URL for Wash Post "briefing" - an excellent version of the ABCNote

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/whbriefing/

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White House Coverage From The Washington Post • Bush Plans To Back Marriage Amendment (Post, Feb. 11, 2004)• Bush to Outline Plan for Limiting Nuclear Arms (Post, Feb. 11, 2004)• Guard Records On President Are Released (Post, Feb. 11, 2004)• More Post Headlines From The Associated Press •Spokesman Defends Bush's Military Service (AP, Feb. 11, 2004; 11:02 AM)• Democrats Seek More Proof of Bush Service (AP, Feb. 11, 2004; 9:53 AM)•Bush Calling for Action on WMD Fight (AP, Feb. 11, 2004; 8:27 AM)• More AP Headlines More White House News and Links

New Documents Fuel the Fire

Wednesday, Feb 11, 2004; 10:34 AM

Talk about unintended consequences.

The White House released a handful of records yesterday in an attempt to quell the controversy over whether President Bush shirked his duty as a National Guardsman during the Vietnam War.

But the documents, one of which had already been circulated on the Internet for days, did not exactly clear things up.

As Charlie Gibson put it on ABC's "Good Morning America" today, the subject "seems to be consuming Washington."

If the records are accurate, they do appear to show that Bush met at least one minimal requirement for the Guard.

The records don't show what he did or where. There's still no independent confirmation. There's still a six-month gap between April and October of 1972, and a three-month gap from January to April of 1973.

And the Boston Globe this morning asserts that Bush may have met the minimum threshold for retirement credit, but he did not meet the minimum annual requirement for National Guard service, which in 1972 was one weekend a month -- or 24 days -- and 15 days of active duty, the same basic requirement that exists today.<snip>