Juan Jiminez is a liar and a fraud (was: Zoom fables on ANN

"JDKAHN" wrote in
:

I recall a Boston Globe interview a blogger found, where Kerry talks
about going to Vietnam and volunteering for SB duty because they
didn't get too deeply into shooting situations doing coastal patrol.
He said he wanted to get close but not TOO close. Then they switched
roles to the inland rivers and he bugged out as soon as he could with
some scratches, nicks and bits of metal in his ass from his own
grenades. Some hero. I don't believe there are cases of any other
officers abandoning their men like that so soon into their tours.
Maybe you can find a similar case?

Gee, what a pity that every single person who served with him on the
boat say otherwise, eh?

Tell you what, you go ahead and swallow whatever the bloggers say. Seems
to me that's what repukeblicans do best.

Which he KNEW. If he wanted to go so bad to Vietnam, why did he sign
a piece of paper saying he did not want to go?

Not familiar with such a piece of paper. What is that?

You can't possibly be this uninformed. Where have you been hiding, the
local RNC bar? When he joined the Guard, there was a checkbox which
stated "Do not volunteer for overseas service". It's clearly marked,
kiddo.

Compared to your whole case based on the old lady Democrat?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm

Did you know, for example, that Bush never went through OCS? He was
given a direct "politician's son" commission straight out of basic
training.

Have fun.

So let me get this straight... all of the people involved with Bush in
the Guard, his senior officers and comrades, all of which had/have
good things to say ON THE RECORD, are liars,

mercy snip

You must be taking good drugs. Not even Kerry is saying this.

and the 80% of Kerry's Swiftvet comrades, who say he is unfit and hate
his guts

Ah, the 80% who never served with him and most never met him. Right.

Best part of the Guard thing has been that many people had no idea
Bush was an ex fighter pilot and were quite impressed to find this
out.

The F-102 is not a fighter. It was an interceptor, designed to engage
aircraft using radar and standoff weapons.

Most people intuitively know that stupid people generally don't
succeed flying all weather missions in 102s.

Which he didn't. He only had 300 or so hours when he applied for a job
in Vietman which he knew required 500 hours minimum. Heck, he got the
lowest possible score on the pilot aptitude test, 25. The only reason he
got in to the NG as a pilot was because of his dad.

Here's some _facts_ for you to digest, since you're so easily
stimulated. From realchange.org

1. Pulled Strings to Get In.
On May 27, 1968, George Bush Jr. was 12 days away from losing his
student draft deferment, at a time when 350 Americans a week were dying
in combat. The National Guard, seen by many as the most respectable way
to avoid Vietnam, had a huge waiting list -- a year and a half in Texas,
over 100,000 men nationwide. Yet Bush and his family friends pulled
strings, and the young man was admitted the same day he applied,
regardless of any waiting list.

Bush's unit commander, Col. "Buck" Staudt, was so excited about his VIP
recruit that he staged a special ceremony for the press so he could have
his picture taken administering the oath (even though the official oath
had been given by a captain earlier.)

Bush and his allies have tried to deny this with several changing
stories, but Bush himself admits lobbying commander Staudt, who approved
him, and court documents confirm that close family friend and oil
magnate Sid Adger called Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes, who
called General James Rose, the head of the Texas Air National Guard, to
get Bush in. Rose, who is now dead, told his friend and former
legislator Jake Johnson that "I got that Republican congressman's son
from Houston into the Guard."

Staudt's unit, the 147th, was infamous as a nesting place for
politically connected and celebrity draft avoiders. Democratic Senator
Lloyd Bentsen's son was in the unit, as was Republican Senator John
Tower's, both of Sid Adger's sons and at least 7 members of the Dallas
Cowboys.

2. Took a 2 month vacation in Florida after 8 weeks in the Guard.
Just 8 weeks after joining, Bush was granted 2 months leave to go to
Florida and work on a political campaign, the Senate race of Republican
Edward Gurney. Bush took a leave every election season, in 1970 to work
on his dad's campaign, and in 1972 to work in Alabama.

3. Skipped Officer Candidate School and got a special commission as 2nd
Lt.
As soon as Bush completed basic training, his commander approved him for
a "direct appointment", which made him an officer without having to go
through the usual (and difficult) Officer Candidate School. This special
procedure also got Bush into flight school, despite his very low scores
on aptitude tests -- he scored 25% on a pilot aptitude test, the
absolute lowest acceptable grade, and 50% for navigator aptitude. (Bush
did score 95% on the easier officer quality test, but then again the
average is 88%).

What made Bush's appointment doubly unusual was his total lack of
special qualifications. This procedure was generally reserved for
applicants with exceptional experience or skills, such as ROTC training
or engineering, medical or aviation skills. Tom Hail, a historian for
the Texas Air National Guard, reviewed the Guard's records on Bush for a
special exhibit on his service after Bush became governor. Asked about
Bush's direct appointment without special skills, Hail said "I've never
heard of that. Generally they did that for doctors only, mostly because
we needed extra flight surgeons."

Charles Shoemake, an Air Force veteran who later joined the Texas Air
National Guard and retired as a full colonel, said that direct
appointments were rare and hard to get, and required extensive
credentials. Asked about Bush, he said "His name didn't hurt, obviously.
But it was a commander's decision in those days."

Despite Bush Jr.'s weak qualifications, Col. Staudt was so excited about
the direct appointment that he saged another special ceremony for the
press, this time with Bush's father the congressman standing prominently
in the background.

The direct appointment process was discontinued in the 1970s.

4. Assigned to a safe plane -- the F-102 -- that was being phased out.
As Bush has been quick to note, National Guard members do face the
chance of being called up for active duty, though few actually did
during the Vietnam war. So what a lucky break for Bush that he was
assigned to fly the F-102 Delta Dagger, a plane already being phased
out. In fact, the Air Force had ordered all overseas F-102 units shut
down as of June 30, 1970 -- just 3 months after Bush finished his
training. Since training is so airplane specific, Bush was guaranteed
from the beginning to be safe from combat.

Bush's campaign has even used his training on the obsolete plane to
justify his early discharge, almost a year before his scheduled
discharge, since other F-102 pilots were also being released early. But
they can't answer the obvious question -- why spend so much money to
train a National Guardsman for 2 years on a plane that was already being
phased out, at a time when the Guard was letting F102 pilots leave early
due to oversupply?

5. Celebrity Political Date.
During his flight training, Bush's celebrity showed in a couple of ways.
Most famously, President Nixon sent a jet to pick up the young flight
student for a date with his daughter Tricia. Alas, the potential
political marriage and dynasty was not to be. Also, the commencement
speaker at Bush's graduation ceremony was -- his dad, Congressman George
Bush Sr.

6. Illegal, overruled transfer to a base with no work.
In 1972, Bush once again wanted to work on a political campaign, this
time in Alabama. He applied for a transfer to a nearly defunct base with
no active training or work, the 9921st Air Reserve Squadrom at Maxwell
Air Force Base in Alabama. Bush's supervisors approved, but a higher
headquarters overruled them, noting that the unit had no regular drills.

Lt. Col. Reese Bricken, the unit's commander, told the Boston Globe "We
met just one weeknight a month. We were only a postal unit. We had no
airplanes. We had no pilots. We had no nothing." Even Albert Lloyd Jr.,
a retired Air Guard colonel who is helping the Bush campaign clarify the
candidate's service, told the Globe he was mystified why Bush's
superiors at the time would approve duty at such a unit. Lloyd was
personnel director of the Texas Air Guard from 1969 to 1995.

Now, the officer who did that has stepped forward and very directly
admitted that he tried to get the easiest possible assignment for Bush.
The personnel officer in charge of Bush's 147th Fighter Group, now-
retired Col. Rufus G. Martin, says he tried to give Bush a light load
when he told him to apply to the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron in
Montgomery, Ala. Martin said in an interview that he knew Bush wasn't
eligible for the 9921st, an unpaid, general training squadron that met
once a week to hear lectures on first aid and the like. "However," he
said, "I thought it was worth a try. . . . It was the least
participation of any type of unit."

7. Just didn't show up for a year -- with no punishment.
National Guard records and Bush's own supervisor's and friends show no
sign of him attending any drills or performing any service for nearly a
year, from May 1972 until May 1973. This period began with Bush moving
to Alabama for a political campaign.

He later applied to transfer to a base that had no work; the transfer
was first approved, then cancelled. Bush did nothing for several months;
then in September he applied to transfer to Alabama's 187th Tactical
Recon group for 3 months. This was approved, but the unit's commander,
General William Turnipseed, and his then admnistrative officer, Kenneth
Lott, have both said that Bush never showed up. "Had he reported in, I
would have had some recall, and I do not," said Turnipseed. "I had been
in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first
lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."

Bush claims that he did some work in Alabama, but can't remember any
details. “I can’t remember what I did,” he said. “I just—I fulfilled my
obligation." Despite 2 years of searching through hundreds of records,
his campaign has been unable to find any record of Bush's service there,
nor could they find a single fellow serviceman who remembers his
presence. The best they could produce was an ex-girlfriend from Alabama
-- Emily Marks --who said George told her he would have to do some Guard
duty later that year (1972) in Montgomery. But all that confirms is that
he knew of his obligation.

In December 1972, Bush returned to Houston and was scheduled to resume
duty there. But in May 1973, Bush's supervising pilots wrote in his
annual efficiency report: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit
during the period of the report" (i.e. through April 30, 1972). Bush
described one of the supervisors, the late Col. Jerry Killian, as a
personal friend, so it's likely he would have noticed Bush and given him
the benefit of the doubt. Later that month, two special orders commanded
Bush to appear for active duty. He served 36 days of active duty during
May, June and July before leaving the Guard early.

Amazingly, Bush was not disciplined in any way for his absence, and
received an honorable discharge. Under Air National Guard rules at that
time, guardsmen who missed duty could be reported to their Selective
Service Board and inducted into the Army as draftees.

8. Skipped all his medical exams after they started drug tests.
In April 1972, the military started including routine drug tests in
servicemen's annual physical exam, including urinalysis, questions about
drugs and "a close examination of the nasal cavities" (for cocaine).
According to the regulation, the medical took place in the month after
the serviceman's birthday. For George W. Bush, this meant August 1972.

It was May, 1972 -- one month after the drug testing was announced --
that Bush stopped attending Guard duty. In August 1972, he was suspended
from flight duty for failing to take his physical. (Click here to see
the document.) A Bush campaign spokesman confirmed to the London Sunday
Times that Bush knew he would be suspended. "He knew the suspension
would have to take place." Bush never flew again, even though he
returned to his Houston base where Guard pilots flew thousands of hours
in the F-102 during 1973. The only barrier to him flying again was a
medical exam (and his lack of attendance).

Careful readers will recall that when Bush issued his partial denial of
drug use, he said (or implied) that he hadn't used them since 1974, but
he pointedly refused to deny drug use before then, i.e. during his
military service. Several sources have also indicated that it was in
December, 1972 -- 4 months after his medical suspension -- that a drunk
Bush Jr. challenged his father to a fist fight during an argument over
the son's drunk driving. (He had run over a neighbor's garbage cans.)
Shortly thereafter, Bush Sr. arranged for his son to do community
service at an inner city Houston charity.

Bush's campaign aides first said he did not take the physical because he
was in Alabama and his personal physician was in Houston. But flight
physicals can be administered only by certified Air Force flight
surgeons, and some were assigned at the time to Maxwell Air Force Base
in Montgomery, where Bush was living. The staff now admits that this
explanation was wrong.

9. Left service 10 months early.
Even after that easy stint, Bush couldn't fulfill his obligation. He
quickly made up the missed days he had to and applied for an early
release, before he had to take his next annual physical exam (with drug
test.) While the official discharge date was October 1, 1973, Bush's
last day in uniform was actually July 31 -- a full 10 months before the
end of his 6-year, part time commitment. Al Gore also requested and
received an early discharge (from the Army, in his case) to go to
school.

Weasel words; his story keeps changing.
When asked about his service, Bush has lied, changed his story
repeatedly, and weaseled in a manner eerily reminiscent of Bill Clinton.
First of all, he has flat-out lied. In his official autobiography, ''A
Charge to Keep,'' Bush said he flew with his unit for ''several years''
after finishing flight training in June 1970. His campaign biography
states that he flew with the unit until he won release from the service
in September 1973, nine months early, for graduate school. Both
statements are lies. Bush only flew with the 111th for one year and 10
months, until April 1972 when he was suspended for failing to take his
medical exam (and drug test), and never flew again.

Then there is his Clintonesque weaseling and word choice. Bush and his
campaign claimed that no Bush family or friends pulled strings. Under
pressure, this changed to "All I know is anybody named George Bush did
not ask him [Ben Barnes] for help." By that he meant, himself or his
dad. Of course, it later came out in court that a close Bush friend,
Simon Adger, had asked Barnes to get Bush Jr. into the Guard, and that
Barnes did so, via General Rose.

Now's it's not even clear that a George Bush didn't ask for help. When
pressed, the former president's spokeswoman (Jean Becker) said he is
"almost positive" that he and Mr. Adger never discussed the Guard
matter. "He [Bush Sr.] he is fairly certain - I mean he doesn't remember
everything that happened in the 1960s..." In any case, Bush Sr. and
Adger were very close. Ms. Becker acknowledged that "President Bush knew
Sid Adger well. He loved him." Adger may have needed only a hint.

Furthermore, George Bush Jr. admits that he knew Adger socially at the
time, and further admits that he lobbied Col. "Buck" Staudt, the
commander of the VIP unit Bush joined. Staudt claims that he, not
General Rose (who he later replaced), was the one who made the decision
on admissions anyway. Bush Jr. admits that he met Staudt in late 1967,
during Christmas vacation of his senior year, called him later, and --
in Bush's words -- "found out what it took to apply."

When asked how Bush came to call Staudt, his spokeswoman Karen Hughes
said he "heard from friends while he was home over the Christmas break
that ... Colonel Staudt was the person to contact." She says that Bush
doesn't recall who those "friends" were. But we know that Sid Adger was
also a friend of Staudt's, served with him on the Houston Chamber of
Commerce's Aviation Committee, and in 1967 held a luncheon honoring Gen.
Staudt and his unit for winning an Air Force commendation. In fact, both
of Adger's sons also joined General Staudt's unit, in 1966 and 1968
respectively.

Bush and his staff also claim that he vaulted ahead of the Air Guard
waiting list because he was willing to fly an airplane, and there were
openings. There is nothing to support this claim, however. For one
thing, the F-102 was being phased out at the time and F-102 pilots were
being released from service early, as indeed Bush himself was. And Tom
Hail, a historian for the Texas Air National Guard, says flatly that
there was no pilot shortage in the Guard squadron at that time. Bush's
unit had 27 pilots at the time he applied; while they were authorized
for 29 pilots, there were two more already in training and one awaiting
a transfer.

Bush also weasels on whether he was avoiding combat or not. He has
stated on several occasions that he did not want to be an infantryman,
and acknowledges that he came to oppose the war itself. He claims that
he joined the guard to fly planes, and would have been happy to go to
Vietnam, but ignores the obvious choice of the Air Force or the Navy --
which his dad, a genuine war hero, joined. Furthermore, when he signed
up for the Guard, he checked a box saying "Do not volunteer for overseas
service." Later, he made a perfunctory application to transfer to a
program called "Palace Alert", which dispatched F-102 pilots to Europe
or the Far East -- and just occasionally Vietnam -- for 3 or 6 month
assignments. But Bush was not nearly qualified, as he must have known,
and was immediately turned down, and the F-102 not used overseas after
June, 1970 in any case.

And, as noted above, his story also changed on why he refused to take a
medical exam -- including a drug test - in 1972. (The refusal ended
Bush's flying career.) His staff first claimed that he didn't take the
physical because he was in Alabama and his personal physician was in
Houston. But flight physicals can be administered only by certified Air
Force flight surgeons, and there were surgeons assigned at the time to
Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, where Bush was living. His staff
now admits that that explanation was "wrong", without saying where it
came from or what the real reason was. Draft & National Guard Sources