The service question (US NEWS and WORLD REPORT)

[Blecht]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040920/usnews/20guard.htm

A review of President Bush's Guard years raises issues about the time he served
By Kit R. Roane

Last February, White House spokesman Scott McClellan held aloft sections of President Bush's military record, declaring to the waiting press that the files "clearly document the president fulfilling his duties in the National Guard." Case closed, he said.

But last week the controversy reared up once again, as several news outlets, including U.S. News, disclosed new information casting doubt on White House claims.

A review of the regulations governing Bush's Guard service during the Vietnam War shows that the White House used an inappropriate--and less stringent--Air Force standard in determining that he had fulfilled his duty. Because Bush signed a six-year "military service obligation," he was required to attend at least 44 inactive-duty training drills each fiscal year beginning July 1. But Bush's own records show that he fell short of that requirement, attending only 36 drills in the 1972-73 period, and only 12 in the 1973-74 period. The White House has said that Bush's service should be calculated using 12-month periods beginning on his induction date in May 1968. Using this time frame, however, Bush still fails the Air Force obligation standard.

Moreover, White House officials say, Bush should be judged on whether he attended enough drills to count toward retirement. They say he accumulated sufficient points under this grading system. Yet, even using their method, which some military experts say is incorrect, U.S. News 's analysis shows that Bush once again fell short. His military records reveal that he failed to attend enough active-duty training and weekend drills to gain the 50 points necessary to count his final year toward retirement.

The U.S. News analysis also showed that during the final two years of his obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. What's more, he apparently never made up five months of drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by the administration. White House officials did not respond to the analysis last week but emphasized that Bush had "served honorably."

...

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I have a sugestion, as well as a couple vets I know

let bush finish his service with his unit, which happens to be... in the sandbox... yep, he may even ahem face the risks of war that he has asked others to shoulder

[alittlelark]

4. I second that suggestion!

[tmooses]

18. We need

Bush in a Under-armored Humvee in Falluja looking for a vest.

[truthisfreedom]

2. the press must have just had enough time to examine all of the paperwork

and reach these conclusions. everyone seems to be releasing stories like this at the same time.

[Pirate Smile]

3. Thank God! The Media is finally (hopefully) looking at the content of

the allegations and not the friggin typing of the documents.

This can't be blown off as "gossip" and "trash" like they will call the Kitty Kelley book.

[kestrel91316]

5. Here's the deal, Dubya:

You go join up with your TANG unit RIGHT NOW, serve the remaining time due, and we'll stop saying you skipped out on your obligation. Deal?

[diamond14]

6. WOW ! Finally, this story has legs....USA media is FINALLY looking

at bush* war-military service records, and realizing that BUSH* LIED about his military service too....beefed it up to be much more than it was, and LIED BY OMISSION, failing to mention that he never showed up, despite priviledged affirmative-action-for-the-rich....


this story is growing, and getting bigger by the day....


the next step: court-ordered Community service in Houston's inner-city....where's the court records, and witnesses? must be out there somewhere....

[goclark]

36. Can you see him in the hood?! ROTFL

Cowboy hat on saying, "hey dude,what is hap o ning?"

"What you like to do some Coke, I mean Coca Cola dude?"

He would last about 5 minutes!

[TacticalPeek]

7. Bwaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Sorry 'bout that, but I feel much better now.

[Spazito]

8. They have two more documents, one of them names Bath...

along with Bush!

Look at this pdf:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-09bushdocs.pdf


(thanks to ramblin_dave for this find)

[JoFerret]

9. Great stuff

thanks.

[madrchsod]

10. nothing about it is " lbn" here at du.....

----well this was posted several weeks ago for over two or three days..this was figured out by someone who saw the records and knew how to read them...only old guys and gals my age remember how those payroll records were recorded. yes we and several other sites had it first-the rest of the world is just catching up...

[JoFerret]

11. If that standard were applied

there would be very few mainstream press articles listed on LBN at all.

[EST]

12. These are the same docs CBS used

Which is terrific! CBS has the money and resources for verifying. This angle should now be fairly complete. KKKarl missed one.

[krkaufman]

13. LBN is the welcome USNews report. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

14. Something new (as far as I can tell) in this article.

I've never seen actual criticism anywhere in a mainstream publication before this one. It's not severe, but it's emphatic:

Some experts say they remain mystified as to how Bush obtained an honorable discharge. Lawrence Korb, a former top Defense Department official in the Reagan administration, says the military records clearly show that Bush "had not fulfilled his obligation" and "should have been called to active duty."
(snip)

The regulations must be followed, adds James Currie, a retired colonel and author of an official history of the Army Reserve. "Clearly, if you were the average poor boy who got drafted and sent into the active force," he says, "they weren't going to let you out before you had completed your obligation."
(snip)

This seems like a BREAKTHROUGH in directness. Real seriousness about the subject has been avoided like the plague in our major media outlets. You'd have thought they had been asked to go out for a story on "Bigfoot" critters, festooned with garlands of pork chops.

Could it be a shadow of approaching, yet overdue responsibility from the media?

[teryang]

15. discussion that should have taken place 4 years ago

The fact that it is taking place now is indicative of discontent in the ranks of the registered social elites. The odd thing is that the resistance to Bush taking place seems sporadic. If it doesn't become a waterfall within four weeks it will be evidence that something is still very wrong with the American political system. It may not be enough to keep him from retaining power.

After all, a majority of the American people couldn't keep him out four years ago. I'm a fan of Lawrence Korb. An eminently reasonable defense expert.

[ET Awful]

16. One question though . . . why is the article dated 9/20?

Is that the publication date for the issue it's going to run in? A typo?

I'm just curious.

The information backs up perfectly both the CBS story and the evaluation of the record by Gerald Lechliter http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/lechliter.pdf

[liberalcanuck]

19. Good question. I clicked on the date and it links to 'Current Issue'

for 9/20/04.

[Spazito]

20. It must be when the magazine hits the stores?

They release the on line version first?

[truthisfreedom]

22. i'm sure that's what it is. if you look at paper issues of the major

weeklies they always post-date them on the front cover to coincide with the week they represent.

[Spazito]

17. Kick!

*

[JDPriestly]

40. Magazine date

The date shows the date the magazine is to be removed from shelves and replaced by a new magazine, I believe.

[leesa]

21. This is important that a conservative news source would print this.

There is a link at the bottom of the article for commenting about the article. Please commend US News for printing it and encourage them to look farther at the other crimes of the Bush Crime Family.

[Judi Lynn]

24. Didn't see that the first time. Thanks for mentioning it.

On edit:

Sent them a message, and happy to do it.

[bear425]

23. kickie

:kick:

[Zorra]

42. kick

[Longhorn]

25. What we need is an "average poor boy who got drafted"

to come forward and tell his story about how he was sent to Vietnam because he didn't fulfill his National Guard obligation! In fact, we need lots of them to tell their stories -- or maybe their wives and mothers they left behind when they were killed.

"Clearly, if you were the average poor boy who got drafted and sent into the active force," he (James Currie, a retired colonel and author of an official history of the Army Reserve) says, "they weren't going to let you out before you had completed your obligation."

[BrotherBuzz]

26. This average poor boy draftee....

Got an "Advance to GO' card and never saw any National Guard service...
You know what I mean, Vern?

[wrate]

27. It won't be easy to find such a person. If you were spared the

horrors of going to Vietnam by the National Gard Service, you would have to be an idiot to miss that and get sent to Vietnam after all. Wouldn't you?

[Longhorn]

29. Very true!

But there was a DU'er who said he missed some of his drills and ended up in active duty, though not sent to Vietnam. So these people do exist.

[karlrschneider]

30. That would be me. (I know 2 other guys who had the same experience)

:eyes:

[goclark]

37. The Swifties should take their boat out of the water

and shut the ! up!

[KansDem]

28. But...but...how do I explain this to my 6-year old son???

How do I explain to Michael that the President of the United States lied to the American People???

:cry:Six-year-old Michael after learning that President Bush lied to him...

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. tell him that even though he is prez

he can still be dishonest.

He's not God, you know. A kid needs to understand that politicians are NOT perfect. And what better politician to use as an example of imperfection than dumbya???

[GoldenOldie]

32. The media chose to ignore this in 2000

Much as they are attempting to do in 2004. The media daily attacked John McCain with the Rove script most viciously not only that John McCain was mentally impaired due to his POW status, that he had become a POW traitor for ratting on his fellow POW's, he had an illegitimate black baby (an adopted Bangladesh baby), his wife was a drug user, he was unfit for command. Does any of this sound familiar. Fellow Repub Reps fell in line with the Rove dirty policies and attacked John McCain. UNFIT FOR COMMAND

The journalists and the Media knew full well at that time that George W. Bush's ANG was false and they fell in line with the Rove machine and the Bush Family. They failed the American citizens then and they are failing them again.

[Zorra]

33. Tell him the pResident has been very ill for a long time and that this

illness is in his head, and has made it so he does not know how to tell the truth.

Unless your 6 year old already knows what "pathological liar" means.

[0007]

45. Tell him we know for sure it isn't a yeast infection.

[TeeYiYi]

39. Suffer the little children . . .

. . . at the boots of the PUKES.

I had to console my sobbing 6 year old niece :cry: after her freep father kicked her little hand with his boot after she had allegedly allowed a toy flag to touch the ground after the 4th of July parade. I told her that only pResident *bush is allowed to harm toy flags when he signs them with his Sharpie and hands them out as campaign souvenirs. There was no explaining the discarded toy flags littering the asphault parking lots and falling out of overstuffed garbage cans on our way to the fireworks.

There is no explanation for the little ones. They'll figure it out on their own in a few years. Boy are they gonna be pissed.

TYY

[leftchick]

34. NBC news shilling for aWol* again tonight....

totaly dismissing CBS's report. Perhaps I should send them this article to set them straight.

[Zorra]

35. Kick

[LeftCoast]

38. I'm kicking this because I think this is an important story!

:kick:

[Zorra]

41. Kick

[lakemonster11]

43. Ridiculous.

I don't understand how the Bush administration can just keep repeating something and somehow make it "true."

[Zorra]

44. Jim Morrison once said:

"Whoever controls the media controls the mind".

[sidpleasant]

46. Did anyone on the TANG list ahead of Bush get drafted?

Here's a research project for the media: did any of the several hundred desperate guys on the TANG waiting list who Bush leaped over for his spot in the "Champagne Squadron" get drafted? If so, did any of them (God forbid) get killed in Viet Nam? Imagine a TV ad with the camera slowly zooming in on a name on the Viet Nam Memorial while a voice over says "this man died in Viet Nam because he lost his space in the Texas Air National Guard to George W. Bush".

[louis-t]

47. Ooooh,gave me chills

Now THAT would be a slam dunk!

[Hailtothechimp]

49. Greg Palast found a name on the wall........

It was maybe a year ago. The guy had the same lottery number as Sugarcoat did, but he got drafted and went to Vietnam. I can't recall the name, but it shouldn't be too hard to find the story online.

[Zorra]

48. kick