Question Regarding GWB "Making Up The Time He Missed"

[K8-EEE]

I've never been in the military, but are you allowed to not show up because you are involved in a political campaign or whatever, and then "make the time up" later? Sheesh! You can't even get away with THAT in elementary school, I would think they would have stricter standards and record keeping about such things in the military, especially in war time.

Somehow I think there are a LOT of people over in Iraq now that are there way past the time they were supposed to be home, that would like to come home and work on some congressman's campaign and make the time up at a later date, please.

That just sounds so bogus! Has any of our DU vets ever taken advantage of the "I'm Working For A Political Campaign Right Now Catch Ya Later" break that GWB got?

[Frodo]

1. It would appear that in the National Guard you can.

I guess if you only train a couple days a month they are somwhat flexible with your schedule. Presumably you are working training around some real job. I don't think it has anything to do woth working for a campaign.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

12. Aircrew members pull more than one weekend a month

Having been a navigator in the Guard and Reserves, I can assure you that there are a variety of requirements which pilots must accomplish on a monthly, bi-monthly, semi-annual and annual basis. You don't just show up a couple of days and shoot the shit. I expect there are even more requirements for an interceptor pilot to meet, since he's got weapons systems operation and close formation flying to practice. It's not all about standing next to your plane in a flight suit looking cool.

Apropos of nothing: If you want to see what can happen when strings are pulled to get a privileged kid around the rules, look at the case of Dean Martin Jr. He was nearly 30 when he entered pilot training (the cut-off is 26 1/2) and flew F-4 Phantoms for the California Guard. From what I read, he really loved it -- right unto the moment he took a wrong turn in the weather and flew into a mountain. And he flew a lot (his Guard unit shared the base with my Reserve one).

The big issue concerning *'s service -- other than using Daddy's connections to jump to the head of the line so he could hide from Vietnam -- is the absolute lack of documentation of *'s alleged military service during the disputed time. I couldn't even sneeze (see the Flight Surgeon) without it being recorded. Every day of duty should have been accounted for, plus his release from his flying obligation, plus his Officer Evaluation Ratings from the day he joined the Guard until the time he was discharged.

The Bushies are real big on scrubbing documentation which might harm them; this may be a time it bites * in the ass.

[Frodo]

18. Sure, but?

Could I walk into some military installation and insist on seeing that visit to the flight surgeon documented.

"Accusation" plus "no proof offered that it is false" does not equal a true statement. If the Clinton folks dropped this (and there are a couple pit bulls in there), there can't be much to the story.

[Cat Atomic]

2. In the Aaaarmy National Guaaaaaard.... YOU CAN!

Hehehehe.

I know it was the Air Force, but hey.

[rogerashton]

3. Is there any evidence

that he did "make up the time?" My understanding was that he NEVER reported for duty after leaving Texas.

Oh -- I understand -- serving his country as Squatter is "making up the time."

[Frodo]

5. It "appears" that there is.

I gave up on this one when one of the campaigns said essentially "we've got a couple Clinton staffers on the team and they said is was researched completely and there's nothing there"

I've reas a couple refutations of the Boston Globe article that seem pretty damning. Copies of documents recording days of training when the Globe claimed he was AWOL.

I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

[tom_paine]

14. Got any links to those refutations?

'Cause I suuuuuuure would be interested to see 'em.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. The "documents" that the Bush Camp produced

to show his service during the disputed time where a couple of pages written in hand showing * had attended a day of service.

I've been in the military. NOTHING is put in your file as a plain handwritten sheet -- there is a form for everything.

I'm sure the BushCo people who aren't busy planting MWDs are at work forging documents proving *'s attendence. These papers will just happen to show up when it's most beneficial.

[Frodo]

16. It seemed good enough for the NYTimes.

Not exactly in Shrub's back pocket?

[calimary]

26. The New York Times is not the last word in telling the truth about

the bushies - OR their opponents. Not by a long shot. If they're not IN shrub's back pocket, they're awfully close.

[Frodo]

28. I guess we've seen it all.

The Times "is not the last word" now? They've always been the FIRST word on any news that's fit to print. If they are not the last word on this it is because it is not worth printing.

I've often wondered how people look at the same facts and draw such strikingly different conclusions. The RW looks at the media and calls them "liberals" - even Faux suffers in their eyes for hiring too many liberals. The left looks at the SAME media and sees nothing but RW propoganda EVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES.


Strange times we live in.

[dumpster_baby]

17. The question is NOT whether he was actually guilty of anything, but ......

...instead the question is whether someone can show the basic documents and delineate the basic facts within a few minutes on a TV program, or at least well enough for a large segment of the voters to understand it. Because if that can be done, then it will look very bad for Bush. WHen you look at the docs and the basic facts a certain way, it looks pretty bad for Bush. No way around that.


And if that is done, then barring any surprises, the election is over and Bush is done. A huge segment of the voters is well acquainted with the general rules regarding duty in the military. Either they served, or an immediate family member served. Many of these people vote GOP, or they have in the past. But the AWOL Bush facts, if presented properly, will sure leave a bitter taste in their mouths (and the "champagne unit" information has not even come out yet!). If you present the AWOL bush docs and facts a certain way in order to take advantage of that understanding, he is TOAST!

[Frodo]

20. Sorry, but wishing doesn't make it so.

"All we have to do is make the accusation and it's all over for Bush"

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Imagine the DUI story if it weren't true and could be traced back to the Gore campaign? Whose run for the presidency would be over then?

The question is not whether it can be spoken succinctly on TV, the question is whether it is TRUE. If not, the campaign that brings it up is going to be the one in trouble.

[dumpster_baby]

22. umm...the documentation is NOT in dispute!

The problem is that the "proper" presentation of the docs has not ben widely disseminated. You do NOT have to make a judicial judgment of the facts derived from the docs. ALL you have to do in present properly and disseminate widely. How could it look good for Bush? How could the Dems look bad? If Clark or Kerry get the nomination, and the proper presentation of the Bush docs is widely disseminated (e.g., via TV news magazines), it is OVER. Once you get Mike Wallace interviewing the right person about the Bush Guard docs just before the election, the fat lady is already on stage.....

[Frodo]

24. Sorry. I don't buy it.

If it's so rock solid why doesn't ANY legitimate organization consider it relevant?

I just don't buy that the NY Times is in bed with shrub. Just about every relevant detail was known before the election and Gore chose NOT to run with it... the Clinton staffers chose not to run with it. The news chose not to run with it.

This is simply NOT that it's too difficult to explain briefly. This is as straightforward an accusation as you can get.

How could it look good for Bush? If our candidate sells into the accusation and it is easily proven wrong, that's how. Four years of floating out there with legitimate news organization deciding there was no substance to the story and our guy makes it a part of the campaign? It would have the same effect the DUI story would have had if it were not true. Devestating.

[bobbieinok]

30. have you read www.awolbush.com?

Every relevant detail WAS NOT KNOWN in 2000.

Bob Kerrey freaked out the week before the 2000 election when he heard about this. HE HAD NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS BEFORE.

The documentation is there. The coverup is obvious.

Did you believe the NY Times treatment of Clinton and Gore.

[bobbieinok]

29. I don't believe refutations - PLEASE READ

http://www.awolbush.com

Also there's 'proof' of some service on 'documents' that were added in the 90s.

There is a MASSIVE AND ONGOING COVERUP of this story.

[Journeyman]

4. And does anyone know if Shrub showed up. . .

for the election campaign he was supposedly working on in Georgia? Did anyone in Georgia see him during the months he was AWOL?

[DemoTex]

6. Alabama. And the answer is yes.

Bu$h worked on the campaign of Winton Blount, a businessman from Montgomery, Alabama, for the US Senate. Blount lost and later became the Postmaster General.

[Journeyman]

13. Yes. That's what Shrub says. . .

but do we have any independent confirmation he was actually in Alabama working on that campaign?

Sorry to be so negative, but Shrub gives me little reason to believe the opposite of anything he says.

[bobbieinok]

31. no confirmation that he showed up for his REQUIRED

duty for the AL National Guard.

[Nite Owl]

7. All he has to do

is open the records. Of course someone would have to demand it. Clark or Kerry would be good since the media sure isn't.

[Frodo]

9. Why would he? Would you?

If they condemn him, he obviously doesn't want them released.

If they show that there is nothing to the story? Why not wait until we hyperventilate and try to make it an issue before debunking it? Maybe find a way to have us subpoena it?

[BOSSHOG]

8. Obfuscation is an ally of bush on this issue

Did he or didn't he make up the time? In other words, the rove propaganda machine is working its magic. Bottom line - george bush, who got the billet because of who he was, was on unauthorized absence from his military duties and got away with it because of who he was. That is the cliff notes version not the rove notes version. bush deserted his teammates in the military and yet we are to believe he is a man of integrity. YOU be the judge. Do not waller in obfuscation with morons and dumbasses and rubes who think bush is the man for the white house because he didn't get a blow job. Please, ask yourself - would you rather have a blow job or be guilty of deserting your military teammates.

[justsam]

10. maybe if your name is Bush

but when I was in the military, A person got an article 15 for missing bed ck, which meant 14 days extra duty.. If a soldier didn't show up for a year, he was a deserter and got a court Marshall and wound up in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for probably up to ten yrs, Nam was never declared a war although it was called a war, but to be AWOL or a deserter in time of war(deserter after 30 days) you were in deep shit--It would be a hard fight now anyway because Nixon or somebody pardoned everyone that took off to Canada so any lawyer could change the wording to suit their client

[Frodo]

11. Yeah? But you weren't in the "weekend warrior" military, we're you?

We had the same rules in the Navy. Even in college - You were on report if you missed an evening formation or bed check.

But in the part-time military where you have a REAL job during the week. You can skip your monthly training if you'd rather go skiing.


That's why Bush shouldn't get a whole lot of military "brownie points"... THAT isn't the "military" (not to insult those who actually get called up and SERVE), t's PRACTICE to be in the military.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

21. I was in active duty, the Guard and the Reserves

and while the Guard was considerably looser in its attitude (Motto: "We'd rather apologize afterwards than ask permission before"), you didn't just blow it off. When you are flying, there are too many people who are counting on you to do your job -- flight schedulers, mission schedulers, range officers, maintenance operations, etc. that if you don't show up for duty it gets noticed.

My Reserve units (C-141 and KC-135) flew the exact same missions as the active duty crews, using the same aircraft. Our KC-135s were some of the first ones into Saudi Arabia at the beginning of Desert Shield, which was the pre-positioning of men and equipment for Desert Storm. If you didn't show up for a flight without a damned good reason, it wasn't ignored.

When I was on active duty I used to blow off the Guard and Reserves as "weekend warriors". That may be true for non-fliers, but from my experience, if * did what he is alleged to have done, he should have been in deep serious shit, and it should not be ignored.

You do NOT just walk away from your flying obligation -- especially after the taxpayers spend a million dollars to train you.

BTW: I flew with the Reserves to Europe or the Caribbean every month I was going to law school, and would fly nightly training missions (I was a navigator flight examiner in C-141s) one to two times a week while I was practicing law. Plus I continued the overseas trips. Plus the weekend drills. And I wasn't atypical.

I don't mean to sound defensive (but I do), it's just that not everyone who flies in the Guard or Reserves is as big a jerk-off as *.

[reprobate]

25. And he would have been sent to viet nam.

[rog]

19. "I did the duty necessary-That's why I was honorably discharged"-GW Bush

Bush's Military Record Reveals Grounding and Absence for Two Full Years
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5577.htm
by Robert A. Rogers (USAF - Ret)

Here's a pretty fair article by Joe Conason.

Bush's war stories simply don't fly
http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=15501

Lots of info here.
http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/

Including scanned TANG documents
http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/document.htm

and the latest overview article.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/3671

Excerpt from the Rogers article, above.


Bush has said repeatedly that he completed his service obligations. But a careful review of his record tells a very different story.

On September 5, 1972, more than three months after his transfer request to an inactive Alabama unit was refused, Bush was finally ordered to start serving three months in an active but non-flying administrative Guard unit, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery, Alabama, for four certain duty days in October and November.

Despite this direct written order, there is no official notation in his service record that Bush ever showed up for any of this duty. General William Turnipseed and Lt. Col. Kenneth Lott, who commanded the base at the time, told the Boston Globe that Bush never appeared. "To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said in May.

Bush insists he did, according to the Dallas Morning News. "I was there on temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed weekends. I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligations," he said while campaigning in Alabama on June 23.

But the Bush campaign conducted its own search of Bush's military records, and could not find evidence that Bush performed any duty in Alabama, the Dallas Morning News reported. The only published reports were from personal friends who say they remember Bush telling him that he planned to report for duty, but no reports of anyone in the Guard who actually saw him. Moreover, Interceptor Magazine, a monthly official National Guard publication distributed nationwide, ran advertisements asking for anyone to step forward who remembered seeing Bush on duty. This inquiry came up empty-handed.

This raises the next question of whether 1st Lt. Bush was intentionally absent from assigned duty contrary to a specific written order, which is the civilian/Guard Airman equivalent of AWOL. This absence could normally result in disciplinary action beyond a slap on the wrist by his parent Squadron's Commanding Officer.

When the three-month term of his apparently unfulfilled temporary order in Alabama ended in November 1972, Bush returned home to Houston Texas until the fall of 1973. However, he again did not report in person for non-flying duty to his parent Texas 111th Squadron during this whole time.

Bush offers a different excuse for this period: that the 111th Squadron was switching to a newer jet, so he could not fly. But the unit's commander told the Boston Globe that Bush could have continued to fly the F-102, which remained in service in his unit past the end of Bush's six-year commitment. "If had come back to Houston, I would have kept him flying the 102 until he got out," he said. "But I don't recall him coming back at all." Given that this Commanding Officer used Bush extensively for publicity and recruiting purposes during his flying days, it is unlikely that he would have simply forgotten Bush from the day he wrote that Bush "cleared the base" in May 1972.


.rog.

[Stephanie]

23. More articles:

I made one post, for easier copying, from the links posted in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1047177#1047181

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http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php

The pundits immediately went berserk after the debate. As well they should. Because they know that they -- and much of the mainstream media -- ignored this Bush AWOL story when it was first revealed by an investigation in the Boston Globe (in 2000). The Globe said it appeared George W. Bush skipped out in the middle of his Texas Air National Guard service -- and no charges were ever brought against him. It was a damning story, and Bush has never provided any documents or evidence to refute the Globe's charges.

George W. Bush was missing for at least a 12 month period. That is an undisputed fact. If you or I did that, we would serve time.

Senator Daniel Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii and a World War II veteran, joined with Vietnam vets Sen. Max Cleland and Sen. Bob Kerrey to challenge Bush on the gaps in his military record. "The question is, where were you, Governor Bush? What would you do as commander-in-chief if someone in the National Guard did the same thing? At the least, I would have been court-martialed. At the least, I would have been placed in prison," Inouye said.

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The definitive site - a comprehensive collection of links, articles and official documents:

http://www.awolbush.com/

Where were you in '72?
Most of us remember...Bush does not...

So, while the news networks have sat on this explosive story for months, it's well documented that George W. Bush never showed up for National Guard duty for a period of approximately one year, possibly more, in 1972-1973. Despite all the talk about "honor and dignity," Bush seems to have a problem meeting his commitments.

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http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/3671

FINALLY, THE TRUTH ABOUT BUSH'S MILITARY SERVICE RECORD
George W.'s Missing Year

Marty Heldt is a farmer. He told us, "I spent 17 years as a brakeman before moving back to the farm. That job had some long layovers that gave me a lot of time to read and to educate myself." He lives in Clinton, Iowa.

Nearly two hundred manila-wrapped pages of George Walker Bush's service records came to me like some sort of giant banana stuffed into my mailbox.

I had been seeking more information about his military record to find out what he did during what I think of as his "missing year," when he failed to show up for duty as a member of the Air National Guard, as the Boston Globe first reported.

The initial page I examined is a chronological listing of Bush's service record. This document charts active duty days served from the time of his enlistment. His first year, a period of extensive training, young Bush is credited with serving 226 days. In his second year in the Guard, Bush is shown to have logged a total of 313 days. After Bush got his wings in June 1970 until May 1971, he is credited with a total of 46 days of active duty. From May 1971 to May 1972, he logged 22 days of active duty.

Then something happened. From May 1, 1972 until April 30, 1973 -- a period of twelve months -- there are no days shown, though Bush should have logged at least thirty-six days service (a weekend per month in addition to two weeks at camp).

<The documents are available at: http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/document.htm >

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Paul Krugman:

http://truthout.org/docs_03/050703G.shtml

Mind you, it was funny. At first the White House claimed the dramatic tail-hook landing was necessary because the carrier was too far out to use a helicopter. In fact, the ship was so close to shore that, according to The Associated Press, administration officials "acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of the San Diego coastline."

A U.S.-based British journalist told me that he and his colleagues had laughed through the whole scene. If Tony Blair had tried such a stunt, he said, the press would have demanded to know how many hospital beds could have been provided for the cost of the jet fuel.

But U.S. television coverage ranged from respectful to gushing. Nobody pointed out that Mr. Bush was breaking an important tradition. And nobody seemed bothered that Mr. Bush, who appears to have skipped more than a year of the National Guard service that kept him out of Vietnam, is now emphasizing his flying experience. (Spare me the hate mail. An exhaustive study by The Boston Globe found no evidence that Mr. Bush fulfilled any of his duties during that missing year. And since Mr. Bush has chosen to play up his National Guard career, this can't be shrugged off as old news.)

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<Right click and copy link location - it's so long it distorts the page>
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/One_year_gap_in_Bush_s_Guard_duty+.shtml">Boston Globe

One-year gap in Bush's National Guard duty
No record of airman at drills from 1972-73
By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 5/23/2000

AUSTIN, Texas - After George W. Bush became governor in 1995, the Houston Air National Guard unit he had served with during the Vietnam War years honored him for his work, noting that he flew an F-102 fighter-interceptor until his discharge in October 1973.

And Bush himself, in his 1999 autobiography, ''A Charge to Keep,'' recounts the thrills of his pilot training, which he completed in June 1970. ''I continued flying with my unit for the next several years,'' the governor wrote.

But both accounts are contradicted by copies of Bush's military records, obtained by the Globe. In his final 18 months of military service in 1972 and 1973, Bush did not fly at all. And for much of that time, Bush was all but unaccounted for: For a full year, there is no record that he showed up for the periodic drills required of part-time guardsmen.

Bush, who declined to be interviewed on the issue, said through a spokesman that he has ''some recollection'' of attending drills that year, but maybe not consistently.

From May to November 1972, Bush was in Alabama working in a US Senate campaign, and was required to attend drills at an Air National Guard unit in Montgomery. But there is no evidence in his record that he did so. And William Turnipseed, the retired general who commanded the Alabama unit back then, said in an interview last week that Bush never appeared for duty there.

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http://bushwatch.org/bushgate2.htm

JUNIOR AWOL ON DRUGS?

"THE Republican frontrunner for the White House, George W Bush, was suspended from flying as a young pilot for failing to take a medical examination that included a drug test.
"Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal that in August 1972, as a 26-year-old subaltern in the Air National Guard, Bush was grounded for failing to "accomplish" an annual medical that would have indicated whether he was taking drugs....While he has consistently admitted to a "misspent youth", Bush has evaded questions about cocaine or other drug use, implying only that he has not taken illegal substances since 1974, the year after he left the Air National Guard....

"Bush was not required to face drug tests when he first entered the reserve unit as a Yale graduate in 1968. It was only at the end of 1971 that the US Air Force, facing a backlash against drug-fuelled escapades in Vietnam, introduced a screening policy. In April 1972 the Pentagon implemented a drug-abuse testing programme that required officers on "extended active duty", including reservists such as Bush, to undergo at least one random drug test every year. The annual medical exam that year included a routine analysis of urine, a close examination of the nasal cavities and specific questions about drugs....

"Bush was said to have been unable to take the medical because he was in Alabama while his doctor was in Houston. his campaign official, however, said Bush was aware that he would be suspended for missing his medical as soon as he left Houston because the air force was unable to process his new status before the August deadline for the test. "It was just a question of following the bureaucratic procedure of the time," he said. "He knew the suspension would have to take place."

"William Turnipseed, a retired general who commanded the Alabama unit at the time, said Bush never appeared for duty. Two commanders at Ellington air force base in Houston said in his record they were unable to perform his annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973. "Lt Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report," they wrote.

"...Chris Lapetina, a former marine and Democratic political consultant, said controversy about the medical exam could hurt Bush's chances among several voting blocks, including pensioners and veterans. Many servicemen would be upset if they thought a possible future president had avoided an obligatory military examination that included a drug test, he said. "When someone doesn't take a physical in the military there's got to be very good reason," Lapetina said. "It looks like he made a decision not to take it because the alternative was unpalatable." " --Sunday Times (UK), 6/17/00

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<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59151-2000Jun25¬Found=true>

Records of Bush's Ala. Military Duty Can't Be Found
By Wayne Slater
Dallas Morning News
Monday, June 26, 2000; Page A06

AUSTIN –– After a thorough search of military records, George W. Bush's presidential campaign has failed to find any documents proving he reported for duty during an eight-month stint in Alabama with the Texas Air National Guard.

But a spokesman expressed confidence Saturday that inquiries will turn up former Guard members who can corroborate Bush's having been there.

"He specifically recalls pulling duty in Alabama," spokesman Dan Bartlett said of Bush. "He did his drills."

<snip>

"I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligations."

In May, retired Gen. William Turnipseed, the former commander of the Alabama Guard unit, said Bush did not report to him, although the young airman was required to do so. His orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, said: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training."

"To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said last month.

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http://www.agitproperties.com/chickenhawk.html

Please read the scathing letter from Captain Maureen Griswold, (who lost her brother Scott to the Vietnam War debacle), to KB toys about their bush (non)action figure. Here's a brief excerpt:

"Note: AWOL and absent without leave' and desertion (defined as AWOL beyond 30 days), are actual crimes with NO STATUTES OF LIMITATION."

Other links to bush's (non)duty are provided on the linked web page and within the letter of Captain Griswold.

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On the lack of coverage
http://www.uaw.org/cap/01/news/day3media.html

Let me give you some statistics," responded panelist Paul Begala, "I worked for Bill Clinton in 1992 and …in anticipation of this very question, I looked this up on Nexis. There were 13,641 stories about Bill Clinton 'dodging the draft' …and there were 49 stories about Bush and the National Guard," Begala said.

And here is a timeline.

http://uggabugga.blogspot.com/2003_01_12_uggabugga_archive.html#87590816

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Bill Burkett:

May 28, 2002
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Pausing to Reflect After Memorial Day: Were George W. Bush's National Guard Records Scrubbed? Bill Burkett Should Know. The Nation Deserves the Truth.

(See http://199.96.2.183/contributors/2002/05/24_supreme.html to understand the context of this letter to BuzzFlash.com from Bill Burkett. It is also recommended that you read these two important postings from the Democrats.com archives: http://www.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=171 and
http://www.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=154)

Additional BuzzFlash Note: Major General Daniel James was head of the Texas National Guard at the time of the alleged scrubbing of George W. Bush's National Guard records. He was appointed by George W. Bush to be commander of the nation's Air National Guard -- and was confirmed by the Senate last week.

A Letter to BuzzFlash.com from Bill Burkett, formerly of the Texas National Guard:

In regards to the BuzzFlash contibutor piece, "SUPREME IRONY" (http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/05/24_Supreme.html)

This BuzzFlash reader gets it closer to right than anyone has since 1998 when I broke the Bush AWOL story as a whistleblower.

I hope that more information will be coming soon as a few journalists are now asking questions that should have been asked in 1998.

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/05/28_Scrubbed.html

* * *

Also from the Veterans for Peace website:

What do you say?
By Bill Burkett
Online Journal Contributing Writer

March 19, 2003—I've sat in total grief for the past three years, watching the institutions of America being spent as if they were lottery winnings.

I don't want to say it, "But I told you so."

In January of 1998 and what seems like a full lifetime ago, I was stricken by a deadly case of meningoencephalitis. I was returning from a short duty trip to Panama as a team chief to inspect the hand over of Ft. Clayton to the Panamanians. I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records .

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/what_do_you_say_032203.htm

Who is Bill Burkett?

Lt. Col. Bill Burkett completed 28 years of decorated service and was medically retired from the US Army National Guard in 1998 after suffering meningoencephalitis on return from an assignment in Panama. From 1995 until his illness, Burkett served as State Plans Officer for the Texas Army National Guard and Governor George W. Bush. After refusing to follow direct orders involving falsifying readiness reports, Burkett sought "whistleblower" status for reports involving anti-Semitic activity; personnel fraud; readiness fraud and the alteration of the personal military file of Governor George W. Bush. Lt. Col. Burkett is currently the plaintiff in his appeal to the US Supreme Court in the case of Burkett v. Goodwin, Taliaferro, Meador, et al, in regard to the retaliation against him following breaking the Bush records issue. Lt. Col Burkett served as a War Plans Officer during Operation Desert Storm and functioned as a senior trainer in conducting simulations exercises for deploying troops.

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David Neiwert:

http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2004_01_18_dneiwert_archive.html#107489673457218778

Bush blew off his commitment to the Texas Air National Guard by failing to take a physical, and thereafter failing to report to his superior officers at his old unit for at least seven months. His flight status was revoked, and he never flew again -- at least, not until the Lincoln stunt.

These facts have never been disputed since they were uncovered, and in fact were acknowledged by Bush's spokespeople. Moreover, as Joe Conason has already noted, Bush actually falsified this aspect of his service in his ghost-written autobiography, A Charge to Keep, describing his pilot's training in some detail, then concluding: ''I continued flying with my unit for the next several years." In fact, Bush was suspended from flying 22 months after he completed his training -- a period that does not even generously fit Bush's description.

Several of Bush's former superiors in the TANG -- most of whom remain on friendly terms with the president -- have defended his service and suggested that there was nothing wrong with Bush's behavior in what for most other servicemen would be considered a fairly clear case of dereliction of duty.

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[OneTwentyoNine]

27. Good,Bush can start January 21st 2005.....

[trumad]

32. Uhhh Froda

Did you read Stephanie's post? Did you read it carefully? Are you still defending Dubya and his military record? Lots of folks want to know...can George provide the answers... I know that if someone questioned my service in the 82nd Airborne and questioned if I really was in that unit, I'd slap them down so quick with my records it would hurt em bad...then I'd kick their ass for even questioning me!

George should be proud of his service so why doesn't he shut us all up once and for all and provided the simple proof that he was there the whole time.... WHY! because he can't!