White House releases Bush's National Guard records

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | February 10, 2004 | N/A

[Hon]

White House releases Bush's National Guard records

Effort to quell election-year controversy

WASHINGTON — The White House, facing election-year questions about President Bush’s military service, released pay records and other information Tuesday that it said supports Bush’s assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam war. The material included annual retirement point summaries and pay records to show that Bush served.

“When you serve, you are paid for that service. These documents outline the days on which he was paid. That means he served. And these documents also show he met his requirements,” press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. “And it’s just really a shame that people are continuing to bring this up.”

“These documents clearly show that the president fulfilled his duties,” McClellan said.

Photocopied payroll records distributed by the White House were not all legible. The White House promised clearer copies later Tuesday afternoon.

The documents indicate that Bush received credit for nine days of active duty between May 1972 and May 1973, the period that has been cited by Democrats as evidence that Bush shirked his military responsibilities.

A memo written by retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd Jr, at the request of the White House, said a review of Bush’s records showed that he had “satisfactory years” for the period of 1972-73 and 1973-74 “which proves that he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner.”

Lloyd was personnel director for the Texas Air National Guard from 1969 to 1995 and also had reviewed Bush’s military records at the request of his campaign four years ago.

The point summaries were released during the 2000 presidential campaign but the pay records were not obtained by the White House until late Monday from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo., McClellan said. He said the center, apparently acting on its own, reviewed Bush’s records and came up with the pay information.

“It was our impression from the Texas Air National Guard — they stated they didn’t have them,” he said. “It was also our impression those records didn’t exist.” Bush on Sunday authorized the release of his Guard records. McClellan said the latest material apparently is all of Bush’s records.

The pay information documented the dates when Bush showed up for Guard duty, the spokesman said. “You are paid for the dates you served,” McClellan added.

Bush’s military record was raised as an issue in the 2000 campaign and was revived this year by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who called Bush “AWOL” — absent without leave — during a period of his service when he was in Alabama.

Asked if the records should end the controversy about Bush’s service, McClellan said, “You have to ask those who made these outrageous accusations if they stand by them in the face of this documentation that demonstrates he served and fulfilled his duties.”

Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 shortly before graduating from Yale University.

Questions have been raised about whether family connections helped him get into the Guard when there were waiting lists for what was seen as an easy billet. Bush says no one in his family pulled strings and that he got in because others didn’t want to commit to the almost two years of active duty required for fighter pilot training.

A central issue is whether he showed up for duty while assigned to Guard units in Alabama, where he worked on a political campaign in 1972. “There may be no evidence, but I did report,” Bush told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been honorably discharged.”

Another question is why he was allowed to end Guard duty about six months early to attend Harvard Business School. Bush said on NBC that he had “worked it out with the military. And I’m just telling you, I did my duty.”

Lloyd has said that Bush’s early discharge was not uncommon for pilots or other crewmen who were to leave soon and had been trained on now-obsolete jets, as was Bush’s case.

[Hon]

But of course it still won't be enough.

[Sidebar Moderator]

My apologies for the inadvertent pull. Thread restored, but still removed from bn (many articles on this non-story).

[Hon]

I only put it in BN because it had just come out 4 seconds before I posted it. I thought that that was the point of breaking news.

I also think it is news, since it proves dispositively that Bush served his time and was not AWOL.

That is kind of a popular topic at the moment, seems to me.

[EllaMinnow]

At first read, this looks more even-handed than the earlier reports.

[Hon]

"The documents indicate that Bush received credit for nine days of active duty between May 1972 and May 1973, the period that has been cited by Democrats as evidence that Bush shirked his military responsibilities."

In case anybody missed it, this nails the AWOL story dead.

[EllaMinnow]

It looks that way to me.

[backhoe]

Hon, I will link to this, and email it to the usual suspects in 'netland.

If you haven't already done or considered doing it, you might gather all your info- or just the links to it- into one standalone post, so it would all be in an easy to find location.

[Hon]

It's also the same thing that the Boston Globe story reported THREE and A HALF YEARS ago:

"Two documents obtained by Georgemag.com indicate that Bush did make up the time he missed during the summer and autumn of 1972. One is an April 23, 1973 order for Bush to report to annual active duty training the following month; the other is an Air National Guard statement of days served by Bush that is torn and undated but contains entries that correspond to the first. Taken together, they appear to establish that Bush reported for duty on nine occasions between November 29, 1972-when he could have been in Alabama-and May 24, 1973. Bush still wasn't flying, but over this span, he did earn nine points of National Guard service from days of active duty and 32 from inactive duty. When added to the 15 so-called "gratuitous" points that every member of the Guard got per year, Bush accumulated 56 points, more than the 50 that he needed by the end of May 1973 to maintain his standing as a Guardsman."

http://web.archive.org/web/20001202233300/http:/www2.georgemag.com/bush.html

(Of course they couldn't resist screwing up the stuff about him being order to go to Alabama.)

[demlosers]

“There may be no evidence, but I did report,” Bush told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been honorably discharged.”

His words are all I need to know. The Rats are sooooooo desperate.

[Viking2002]

Agreed. This will put them in their place over that whole AWOL smear, but Horseface & Co. will still try to play up that 'I went to Vietnam and he didn't' angle. However, I think that'll be negated once the Hanoi Jane pics make enough rounds.

[Hon]

Correction: "It's also the same thing that [George Magazine] story reported THREE and A HALF YEARS ago"

--And what the liar Walter Robinson at the Boston Globe and others since have steadfastly ignored.

[EllaMinnow]

The White House Press Corps have the attention span of a gnat, and the brain power of a pebble.

They are completely incapable of doing research, and incompetent at interpretating anything.

[Schattie]

Attacking Bush over such a petty issue, what happened over 30 years ago, will only hurt the dems. Are they all mad? (don't answer that)

[CedarDave]

See this thread (based on an ABC News note) for the bias inherent in the Washington press:

How the Media works( good read)

[He Rides A White Horse]

Removed comment body due to complaint from Corbis. Please do not post or link Corbis material.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Bush’s military record was raised as an issue in the 2000 campaign and was revived this year by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who called Bush “AWOL” — absent without leave — during a period of his service when he was in Alabama.

McAuliffe embodies all that the Democrat Party stands for........deceit, underhandedness, and telling outright lies in order to achieve an agenda. Much like communists do.

.....and speaking of communists, Kerry was involved with that treasoner Hanoi Jane, to a very significant level.

There's a big story here. Keep digging folks.

McAuliffe should have kept his mouth shut.

[Hon]

It's definitely Kerry. He spoke at that rally. He was their "ragtag commander". Go to this thread (which is where Newsmax lifted their story:

John Kerry At Valley Forge (With Jane Fonda)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1074369/posts

[Hon]

Read the excerpt I posted from George Magazine above. Bush put in MORE time than he needed to meet his requirements for that year.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Good.

Then all we need is some intrepid reporter to confront Kerry on national television and ask him about this.