Bush Balked at Direct Order From Guard Commander

Bush should be arrested, not reelected.

"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 yesterday.

Documents obtained by the CBS News program "60 Minutes" shed new light on one
of the most controversial episodes in Bush's military service, when he abruptly
stopped flying and moved from Texas to Alabama to work on a political campaign.
The documents include a memo from Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B.
Killian, ordering Bush "to be suspended from flight status for failure to
perform" to U.S. Air Force and National Guard standards and failure to take his
annual physical "as ordered."

The new documents surfaced as the Bush administration released for the first
time the president's personal flight logs, which have been the focus of
repeated archival searches and Freedom of Information Act requests dating to
the 2000 presidential campaign. The logs show that Bush stopped flying in April
1972 after accumulating more than 570 hours of flight time between 1969 and
1972, much of it on an F-102 interceptor jet.

White House officials have said there was no reason for Bush to take the annual
physical required of fighter pilots because there were no suitable planes for
him to fly in Alabama, where he applied for "substitute training" to replace
his required service with the Texas National Guard. But the new documents
suggest that Bush's transfer to non-flight duties in Alabama was the subject of
arguments between his National Guard superiors.

Release of the documents came as Democrats and some veterans stepped up their
criticism of Bush for allegedly failing to meet his sworn obligations to the
Texas Air National Guard. A new advocacy group called Texans for Truth, which
has links to anti-Bush groups such as Moveon.org, yesterday unveiled a TV ad to
be screened in swing states claiming that Bush failed to show up for Guard duty
in Alabama.

'Dirty politics'
White House officials dismissed the latest criticism of Bush's service as
partisan attacks in the midst of a heated campaign. In an interview with "60
Minutes," White House communications director Dan Bartlett said "partisan
Democrats" were "recycling the very same charges we hear every time President
Bush runs for reelection. It is dirty politics." But he did not contest the
authenticity of the documents.

A spokeswoman for "60 Minutes," Kelli Edwards, declined to say exactly how the
new documents were obtained other than that CBS News understood they had been
taken from Col. Killian's "personal office file." In addition to the order to
Bush to report for a physical, the documents include various memos from Killian
describing his conversations with Bush and other National Guard officers about
Bush's attempts to secure a transfer to Alabama. 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."

According to "60 Minutes," Killian's personal files show that he ordered Bush
"suspended from flight status" on Aug. 1, 1972. National Guard documents
already released by the White House and the Pentagon show that Bush was
suspended from flight status on that day for "failure to accomplish annual
medical examination," but do not mention his alleged failure to comply with
National Guard and Air Force standards.

In another "memo to file," dated Aug. 18, 1973, Killian complained that he was
under pressure from his superior, Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, to "sugar coat"
Bush's officer evaluations. "I'm having trouble running interference and doing
my job," he wrote in a memo titled "CYA." "I will not rate."

Staudt has insisted that he was not influenced by Bush's status as the son of
George H.W. Bush (R), a Texas congressman in 1968 and later head of the CIA. He
has also rejected claims by former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes (D)
that he intervened with the head of the Texas Air National Guard to secure a
position for Bush there at the request of a Bush family friend. Barnes, who has
raised money for Democrat John F. Kerry's presidential campaign, repeated the
claim last night on "60 Minutes."

White House frustrated
In releasing Bush's flight records, 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.

"It's clear that DOD [the Department of Defense] did not undertake as
comprehensive a search as had been directed by the president," said White House
spokeswoman Claire Buchan, just days after assuring The Washington Post that
Bush's full personnel file had already been released. "We have again asked that
they ensure that any and all documents [relating to Bush's military service]
are identified and released."

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, said Bush's flight logs were
found at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which is the
central repository for veterans' records. She said the logs were found among a
batch of records sent to St. Louis from Norton Air Force Base in 1993, which
were originally thought to contain records of active-duty officers rather than
National Guardsmen such as Bush.

The Bush administration has issued government-wide instructions centralizing
the release of information relating to the president's service with the Texas
Air National Guard between 1968 and 1973. Officers responsible for implementing
the Freedom of Information Act for the National Guard and the Pentagon declined
to respond to queries from The Post last week on the completeness of the
president's records, referring a reporter instead to Krenke and the White House
press office.

'I don't remember seeing you there'
The new TV commercial by Texans for Truth, to be aired on $110,000 worth of
television time in battleground cities such as Harrisburg, Pa., and Columbus,
Ohio, shows Bob Mintz, who served as a lieutenant in the Alabama Air National
Guard at the same time Bush was supposed to be serving, speaking to the camera:

"I heard George W. Bush get up there and say, 'I served in the 187th Air
National Guard in Montgomery, Alabama.' I said, 'Really, that was my unit? And
I don't remember seeing you there.' "

Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, charged that Texans
for Truth "is a front group for Moveon.org that has spent tens of millions of
dollars attacking the president. . . . This is a smear group launching baseless
attacks on behalf of John Kerry's campaign that will be rejected by the
American people."

Glenn Smith, the head of Texans for Truth, is a former political reporter for
the Houston Chronicle and Houston Post and has been a Democratic consultant,
working on a variety of campaigns in Texas and other states. He ran Tony
Sanchez's unsuccessful bid for Texas governor in 2002.

Smith said he was angry over ads created by another advocacy group, Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth, attacking Kerry's service in the Vietnam War.

In a conference call with reporters, Democratic National Committee Chairman
Terry McAuliffe said "the relentless negative attacks" on Kerry "had made the
president's service, or lack thereof, completely fair game."

Republican National Committee communications director Jim Dyke countered that
"McAuliffe has a long history of false and reckless statements."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5946244/

Walt

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:11:33 +0000, WalterM140 wrote:

Bush should be arrested, not reelected.

And of course WaltM140 is an idiot.
The documents are frauds.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/007760.php
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...uments-_Forged

When they find out who did this, somebody may be going to Cluf Fed
for a while....

The stench that emenates from Trotskerry's campaign is becoming
overpowering. Soon there'll be nothing let but a pool of foul
goo.

IBM

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
The Worlds Uncensored News Source

In article ,
"ian maclure" wrote:

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:11:33 +0000, WalterM140 wrote:

Bush should be arrested, not reelected.

And of course WaltM140 is an idiot.
The documents are frauds.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/007760.php

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...ocuments-_Forg
ed

When they find out who did this, somebody may be going to Cluf Fed
for a while....

A lot of folks are in Deep Denial Mode right now.

The Word Document Recreation Test should put this little story down (and
ought to be a major blow to 60 Minutes).

By the way: the documents "released by the White House" were obtained
from CBS News, and weren't based on any government documents.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 20:30:05 GMT, Chad Irby wrote:

In article ,
"ian maclure" wrote:

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:11:33 +0000, WalterM140 wrote:

Bush should be arrested, not reelected.

And of course WaltM140 is an idiot.
The documents are frauds.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/007760.php

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...ocuments-_Forg
ed

When they find out who did this, somebody may be going to Cluf Fed
for a while....

A lot of folks are in Deep Denial Mode right now.

The Word Document Recreation Test should put this little story down (and
ought to be a major blow to 60 Minutes).
From what ive been hearing the kind of type writer that was used to
tyoe the report didnt exsist at the time of the so called incident.
wich means these are not the original documents, but fakes.

By the way: the documents "released by the White House" were obtained
from CBS News, and weren't based on any government documents.

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 03:27:01 -0700, Lyle wrote:

From what ive been hearing the kind of type writer that was used to
tyoe the report didnt exsist at the time of the so called incident.
wich means these are not the original documents, but fakes.

Even worse than that, the forger evidently used Microsoft Word, or
perhaps Word Perfect, and didn't have the smarts to turn off the
smart-completion feature that turned "th" into a superscript.

The forgeries are so bad that the Kerry campaign is now accusing Karl
Rove of slipping them to the Democrats so as to bite them. (I presume
that CBS will be using this angle in lieu of an apology.)

What is so fabulous about this incident is that it was exposed in a
matter of hours by (are you ready?) bloggers! The internet obsessives
were able to assemble the experts that evidently eluded CBS News,
without fee and without delay.

Compared to the work they did, the fact that the colonel's widow says
that his signature was faked comes almost as a footnote.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Expedition sailboat charters www.expeditionsail.com

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 03:27:01 -0700, Lyle wrote:

From what ive been hearing the kind of type writer that was used to
tyoe the report didnt exsist at the time of the so called incident.
wich means these are not the original documents, but fakes.

Even worse than that, the forger evidently used Microsoft Word, or
perhaps Word Perfect, and didn't have the smarts to turn off the
smart-completion feature that turned "th" into a superscript.

The forgeries are so bad that the Kerry campaign is now accusing Karl
Rove of slipping them to the Democrats so as to bite them. (I presume
that CBS will be using this angle in lieu of an apology.)

What is so fabulous about this incident is that it was exposed in a
matter of hours by (are you ready?) bloggers! The internet obsessives
were able to assemble the experts that evidently eluded CBS News,
without fee and without delay.

Compared to the work they did, the fact that the colonel's widow says
that his signature was faked comes almost as a footnote.

Even worse--according to a report I read late last night, the Dallas Morning
News has discovered that one of the alleged memos was addressed to an
officer who had retured a year and a hald *before* the date of the memo!

Brooks


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Expedition sailboat charters www.expeditionsail.com

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:01:54 -0400, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


Even worse--according to a report I read late last night, the Dallas Morning
News has discovered that one of the alleged memos was addressed to an
officer who had retured a year and a hald *before* the date of the memo!

Brooks

And, the "order" to take the physical came just three weeks into the
90 day period available before Bush's birthday--unlikely the orderer
could anticipate that Bush would be derelict 75 days after the order.

And, I never in 23 years of flying saw an "order" from the commander
to take a physical. More typically a form came down from the Wing
Stan/Eval with a list of annual requirements to be accomplished during
the 90 days prior to birthdate--things like instrument school, check
ride, written proficiency test, simulator check and physical.

And, I never saw someone write a CYA memo that called it that in the
subject header! If you're going to cover your ass, you don't identify
it as a memo to cover your ass!

And, proper terminology is spell out the meaning after the acronym,
not before as in "no later than (NLT)" which should be "NLT (no later
than)".

But, what do I know?


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:01:54 -0400, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


Even worse--according to a report I read late last night, the Dallas
Morning
News has discovered that one of the alleged memos was addressed to an
officer who had retured a year and a hald *before* the date of the memo!

Brooks

And, the "order" to take the physical came just three weeks into the
90 day period available before Bush's birthday--unlikely the orderer
could anticipate that Bush would be derelict 75 days after the order.

And, I never in 23 years of flying saw an "order" from the commander
to take a physical. More typically a form came down from the Wing
Stan/Eval with a list of annual requirements to be accomplished during
the 90 days prior to birthdate--things like instrument school, check
ride, written proficiency test, simulator check and physical.

And, I never saw someone write a CYA memo that called it that in the
subject header! If you're going to cover your ass, you don't identify
it as a memo to cover your ass!

That hit me as very strange as well. I did do a few "memorandums for record"
regarding questionable (usually ethically) issues and slipped them into my
own file, but I sure as heck did not keep them around for years, nor did I
append serial numbers, etc.


And, proper terminology is spell out the meaning after the acronym,
not before as in "no later than (NLT)" which should be "NLT (no later
than)".

But, what do I know?

Apparently not as much as Dan "Booted from the USMC" Rather, who is
seemingly going to man his post as the water laps around his feet and his
vessel starts its final plunge... :-)

Brooks



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message ...
"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:01:54 -0400, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


Even worse--according to a report I read late last night, the Dallas
Morning
News has discovered that one of the alleged memos was addressed to an
officer who had retured a year and a hald *before* the date of the memo!

Brooks

And, the "order" to take the physical came just three weeks into the
90 day period available before Bush's birthday--unlikely the orderer
could anticipate that Bush would be derelict 75 days after the order.

And, I never in 23 years of flying saw an "order" from the commander
to take a physical. More typically a form came down from the Wing
Stan/Eval with a list of annual requirements to be accomplished during
the 90 days prior to birthdate--things like instrument school, check
ride, written proficiency test, simulator check and physical.

And, I never saw someone write a CYA memo that called it that in the
subject header! If you're going to cover your ass, you don't identify
it as a memo to cover your ass!

That hit me as very strange as well. I did do a few "memorandums for record"
regarding questionable (usually ethically) issues and slipped them into my
own file, but I sure as heck did not keep them around for years, nor did I
append serial numbers, etc.


And, proper terminology is spell out the meaning after the acronym,
not before as in "no later than (NLT)" which should be "NLT (no later
than)".

But, what do I know?

Apparently not as much as Dan "Booted from the USMC" Rather, who is
seemingly going to man his post as the water laps around his feet and his
vessel starts its final plunge... :-)

Brooks


The best thing Bush's supporters can say about him is that he did the
absolute minimum service required of him.

Walt