Greg Palast- Still Unreported: The Pay-off in Bush Air Guard Fix

[Gregorian]

I just got this in my email.

It's not new, but it's unreported. I'm sure it's been posted here, but needs to be repeated. Bush is a thorny one. We must keep our eyes peeled, and continuously watch what they are up to, because the media won't, as you'll see here.



STILL UNREPORTED: THE PAY-OFF IN BUSH AIR GUARD FIX
Saturday, August 28, 2004

by Greg Palast

In 1968, former Congressman George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas, fresh from voting to send other men's sons to Vietnam, enlisted his own son in a very special affirmative action program, the 'champagne' unit of the Texas Air National Guard. There, Top Gun fighter pilot George Dubya was assigned the dangerous job of protecting Houston from Vietcong air attack.

This week, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes of Texas 'fessed up to pulling the strings to keep Little George out of the jungle. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas Air Guard - and I'm ashamed."

THE PAY-OFF

That's far from the end of the story. In 1994, George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas by a whisker. By that time, Barnes had left office to become a big time corporate lobbyist. To an influence peddler like Barnes, having damning information on a sitting governor is worth its weight in gold – or, more precisely, there’s a value in keeping the info secret.

Barnes appears to have made lucrative use of his knowledge of our President's slithering out of the draft as a lever to protect a multi-billion dollar contract for a client. That's the information in a confidential letter buried deep in the files of the US Justice Department that fell into my hands at BBC television.

Here's what happened. Just after Bush's election, Barnes' client GTech Corp., due to allegations of corruption, was about to lose its license to print money: its contract to run the Texas state lottery. Barnes, says the Justice Department document, made a call to the newly elected governor's office and saved GTech's state contract.

The letter said, "Governor Bush ... made a deal with Ben Barnes not to rebid because Barnes could confirm that Bush had lied during the '94 campaign."

In that close race, Bush denied the fix was in to keep him out of 'Nam, and the US media stopped asking questions. What did the victorious Governor Bush's office do for Barnes? According to the tipster, "Barnes agreed never to confirm the story and the governor talked to the chair of the lottery two days later and she then agreed to support letting GTech keep the contract without a bid."

And so it came to pass that the governor's commission reversed itself and gave GTech the billion dollar deal without a bid.

The happy client paid Barnes, the keeper of Governor Bush's secret, a fee of over $23 million. Barnes, not surprisingly, denies that Bush took care of his client in return for Barnes' silence. However, confronted with the evidence, the former Lt. Governor now admits to helping the young George stay out of Vietnam.

Take a look at the letter yourself - with information we confirmed with other sources - at ).

Frankly, I don't care if President Bush cowered and ran from Vietnam. I sure as hell didn't volunteer ... but then, my daddy didn't send someone else in my place. And I don't march around aircraft carriers with parachute clips around my gonads talking about war and sacrifice.

More important, I haven't made any pay-offs to silence those who could change my image from war hero to war zero.

"TIME WARNER WON'T LET US AIR THIS"

By the way: I first reported this story in 1999, including the evidence of payback, in The Observer of London. US media closed its eyes. Then I put the story on British television last year in the one-hour report, "Bush Family Fortunes." American networks turned down BBC's offer to run it in the USA. "Wonderful film," one executive told me, "but Time Warner is not going to let us put this on the air." However, US networks will take cash for advertisements calling Kerry a Vietnam coward.

The good news is, until Patriot Act 3 kicks in, they can't stop us selling the film to you directly. The updated version of "Bush Family Fortunes," with the full story you still can't see on your boob tube, will be released next month in DVD. See a preview at http://www.gregpalast.com/bff-dvd.htm

[John Q. Citizen]

1. Great post.

I appreciate the information/viewpoint. People in the swingstates need to know this too.
Please post your piece to one or more of these swing state local discussion boards. We need a liberal "echo chamber" to counter the wingnuts.

http://wvgazettemail.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=10 a discussion board in W. Virginia
http://www.pennlive.com/forums/politics/ which is a discussion board in Pennsylvania.
http://talkback.lancasteronline.com/index.php?s=f51123018cfaca0abf8d1f0a43b9ae10&act=idx which is a discussion board in Pennsylvania
http://www.netpluscom.com/ which is a small ISP discussion board in Ohio
http://www.elko.net/ which is a small ISP discussion board in Elko, Nevada
http://cgi.elpasotimes.com/cgi-bin/teemz/tzsearch.cgi?board=_master&action=activetopics&history=24 El Paso newpaper board that get a lot of traffic from SE New Mexico
http://www.anacortesonline.com/poll.php SW Washington state ISP discussion board

Anybody who knows about local discussion boards in a swing state please post a URL address/link thanks

[Gregorian]

4. Eww. I've never posted on one of "those" places.

I guess it's time.

Thanks for the links.

[Spazito]

2. Interesting and not at all surprising....

it makes eminent sense, sadly. bush cheats and those that help him are cheaters as well. I am glad this person was forced to come out with the truth and that the history behind his sudden "conversion" is out as well.

[Fridays Child]

3. If there were ever a "proper time" for the letter's author to "come...

"...forward and show this story to be true," I'd say it's right about now. If the individual is still alive, that is.

[genius]

5. This is why Greg's objectivity is so important

Some people here expressed outraged when Greg questioned Kerry's position on Iraq. But Kerry's position on Iraq won't cost him the election. It was important that Greg not avoid being honest about his concerns about Kerry. Greg's objectivity is what makes his information about Bush even more credibile. Information like this is more likely to stand up if it is reported by someone who isn't in the pro-Kerry camp than if it comes from someone who believes Kerry can do no wrong.