Letters exchanged between Bush's National Guard CO and father found(updated-more new docs mentioned)

AP ^ | 9/17/04

[ambrose]

Letters exchanged between Bush's National Guard CO and father found

Updated at 18:21 on September 17, 2004, EST.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A packet of Texas Air National Guard records released Friday showed the commanding officer of President George W. Bush's basic training unit took a special interest in him as a trainee and wrote to his father to praise his son.

Bush's father, then a congressman from Texas, said in reply to the commander: "That a major general in the air force would take interest in a brand new air force trainee made a big impression on me."

Bush went on to say his son "will be a gung-ho member" of the air force and air force instructors had "helped awaken the very best instincts in my son."

The letter and other material were the latest in a stream of documents released about Bush's service three decades ago during the Vietnam War, when Bush's critics said he received preferential treatment as the son of a congressman and UN ambassador. Critics have also questioned why Bush skipped a required medical examination in 1972 and failed to show up for drills during a six-month period that year.

The White House has said repeatedly all of Bush's Guard records have been disclosed, only to be embarrassed when new documents have turned up. The long-running story took an unusual turn when CBS uncovered documents purported to show Bush refused orders to take a physical examination in 1972 - but then the authenticity of the documents were put in doubt.

In addition to the letter from Bush's father, the latest documents contain news releases the Texas Air National Guard sent to Houston newspapers in 1970 about young Bush, then a second lieutenant and new pilot.

"George Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed," the news release said.

"Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics."

Three decades later, a new book by Kitty Kelley has alleged Bush used cocaine while he was a student at Yale University and later at the pesidential retreat in Camp David, Md., while his father was president.

The White House has denounced Kelley's book, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, and denied the charges.

The new packet of documents also contained two single-page orders documenting Bush's guard training in May and June of 1973 after he returned from Alabama. Those documents note Bush was not allowed to fly. A year earlier, he had lost his flying status when he failed to take a required medical exam.

The letter written by Bush's father, former president George Bush, was addressed to Maj-Gen. G.B. Greene, commander of the training centre at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where Bush took his basic training. The file does not contain Greene's letter to Bush's father but shows the letter his father wrote back.

[Lady GOP]

          TV Ads and Videos

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Dazed and Confused -- September 17, 2004

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C-SPAN Streaming Videos (all RealPlayer)

o Kerry Lied Rally -- September 12, 2004 (2:49:51)

o Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Press Conference -- May 04, 2004 (1:21:52)

o John O'Neill on Sen. John Kerry -- April 21, 2004 (30:12)

o John Kerry debates John O'Neill on the Dick Cavett Show -- June 30, 1971 (2:01:17)

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[Sacajaweau]

Very interesting. If he was surprised at the interest, then my feeling is there was no favoritism except that Kid Bush became an example of "Be All You Can Be".

[Dan from Michigan]

That reminds me. I gotta go write a check to the Swifties.

I've been planning to do that for weeks now.

[Lady GOP]

Go Dan...

Received this update from the Swiftees today..

Swift Boat Vets Launch Next Round of TV Ad Campaign

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released a second ad highlighting John Kerry as he denounced his veteran shipmates and his country by throwing away his commendations after his return from a brief, four-month tour of duty.

This new ad, which will air statewide in Nevada, New Mexico and on some national cable stations, represents a $500,000 media buy -- roughly 700 gross rating points per state over a six-day period. The ad features Kerry's comments during television news interviews in 1971 and 2004 regarding his decision to throw his medals away.

"When John Kerry threw his medals away, he betrayed his fellow veterans, he betrayed his country, and he betrayed every American our armed forces have fought to protect," said Admiral Roy Hoffmann, founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

The ad shows Kerry saying, "I gave back -- I can't remember – six, seven, eight, nine . . .and that was the medals themselves." Kerry also stated in 1971 that he and others like him "renounce the symbols" of his country.

But those statements were far different from the comments Kerry made in 2004, in which he tried to downplay and re-cast the event. In the 2004 version of his medal-tossing incident, Kerry attempted to say that he only threw away ribbons, not the medals themselves and that, "we threw away the symbols of what our country gave us."

The ad closes by asking viewers the question, "John Kerry -- can you trust anything he says?"

[Logical me]

My Gosh, what as@@hole does not understand that it is impossible to say all notes, letters, etc., have been found. An organization this large as the US Government, things are lost. Ask the Clintons. They found a whole closet full! Lets quit the bullsh@@.

[Steven W.]

A key point - these are not RECORDS. They are memos. The Pentagon states that all RECORDS have been released. The White House told them to go back and search all the personnel files of people other than Bush and these are documents which were found in other people's files.

[Angelwood]

Thanks for putting these ads in one place -- I hadn't seen some of them yet.

[VadeRetro]

I'm going to guess in advance that the fonts on the newly-released documents nowhere match the CBS documents. This is some sort of psychic power I've just discovered.

[Dan from Michigan]

I'll be looking forward to seeing this one on the airwaves. I saw their last two ads on cable, and I don't watch much TV unless a game is on so it was probably during channel surfing. They earned my support by proving that they are not a flash in the pan.

That's not mentioning the fact that I owe Hanoi John one. He stabbed my dad in the back in 71. This one's personal.