Breaking News: Bush Didn't Meet Guard Requirements
09/08/04
Bush's day of reckoning has finally come in the mainstream media.
First, according to the Boston Globe:
* President Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
* "Twice during his Guard service - first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School - Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty.
* "He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show."
* Bush's attendance at required training drills "was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his service had been "satisfactory" - just four months after Bush's commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit for the previous 12 months."
Next, Ex lieutenant governor Ben Barnes of Texas, who recently admitted on tape that he got Bush into the Texas Guard, will be delivering a lengthy interview on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday, September 12th. It has now been revealed that CBS will also conduct an exclusive interview with Barnes on Wednesday evening (September 8th -- at 8 p.m. ET/PT). It was unclear whether the interview would be broadcast on both Wednesday and Sunday...or whether two separate interviews would be conducted...or whether Wednesday's interview is the only interview. Nevertheless, watch the interview tonight.
And then, more Bush National Guard records have been 'uncovered' by lawsuits filed by the Associated Press:
The records show his last flight was in April 1972, which is consistent with pay records indicating Bush had a large lapse of duty between April and October of that year. Bush has said he went to Alabama in 1972 to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost him his pilot's status in August of that year.
Bush's 2000 campaign suggested the future president skipped his medical exam in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete. Records show Bush's Texas unit flew the F-102A until 1974 and used the jets as part of an air defense drill during 1972.
A six-month historical record of his 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, also turned over to the AP on Tuesday, shows some of the training Bush missed with his colleagues during that time.
Significantly, it showed the unit joined a "24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack" in the southern United State beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a time when Bush did not report for duty, according to his pay records.
Bush's lone service in October was outside Texas, presumably with an Alabama unit he had permission to train with in September, October and November 1972.
As part of the mission, the 147th kept two F-102a jets - the same Bush flew before he was grounded - on ready alert to be launched within five minutes' warning.
[...]
The newly released records do not include any from five categories of documents Bush's commanders had been required to keep in response to the gaps in Bush's training in 1972 and 1973. For example, National Guard commanders were required to perform an investigation whenever any pilot skipped a medical exam and forward the results up the Air Force chain of command. No such documents have surfaced.
Where were these people back in 2000 when this information might have eliminated Bush from national consideration?
In any event, the next week will be a week of assualts on Bush that will most likely be met with White House statements of "This is ancient history that was addressed and debunked years ago...blah, blah, blah." (which, of course, it was not.)
Let's check back in a week and see if the media keeps this rolling as long as they did the blatent lies of the Swift Boat Liars for Bush.
Bush-Cheney 2004
::
George W. Bush
|
Link
ALL PILOTS ARE REQUIRED AND HAVE FLIGHT TIME THAT THEY HAVE ACCUMULATED . THE RECORDS ARE MANDATORY AND IT IS INCONGROUS THAT HE CANNOT COME UP WITH HIS
I'd like to get more information about the allegations that the reason Bush was absent in 1972 was because he was doing cummunity service for coke possession...Hmmmm!
these stories need to run in SWING states... and on cable
At a time when The National Guard is calling back men and women who have actually completed their duty to the country. Requiring these men and women to fight Bush's war in Iraq it seems only fair that since he (Bush) didn't complete his duty he be sent to Iraq to fight until he has completed his tour.
The media gave the Swift Boat Liars two weeks of exposure on every news network - at no cost whatsoever. They interviewed O'Neill over and over, and helped them cast doubt on John Kerry's integrity and patriotism.
You just know that the media will help Karl Rove dismiss this information as meaningless and old hat. Here's an interesting article of how the media is complicit in the 'mudfest' designed to destroy Kerry:
Media Mudfest
This will swing the military vote against Bush. Kerry went to Nam, Bush went to Daddy. Sure Kerry overplayed his record, but at least he has one he can be proud of. Bush is a silver spoon jackass that used his fathers power and influence to avoid truly serving his country.
Bush should now have done to him what the Bush mob did to McCain in '00. Push poll the chicken hawk punk by asking the following question:
Would you still vote for Bush if you knew that using family connections, real patriots were sent to Vietnam in place of his privileged ass, and some of those ended up on the wall in DC?
Just asking...
There is on the web
picture of
Bush wearing a
unit citation
he could not have
earned
If Bush is proven to have been A.W.O.L. for more than 30 days during a time of war, that is by military definition desertion. There is no statute of limitations for prosecuting deserters. Wonder what our troops will think about this? Presuming the news gets to them.
The Boston Globe has done the most to keep after this story but so far this has rarely been picked up by the major media.
The codes on the payroll records show that he never made up five missed meetings when he was officially absent without leave for just under seven months.
As the AP covers the DD214s appears to be missing records for 72 and later. There are reports Bush records were removed and destroyed. This removal would be a federal crime.
In combination with the AP story and the Boston Globe and the Swift Boat ads and the two 60 minutes stories, i think this will not go away this time.
i live a few miles from Ellington Field where he flew for a while and then quit and have pushed this story back in Feb. and numerous times last year and numerous times this year.
#2 on Google for liberal news
Here's what everyone seems blind to, or has conveniently "overlooked", and/or forgotten:
DESERTION during a time of war is considered "HIGH TREASON", and is *PUNISHABLE BY DEATH*!!!
Being A.W.O.L. for more than 30 days during a time of war is defined by the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) as: "DESERTION".
DESERTION is one of, if not *THE* highest form of TREASON: CRIMES AGAINST OUR GOVERNMENT!
There is no statute of limitations for prosecuting DESERTERS!
To hell with sending Bush to Iraq - send him to the execution squad - *NOW*!!!
Since Kerry has no surrogates to persistently espouse this message in the media, he should spare no chance himself to make it clear that Bush and Cheney were afraid to wear their country's uniform in time of war and that Bush, in particular, attached no importance to complying with even his guard obligations, safe and limited as they were. This reveals this pair for the irresponsible and callous cowards they were then and remain now.
This story will not stay around for too long. The Swift Boat for ?Truth? crap has been slung for so long in the news that people watching this race are *sick* of it. Karl Rove beat it (questioning Kerry's record) to death while a complicit Pentagon delayed releasing Bush's records.
bu$h recently stated that he is proud of his service in the Guard. It would seem that Mr. bu$h has a rather low threshold of pride.
Let's face it... The Republicans will now take the position that this was all 35 years ago and no one wants to hear about it any more. They will say..."Kerry lied and Bush lied and now it's even... LET'S MOVE ON"
and that will be it....
Pathetic, isn't it?
We will see this information kept at low key. We will be lucky to see it pass as a trailer on the bottom of the tv screens. Corporations are running this government and corporations have a monopoly on news outlets. Corporations will do their best to squelch any news that puts their boy in a bad light. It is in their best interests to censure negative Bush news. They will "gore" Kerry, but not Bush. Perhaps the corporately owned media should be tried for treason!
It's still possible to get a copy of Fortunate Son by J. H. Hatfield, a biography that the Bushies didn't want published.
Once again... the media had all this information during the 2000 compaign. They gave Bush a free pass and attacked Gore at every turn. This will pass...or be dismissed as 'garbage' by the WH.
Notice that there have been NO press conferences. Duh! No matter, the White House Press Corps died long ago.
Must read...
The WH Press Corps(e)
WH Press Corps(e)
I like the push-polling idea - it plants the Bush was a deserter meme in people's minds without having to wait for the media to do its job and also in a low key way that won't anger a tired electorate.
And Bush needs to learn that what goes around comes around.
To the question, where were people exposing Bush's AWOL record in 2000? the answer is the book "Fortunate Son" by Jim Hatfield. None of this is news to those who read it.
Hatfield's book tells about preferential Natl Guard admission, coke use, coke bust, judge ordered Houston community service in soup kitchen that Bush blew off, missing Natl Guard drills, flying suspension for failure to take physical and continued coke use.
Rove was able to suppress the book. Hatfield is said to have died under mysterious circumstances, not unlike Margie Schoedinger, a woman who dated Bush in high school and charged before her death that Bush had drug and raped her recently.
Last year DemocracyNow aired interview with Hatfield in which he disclosed that his confidential source for Bush's errant ways was none other than Karl Rove.
Apparently, Rove fed Hatfield the story because he intended to use the one-time felon turned author whom he would subsequently completely discredit.
While Hatfield's felony was essentially an unrelated work dispute, Rove used that crime record to pressure St. Martin's into the unusual step of withdrawing and BURNING the book. Mainstream media ran once than quickly buried the book's story.
"Fortunate Son" was
later re-issued by SoftSkull Press. You can find it on Amazon.
To emphasize what Joe Grackles said earlier: WHERE THE @$%#* IS HIS DD214?!?
It may be that George W. Bush never had a DD-214. He is never shown wearing a National Defense Service Medal and he may not have been eligible to receive one never having served on active duty in the United States Armed Forces during a period of war. His National Guard record shows only National Guard awards. The interesting question is, if this is true and he never served on active duty, how did he join the American Legion? He was listed in the Legion Magazine as a member recently. At another website a Legion member noted that in 2000 when he addressed the legion he said "George W. Bush, Post 77 reporting for duty" but in his last Legion address he did not claim membership.
After looking on the internet for a while I did find a copy of a DD-214 for President Bush reflecting his active duty for training of 1 month and 12 days. There is no National Defense Service Medal so there was no active duty except for training. Since there there were no federal orders placing him on active duty after that date, there would be no DD-214 after that date and the National Guard record would be the only record of his service. The good news is that they're not hiding his DD-214, the bad news is that they're not explaining how he was eligible to join the American Legion with 0 days active duty.
