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Bush’s War Stories Simply Don’t Fly
NY Observer ^ | January 31, 2004 | Joe Conason

Posted on 01/31/2004 7:07:00 AM PST by billorites

George W. Bush lied about his military service record. The lie can be found in his own 1999 campaign autobiography (as written by Karen Hughes), where he dramatically describes his experience as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

On page 34 of A Charge to Keep, Mr. Bush claims that, after learning to fly the F-102 fighter jet, he was turned down for Vietnam duty because "had not logged enough flight hours" to qualify for a combat assignment. Before going on to recall the "challenging moments" that involved close formation drills at night during poor weather, he adds: "I continued flying with my unit for the next several years."

In light of what journalists and other researchers have learned since the publication of Mr. Bush’s book, his account is unmistakably fraudulent.

The issue is again relevant because Michael Moore, the author and filmmaker who supports Wesley Clark’s Presidential campaign, recently impugned the President as a "deserter." During the final Democratic Presidential debate in New Hampshire, moderator Peter Jennings called Mr. Moore’s statement "a reckless charge not supported by the facts," and demanded that General Clark repudiate his celebrity backer.

As the ABC newsman may (or, more likely, may not) know, the facts about the President’s National Guard stint are complex, disputed and, in many respects, unflattering. To call him a "deserter" was wrong and inflammatory, even if Mr. Moore was joking, as he now insists. Although Mr. Bush may well have been absent without leave, he was never prosecuted for that offense, let alone desertion, and he eventually received an honorable discharge. But to suggest that the Bush record is beyond criticism, as Mr. Jennings did, is both misleading and biased. That bias reflects an enduring double standard on this topic that has protected Mr. Bush ever since he first declared his Presidential candidacy.

The facts, established by Boston Globe reporter Walter Robinson in 2000, explode the lyrical flights of fancy penned by Ms. Hughes.

George W. Bush graduated from Yale in June 1968. After his father’s influential friends contacted Texas Air National Guard officials, they awarded young George a safe berth in Houston’s famed "champagne unit," where sons of the Texas elite avoided Vietnam. His very special treatment included instant admission to flight training and an extraordinary commission as a second lieutenant. According to his former superiors, Mr. Bush performed admirably as a pilot while patrolling the coastal waters of the United States.

But in May 1972, only 22 months after he completed pilot training, he stopped flying. In August 1972, he failed to show up for his annual physical examination and was automatically grounded. According to The Times of London, a conservative newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, Mr. Bush’s campaign spokesman said he knew that he would be suspended if he missed that physical.

He never flew a military aircraft again (or not until his flight-suit photo op last spring, when he briefly took the controls of an S-3B Viking jet before landing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln). Instead, he left his Guard unit in Houston and went to Alabama to work in a Republican Senate campaign. He claims to have continued to serve in an Alabama Guard unit, but there is no evidence to support that assertion, and much contradictory evidence. The commanding officer of the Alabama Guard Unit told the Boston Globe that Mr. Bush never showed up for duty there. Nor is there any evidence that he sought duty in Vietnam.

In fact, there is considerable evidence that Mr. Bush skipped all duty for a full year, until April 1973. At that point, his two superior officers in Houston noted in writing in an official document: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report." They erroneously believed that he had been completing his duty in Alabama. Yet he somehow received an honorable discharge eight months before he completed his six-year commitment so that he could begin attending Harvard Business School.

As the Globe noted, the "champagne unit" and others like it back then displayed "a tendency to excuse shirking by those with political connections."

So Mr. Bush’s claim that he "continued flying with my unit for the next several years" is an unabashed falsehood. Yet the spotty coverage of his military record in the mainstream press—aside from the Globe investigation and similar efforts in the Dallas Morning News and the Los Angeles Times—elided that lie. Compare his soft treatment with the media scourging of Bill Clinton, who was held accountable during the 1992 campaign for every word he uttered about his draft record.

What the Jennings episode validates is not Mr. Bush’s strange military career, but the Bush method of press management. Treat journalists like vassals, with nicknames, cheek-pinching and—whenever they forget their place momentarily—sneering disdain. It works brilliantly.

You may reach Joe Conason via email at: jconason@observer.com.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush43; bushmilitaryrecord; bushversuskerry; bushvkerry; deserter; electionpresident; joeconason; kerry; kerrysservicerecord; nationalguard
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1 posted on 01/31/2004 7:07:00 AM PST by billorites
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To: billorites

2 posted on 01/31/2004 7:09:12 AM PST by ChadGore (Bush 2004 HE'S EARNED IT)
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To: billorites
Conason..........Con man .......
3 posted on 01/31/2004 7:10:51 AM PST by litehaus
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To: billorites
Joe Conason, enough said.
4 posted on 01/31/2004 7:11:11 AM PST by mware
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To: ChadGore
Girly Man Joe Conason
5 posted on 01/31/2004 7:11:50 AM PST by UB355
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: billorites
Joe tells more lies than Bill Clinton and that is really hard to do. Juet yesterday Clinton said that the reason we did not find any WMD's in Iraq is because he destroyed them with his bombing in 98.
7 posted on 01/31/2004 7:15:09 AM PST by Piquaboy
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To: UB355
Of course, the "brilliant" Al Gore and his academic record are never commented on.
8 posted on 01/31/2004 7:15:10 AM PST by stylin_geek (Koffi: 0, G.W. Bush: (I lost count))
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To: billorites
"What the Jennings episode validates is not Mr. Bush’s strange military career, but the Bush method of press management. Treat journalists like vassals, with nicknames, cheek-pinching and—whenever they forget their place momentarily—sneering disdain. It works brilliantly."

Geez. Poor Conason. Completely bonkers at this point. I've heard that the screed masters in the media are just livid because President Bush treats them, well, like the scribblers they are and not Olympian gods.

The calumny about his military career has been hashed, rehashed and hash rehashed to death. This seems to be Kool-aid Joey's harump to self-soothe. I would suggest self-gratification instead. At least we wouldn't be subjected to his rants in print.

9 posted on 01/31/2004 7:15:37 AM PST by OpusatFR (Hillary's health care means culling the herd to keep down costs.)
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To: billorites
George W. Bush graduated from Yale in June 1968. After his father’s influential friends contacted Texas Air National Guard officials, they
awarded young George a safe berth in Houston’s famed "champagne unit," where sons of the Texas elite avoided Vietnam.
10 posted on 01/31/2004 7:16:10 AM PST by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: billorites
Kind of amazing how all of a sudden the very people who most loathe the military and everythig it represents are now so concerned about who served when and for how long and where and who is the most decorated vet and who is a bigger American Military War Hero With Cluster than George W.
11 posted on 01/31/2004 7:17:16 AM PST by RogueIsland
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To: RogueIsland
Where were these people in '92 and '96 when the draft dodger/aider and comforter to the enemy was running?

I'm not overwhelmed by Bush's military record, but it beats the previous "President"'s and GWB's 4 years as Commander in Chief cannot be disregarded.

12 posted on 01/31/2004 7:22:01 AM PST by Mr. Buzzcut
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To: billorites
Is there a credible, impartial, source for the entire story on the President's service record? We have all read these stories many times but, to date, I haven't seen anything satisfactory that clears up a troublesome record. Dismissing Conason because he's a common RAT and inveterate liar isn't enough and this will be a crucial point if ketchup boy gets tapped to run. I fully expect that pompous F'ing ass to show up someplace wearing tiger-stripe fatigues and a boonie hat. If Bush stays on the high-ground and won't engage him on the military service record, it simply looks worse.
13 posted on 01/31/2004 7:23:12 AM PST by WorkingClassFilth (DEFUND PBS & NPR - THE AMERICAN PRAVDA)
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To: billorites
According to Amazon.com, the quote "I continued flying with my unit for the next several years" appears ONLY in Conason's book, but does NOT appear in the book he claims to quote.

This is just another attempt by the Left to try to goad Bush into responding to these charges. Only if Bush were to comment, would the issue gain momentum. It will die on the vine, just like it did four years ago.

14 posted on 01/31/2004 7:23:16 AM PST by Pukin Dog (Sans Reproache)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: FirstPrinciple
Are the charges true, or false? I have no information on this matter. Why go after the messenger when you should be refuting him?

If they were false they would be disputed. All I've seen are attacks on Joe, Bill, and Al so far.

16 posted on 01/31/2004 7:25:57 AM PST by steve50 ("There is Tranquility in Ignorance, but Servitude is its Partner.")
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To: billorites
Old news, we all know that the elites do not send their sons to fight and die in our wars. That job is left to the peasants.
17 posted on 01/31/2004 7:26:01 AM PST by jpsb (Nominated 1994 "Worst writer on the net")
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To: joesnuffy
George W. Bush graduated from Yale in June 1968. After his father’s influential friends contacted Texas Air National Guard officials, they awarded young George a safe berth in Houston’s famed "champagne unit," where sons of the Texas elite avoided Vietnam.

George H. W. Bush was a newly elected Republican congressman from Houston--a city in a state that was run entirely by Democrats. GHWB had no "influential friends."

The liberals always slant these stories to sound like GHWB was POTUS.

GWB did not protest the VN war a la Clinton and Kerry.

18 posted on 01/31/2004 7:27:49 AM PST by lonestar (Don't mess with Texas)
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To: ilosetoo
Do you have links or a direct copy of the NYT story cited in your post? A NYT story, far from bias and factual distortion, would still be the right tool to use in castrating any argument or assertions from the Left.
19 posted on 01/31/2004 7:30:57 AM PST by WorkingClassFilth (DEFUND PBS & NPR - THE AMERICAN PRAVDA)
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To: billorites
His very special treatment included instant admission to flight training and an extraordinary commission as a second lieutenant.

What's unusual about that ... he was a college graduate (Yale), he passed the required physical and qualified for flight training. His father in WWII (for a period of time) was the youngest aviator in the Navy ... a ensign (2nd Lt.) at age 19.

20 posted on 01/31/2004 7:32:40 AM PST by BluH2o
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