Free Republic

A retired Alabama Air National Guard officer said Friday that he remembers George W. Bush showing up for duty in Alabama in 1972, reading safety magazines and flight manuals in an office as he performed his weekend obligations. ``I saw him each drill period,'' retired Lt. Col. John ``Bill'' Calhoun said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Daytona Beach, Fla., where he is preparing to watch this weekend's big NASCAR race. ``He was very aggressive about doing his duty there. He never complained about it. ... He was very dedicated to what he was doing in the...

President Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War has become a heated political issue once again, with Democrats claiming he may have been "AWOL" some of the time and the White House charging that partisan critics are just "trolling for trash." And while the president has said he would be willing to release records that would help clear up questions about his service, White House officials are still poring over records to decide whether they will make public any more information than they already have this week. Here, in question and answer form, is a look at...

President Bush's aides are reviewing an inch-thick file they first received from the Texas Air National Guard in preparation for the 2000 election as they await a new set of military records and try to determine whether to make additional documents public. Bush has been under fire from critics who contend he shirked his duty in the National Guard, and Republican lawmakers have begun to complain privately that the controversy is hurting the party. The White House used fanfare to release 13 pages of records this week to rebut Bush's critics, but those same records did not provide details about...