Bush didn't make Guard's grade, memos show
By PETE YOST Associated Press
9/9/2004

The documents help explain why he lost his flight status in his Texas unit.
WASHINGTON -- The White House released memos Wednesday night saying that
George W. Bush was suspended from flying fighter jets for failing to meet
standards of the Texas Air National Guard.

The Vietnam-era memos add new dimensions to the bare-bones explanation of
Bush's aides over the years that he was suspended simply because he skipped
his annual physical exam. The exam was scheduled during a year in which Bush
left Texas, where he had been flying fighter jets, to work on a U.S. Senate
campaign in Alabama.

The White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, told CBS' "60 Minutes
II," which first obtained the memos, that Bush's superiors granted him
permission to train in Alabama in a non-flying status and that "many of the
documents you have here affirm just that."

An Aug. 1, 1972, memo by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian states, "On this date I
ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to
perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical
examination . . . as ordered."

A memo a year later points to turmoil among Bush's superiors over how to
rate his performance because there was no "feedback" from Guard officials in
1972 and 1973 in Alabama, where Bush had been largely inactive.

A third Killian memo makes clear that he was concerned from the outset over
Bush's plan to go to Alabama because the military had spent a substantial
sum turning Bush into a pilot and that his National Guard du ties might
suffer if he went elsewhere.

"Phone call from Bush," Killian wrote in a May 19, 1972, memo. "Discussed
options of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through
November. . . . Says that he is working on another campaign for his dad. . .
. We talked about him getting his flight physical situation fixed . . . Says
he will do that in Alabama if he stays in a flight status."

The memo added that Bush "has this campaign to do and other things that will
follow and may not have the time. I advised him of our investment in him and
his commitment."

The White House told CBS that Bush "met his drills then when he came back"
from Alabama "and that's why he received an honorable discharge."

With national security and the war on terrorism a looming issue in voters'
minds, supporters of Bush and the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, are
attacking each candidate's Vietnam War records. Republicans have accused
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, of fabricating the events that
led to his five medals. Democrats point to gaps in Bush's stateside Air
National Guard service in 1972 and 1973 to say that Bush shirked his duty.

Asked about Killian's memo that gives two reasons for Bush's suspension,
Bartlett told CBS, "That might be official language." Bartlett said "the
records have been clear for years that President Bush did not take a
physical because he did not need to take a physical because, obviously, the
choice was that he was going to be performing in a different capacity."

Asked about Killian's memo about the military's investment in Bush, Bartlett
told CBS: "For anybody to try to interpret or presume they know what
somebody who is now dead was thinking in any of these memos, I think is very
difficult to do."