officer. But he will not release his Purple Heart medical treatment reports to be released. And he is the only person keeping them from being released. Would you call on him to release all of his records, sir?

CLELAND: Well, look here. I mean - ah, ah - I think - ah - that might be the height of hypocrisy, for people who never went to Vietnam - as Shakespeare said, "Those who jest at scars never felt a wound." I mean - I felt a wound. John Kerry felt a wound.

MALZBERG: But you never received a Purple Heart, sir.

CLELAND: May I just say, when he was the skipper of his boat with five enlisted men in that situation - going into the jaws of death every day - he had to rely on his instincts for survival. And he and his crew were one. They were a band of brothers. Now, under that situation they saved each others lives. He also saved the life of a Special Forces officer out of the Mekong Delta River, Jim Rassmussen [sic]. And he is campaigning around America for Kerry even though he's a Republican.

The point being, we've been there, done that, gotten a few holes in our T-shirt and we've come back to America to say, war is the last resort, not the first resort.

MALZBERG: I understand, sir. But you were a hero. You lost three limbs, sir, and you don't have a Purple Heart. He barely missed day and he has three of them. And I'm just saying, why not end the controversy . . . Why not see what the injuries were, sir?

CLELAND: May I just say to you and all your listeners, if you want know the full story of John Kerry and the Vietnam War, just go out and buy a book that's on the New York Times bestseller's list, called "Tour of Duty." . . . If we get bogged down in guerilla wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the Balkans and all around, we're going to see repeats of Vietnam. . .

Now that people are going after John Kerry for supposedly being weak on defense, especially by those who never went to war. I mean, you talk about a short term, George Bush had eight months dropped from his tour. He never even completed his tour of duty.

MALZBERG: Well sir, Kerry got out early, also - Kerry got out six months early as well.

CLELAND: Yeah, because he got wounded.

MALZBERG: But we don't know the extent of those wounds, sir.

CLELAND: I got out five weeks early because I got blown up.

MALZBERG: Yes, but don't you see the difference? You lost three limbs.

CLELAND: I don't see any difference.

MALZBERG: We don't know what happened to Kerry because he won't let us know.

CLELAND: That's not true. You read the book "Tour of Duty." I'm not going to get into an argument with you here. Let's just say, we have a clear choice in America. And the great citizens of New York have a great choice on Tuesday. . . . We don't have to repeat another Vietnam. [END OF EXCERPT]

[Bringbackthedraft]

Trying to get medical records from the VA is a nightmare. We have been trying for 9 months. Their excuse is the records are lost. First they had them awaiting an authorization, then they dissapeared. Its been 8 months since the authorization was sent and still after numerous calls no records have been provided. I guess they can easily lose Kerry's too.

[teletech]

If Kerry is the candidate and can't go on due to health, are we going to get Lautenburged AGAIN by the RATS!? Hell, if Kerry does go the distance only to drop in the polls near the end, I ask the same question, will we be 'Lautenburged'?

[sandbar]

You know I'm getting tired of this "you have no right to question anything regarding John Kerry, cause he was in Vietnam!" crap. I am 31, couldn't have gone to Vietnam, but that doesn't mean I don't have the right to question him if he wants to be my leader!!

It's not like he didn't bring it up either.

[bin2baghdad]

Regarding the FOIA, from the DoD WebSite

An individual's complete service record is available to the former service member or, if deceased, to his/her next of kin (parents, spouse, or children). Limited information (such as dates of service, awards, and training) is available to anyone. Not available to the general public is information which would invade an individual's privacy, such as medical records, Social Security number, or present address.

[1066AD]

Yes, it kills once it "escapes". Get your PSA tests guys.
The other guy you refer to is I think, Paul Tsongas, he seemed a fairly level headed guy compared to the current crop.

[lt.america]

I don't think you are correct about the running for congress (although maybe you jest), he did leave early due to his three purple hearts.

[Ann Archy]

Maybe if John McCain asked Cleland he would answer the question!!!

I actually can not believe Cleland has no Purple Heart....he must have really blown himself up like people have been saying.

[southernnorthcarolina]

I can't imagine (nor I suspect, can most on this forum) what it would be like to live without three limbs. Max Cleland bore his affliction with a great deal of grace, and had a notable and accomplished (if wrong-headed, from a conservative point of view) career, including Cabinet and Senate seats. But after his loss to Saxby Chambliss in 2002, he became bitter. He has made statements and insinuations about our Commander in Chief which go far beyond political hyperbole, and cross the line to premeditated falsehoods uttered for political gain, and to outright maliciousness.

Senator Cleland said that he quoted Shakespeare: "Those who jest at scars never felt a wound." I recall no such line by Shakespeare, and failed to find one in a brief search. I'll take Cleland at his word, and assume that the quote is genuine. But how is it appropriate to Senator Kerry's situation? We can't jest at scars we've never seen -- or scars which may never have existed.

With respect to Senator Cleland's scars, they are very real. And nobody, to my knowledge, has jested about them. But they were self-inflicted, an inconvenient fact which was rarely broached until the Senator began his unfounded assault on President Bush's integrity and honor. Cleland was quite literally "hoist with his own petard"*, and now he has been in the figurative sense, as well.

_________________
* "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his owne petar" -- Shakespeare, Hamlet III iv. "Hoist" was in Shakespeare's time the past participles of a verb "to hoise", which meant what "to hoist" does now: to lift. A petard (see under "peter out" for the etymology) was an explosive charge detonated by a slowly burning fuse. If the petard went off prematurely, then the sapper (military engineer; Shakespeare's "enginer") who planted it would be hurled into the air by the explosion. (Compare "up" in "to blow up".) A modern rendition might be: "It's fun to see the engineer blown up with his own bomb."

[kimosabe31]

Bush released everything down to his DENTAL records to answer the Geobbels Big Lie from the democrats that Bush was a deserter. Kerry medals are extremely suspect, particularly the Purple Hearts that got him out of Vietnam after 4 months.

Some have been unkind enough to suggest that Kerry put in for a purple heart every time he bumped his head on the wheelhouse door. Personally I think his bronze and silver star citations are phoney too. He probably just picked those off the ground at the DC demonstrations when others were throwing them away. He needs to produce the documentation on his citations for military valor as well.

[leprechaun9]

CLELAND: I got out five weeks early because I got blown up.
It would be more accurate to say you blew yourself up.

Maybe Cleland's wounds are similar to John Freakin' Kerry's. Now let's see, Cleland picked up a greande on his way to the beer hall, while Kerry?????

[FormerACLUmember]

Kerry is an arrogant deceitful gigolo!

[bin2baghdad]

Military service doesn't exempt one from criticism for every action later in life, but there are some things that you will NOT understand if you haven't served in uniform, in combat or in Vietnam. Even though I've been in combat, I wasn't in Vietnam and there are issues that I am truly NOT qualified to judge intelligently.

I made this same point repeatedly to people questioning Bush's military record - if you didn't serve, there are some things that are outside your realm of knowledge. There are some things that those who never wore the uniform DON"T have the right to judge. Legally, for example, a jury of a soldier's peers consists only of others in uniform.

There are plenty of Vietnam vets who are questioning Senator Kerry on the Vietnam stuff, but I know I sure don't want folks who didn't go through it with me paasing judgment on how I performed my duty under fire.

[bin2baghdad]

Senator Cleland's wounds were the result of an accident, which is no secret. The Purple Heart is ONLY awarded when wounds are inflicted as a direct result of enemy action. There are many wounded service members without Purple Hearts - accidents are a fact of combat zones. Accidental injuries are no less "service related" and Americans surely realize that these wounds are also a price of our liberty.

[kimosabe31]

Cleland evidently lost his limbs in a non-combat related accident in which he mistakenly picked up an armed grenade that exploded. The military does not award "hearts" for accidental injury...except maybe in the case of Kerry. See Ann Coulter's commentary's of 2/11 and 2/18.

[Verginius Rufus]

Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts was one of the Democratic candidates in 1992 and won the New Hampshire primary. He died a couple of days before inauguration day in 1997, so he would not have lived out his term if he had been elected in 1992.

[Wumpus Hunter]

"He will try to get elected with Hillary on the ticket knowing full well he will not live out his first term."

LOL - It's a safe bet that ANYONE stupid enough to put the bitch on as their VP wouldn't live out their term!

[Semi Civil Servant]

"Who was that rat who died not long after running for president not so long ago? Wasn't he a liberal from the N.E. who eventually lost to Clinton?"



PAUL TSONGAS PASSES

January 20, 1997

TRANSCRIPT

Paul Tsongas, the former Massachusetts Senator, in 1992 a presidential candidate, died over the weekend from liver failure and pneumonia. He was 55 years old.

JIM LEHRER: Paul Tsongas, the former Massachusetts Senator, in 1992 presidential candidate, died over the weekend from liver failure and pneumonia. He was 55 years old. Tsongas served two terms in the House and then was elected to the Senate in 1978. In 1984, after only one term, he was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes. He decided not to seek re-election so he could undergo aggressive treatment and be with his wife and three daughters. After a bone marrow transplant from his twin sister, his health improved, and he resumed his law practice in Boston. In 1992, he sought the Democratic presidential nomination, running second and went to the primary season behind then Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, who, of course, went on to win the presidency. During that campaign, Tsongas appeared on the NewsHour and discussed his political and personal philosophies with Judy Woodruff.

Rest of Transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/1997/tsong_1-20.html

[FairOpinion]

Kerry had prostate surgery a few years ago.

I don't know whether he had prostate cancer or not and what the status is.

But he most certainly should release both his service records and his medical records.

We have a right to know.

Bush released all of his records, what is Kerry hiding?

[Hon]

"I don't think you are correct about the running for congress (although maybe you jest), he did leave early due to his three purple hearts."

I am exactly correct.

Kerry got out of active duty in the Navy six months early to run for Congress. He did not run (in 1970). He did run two years later.

Yes, he got reassigned out of VN because of his three PHs. But that was eigth months before his tour was up.

[End_Clintonism_Now]

Target Practice!!!