AP: New Bush Guard Papers Leave Questions

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - Unearthed under legal pressure, three-decade-old documents portray President Bush (news - web sites) as a capable and well-liked Air National Guard pilot who stopped flying and attending regular drills two-thirds of the way through his six-year commitment — without consequence.



The files, many of them forced to light by Freedom of Information lawsuits by The Associated Press, conflict with some of the harshest attacks Democrats have levied on Bush's Vietnam-era service, such as suggestions that Bush was a deserter or absent without leave.


But gaps in the records leave unanswered questions about the final two years of his military service in 1972 and 1973. Chief among them: Why did Bush's commanders apparently tolerate his lapses in training and approve his honorable discharge?


Bush's commanders could have punished him — or ordered him to two years of active duty — for missing drills for six months in 1972 and skipping a required pilot's medical exam. Instead, they allowed him to make up some of his missed training and granted him an honorable discharge.
more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_guard

[ixion]

1. uh, I'm not in the military, but isn't missing drills being AWOL?

nice spin on that, and on the harsh 'attacks' by Dems. :eyes:

[klook]

3. No, no, you've got it all wrong

Just like not showing up at your job isn't "missing work."

[ixion]

4. oh, very cool... and all this time

I thought I had to actually do some work to get a paycheck. :crazy:

[TahitiNut]

9. Well, that because you have a birth defect.

You weren't born with the last name of 'Bush.'

[LiberalFighter]

28. Technically anytime they are not where they are suppose to be YES

If they are not in bed.
If they are not at their assigned task.. KP, Guard, Shooting range, Medical, Drills

[daa]

29. Not if your daddy is a congressman eom

[0rganism]

35. No, when you miss as much consecutively as bush, it's called "desertion"

Aaaah, desertion. In the "good old days", desertion used to be a different kind of "firing offense", but for a kid like GW, it's just another day at the office.

[FightingIrish]

2. If I had only known

that "waning interest" would have gotten me a discharge.

[Bozita]

5. WOW! ... Another TANG airman was put on ACTIVE duty

but not Chimpy

from the article:

But the culture apparently did not apply to everyone. Although no records mention any punishment against Bush other than being grounded, the Texas unit's files show another airman was ordered to involuntary active duty in March 1972 as punishment.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bozita]

34. Mission Accomplished -- Isn't that hilarious?

[semillama]

6. doesn't the fact that one of his flight mates

getting nailed with active duty for the same infractions, while * gets away scot free, strongly indicate that * was tagged for "special treatment" by his superiors? It would be nice to find that guy who got the active service and see if he couldn't be quickly persuaded to be in a campaign spot by a 527 against *.

[UpInArms]

15. welcome to DU semillama!

It would be nice to find that guy who got the active service and see if he couldn't be quickly persuaded to be in a campaign spot by a 527 against *.

would presume that this guy is still alive and didn't die while serving.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

18. or didn't "commit suicide" or have an "accident" just before

* ran for the presidency. Stranger things have happened. Actually, they're not strange at all -- they're pretty common occurrences when dealing with BushCo.

[Jack from Charlotte]

19. Find this guy. News report of Marine getting involuntary activativation...

[Jack from Charlotte]

20. Or this guy.........

[molly]

7. Rated 4.19 with 78 votes - keep it up there!

[young_at_heart]

8. Gaps....secrecy....more secrecy............ Move on, nothing to see here!

Supposedly, he was always throwing parties in those days. Lots of people have said he was quite the drinker. Has the media even attempted to bring this to light? Shame on them for giving him a pass!

[gratuitous]

10. Golly! More new records "unearthed"

And this comes out years after Lil George said he'd released all his military records. Well, except the ones that everyone would like to see, of course.

[VegasWolf]

25. Just wait till after the election for the really good records 2 b released

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[samtob]

11. GQ (magazine) has a different idea of where he was

during the mystery time frame.

http://us.gq.com/features/general/articles/040727feco_02?page=1

<snip>Ever since George W. Bush entered politics, he has been dogged by questions about his whereabouts during a twelve-month period from May 1972 to May 1973. It has been alleged that Bush, then a 26-year-old pilot in the Air National Guard, hardly ever reported for duty. The president has strongly denied this charge, and the White House has provided records it claims prove that Bush fulfilled his Guard obligations. Still, Bush's service record remains murky. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has repeatedly made reference to the president's unexplained absences. Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore has gone so far as to label the president a "deserter."

But an eight-month investigation by GQ has yielded a stunningly different portrait of Bush's "missing year." This magazine's findings contradict allegations that Bush avoided military service but also explain why the president has remained vague about his activities during those twelve months.

In one respect, Bush's skeptics are right: Bush never did report to the Alabama Air National Guard. He may not even know where its barracks were. That's because during the period in question, Bush was serving his country elsewhere, in a clandestine military unit: the Special Undercover Missions Service (SUMS), an elite air-force agency specializing in national security and acts of espionage. Created by the Eisenhower administration in 1958 to respond to growing concerns about aerial reconnaissance by the Soviet Union, SUMS operated for twenty-one years in a shroud of secrecy. There is no offcial record of the organization; SUMS is said to have been terminated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

</snip>

Now, this article reads like a comic book in parts, read and you will see what I mean :eyes:

Here is what I don't know, having never read GQ.... WHat are their political leanings? None the less, it was an amusing read.

[fjc]

12. Sounds like being kidnapped by aliens to me.

In other words, a crock.

[JohnnyCougar]

14. It's a JOKE!!

[MADem]

13. HORSESHIT!!!!

If they were using him as an asset, they would have ACTIVATED him. He would have gone on USAF active duty and then assigned to an administrative command, the same way they do for officers (usually--the occasional enlisted gets this, but more rarely) who go on Personnel Exchange Programs. In fact, PEP is the PERFECT place to hide someone like this--the people keeping the records have no contact with the person, because they are elsewhere around the world.

You don't send someone off on a secret mission without a cover story. The clown was AWOL. The story is utter HORSESHIT!

Actually--it isn't HORSESHIT. It's a JOKE!!! Sample lunacy:
Next for Bush was New Zealand, where he assisted officials with helicopter surveillance of sheep poachers, and then Monaco, where he taught the crown prince's bodyguards how to fire assault rifles while waterskiing in tuxedos.

[samtob]

16. I warned you it read like a comic

book adventure!

My favorite part,

Banana in the tail pipe. Yeah, like that is believable.

This is an article I think would be better coming from Hustler, or National Lampoon, etc. Not GQ..

Another aspect of the article that I found totally non credible was the amount of "missions" he was on in the short period of time.

But you have to admit it was amusing, if not laughable. no?

[MADem]

17. It's hysterical

Bush as Austin Powers, basically. It's as plausible as his "volunteering" (no mention of the diversion program, held over his head by the court in lieu of jail time) to help disadvantaged youth!!!

[MGKrebs]

26. Even so, seems like being part of Black Ops

that you can't even talk about 30 years later might cause someone to reconsider running for Prez. I mean, I did stuff in COLLEGE that kinda makes me think twice about running for ANY public office.

Besides, if they used Bush in some secret spook gig, it would only have been as a decoy. Heh.



Don't let this happen!:

[Tight_rope]

36. What a crock of bullshit...The chimp is to stupid to be in SUMS!

Get the fuck outta here.

[Bozita]

21. Hey, I wrote that same basic storyline to Mr. Benchley in the DU Lounge

3 or 4 months ago.

We were tossing ideas around for a possible Bob Boudelang column.

oh well.

Sorry, but this was intended as a reply to Samtob in post #11.

[krkaufman]

22. Who cares!!! Don't let the TANG b-s distract you...

... from his more recent demonstrations of incompetence that will actually have traction with voters.

[Supersedeas]

23. very 'TOLERANT' Bush commanders - what about today?

[mom cat]

24. High five! Kick!

[funkybutt]

27. funny...my local headline from the same story was...

"Documents Portray Bush As Capable Guard Pilot"

"Three-decade-old documents obtained by The Associated Press give a better view of President George W. Bush's guard service, but some questions remain"

[NashVegas]

30. le kick

kick

[Tamyrlin79]

31. Its a shame this won't get play...

Or at least not the play it SHOULD get. Dan Rather really did immunize them on this issue to some degree. Bringing it back up now will appear the same to the repubs as it would appear to us if the Swift Boaters start talking about Kerry and vietnam medals again.

[Virginian]

32. Swift boat ads are still being played on cable.

[DeepModem Mom]

37. Let surrogates throw AWOL back in the pot -- pile it on. Debates...

revealed the real Bush to a lot of people for the first time. Keep the truth comin'!