AWOL Bush?

“Reagan defense sec. confirms legal analysis Bush was AWOL


*****WORLD EXCLUSIVE*****

By John Byrne | Raw Story Editor

Lawrence J. Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics under Ronald Reagan from 1981-1985, confirmed RAW STORY’s legal analysis of President Bush’s Guard Service in a telephone call Friday afternoon.

The analysis, which proves that President George W. Bush was absent without leave from the Texas Air National Guard in 1972, is available here.

Given proof that Bush missed five months of Guard training sessions, he said that Bush would be considered AWOL.

“If you don’t show up, you’re absent without leave, by definition,” Korb said.

No more than ten percent of sessions could be missed without them being made up, he asserted, confirming RAW STORY’s findings. He added that President Bush should have been mandated to serve active duty if he missed even two months of service in a fiscal year – 24 months of active duty minus the amount of active duty already served.

<snip>”

“ACTIVE DUTY for George.... now that's a thought!”

“How is that possible with someone who is brain-dead?”

“Gee MarkO, I didn't know you graduated from Yale, became Gov of your state, then was elected Pres.

Don't you think it would be just a little more mature to say you disagreed with his policies, rather than resort to this kind of childish crap?”

“I'm sure MarkO could have gotten into Yale if he had a rich, famous dad. I'm sure MarkO could have become govoner of his state if his dad was the former president. I'm sure MarkO could have been elected preseident if he chose to cheat and liue his way into it.

However, MarkO has much more intelligence and character to do such things, and he doesn't have a rich and famous daddy to spoon feed his every opportunity.

Basically, MarkO isn't brain-dead, and is much smarter than the idiot we have running this country, so he has every right to call a spade a spade.”

“Average Yale Grad GPA - 3.4
GWB Grad GPA - 2.33 (C+)

And I'll wager that he got the 2.33 because of daddy too.

If this guy was born to some average joe, he'd be either on welfare or asking me: "Would you like fries with that?"”

“GWB 1206 on his SAT

Curent Yale Standards:

SAT - 1380 to 1580
ACT - 30 to 34

In 1970, the average SAT scores for Yale freshman were: 670 (verbal) 705 (math or 1,375.

Bush's score: 566 (verbal)640 (math), 1206

For those of us younger folks who took the ATC, here is how this breaks down:

GWB - SAT 1206 = 27 on the ACT


What does this mean? GWB was placed in Yale for who he was, and he probably took the place of someone much smarter than him to add insult to injury.”

“From the front page of today's USA Today

...questions about President Bush's 1968-73 stint in the Texas Air National Guard remain unresolved:

• Why did Bush, described by some of his fellow officers as a talented and enthusiastic pilot, stop flying fighter jets in the spring of 1972 and fail to take an annual physical exam required of all pilots?

• What explains the apparent gap in the president's Guard service in 1972-73, a period when commanders in Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for duty and records show no pay to Bush when he was supposed to be on duty in Alabama?

• Did Bush receive preferential treatment in getting into the Guard and securing a coveted pilot slot despite poor qualifying scores and arrests, but no convictions, for stealing a Christmas wreath and rowdiness at a football game during his college years?

The White House has released hundreds of pages of records, but the files released so far haven't answered those questions. Since the documents were released in February, at least a half-dozen news organizations, including USA TODAY, have filed new requests for Bush's military records under the Freedom of Information Act.

In an e-mail to USA TODAY last week, presidential spokesman Dan Bartlett said: "The president has authorized the release of his records and we are complying with all requests. Some are taking longer than others, but all will be addressed."

Past military service and qualifications to be commander in chief have become a central theme in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Questions about Bush's record predate the current campaign. The apparent gap in his Guard service first surfaced before the 2000 election, when The Boston Globe reported that Texas Guard commanders were unable to account for Bush's whereabouts from May 1972 to April 1973.

Bush has not said what he did in the Guard during that period. Aside from a statement by a former Alabama Air Guard officer who said he saw Bush report for duty there in the fall of 1972, the only evidence he was at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama was a record of a dental exam on Jan. 6, 1973, at the base.

Bush said in a TV interview in February that he would make all his military records available. That month, the White House released more than 400 pages of Bush military records, including some duplicates, and said the documents were a complete catalog of his personnel files.

But some documents still have not been made public. The White House did not release Bush's medical records from his Guard files but allowed a group of reporters who cover the White House to review them for 20 minutes. They found nothing unusual. Kerry released some of his military records earlier this year. He has also declined to release his complete medical records but showed them to reporters as Bush did.

Since February, the White House has banned all Guard and military commanders outside the Pentagon from commenting on Bush's records or service. Requests for information must go to the Pentagon's Freedom of Information Act office.

The Pentagon last week responded to a 4-month-old request from USA TODAY for additional records from Bush's files by sending another copy of documents that were released by the White House in February. The documents do not address the unexplained year in Bush's Guard service or his decision to stop flying.

The Associated Press filed a lawsuit this summer requesting copies of Bush's military records stored in a Texas archive on microfilm. It sought information that might explain why Bush did not take his flight physical and whether he showed up for duty in Alabama in the fall of 1972, AP spokesman John Stokes said.”

“"In his book "Colin Powell: An American Journey," Powell writes scathingly about young, privileged cowards who avoided service in Vietnam:
"I particularly condemn the way our political leaders supplied the manpower for that (the Vietnam) war. The policies -- determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live -- were an antidemocratic disgrace. I can never forgive a leadership that said, in effect: These young men -- poorer, less educated, less privileged -- are expendable (someone described them as "economic cannon fodder"), but the rest are too good to risk. I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well placed and many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units [e.g., George W. Bush (BuzzFlash's insertion)]. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to our country."
-- and --
"Better-off kids beat the draft with college deferments [e.g., Dick Cheney (BuzzFlash's insertion)].""”

“Which button do I press to keep my ass outa Viet Nam? LOL!!!!”

“Ex-lawmaker says he helped get Bush into Texas Guard
In May 27 video, former speaker says he's ashamed
By Bobby Ross Jr., Associated Press | August 29, 2004

DALLAS -- Former Texas House speaker Ben Barnes said he is ''more ashamed of myself than I've ever been" because he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

ADVERTISEMENT

''I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard . . . and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes, a Democrat, said in a video clip recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Barnes, who was House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.

The video was posted June 25 on the website www.austin4kerry.org, but didn't get much attention until Friday, when Jim Moore, an Austin-based author of books critical of Bush, sent out e-mails calling attention to it just days before the GOP National Convention starts in New York.

Bush joined the National Guard in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, and served until 1973. He has said he received no special treatment.

Barnes said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of the dead.

''I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because it was the worst thing I did -- help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get in the National Guard," he said. ''I'm very sorry of that and I'm very ashamed of it and I apologize to the voters of Texas for that."

Barnes said in a brief telephone interview yesterday that the video ''just speaks for itself." He declined to answer specific questions about what role he had in helping Bush, but he said he may have more to say next week.

Both Bush and his father, the former president, have said they did not ask for help in finding the Guard opening.

Bush said yesterday in Lima, Ohio, that he is ''proud of my service" in the National Guard.

He made the comment after a questioner at a high school commented, ''I'm feeling sorry on your behalf the fact that they are trying to bring this issue up about the National Guard. I have many, many good friends that served in the Guard during the . . . Vietnam War."

''There's eight of them that are changing parties because they've had it with the Democrats," said the man in the audience.

''The question is who's best to be the commander in chief to lead us in peace. That's the question," Bush responded to applause.

Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Scott McLellan said of Barnes's comments: ''It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat. The allegation was discredited by the commanding officer. This was fully covered and addressed five years ago. It is nothing new."

Five years ago, Barnes found himself at the center of questions about Bush's Vietnam-era service when the then-Texas governor emerged as the Republican presidential front-runner.

At that time, Barnes's lawyer issued a statement saying Barnes had been contacted by the now-deceased Sidney Adger, a Houston oilman and friend of Bush's father, who was then a congressman. Adger asked Barnes to recommend Bush for a pilot position with the Air National Guard and he did, that statement said.

''Neither Congressman Bush nor any other member of the Bush family asked Barnes' help," according to the 1999 statement.”

“GW = no juevos.”

“Bush fell short on duty at Guard


Records show pledges unmet

September 8, 2004 The Boston Globe

In February, when the White House made public hundreds of pages of President Bush's military records, White House officials repeatedly insisted that the records prove that Bush fulfilled his military commitment in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

But Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation, a Globe reexamination of the records shows: Twice during his Guard service -- first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School -- Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty.

He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show. The 1973 document has been overlooked in news media accounts. The 1968 document has received scant notice.

On July 30, 1973, shortly before he moved from Houston to Cambridge, Bush signed a document that declared, ''It is my responsibility to locate and be assigned to another Reserve forces unit or mobilization augmentation position. If I fail to do so, I am subject to involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months. . . " Under Guard regulations, Bush had 60 days to locate a new unit.

But Bush never signed up with a Boston-area unit. In 1999, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett told the Washington Post that Bush finished his six-year commitment at a Boston area Air Force Reserve unit after he left Houston. Not so, Bartlett now concedes. ''I must have misspoke," Bartlett, who is now the White House communications director, said in a recent interview.

And early in his Guard service, on May 27, 1968, Bush signed a ''statement of understanding" pledging to achieve ''satisfactory participation" that included attendance at 24 days of annual weekend duty -- usually involving two weekend days each month -- and 15 days of annual active duty. ''I understand that I may be ordered to active duty for a period not to exceed 24 months for unsatisfactory participation," the statement reads.

Yet Bush, a fighter-interceptor pilot, performed no service for one six-month period in 1972 and for another period of almost three months in 1973, the records show.

The reexamination of Bush's records by the Globe, along with interviews with military specialists who have reviewed regulations from that era, show that Bush's attendance at required training drills was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his service had been ''satisfactory" -- just four months after Bush's commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit for the previous 12 months.

Bartlett, in a statement to the Globe last night, sidestepped questions about Bush's record. In the statement, Bartlett asserted again that Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not ''met all his requirements." In a follow-up e-mail, Bartlett declared: ''And if he hadn't met his requirements you point to, they would have called him up for active duty for up to two years."

That assertion by the White House spokesman infuriates retired Army Colonel Gerald A. Lechliter, one of a number of retired military officers who have studied Bush's records and old National Guard regulations, and reached different conclusions.

''He broke his contract with the United States government -- without any adverse consequences. And the Texas Air National Guard was complicit in allowing this to happen," Lechliter said in an interview yesterday. ''He was a pilot. It cost the government a million dollars to train him to fly. So he should have been held to an even higher standard."

Even retired Lieutenant Colonel Albert C. Lloyd Jr., a former Texas Air National Guard personnel chief who vouched for Bush at the White House's request in February, agreed that Bush walked away from his obligation to join a reserve unit in the Boston area when he moved to Cambridge in September 1973. By not joining a unit in Massachusetts, Lloyd said in an interview last month, Bush ''took a chance that he could be called up for active duty. But the war was winding down, and he probably knew that the Air Force was not enforcing the penalty."

But Lloyd said that singling out Bush for criticism is unfair. ''There were hundreds of guys like him who did the same thing," he said.

Lawrence J. Korb, an assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs in the Reagan administration, said after studying many of the documents that it is clear to him that Bush ''gamed the system." And he agreed with Lloyd that Bush was not alone in doing so. ''If I cheat on my income tax and don't get caught, I'm still cheating on my income tax," Korb said.

After his own review, Korb said Bush could have been ordered to active duty for missing more than 10 percent of his required drills in any given year. Bush, according to the records, fell shy of that obligation in two successive fiscal years.

Korb said Bush also made a commitment to complete his six-year obligation when he moved to Cambridge, a transfer the Guard often allowed to accommodate Guardsmen who had to move elsewhere. ''He had a responsibility to find a unit in Boston and attend drills," said Korb, who is now affiliated with a liberal Washington think tank. ''I see no evidence or indication in the documents that he was given permission to forgo training before the end of his obligation. If he signed that document, he should have fulfilled his obligation."

The documents Bush signed only add to evidence that the future president -- then the son of Houston's congressman -- received favorable treatment when he joined the Guard after graduating from Yale in 1968. Ben Barnes, who was speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in 1968, said in a deposition in 2000 that he placed a call to get young Bush a coveted slot in the Guard at the request of a Bush family friend.

Bush was given an automatic commission as a second lieutenant, and dispatched to flight school in Georgia for 13 months. In June 1970, after five additional months of specialized training in F-102 fighter-interceptor, Bush began what should have been a four-year assignment with the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.

In May 1972, Bush was given permission to move to Alabama temporarily to work on a US Senate campaign, with the provision that he do equivalent training with a unit in Montgomery. But Bush's service records do not show him logging any service in Alabama until October of that year.

And even that service is in doubt. Since the Globe first reported Bush's spotty attendance record in May 2000, no one has come forward with any credible recollection of having witnessed Bush performing guard service in Alabama or after he returned to Houston in 1973. While Bush was in Alabama, he was removed from flight status for failing to take his annual flight physical in July 1972. On May 1, 1973, Bush's superior officers wrote that they could not complete his annual performance review because he had not been observed at the Houston base during the prior 12 months.

Although the records of Bush's service in 1973 are contradictory, some of them suggest that he did a flurry of drills in 1973 in Houston -- a weekend in April and then 38 days of training crammed into May, June, and July. But Lechliter, the retired colonel, concluded after reviewing National Guard regulations that Bush should not have received credit -- or pay -- for many of those days either. The regulations, Lechliter and others said, required that any scheduled drills that Bush missed be made up either within 15 days before or 30 days after the date of the drill.

Lechliter said the records push him to conclude that Bush had little interest in fulfilling his obligation, and his superiors preferred to look the other way. Others agree. ''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard.”

“GW, where were you, and what was that powdery substance in your nostrils?”

“Is this any different from Swift Boat clowns? I didn't like that the national debate was distracted by that bs. Is this different? The military gave Kerry medals, so there is at least that level of credibility to his record. Is the revalation that Bush's record is somewhat less than honorable worthy of national debate?”

“Didn't Clinton get someone to take his place in the military? And he became the prez.”

“... Is the revalation that Bush's record is somewhat less than honorable worthy of national debate?"

Of course it,,in case you havent noticed, he's your so-called 'commander and chief'.....”

“Folks, this is being surfaced and it will be used to discredit Bush. Successfully or not, remains to be seen. But, there is nothing new in this. It's still a story of a boy of privilege whose family influence was used to achieve an end. Not exactly a novel approach in America. And not the first or last time it was done. It also is not one of the main reasons why I am not voting for him. I have a list of others that are more relevant to the issue facing us in 2004.

But, the campaigns are coming down to the last critical 8 weeks. It's going to be filthy from here on out. Whether you want to admit it or not, the Swift Boat BS was a turning point for turning up the filth factor from both sides. But, don't be surprised about this. I can't even remember the last time a major campaign was run without the candidates going negative. So, brace yourselves! The mid's just begun to fly!”

“Is that wet mid or dry mid?”

“The Swift Boat BS was the turning point? Did you miss moveon.org? Did you miss Farenheit 9/11? This thing was dirty long before the swifties.”

“Wet mid. It closely resembles mud!”

“I'm talking a question of degree here, Bison. Stay with the program...”

“Treebeard.......out of the slammer!”

“Wet mid does resemble mud but I believe it smells worst.”

“moveon.org......dirty?

gimme a break!”

“No. Moveon.org is very middy.”

“Swifties Who Weren't On The Boat With Kerry For Truth.
vs

Bush's legitimate military record, or lack thereof.

I see a difference.”

“Yawn.

Treebeard got it right, it was long ago, lots of others were doing the same. Take a look at LBJ's record in WWII so it was also nothing new.

Agree with Tree that you need to look at who you want to lead the country for the next 4 years, what have there recent actions and decisions been.
I disagree with Tree on who, but certainly agree with his reasoning.”

“Given that Bush released his records a long time ago I have to wonder why this is news now. Maybe it just took Terry McAullife this long to plant them? Naw, that can't be it. Just funnin ya, we all know that no Democrat would ever falsify records.

BTW when will Kerry be releasing his records? Not that it makes any difference because it would be mudslinging in the extreme for republicans to use anything negative on him.”

“I'm trying hard to remember what might have happened to me had I walked out on the Army during my service. All I can remember is the old Army saying, "We can't make you do it, but we can make you wish you had done it." Maybe the Air National Guard was like a big, nation-wide frat party back then.”

“"Bush's legitimate military record, or lack thereof."

When do we get to see Kerry legitimate record.... I remember all those months ago when he said he would release all of his records. Still hasn't done it.”

“And let's ignore the fact that the records show that Bush met his yearly commitment every single year (he needed 50 points each year, the least he got was 56).”

“GW's been suppressing the release of his records for many, many years now. Too bad for him that people just keep digging.”

“Geo... I agree. That's why I'm skeptical. Seems to me that if that report is true, the guy that wrote it was direlect in his duty for not convening a court-martial. Since that didn't happen, I wonder how truthful the document is, and why it was written.

Wow, I agree with TB and Geo on the same day. I need to go get some help.”

“Thanks for staying on point, Manuka. Yes, it is ALL about issues for me right now. Frankly, I honestly believe that the right is playing to our fears and planted the seed a long time ago that "change is bad'. That we have to see this through or we are doomed. Yes, that is the tactic and it was driven home with a million pound sh_thammer during the convention.

On the other hand, Kerry really needs to take this opportunity, and I mean today and in the coming days, to step forward and give the voters something that will make them think that he truly has some vision and some concrete ideas as to how to improve on what's been done in the past four (long) years. This is imperative for him! And he hasn't done it yet. Forget about voting records in the Senate and forget about the "wonderful" bliss the last four years have blessed us with! It's all meaningless, because when it comes down to it, the next four are what matters, not some bill that has more pork in it than a pig farm (and how it was voted on 10 years ago).

The debates will be a good place for each of them to put forth ideas, but it also has to manifest itself in other ways.


(Said real fast: The preceeding is the opinion of Treebeard and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of thebackpacker.com or any of it's posters)”

“No prob, No Prob. I won't tell if you don't.”

“Count me in as one who will not make up his mind because of either candidate's military record.
Here are some reasons why a person might not want to vote for GW.
1. Energy policy crafted in secret with undisclosed participants from the energy industry. This is "open government"? This sure smells like our government giving undue influence to those powers who already wield a great deal of influence.
2. Gutting environmental laws and allowing private industry to "police" themselves. Underfunding EPA, etc., etc.
3. Spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.......”

“Our darling prez is giving a speech or some $hit in my area today...has all sorts of roads closed and has caused a general clusterfu(k...so as a result, I've been relocated to a firestation local to the event to be on "stand by".

On a positive note, maybe some protesters will riot or something and I'll get to play!
>:D”

“Geez, I feel like putting my arm around Manuka to my left and Noprob on my right and singing, "We Are The World"”

“I could come out and get arrested again for the cause for you, Amy!”

“Shrub is making a speech at a Christmas shop in the area. There must be active chatter about Al Qaeda stealing Christmas.”

“Treebeard: professional agitator.”

“That's right, Dun. Now, where's Violin with my arrest pic?”

“that would be mighty cool of ya, tree! LOL

Geo...yes, he's at Beyers choice for the day. I think his choice of locations is due to it being a woman-owned and operated company, plus Bucks and Montgomery Counties are highly repugnant republican. "They" say that if he can gain majority in this area, he will bag PA. Personally, I think it is all horse$hit.
:p”

“Glad to oblige, A!”

“Be kind, Amy.”

“AmyG, "stand by" ?”

“Sorry, Dunny-hun...hey, if it at all makes up for my sarcasm, I am here to save lives.
:)”

“"stand by" is a term that equates to "staging" i.e. "wait here until the $hit hits the fan and then come quickly!"
;)”