This months GQ Magazine: BUSH: THE MISSING YEARS

[TruthIsAll]

This man was the Moe Berg of his generation. On a secret CIA mission to Nam in the seventies. And you thought he was a deserter?

Sure, Bush served in Nam. And pigs are flying out of my ass.

...................................................
BUSH: THE MISSING YEARS
By Jason Gay
GQ Magazine

In January 1973, Private Gary Donahue was on his second tour of duty in Vietnam when he stopped with a few other GIs at a sweaty Saigon bar called the Roc Club. It was nearing midnight, and the place was thick with well-lubricated soldiers and local women. A middle-aged Vietnamese crooner prowled a makeshift stage, singing standards like "Mack the Knife" and "Luck Be a Lady."

Suddenly, a trim, clean-cut American grabbed the microphone. "Howdy, folks!" the man yelled in a slight twang. "How ya'll feel about hearing a little music?" Donning a straw Vietnamese hat, the man launched into a raucous, heartfelt version of "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and then "Wooly Bully."

Afterward the mystery performer sat with Donahue and several of his fellow rifle-platoon soldiers, and the men quickly attracted a gaggle of young Vietnamese women. Over beers and shots of Rebel Yell, the stranger told them he was in the country on "government business," but was vague about details. He boasted that he "worked alone." He said he'd traveled throughout the warring country, and when Donahue asked if he'd crossed the border into Cambodia and Laos, the man grinned and winked. Then he showed off a pair of crocodile-skin cowboy boots he'd purchased from a peddler in Saigon. "I've been looking for boots like this for a month," the man said, rubbing his hand over the slick skin. "Mission accomplished!"

"He was sketchy but charming," Donahue recalled. "The girls loved him. Everyone loved him. I assumed he was CIA."

More than two decades passed, and Donahue forgot all about that mysterious American from the Roc Club. But then one night in 1994, while watching a CNN report on a gubernatorial race in Texas, Donahue saw that face again.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "It was the guy from the bar. And since then, I've often wondered: What on earth was George W. Bush doing in Vietnam?"

+++++

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.
__________________

[wellstone_democrat]

1. Yeah, right and it *still* has to be secret?

My ass he did that

I know several who were deeply undercover---by the way, they didn't dance on stages and sing to draw attention to themselves either---and they certainly don't deny it now. They don't give details but its no secret that they were in country and working "for the government"

I hope they print this shit---it will blow up in their faces. Hilarious.

on edit: Oh, and he BRAGS about his "missions" in a bar during his "secret service" but no one can even hint at this now? You can't make shit like this up with a straight face can ya?

[TruthIsAll]

2. Its in print now. Check your newstand.

Could have fooled me. The pics of "Bus" and Nam prossies are hilarious.

tia

[wellstone_democrat]

4. I'm getting one in the morning!

This is going to be a collector's item! There are pictures of his "secret" time in VN?????? Complete with Pros?? Lovely.

[alittlelark]

3. OH. MY. GOD.

I will re-write my response and say I SHOULDA' READ THE ARTICLE FIRST

:spank: Myself!

[w13rd0]

7. I do believe it's a satire piece...

...but I sure hope it doesn't take us as long to figure that out as it took the freepers.

[regnaD kciN]

9. It's a JOKE, everybody!

:eyes:

[MissB]

5. You're joking, right?

That "mission accomplished" thing is what gave it away.

[jpgray]

6. Read the whole thing before you comment

Free advice. :D

[poliguru]

8. Didn't keep records, my ass

There are records for everyone and everything - bullshit they just sent a bunch of people over but didn't keep a paper trail of who or where. I don't always agree with the way the military does things, but in the area of records they are true professionals in the sense that they cover their asses with reams of paper records - on EVERYTHING.

Can you imagine Bush working undercover? He'd stick out like a sore thumb. And does anyone honestly believe he could keep track of complex directions? I mean, we've heard the man speak. Plus, CIA undercover ops (or other such organizations) normally have some training in the language and, having heard him say South Asian names, I can say with certainty that Vietnamese is yet another language he has not mastered, along with English.

[Libralabrat]

16. Fill this out in triplicate, twice.

As a servicemember, i can tell you this. You wanna kill a bunch of trees, join the army. There is never ( I REPEAT NEVER) just one copy of anything....so his getting "lost" were looked at with abject skepticism by other soldiers. Kerry can produce sick call slips from vietnam. No one even remembers bush......Soldiers arent stupid....Thats why we are gonna vote for the actual War hero...have you guys seen how they are trying to infer that McCain was a traitor? I hope Sen. McCain gets a belated case of PTSD, picks up Dubya, and bitch slaps him a few times...that would be must see tv.

[buycitgo]

10. this is a Harvard/National Lampoon version...right?

right?

[MissB]

12. Did you notice

the "Mission Accomplished" part? Dead giveaway.

[wellstone_democrat]

11. can you help me get the hook out of my mouth?

Jeez, I haven't been hooked by a troll like that since the Usenet days....

[A_Possum]

13. It just goes to show how twisted its all gotten...

That you have to get as far as "Mission Accomplished" to realize it's a satire, and not the final chapter of the Republican party's attempt to make us think the sun rises in the west.

[Bozita]

14. ROTFLMAO .... Thank you

[lapfog_1]

15. Oh, come on...

I'm sure that shrubya didn't know "Deep in the Heart of Texas"
in 1973.

[bambo53]

17. Rebel yell?

In 1969?

[Gman]

18. So how did Bush manage to work on a campaign in Alabama

and be in Viet Nam at the same time???

[djg21]

19. I posted this to Hannity's forum!

Actually, I posted only the following:

GQ admits that Bush wasn't AWOL! Send this link to all your friends.

Here's an excert from the article:

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.

Here's the link:
http://us.gq.com/features/content/printables/040727feco_02/?pagination=none.

I GOT BANNED!!!!!!

Those damn nazi Freepers! But you know they're all too stupid to read the whole piece, and it will be included in the Repuke talking points tomorrow!

[Keirsey]

20. small error

"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."

Correction: Special Covert Undercover Missions (SCUM)

[louis c]

21. was this re-printed from the National Enquirer?

next to the story about the two headed Martian that raped a gorilla.

[kayell]

22. Link to article

http://us.gq.com/features/general/articles/040727feco_02

[ignatius 2]

34. I believe we have solved the q&a problem with Bush. The reporters

need to ask their questions in Arabic.

He even now can disquise himself as a small animal, ie, a chimp...not a cute and clever chimp, but a goofy looking,idiotic one.

I believe the article has found the missing link. Way to go GQ!!!

[GCP]

23. Oh man, it's frikkin' hilarious!!

From there he moved to India, where he helped train a mounted brigade assembled to kidnap the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (a mission that would fail due to an untimely monsoon). 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.

ROTFLMAOAPMP

[kayell]

24. OMG! ROFLMAO!

"SUMS officers trained in mortal combat and international diplomacy. They were masters of disguise, capable of passing themselves off as immigrants, women, even large animals. They learned how to build explosive devices using ordinary household items like dental floss and MoonPies"

Wow, * was McGuyver!

[AirAmFan]

25. Hilarious hoax! Should have been published April 1st! The SF Chronicle

implies that the accompanying doctored photos are the giveaway. It's too bad the photos are not part of this thread.

From http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/02/DDGF780BEP1.DTL&type=printable

"The secret life of G.W. Bush, according to GQ

- Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic

Monday, August 2, 2004

The August issue of GQ has scored the mock scoop of this Bush-baiting summer -- and toyed with the conventions of straightforward magazine photojournalism in the process. The piece and its presentation once again raise touchy issues of fairness and full disclosure in political humor.... The photographer, Alison Jackson, used a young Bush look-alike -- a 25- year-old Philadelphia insurance adjuster in real life -- as a model. In the lead shot, he touches a young Vietnamese woman's waist as she fondles his collar. Three other smiling beauties look on. He's shirtless and grinning wildly in the next shot. Other images show the Bush stand-in playing cards with a Mick Jagger model and touching up a Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe. In the final staged photo, a white-haired Barbara Bush type yanks her son out of bed by his ear, a fifth of Jack Daniel's in his hand and pictures of nudes scattered on the floor.

After postings to Russia, India, New Zealand and Monaco ("where he taught the crown prince's bodyguard how to fire assault rifles while waterskiing in tuxedos"), Gay writes, Bush was dispatched to China and eventually Vietnam. There, in Operation Goldfish Swallow, he short-sheeted Vietcong beds and placed bogus phone calls to enemy leaders. On the home front, according to the dizzy scenario, he infiltrated the Stones' 1972 North American tour and Warhol's sex-and-drugs art world.....

"You don't want to write 'satire' in big bold letters," said Gay. "You want people to enjoy the joke as it unfolds." Gay argued that the photographs grow "zanier" as they go on, culminating in the ludicrous shot of Bush and his mother..... Jackson has made her name in the world of fine art photography and advertising with concocted images of famous personalities. She uses look-alike models and only "retouches" digitally. A heatedly discussed 1998 photograph of Princess Diana and her fiance Dodi Fayed, long after their deaths, shows them with a baby. Other images include "Bill and Monica With Cigar" and "Diana and Marilyn Shopping." Jackson, compared to Caravaggio and Hogarth and praised for her "transgressive power" by critics, has shot a bogus Osama bin Laden calmly reading the Financial Times and Bush taking a sauna with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A book of her photographs, playfully titled "Private," is due in U.S. bookstores this fall."

[spanone]

26. Bullshit. Nobody knew who * was back then. Total Bullshit.

When you wish upon a star............dream on.

[trof]

27. Bush secret military service revealed

Bush secret military service revealed
RNS* Washington, D.C. Oct. 3, 2003
Presidential political advisor Karl Rove today made public President George W. Bush's military record for the so-called "missing" 18 months of his service in the Texas Air National Guard.

During a little publicized press conference in the Rose Garden (the White House media contingent received only 4 days notice), Rove displayed U.S. Air Force and CIA documents which put to rest for all time rumors circulating since the 1999 campaign.

"The president is a very modest man", said Rove. "He has never been one to blow his own horn. It took me 3 weeks to convince him that it would be in this great country's best interests to release this information at this time, prior to the national elections."

The documents show that the President, then 1st Lt. George W. Bush, received a secret transfer from the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Texas Air National Guard to an unnamed (classified: "Top-Secret") F-102 squadron at Danang Air Base, Republic of South Viet Nam. Due to his family's notoriety, he served under the assumed name of "Norm DeGuerre". During the 18 months he served there he was credited with 10 "kills", shooting down 4 Mig-19s, and 6 Mig-21s, thus earning the title "Double Ace". He was also credited with destroying 12 heavily defended surface-to-air (SAM) sites in downtown Hanoi, Republic of North Viet Nam. For these heroic actions he was awarded the Air Medal (A.M.) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.)

During the 12th mission, his F-102 Delta Dagger suffered major flak damage and Lt. "DeGuerre" was forced to eject. He spent 3 weeks as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war before overpowering his guards and escaping. The trek back to U.S. forces took 7 weeks, all through snake infested jungle, during which he lived off of berries, bamboo shoots, and reptiles. At his debriefing he remarked "Those snakes sure would have tasted better if I could have cooked them, but I just couldn't risk making a fire."

Back at Danang, and just two days prior to Lt. "DeGuerre's" release from the air force, North Vietnamese Regular Army units attempted to overrun and capture this key air base. Lt. "DeGuerre" scrambled to his aircraft, and, dodging incoming mortar rounds, was able to take off on the shell-pocked runway (the only aircraft to get airborne that night) and, using napalm and rockets, single-handedly beat back the advancing armies.

For his actions "above and beyond the call of duty", Lt. "DeGuerre" received the Congressional Medal of Honor in a secret White House ceremony. George H.W. Bush, then CIA Director, pinned the medal on his son.
*Rove News Service

[AirAmFan]

28. This would be a GREAT political ad, "Paid for by F-102 Combat Pilots

for Truth".

Now, all we have to do is start up a "527". I nominate you for General Secretary.

[thecrow]

29. ROFLROFLROFL

"They learned how to build explosive devices using ordinary household items like dental floss and MoonPies and knew how to sleep while suspended upside down."

[Zorra]

30. Freepers will not recognize this as satire, and the emails will be flying

around rejoicing that they have finally found the truth about Bu$h's time of Desertion from the Air National Guard.

I can see it posted at DU:

"Bu$h proven to be Vietnam War Hero!"

[NYCGirl]

31. Well, that's just silly. We ALL know where he REALLY was in 1972...

HUNTING SPACE ALIENS! (Got him some Gorns!)

[Jackpine Radical]

32. Half the fun of posting on DU comes from leaving the /satire, /sarcasm

tags off your comments & watching otherwise intelligent people stumble all over themselves in outrage.

[bobbieinok]

33. a caller on a RW radio show asked abt this...why wasn't it being talked

about, etc.

The host (Beck or Borst) said they'd look into it......didn't quite believe story.......BUT took the time to trash the 'liberal media.'

[Strawman]

35. I heard Neil Bush was in SUMS also

Those Thai hookers were actually Chinese double agents with nuclear (or nucular) secrets tatooed on their asses.