Bush's AWOL Lies:
Famous Last Words!

Bob Fertik

February 5, 2004 (with subsequent updates)

http://democrats.com/display.cfm?id=326

It's sublime to watch Bush & Co. lie about something as simple as whether Bush went AWOL or not in 1972.

The facts are clear: with two full years of flying duty remaining, Bush "cleared this base" (Ellington AFB in Houston) on May 15, 1972. After that, he never reported for another drill. He disobeyed specific orders, was legally AWOL, and legally a deserter.

Of course he was never prosecuted, because his name is Bush. But that doesn't change the facts.

Bush could easily put this issue to rest by submitting this SF-180 form requesting release of his full military records - in particular his medical and disciplinary records -  as Democrats.com and Senators Kerrey, Inouye, and Cleland called for in 2000. He could also find eyewitnesses who saw him performing his duty either in Alabama in 1972 (see "The Turnipseed File," Appendix A) or in Texas in 1973. Rewards for such witnesses from TexansForTruth.com, Doonesbury, and Democrats.com now total over $60,000. We know Bush has looked for eyewitnesses since 1999; his failure to find a single one is the ultimate indictment.

Sooner or later, irrefutable proof will emerge that Bush never attended a drill after May 1972. And when that proof emerges, all of the denials below will be exposed as pure lies.

Of course, Bush & Co. are very skillful liars - they are professionals in every sense of the word. So to enhance your reading pleasure, we have coded each lie as follows:

• [LIE] Lie. An intentional statement of facts that are not true. These are rare in Bushworld, but they do occur with surprising frequency. However, the Republican-controlled media never actually calls them lies, so most Americans never become aware of them.
• [SHL] Second Hand Lie. This technique involves quoting someone else telling a lie, so you can't be blamed for the lie. The classic example is the infamous "16 word lie" from George Bush's 2003 State of the Union: "We have learned from the British government that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." In Bushworld, the second-hand source usually gets ITS information from Bush & Co., making it effectively a simple LIE.
• [EVA] Evasion. This technique involves answering a question that is different from the one being asked. Since "EVA" is known to space-watchers as "Extra-Vehicular activity" (space walks), EVA could also be called "Extra-Veracity Activity."
• [NDD] Non-denial denial. This technique involves simply saying "no" without contradicting a single fact. This technique was made famous in the Nixon White House, which is where the modern Republican Party learned its basic dirty tricks.
• [CON] Condescension. This technique involves saying how "sad" or "pathetic" or "desperate" or "shameful" it is that critics keep raising a question, without answering the question. It is a gentler technique than the Pre-emptive Attack.
• [PEA] Pre-emptive Attack. This technique involves calling your critics the most vile names, without citing a single fact to contradict the questions they raise. This technique was perfected by Newt Gingrich's GOPAC, which was the finishing school for Republican liars. After 9-11, it became the Bush administration's official foreign policy. This policy (the "Bush Doctrine") was applied to Iraq, which was invaded "pre-emptively" before they could attack us with their (non-existent) WMD's. Many Democrats suspect this PEA policy will be applied to the 2004 election, which will be cancelled due to some sudden emergency because Bush is losing.
• [TRU] Truth. There isn't much of it, but we'll acknowledge it!

If you would like to contribute more quotes to our project, please write us.

2/8/04 NBC's Meet The Press:

Russert: this campaign is fully engaged. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terence McAuliffe, said this last week: "I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard. He didn't show up when he should have showed up."

Bush: Yeah.

Russert: How do you respond?

Bush: Political season is here. [CON] I was... I served in the National Guard. I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable discharge. [TRU] I've heard this I've heard this ever since I started running for office. I I put in my time, proudly so. [LIE]

I would be careful to not denigrate the Guard. It's fine to go after me, which I expect the other side will do. I wouldn't denigrate service to the Guard, though, and the reason I wouldn't, is because there are a lot of really fine people who served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq. [PEA]

Russert: The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have gone through some of their records and said there’s no evidence that you reported to duty in Alabama during the summer and fall of 1972.

Bush: Yeah, they're they're just wrong. [LIE] There may be no evidence, but I did report; otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged. [SHL] In other words, you don't just say "I did something" without there being verification. Military doesn't work that way. [TRU] I got an honorable discharge, [TRU] and I did show up in Alabama. [LIE]

Russert: You did were allowed to leave eight months before your term expired. Was there a reason?

Bush: Right. Well, I was going to Harvard Business School and worked it out with the military.

Russert: When allegations were made about John McCain or Wesley Clark on their military records, they opened up their entire files. Would you agree to do that?

Bush: Yeah. [LIE] Listen, these files I mean, people have been looking for these files for a long period of time, trust me, and starting in the 1994 campaign for governor. And I can assure you in the year 2000 people were looking for those files as well. Probably you were. And absolutely. [LIE] I mean, I

Russert: But would you allow pay stubs, tax records, anything to show that you were serving during that period?

Bush: Yeah. If we still have them, but I you know, the records are kept in Colorado, as I understand, and they scoured the records.

And I'm just telling you, I did my duty, and it's politics, you know, to kind of ascribe all kinds of motives to me. [PEA] But I have been through it before. I'm used to it. What I don't like is when people say serving in the Guard is is may not be a true service. [PEA]

Russert: Would you authorize the release of everything to settle this?

Bush: Yes, absolutely. [LIE]

We did so in 2000, by the way. [LIE]

Russert: Were you favor of the war in Vietnam?

Bush: I supported my government. I did. And would have gone had my unit been called up, by the way. [EVA]

Russert: But you didn't volunteer or enlist to go.

Bush: No, I didn't. You're right. [TRU] I served. I flew fighters and enjoyed it, and we provided a service to our country. In those days we had what was called"Air Defense Command," and it was part of the air defense command system.

The thing about the Vietnam War that troubles me as I look back was it was a political war. We had politicians making military decisions, and it is lessons that any president must learn, and that is to the set the goal and the objective and allow the military to come up with the plans to achieve that objective. And those are essential lessons to be learned from the Vietnam War.

2/5/04 CNN's Inside Politics: JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me go back to this whole question of President Bush and the National Guard comments. The reason I'm raising this is because yesterday I interviewed Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC. Let me just read you a small portion of what he said about the president's service in the National Guard.

He said, "He didn't show up. Let him answer that. The commander this week reiterated the entire time he was supposed to show up in the Alabama National Guard he wasn't there. He said he made it up later, but you don't have that option. When you're supposed to serve our country, you're supposed to be there."

What do you say?

TERRY HOLT: I say very simply, the National Guard solved this 30 years ago. The president was honorably discharged. [EVA]

What is dishonorable, frankly, is the Democratic Party's re- dredging of this story, and saying things that really impugn the reputation of the half a million people that are in the National Guard. John Kerry the other day said that he wasn't going to judge people who dodged the draft or went to Canada or served in the National Guard, as if dodging the draft was equivalent to the National Guard. That's not fair. It's impugning the character of the commander in chief and impugning the character of people who serve in the National Guard. [PEA]

WOODRUFF: Is it a problem, though, for President Bush, as a candidate up for re-election this year, that there are no records that prove that he showed up for service for approximately a year?

HOLT: The record is crystal clear. The National Guard gave him an honorable discharge. [EVA]

WOODRUFF: But in terms of records that he showed up for his weekend or monthly obligations?

HOLT: Well, according to the National Guard, he made up service during a period that was appropriate, and well within the guidelines that allowed him to have an honorary discharge from the military. [SHL]

WOODRUFF: So as far as you and the campaign is concerned, that's the end of it?

HOLT: Old story, dead story. Move on to the issues that matter to the American people. [CON]

2/4/04 White House Briefing: Q How is the President going to counter Democratic challenges that he got preferential treatment while serving in the National Guard during Vietnam?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think we went through this issue four years ago and I went through this issue yesterday [see 2/3/04 White House Briefing below]. And I will leave it where I left it yesterday.[NDD]

2/4/04 NY Times: The White House went into a furious counterattack on Tuesday. "It is outrageous and baseless," Scott McClellan, Mr. Bush's press secretary, told reporters, breaking the White House practice that all political questions be answered by officials at Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va. [NDD]

Ralph Reed, the Bush campaign's Southeast regional chairman, went even further. "It's gutter politics," Mr. Reed said in an interview. "We're absolutely convinced that the American people will reject these smear tactics." [NDD]

2/4/04 WashPost: White House press secretary Scott McClellan said during his televised afternoon briefing that it is "a shame that this issue was brought up four years ago during the campaign, and it is a shame that it is being brought up again." [NDD]

"The president fulfilled his duties. The president was honorably discharged," McClellan said. [EVA] "I think it is sad to see some stoop to this level, especially so early in an election year." [CON]

After McClellan's briefing, Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot issued a statement saying Kerry is "supporting a slanderous attack" by not repudiating the McAuliffe comments. [PEA] "By embracing this line of attack, Senator Kerry has made clear that he will accept and promote character assassination, innuendo and falsehood even when he doesn't have all the facts," Racicot said. [PEA]

2/4/04 LA Times: "President Bush served honorably in the National Guard. He was honorably discharged," Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said in a statement Tuesday. [EVA] "To suggest, as Sen. Kerry has, that the military should answer questions about President Bush's honorable discharge is an outrage. The furtherance of these charges is despicable." [PEA]

2/4/04 AFP: Ed Gillespie angrily accused McAuliffe of "presidential character assassination" [PEA] and said "there is no ambiguity" about Bush's time in the Guard. [LIE] "The president was honorably discharged from the National Guard. [TRU]. He served his time," Gillespie told CNN television. [LIE] "And he fought [LIE] - he served in a very dangerous area, which is fighter jets." {Not for his last 2 years, when he was grounded!}

2/3/04 GOP.com: At a speech to more than 300 Republican activists Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ed Gillespie said: "This is a demonstrably false and malicious charge that would be slanderous under any ordinary circumstance. [NDD] It's not unusual, however, for Mr. McAuliffe to not tell the truth on national television. Terry McAuliffe has become the John Wilkes Booth of character assassination." [PEA]

2/3/04 WashPost: Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush campaign, accused McAuliffe of trying to "perpetuate a completely false and bogus assertion." [PEA] Holt said, "The president was never AWOL." [NDD]

White House communications director Dan Bartlett said yesterday that although no official record has been found, "obviously, you don't get an honorable discharge unless you receive the required points for annual service." [EVA] He said Bush "specifically remembers" performing some of his duties in Alabama. [SHL] Bartlett also provided a news clipping from 2000 quoting friends of Bush's from the Alabama Senate campaign saying they recalled Bush leaving for Guard duty on occasion. [SHL]

Bush said in 2000 that he did "show up for drills. I made most monthly meetings, and when I missed them I made them up." [LIE] 

2/3/04 AP: Scott McClellan called the accusations "shameful" and the "worst of election-year politics." [CON] Bush "fulfilled his duties" in the National Guard and was honorably discharged. [EVA] "The president was proud of his service," McClellan added. [SHL] McClellan said "these kinds of attacks have no place in politics and everyone should condemn them." [EVA]

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot attacked Kerry directly. "To suggest, as Sen. Kerry has, that the military should 'answer questions' about President Bush's honorable discharge is an outrage," he said. [PEA]

John McCain told MSNBC: "Everything that I've heard, every bit of information I've ever heard - I never got into it, because I wasn't that interested - is that he served honorably and well. And I assume that to be the case." [SHL]

2/3/04 White House Briefing: Q Scott, you expressed some outrage this morning that Democrats are questioning whether President Bush shirked his military duty with the Texas Air National Guard. Is the White House trying to come up with any records or any eye-witnesses to demonstrate that he did show up for his last two years in Alabama?

Scott McClellan: Terry, I would just say that it was a shame that this issue was brought up four years ago during the campaign, and it is a shame that it is being brought up again. [CON] The President fulfilled his duties. The President was honorably discharged. [EVA]

Q Well, the question actually was whether or not you're trying to find any eye-witnesses or any records to prove --

Scott McClellan: Terry, this was addressed four years ago, and like I said, it was a shame that it came up then and it's a shame that some are bringing it up again. [CON]

2/1/04 NY Times: Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, called Mr. McAuliffe's comments today "slanderous," "despicable" and "reprehensible." [PEA]

"President Bush served honorably in the National Guard," Mr. Gillespie said in a telephone interview today. [EVA] "He was never AWOL. To make an accusation like that on national television with no basis in fact is despicable." [PEA]

He added: "I think they are desperate, so they're willing to hurl false charges on national television." [CON]

10/00 George Magazine: Bush maintains he did serve in Alabama. "Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Montgomery and respectfully disagrees with the Colonel," says Bartlett. "There's no question it wasn't memorable, because he wasn't flying."

7/22/00 NY Times: In an interview, Mr. Bush disagreed [with Gen. Turnipseed]. "I was there. I know this guy was quoted as saying I wasn't, but I was there."

Appendix A: The Turnipseed File - Brig. Gen. William R. Turnipseed (ret.). 

On Sept. 15, 1972, Capt. Kenneth K. Lott, the head of personnel for the 187th Tactical Recon Group wrote: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training."

Did Bush ever report to Turnipseed? In 2000, Turnipseed was 99% sure Bush never appeared for duty. How much more certain can anyone get about events 28 years earlier? Now Turnipseed is under tremendous pressure from Bush supporters to change his story. Turnipseed is a "strong Bush supporter," according to FreeRepublic.com, so it is not surprising that he is softening his claim by saying he might not have been at the base. In that case, is Turnipseed admitting to being AWOL himself? Of course, no one else in the Alabama Air National Guard ever saw Bush - including Capt. Kenneth K. Lott and all of the other guardsmen. This is despite ads in Air Force newspapers and highly-publicized rewards from Alabama veterans.

We have collected all of Gen. Turnipseed's statements to prove that Turnipseed never saw Bush.

2/8/04 London Telegraph: "I just don't think he came to the base," Gen Turnipseed told The Telegraph last week. "I would have remembered him. If he did turn up at all, it must have been when I was off-base. But actually, I don't think he made an appearance."

2/6/04 NBC News: "I don't know if [Bush] showed up, I don't know if he didn't. I don't remember how often I was even at the base."

2/2/04 Washington Post: Reached in Montgomery yesterday, Turnipseed stood by his contention that Bush never reported to him. But Turnipseed added that he could not recall if he, himself, was on the base much at that time."

11/3/00 NY Times:  Capt. Kenneth K. Lott, chief of the personnel branch of the 187th Tactical Recon Group, told the Texas commanders that training in September had already occurred but that more training was scheduled for Oct. 7 and 8 and Nov. 4 and 5. But Mr. Bartlett said Mr. Bush did not serve on those dates because he was involved in the Senate campaign, but he made up those dates later.

10/31/00 MSNBC.com Eric Alterman: He was cleared to attend weekend drills in October and November. But two of the 187th's officers said Bush never appeared. One of them, retired Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, says he is 'dead-certain he didn't show up.' Bush, who refuses all interviews on the subject, says he was there, but can't remember anything he did. His campaign can find no records to corroborate this.

10/00 George Magazine: In telephone interviews with Georgemag.com, neither Turnipseed, Bush's commanding officer, nor Kenneth Lott, then chief personnel officer of the 187th, remembered Bush serving with their unit. "I don't think he showed up," Turnipseed said.

7/22/00: NY Times: Questions about Mr. Bush's military service arose in May when The Boston Globe quoted Mr. Turnipseed, who retired as a general, as saying Mr. Bush never appeared for duty.

In a recent [7/00] interview, the general took a tiny step back, saying, "I don't think he did, but I wouldn't stake my life on it. I think I would have remembered him. The chances are 99 percent he didn't."

In an interview, Mr. Bush disagreed. "I was there. I know this guy was quoted as saying I wasn't, but I was there."

5/00 Boston Globe: "Had [Bush] reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not. I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."
Appendix B: Bush's Alabama "Witnesses"

NY Times 00: Emily Marks, who worked in the Blount campaign and dated Mr. Bush, said she recalls that he returned to Montgomery after the election to serve with the Air National Guard.

Boy, is this inadmissable hearsay! Maybe he went to Montgomery to date another woman.

Appendix C: Why Bush Entered the National Guard

11/29/98 Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  "I don't want to play like I was somebody out there marching when I wasn't. It was either Canada or the service... Somebody said the Guard was looking for pilots. All I know is, there weren't that many people trying to be pilots."

2/25/90 Dallas Morning News: "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."

1989 Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: "I'm saying to myself, 'What do I want to do?' I think I don't want to be an infantry guy as a private in Vietnam. What I do decide to want to do is learn to fly."