WP: Records Say Bush Balked at Order

[kskiska]

National Guard Commander Suspended Him From Flying, Papers Show

By Michael Dobbs and Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 9, 2004; Page A01

President Bush failed to carry out a direct order from his superior in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1972 to undertake a medical examination that was necessary for him to remain a qualified pilot, according to documents made public yesterda

(snip)

A spokeswoman for "60 Minutes," Kelli Edwards, declined to say exactly how the new documents were obtained other than to repeat an assertion by CBS anchor Dan Rather that "we are told were taken from Colonel Killian's personal file." In addition to the order to Bush to report for a physical, the documents include various memos from Killian describing his conversations with other National Guard officers about Bush. Killian died in 1984.

"Phone call from Bush," Killian recorded in a "memo to file dated May 19, 1972." "Discussed options of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through November."

White House spokesmen yesterday expressed frustration over what they depicted as the Pentagon's failure to produce a full and complete record of the president's military service.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6693-2004Sep8.html

[Nevernose]

1. Blame the military

THAT will certainly go over well with veterans.

[cthrumatrix]

36. the military will be quite pissed with this news...

[mom cat]

55. I have never seen such buck passing in my life. eom

[WI_DEM]

2. my guess as to the reason why he didn't want to take his physical

was because a urine test would prove that he was taking drugs.

[donco6]

10. BINGO!

No doubt.

[Skittles]

13. he was coked out of his mind

that's why he's missing all that service in Alabama too

[skooooo]

20. Coke in the early 70s??

I just think of it as a drug taken around 1975 on...but guess it's been around forever.

[Sporadicus]

24. Time to Revive This Article

http://www.madcowprod.com/mc4622004.html

I can't vouch for its validity, but I've heard stories elsewhere of the 'Houston-based horticultural firm' for which he worked. If it's true, * was on the cutting edge of cocaine importation.

[leesa]

26. Oh please! It used to be legal.

[skooooo]

28. it wasn't legal in the 70s..

..I wasn't questioning the existence of the drug, I was just saying that I didn't think too many people used it for recreation then.

[sam sarrha]

45. well you were not in the right places... it was EVERYWHERE, my room mates

were both strung out.. i moved out when they started to use needles and deal to support their habit...In the 70' it really got rolling.. but then i was in central CA on a major freeway up from Mexico there were 'lots' of drugs around..

[skooooo]

60. Not much cocaine use..

..in the 2nd and 3rd grades in the 1970s..lol.

[Terran]

51. Technically it still is.

Cocaine is a controlled substance with medical uses, so it can be purchased and possessed by those with the right professional qualifications: doctors and dentists, mainly (possibly optometrists as well, not sure). I don't think it's been "street" legal for a long time. But I see your point; back when Bush was in the Guard you could practically by it off the street and no one would blink an eye.

[HereSince1628]

58. I don't remember cocaine as being so easily available

I do remember it as being a very talked about drug the late 1970's and early 80's. But then the Midwest is a sort of behind the time sort of place.

In my world view Bush's abuse of drugs and alcohol ought to come with consequences, but in the real worl the ponderouse propagantistic pachyderms make it look like a wild flight of youthful indiscretion.

[Lerkfish]

62. It was mentioned in "Easy Rider", a great film by Dennis Hopper...

Those who have seen it may recall they had stashed cocaine in the false gas tank of Peter Fonda's "captain america" bike. They were funding their way across the US by selling it. They themselves didn't use it, though they smoked weed and popped pills/mushrooms.

It was definitely around in the early seventies.

As a matter of fact, the "seven percent solution" was written about by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the diluted cocaine Sherlock Holmes used to facilitate clear thinking. So, its been around and abused for quite a while.

--- I just realized I have too much trivia in my head for my own good.
:)

[HereSince1628]

64. I agree its been around a long time...I've spotted it in folk songs

that go way back,

my point wasn't about its presence. My point was about how common it was in the Midwest in the early 1970's. My experience is that it became a "thing" later rather than earlier.

I blame it all on the evils of Disco and polyester. That combination (including lime green suits for men) could drive anyone to drugs.

[the Kelly Gang]

27. the young rich had before everyone else

[The Zanti Regent]

37. Oh he did Diet Coke--cut with Nutrasweet...

But we know the Media Whores will spin this as alleging that he did PEPSI...

[TeacherCreature]

57. It was very much around in the early 1970s.

I knew people who were strung out on it in 1972.

[havocmom]

14. And his unit had just been put on some sort of alert to defend the area

He smelled the slightest whiff of possible danger to his sorry ass and he shot up, snorted up, smoked up something he couldn't let the medical lab test...

So, how much taxpayer $$ went into his training to fly that obsolete jet? Does anybody think we got our money's worth when all it really acomplished was to teach him how to look gung-ho holding a flight helmet on "Mission Accomplished" Day?

Oh, and how much taxpayer $$ did it cost to hold that birdfarm off the coast a little longer so he could pull that little stunt?

W stands for Wastrel

[CookieD]

18. You raise an excellent question

What does a flight physical include? Does it include a urine test for drugs??

[RamboLiberal]

22. In past discussions on DU others more knowledgable

have stated this was about the time drug testing was instituted in the military.

Correct me if I'm wrong DU'ers.

[Berserker]

39. Yes the Military

did drug testing then I know that for a fact because I was tested and caught. We had access to any kind of drug we wanted.

[LunaSea]

25. intranasal exams

had just been added to the flight physicals that year as cocaine use was on the rise.
They'd look up you nose with a flashlight checking for signs of use.

[arwalden]

47. Had Drug Testing Been Implemented At That Time?

If so, was testing for drugs supposed to be a "surprise" gotcha that would weed out folks who were using prohibited or illegal subatances?

Or was the testing well publicized in order to deter folks from using substances?

[DrBB]

3. Oh this is too rich

"White House spokesmen yesterday expressed frustration over what they depicted as the Pentagon's failure to produce a full and complete record of the president's military service."

Poor Dubby, victimized again! What a victim of bad luck and disgruntled former appointees he is! He just has the rottenest darned luck!

[chromotone]

49. Damn the bad luck!

pre9/11--FBI's fault
9/11--various federal agencies' fault
Iraq invasion--CIA's fault
AWOL--Pentagon's fault

He's a regular "Joe Btfsplk"........

George W. Bush: It's EVERYBODY ELSE's fault!

[SoCalDem]

56. Poor *...doused with "BlameAway"

[JoFerret]

4. Use this link and give it a 5

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&e=1&u=/washpost/a6693_2004sep8

[WillyT]

8. Done !!!

And Thanks!

:hi:

[Cha]

9. Done! 3.6 now.

[Nite Owl]

5. It's always gotta be someone

elses fault. He just can't take responsibility for anything.

[oldhat]

6. White lines, I mean, lies

[buycitgo]

7. it's been obvious since the flight physical came up that

THIS is the key element in all of this fiasco

you can't prove AWOL to anyone's satisfaction

but there IS, or was, paperwork devoted to the EXACT circumstances of the physical: his refusal to take it, or FAILURE to "accomplish" it, as is written in the record

an investigation took place, or SHOULD have, according to regs, and it would be extraordinarily unusual for one NOT to have been conducted. equally extraordinary would be the disappearance of all records of said investigation

either way, it bodes ill for the liar in chief

it's going to be up to the media, or kerry surrogates, to push this story to the point of exposure it should have had FOUR years ago

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. Grounded. Inescapable.

[Career Prole]

16. Anybody else woul play hell getting a job with a dishonorable discharge...

...how about Dim Son?

[JoFerret]

11. NYTimes takes it up

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/politics/09guard.html?hp

<<Mr. Barnes maintained, as he has since 1999, that he had contacted his friend who headed the Texas Air National Guard, Brig. Gen. James Rose, not at the behest of anyone in the Bush family, but rather a Houston businessman, Sidney A. Adger, a friend of the Bushes who has died.

"Yes, I called Rose to get George Bush into the Guard, I've said that," Mr. Barnes said in his office last week in Austin. "I called Rose for other sons of prominent families, and I'm not proud of it now.">>

[Career Prole]

12. "White House spokesmen yesterday expressed frustration

over what they depicted as the Pentagon's failure to produce a full and complete record of the president's military service."

Jeez, give 'em a minute! People will be suspicious if the ink's still wet! :eyes:

[shraby]

31. If the Pentagon had produced those papers

for the White House, how many think they would have stayed in the bunch that were dumped for the press to look at.

[yellowcanine]

44. If the Pentagon had produced these papers in 2000 Gore would be

President and Dubya would be lobbying MLB to make him commissioner.

[stopbush]

17. Our troops obey the direct order of bush's gov to march off to

their deaths in Iraq, yet Chicken Georgie is too scared to obey his superior's direct order to take a mandated annual physical and tacetly runs away.

What more needs be said?

[MidwestTransplant]

19. Page A01!

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. This settles it, Bush is a COWARD

that is if there was any doubt in anybody's mind... I know, I know preaching to the converted

[alcuno]

23. * has said, "I did my duty."

A lie?

[TacticalPeek]

29. Kick.

:kick:

Bwaaahahahahahahaha!

:evilgrin:

[monobrau]

30. but - he was chosen by god

If god told Dubya not to take his physical and instead go to Alabama, that's good enough for me.
I just want to hear him say it.

[OKNancy]

32. Kick

[Judi Lynn]

33. Dallas News:" Guard memos cite colonel's issues with Bush's service"

From the Dallas News:

• The fourth memo, a year after Lt. Bush's suspension from flying, had the subject "CYA." Col. Killian cited pressure from Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt, the top officer at Ellington who has since denied Mr. Bush got any special treatment.

"Staudt has obviously pressured more about Bush. I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job," Col. Killian wrote.

He complained that he was being asked to evaluate Mr. Bush, although Mr. Bush had not shown up at Ellington, and Col. Killian had heard nothing from the Alabama Guard about his performance.

"Staudt is pushing me to sugar coat it," he wrote.

The Dallas Morning News reported in 1999 that Col. Staudt was a close friend of Houston oilman Sid Adger, the Bush family friend who asked Mr. Barnes to help Mr. Bush get in the Guard during Vietnam. Mr. Adger died in 1996.
(snip)

Mr. Bush and his father have always insisted that they didn't know of or need Mr. Adger's or Mr. Barnes' help to secure a pilot's spot for the younger Mr. Bush.
(snip)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090904dnpolbushguard.86e4c.html
(Free registration required)

Omigod! I just can't bear it! "Mr. Bush and his father have always insisted that they didn't know of or need Mr. Adger's or Mr. Barnes' help to secure a pilot's spot for the younger Mr. Bush."




AFter a good hard squint at his test results, were they REALLY going to let him in without strong pressure? Oh, please.

[leftchick]

34. "balk"?... isn't that in baseball?

It seems to me this is much worse than a "balk"... how about "Disobeyed a Direct order"!!

[Disturbed]

35. Disobeyed a Direct Order"!!

That is a Courts Martial Offense.

[RivetJoint]

40. True

Normally handled by an Article 15, however, depending on the severity of the issue.

[0007]

38. Let's keep the heat on this little son-of-a-bitch

junior can't do anything right.

[tuvor]

41. "Balk" is what chickens say, isn't it? n/t

[Mrs_Beastman]

42. Do you think the White House is releasing this

before it leaks and Kerry can use it to his advantage?

[yellowcanine]

43. Middle of Front Page; above fold - Shit, meet fan - this story has legs

and Bush has Rove to blame for promoting the swifties.

I believe this is a diversion and the WP should be focusing on the misadventure in Iraq. However it does play into the Iraq war in the sense that Bush is now asking National Guard soldiers to continue to put themselves into harm's way when he refused to do the minimum to maintain his flying status (and no bullshit about outdated planes - first of all - not true, and second - that was not his decision to make).

[Zorra]

46. kick

[TrogL]

48. People are saying the documents are a forgery

Their argument:

1. IBM selectric typewriters do not have proportional spacing.

2. IBM selectric typewriters do not have a "th" superscript.

see discussion here http://www.friendlyuser.org/saniweb.php?saniUrl=http%3A%2F%2Flittlegreenfootballs.com%2Fweblog%2F%3Fentry%3D12524_Bush_Guard_Documents-_Forgeries&saniChar=-&saniImage=on&saniBG=on&sanilink=on

[gulfcoastliberal]

52. Whatever

that sounds pretty damn weak. Your link doesn't work.

[leftynyc]

53. If they were forgeries wouldn't the

administration be screaming this from the rooftops?

[jamesinca]

59. They will scream from the roof tops

once they can prove that these are not the originals and are forgeries. They know this is what the originals say so they are not screaming yet. But if they can show that this is a photocopy or something like that they will scream.

[Chico Man]

65. That looks like the plan

This is all such horseshit.

[Greyhawk]

63. Don't keep pushing this... It's a loser, man

Another poster pointed this out in another thread...:

In the August 18, 1973 memo discovered by 60 Minutes writes:

"Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush. I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job."

General Staudt retired in 1972.

Oops... whoever wrote up this memo obviously wasn't doing a very good job of setting this up... We can't let this kind of thing happen on our side or we'll really torpedo our chances...

[Catfight]

50. What do VETS have to say about this spoiled elitist brats record? n/t

[DemoTex]

54. I'm a Vietnam Vet. Here is what I said on 2/21/2004 :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/02/21_lies.html

[goforit]

61. That does it!!!......I'm finally have chosen not to vote for An AWOL!!!!

(sarc)