Commentary
~ July 13, 2004: In what looks like a reckless move of a Third
World dictatorship, the Pentagon last week publicly announced that
the military payroll records that could more fully document President
Bush's whereabouts during his service in the Texas Air National
Guard were inadvertently destroyed.
Bush's military records were called into question
when he ran for president in 2000. They are surfacing again as an
issue as he seeks election in 2004.
The Pentagon was responding to a federal lawsuit
from The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.
Unlike Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic
presidential candidate, Bush never went to Vietnam. According to
reports in the Associated Press and other sources, Bush had asked
to be able to transfer temporarily from the Texas Guard to an Alabama
base during that time so he could work on the Senate campaign of
a family friend. Reports differ on how long he was actually in Alabama,
but he claims he returned to his Texas unit after the November 1972
election. Many Americans have questioned whether Bush even showed
up for his temporary Guard duty.
America may never know the truth. The Defense Department
said the microfilm containing the pertinent National Guard payroll
records was damaged and could not be salvaged. Conveniently for
Bush, the damaged material included payroll records for the first
quarter of 1969 and the third quarter of 1972 -- the two periods
he was supposed to be on duty. Furthermore, no back-up paper copies
could be found for those years, according to the Pentagon statement.
The BBC points out that the 1969 period is not contentious
for Mr Bush, as it is already known he was training to be a pilot
at the time. However, it was in 1972 when Bush moved to Alabama,
and many Americans say he failed to turn up for guard duties during
this time.
According to numerous news reports, no other Guard
member at the time remembers seeing Bush in Alabama.
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, has said Bush
must come clean on what he did.
UPDATE July 28, 2004
The Pentagon, under Bush's orders, claims to have
found the missing documents that are supposed to prove George, Jr.
actually completed his military service during the Vietnam war.
However, according to the Associated Press and other news sources,
the newly released computerized payroll records show no indication
Bush drilled with the Alabama unit during July, August and September
of 1972. Reports indicated that pay records covering all of 1972,
released previously, also indicated no guard service for Bush during
those three months.
The AP reports that the records do not give any new
information about Bush's National Guard training during 1972, when
he transferred to the Alabama National Guard unit so he could work
on the U.S. Senate campaign of a family friend. The payroll records
do not indicate whether or not Bush attended training that summer
because they are maintained separately from attendance records.
In other words, the new records may be a bumbling
attempt at a cover up. What we are left to believe at this point
is that Bush never showed up for duty, and he continues to lie about
it.
Commentary
~ July 13, 2004: In what looks like a reckless move of a Third
World dictatorship, the Pentagon last week publicly announced that
the military payroll records that could more fully document President
Bush's whereabouts during his service in the Texas Air National
Guard were inadvertently destroyed.