Bush Was Surprised At Lack of Iraqi Arms
In Television Interview, President Also Defends His Military Service
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23494-2004Feb8.htmlBy Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 9, 2004; Page A01
President Bush acknowledged that he was apparently wrong in stating on the eve of war with Iraq that there was "no doubt" that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
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In the Sunday talk-show interview, the first of his presidency in such a format, Bush also defended as honorable his Vietnam-era service in the National Guard and committed to the release of additional records to quell a renewed controversy over whether he fulfilled his military obligation.
Bush, preparing for a reelection campaign in which he appears increasingly likely to face a decorated Vietnam veteran in Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), said "I put in my time" in the National Guard and suggested that his critics were disparaging the National Guard as a whole. Reacting for the first time since the old controversy was revived by Democratic charges that he was "AWOL" during Vietnam,
Bush said he would "absolutely" release records such as pay stubs that would, if found, indicate more precisely how often he reported for duty. ---snip---
Bush's promise to release all of his military files, including pay stubs and tax records, has the potential to resolve the long debate over Bush's service from May 1972 to May 1973. No records have been found showing he performed his duties during that period, but he received an honorable discharge, indicating that he had served properly.
Experts in such matters have said payroll records and Bush's annual retirement "point summary" from the time -- neither of which has been uncovered -- should demonstrate definitively how often Bush participated in drills. Such records, unless they have been purged, should exist on microfiche in St. Louis or Denver.
Bush said it was unlikely those records still exist. Asked whether he would allow their release, he replied: "Yeah, if we still have them. But, you know, the records are kept in Colorado, as I understand, and they scoured the records." Bush also said his campaign had authorized the release of such information in the 2000 campaign, but no such information has been released. A spokeswoman, Claire Buchan, said yesterday that all existing records, including pay stubs and retirement points, had already been made available.
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