"Fill this CRITICAL billet with a pilot rotated from VIETNAM!"

[A_Possum]

AHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhggggghhhhh. The slimy. lazy. warmongering. little. shit.

Killian memo, Aug 1, 1972

"On this date I order that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexasANG standards and failure to annual physical examination (flight) as ordered:

"...On recommendation of Harris, I also suggested that we fill this critical billet with a more seasoned pilot from the list of qualified Vietnam pilots which have rotated."


THIS. JUST. BLOWS. MY. TOP. Not ONLY did Bush skip out on a critical billet (as described by his own commanding officer!) but some poor guy coming back from VIETNAM was supposed to do his goddamned job FOR him!

[jeff30997]

1. And I'm sure that the Chimp is still laughing about it.

Stupid moronic asshole.

[A_Possum]

2. This after Killian

talked to him about the investment the country had made in him.

He just didn't bloody give a hoot about the country, did he? And he still doesn't. It's all Dubya, all the time.

Let the peons fly the fighter jets, I've got better things to do.

[cheshire]

3. Goergie is the Head spoiled brat.

[eleny]

4. I wonder if he's laughing tonight?

[henslee]

12. I'd like to see a list of dead/wounded/captured pilots who were

forced to re up about the same time. The rage of these folks and their families would destroy him.

[fob]

5. How do we find out who that was? Ssomewhere there's gotta be info

on who took bush*s spot YET AGAIN. I hope that person is alive and well and living comfortably, but for some reason, I think that covering for shrubby doesn't always "pay" well.

[RamboLiberal]

6. And how about these ?'s - Backdating?

Here's my quick transcription of one of the memoranda CBS has just posted on their website. It's the last in the series of memos from Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's commanding officer ...

18 August 1973
Memo to File

SUBJECT: CYA

1. Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush. I’m having trouble running interference and doing my job. Harris gave me a message today from Grp regarding Bush’s OETR and Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it. Bush wasn’t here during rating period and I don’t have any feedback from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate. Austin is not happy today either.

2. Harris took the call from Grp today. I’ll backdate but won’t rate. Harris agrees.

Perhaps someone can unpack this for us? Who's Harris? Who's Hodges? Why isn't "Austin" happy? What document is getting backdated?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[PurityOfEssence]

10. Bartlett "proves" no wrongdoing because they didn't hunt Bush down in MA

"If there are any requirements he were not meeting, the National Guard at the federal level, the state level, and the local level, they all knew where he was. He was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, going to school. And if they felt that he needed to be called up, or if there was any reason for him to fulfill service or go on active duty, they knew where he was and they knew he could serve."

If you don't catch me, it's not a crime...

[grasswire]

7. send your insight to one of the big blogs

atrios or josh marshall or dailykos.

It's good. The characterization of "critical" blows out of the water the idea that Bush quit flying because his job wasn't important anymore.

[RamboLiberal]

8. The big blogs are all over it. Marshall has complete

Rather/Bartlett transcript we didn't hear including Rather asking Bartlett off the air about allegations he "scrubbed the records".

[kodi]

9. ted rall said it all

[Kimber Scott]

11. That's sad.

The truth is often spoken in jest. Too bad. Too bad. Too bad. Our whole political system is a joke. It's been "gamed" by the best gamer of them all.

[henslee]

13. Airmen represent the highest proportion of POW's according to a Nam

site I just vistited.

[A_Possum]

14. I'm still pissed about this after a good night's sleep

How DARE he claim he's "proud" of serving his country. HOW DARE HE? When he walked away and left some pilot who served in VIETNAM to take up his slack so he could play at being a politician for his daddy.

[DemoTex]

15. Pilots returning from the 'Nam lined up for guard slots.

No pilots with active duty service in Vietnam were forced into the guard. I tried like hell to get in the Montgomery unit of the Alabama Air Guard (brand new RF-4s). There were no jobs for pilots on the outside. When I finally got a slot, I had a job that I did not want to leave for the long active duty training period.

The damning words in this Killian memo are "fill this critical billet." Bu$h walked away from a critical military position. Killian's "more seasoned pilot from the list of qualified Vietnam pilots" comment sounds like he was tired of baby-sitting drunken frat boys. Sounds like Col. Killian wanted a known entity and not another potential failure.

[progressivebydesign]

16. Did Dan Bartlett creep anyone else out with his "dead man" comment?

I reread that a few times.. Dan Bartlett of the White House said, 'we can't guess what a dead man was thinking'. I'm not a tinfoiler, but it's odd that the few people privvy to Bush's service records are dead.. It just creeped me out.. 'dead men tell no tales' is how I heard it.