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War hero John Kerry built his nomination convention theme around his Vietnam hero status. John Edwards said, "If you want to know the real John Kerry, ask the men who served with him." So John O'Neal did just that, and compiled their stories of their experiences with John Kerry in Vietnam, and the observations of John Kerry in Vietnam, and printed it in a book titled, "Unfit for Command."

These are stories by the men who bunked with John Kerry, commanded boats within 20 or 30 yards on missions with John Kerry, served with, and some under John Kerry (in spite of the lies the press has so willing been eager to purvey) have challenged John Kerry's veracity, honor, integrity and character.

Now if you had this many witnesses to come forward making these kinds of statements about George Bush, or any Republican, the national news media would be amplifying every word 24/7 with such a barrage of righteous indignation that we would demand that George Bush, or any other targeted Republican come forward, confess, apologize and resign from whatever position or race he was in.

But what do these same press corps members and news anchors do since it is their ideological soulmate, John Kerry? "Foul! Foul!" they yell in unison.

A recent New York Times poll revealed a 12-to-1 ratio of news media members in Washington are supporters of John Kerry and plan to vote for him in November. That's fine. They have a right to vote for whomever they want. But they do not have a right to hide the facts that their professional creed says is their duty to expose.

Instead of using their investigative journalistic talent and training to dig in and give us "just the facts, Ma'am," and demand that John Kerry release ALL of his records by signing a Form 180, as they would do when it's a Republican under fire, they see their oath to "truth and honor" as a command to stomp out this insidious threat to their world view messiah.

In doing so they must smear, discredit, dishonor and assault the same guys who were the recipients of the same venomous media hate 30 some years ago when they came home from Vietnam in the early 1970s; the same guys who were just ordinary citizens sent off to a war they knew nothing about before going, did not run off to Canada, or Oxford, or burn their draft cards, but went off to serve their county out of love, duty, truth and honor.

These guys, the true heroes, were not treated with the respect and appreciation they deserved then, or now, when they come forward to answer questions about John Kerry, as John Edwards loudly proclaimed was the way to get at the truth.

No, these real heroes were not the real media heroes in the '70s, nor are they the real media heroes now. Their only real hero is John Kerry, the man who helped promote the very movement that dishonored them back then and caused many of them harsher punishment and torture in a Hanoi Vietnamese prison camp. The same John Kerry, who helped lead movements that incited verminous maggots at airports to spit upon these "true heroes" and labeled them as "baby killers" upon their return.

The only honorable thing for John Kerry and his band of brothers in the press to do right now is this: John Kerry sign form 180 authorizing the release of all your service documents, including medical records, after action reports, records that reveal days of service, days of deployment, records that reveal whether John Kerry actually did run to Uncle Sam yelling "send me, send me!" Or, whether John Kerry, after exhausting all appeals for deferments, as a last resort to avoid the draft, "volunteered" for the Naval reserves.

And, then did he really "volunteer," yelling "send me, send me," to the jungle back waters of Vietnam? Or, was he arbitrarily assigned there and was this the basis for John Kerry's much whining, carping and resentment as reported by many who served with him? I'm not saying that I am any better, braver, or even a vet. But then I am not running for President, based upon my "send me, send me hero status!" It's about truth, honor and justice, folks.

Did this arbitrary assignment motivate John Kerry to connive, scheme, embellish and falsify after action reports to gain commendations, medals, purple hearts, in a successful attempt to "game the system" for an "early pass back to the World?" I don't know, and you don't know. But we could know! We could know the truth, and who is honorable and trustworthy and this "he said, he said" game could be put to rest; if John Kerry would only sign release form 180. These are questions that have been raised by fellow veterans who served with him, the men who knew him best, as John Edwards said. These questions must be answered. These questions will not be put to rest by blatant media bias. It's time for serious professional journalists to do their professional duty of due diligence in a relentless search for the truth. Not just willing sacrifice "truth, honor and justice" for their boy, Kerry.

John Kerry must sign form 180. The people have a right to know the truth, for honor and justice's sake.

John McMillen