| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
26 Aug 2004 01:25:34 PM |
| Object: |
Questions Remain About Bush's National Guard Stint!!! |
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_5097.shtml
Questions Remain About Bush's National Guard Stint
By Staff and Wire Reports
Aug 24, 2004
A number of questions about President Bush's 1968-73 stint in the
Texas Air National Guard remain unanswered.
For example:
-----Why did the young Lt. Bush stop flying fighter jets in the spring
of 1972 and fail to appear for an annual physical exam required of all
pilots?
-----What about the gap in the president's Guard service in 1972-73,
when commanders in Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for
duty and military records show no pay to Bush when he was supposed to
be on duty in Alabama?
-----What preferential treatment did Bush receive to get into the
Guard and secure a coveted pilot slot despite poor qualifying scores
and a record of arrests for stealing a Christmas wreath and rowdiness
at a football game during his college years?
Although the White House released some records, the files released so
haven't answered those questions.
Since the documents were released in February, at least a half-dozen
news organizations have filed new requests for Bush's military records
under the Freedom of Information Act but the White House has
stonewalled many of those request.
Claims presidential spokesman Dan Bartlett said:
"Some are taking longer than others, but all will be addressed."
But the delay has helped make past military service and qualifications
to be commander in chief a central theme in the 2004 presidential
campaign.
And while the high-profile campaign about Kerry's Vietnam service
dominate current news, questions about Bush's record predate the
current campaign.
The gap in his Guard service first surfaced before the 2000 election,
when The Boston Globe reported that Texas Guard commanders were unable
to account for Bush's whereabouts from May 1972 to April 1973.
Bush will not say what, if anything, he did in the Guard during that
period.
A statement by a former Alabama Air Guard officer who said he saw Bush
report for duty there in the fall of 1972 and a dential exam on Jan.
6, 1973, are the only indications he was ever at Dannelly Air National
Guard Base in Alabama.
Bush claimed in a TV interview in February that he would make "all"
his military records available.
The White House released more than 400 pages of Bush military records,
including some duplicates, and said the documents were a complete
catalog of his personnel files.
But some documents still have not been made public.
The White House did not release Bush's medical records from his Guard
files but allowed a group of reporters who cover the White House to
review them for 20 minutes.
They found nothing unusual. Kerry released some of his military
records earlier this year.
He has also declined to release his complete medical records but
showed them to reporters as Bush did.
In February, the White House banned all Guard and military commanders
outside the Pentagon from commenting on Bush's records or service.
Requests for information must go to the Pentagon's Freedom of
Information Act office.
The Pentagon last week responded to a 4-month-old request for
additional records from Bush's files by sending another copy of
documents that were released by the White House in February.
The documents do not address the unexplained year in Bush's Guard
service or his decision to stop flying.
The Associated Press filed a lawsuit this summer requesting copies of
Bush's military records stored in a Texas archive on microfilm.
It sought information that might explain why Bush did not take his
flight physical and whether he showed up for duty in Alabama in the
fall of 1972, AP spokesman John Stokes said.
So, to date, the issue remains unresolved and unanswered.
_________________________________________________________
You might also want to read;
Bush never completed five months of National Guard service
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=163
Deserter: The Story of George W. Bush After He Quit the Texas Air
National Guard
http://www.glcq.com/bush_at_arpc1.htm
Bush Records of Service Were "accidentally" Destroyed
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/campaign/09records.html
No Proof Bush Completed Military Service
http://www.wbex.com/script/headline_newsmanager.php?id=327365&pagecontent=nationalnews&feed_id=59
Tracking the National Guard Career of the Fatuous Flyboy from New
Haven.
http://www.counterpunch.com/stclair08122004.html
Harry
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