the Sugar Conspiracy

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

AWOL

Recently, stories about Bush going "missing" during his Air National Guard Service in the 1970s have been resurfacing in the media. The Boston Globe first broke the story back in May 2000 during the Bush/Gore campaign for the presidency, but no one picked it up. Now that John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is doing well in the Democratic primaries, the story is starting to pick up some steam. Here's an excerpt from the Globe's original piece:
[B]oth accounts [of Bush's service] 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.

After the election, Bush returned to Houston. But seven months later, in May 1973, his two superior officers at Ellington Air Force Base could not perform his annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973 because, they wrote, ''Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report.''

The White House, of course, refuses to clarify any of this, so White House spokesman Scott McClellan is dutifully repeating the agreed-to talking points.

posted by chris at 4:28 PM
------------------

Blog - Info - Archive - Contact - Links
2005 © Designed by Chris. Take what you want.