RETRACTION

Bob Fertik
Feb 11, 2004

While this document is labeled 1st Qtr 1973, it contains the missing entries for the 4th Qtr of 1972.

My apologies to our readers!

The Smoking Microfiche

'Pay' Records Prove Bush
Was AWOL in Alabama

by Bob Fertik
February 11, 2004
http://democrats.com/display.cfm?id=329

As soon as Tuesday's press briefing began, Scott McClellan faced the toughest questioning ever unleashed on the Bush administration. 

After suffering three years of relentless spin, the highest-paid reporters in America wanted a simple answer to a simple question: Did the White House have any proof that Bush actually reported for duty in Alabama in the fall of 1972?

Unfortunately for McClellan, he didn't have it. So he tried to bluff.

Time after time, McClellan repeated his evasive mantra:

When you serve, you are paid for that service. And these documents outline the days on which he was paid. That means he served. And these documents also show that he met his requirements. And it's just really a shame that people are continuing to bring this issue up.

But the press wasn't buying the bluff. This time they wanted the truth. Yet no matter how many different ways the reporters asked the question - where is the proof he showed up in Alabama? - the answer was always the same.

It's time for the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to start packing, because Bush's own "pay" records show Bush was AWOL in Alabama - and Democrats.com is going to prove it right here and now.

Two days after George Bush promised Tim Russert and the entire world that he would release "everything" about his military records, the White House surprised reporters with two sets of new documents, along with a cover memo by Col. Albert C. Lloyd Jr. (ret.), a Bush supporter and expert on National Guard documents.

(The second set of documents were illegible, which only fueled the frustration of the reporters. The White House promised to post more legible versions on their Web site, but as of the midnight the only place they could be found was on "unofficial" White House site at FoxNews.com.)

The first set of documents included the documents first published by Democrats.com on 2-10-2000 - notably the "untorn document."

(Not surprisingly, McClellan refused to credit Democrats.com for discovering these documents, and instead claimed he was revealing them for the very first time. Since "shame" is one of McClellan's favorite epithets, we can't resist saying "shame on you" to McClellan for committing plagiarism.)

Bush's supporters love this document, because it includes two entries that roughly correspond to Bush's time in Alabama during the fall campaign of 1972: Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 11-14.

Of course, these dates do not correspond to the dates he was specifically ordered to report to Col. Turnipseed - Oct. 7-8 and Nov. 4-5. But Bush's supporters don't worry about such details.

But what exactly is this "untorn" document?

The White House is trying to label it as a pay document. But it is not. There isn't a dollar amount anywhere on it. It is clearly labeled "ARF Statement of Points Earned." ARF (Air Reserve Forces) does not pay Guardsmen - that is the job of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). ARF simply tracks their points towards retirement. The "untorn" document is a retirement document, not a pay document.

Apparently, Bush received retirement points during this service year, the 5th of his 6 years. But did he earn them by actually reporting for duty and performing a useful service to defend his country? Or did Bush go AWOL and receive the credits as a gift from a friendly superior officer who wanted to make sure he got an Honorable Discharge - as Democrats.com has argued? That's what every White House reporter wanted to know.

The Smoking Microfiche

If the ARF document above is not a pay record - and it is not - then it cannot answer this simple question. So by a process of elimination, there is only one other record provided by the White House that could be called a "pay" record for the fall of 1972.

This document is below. It has no name, but it appears to be a printed copy of a microfiche. The only description appears below the microfiche in ink, labeled as "1972 - 4th Q."

The top half is difficult to discern, but it could be a pay document of some kind. For example, the upper right corner says "DAILY PAY" and below that 2763, which could be $27.63. But without knowing the name and number of this form, the abbreviated codes it contains, and the agency that produced it, we cannot say for sure.

But McClellan insisted he was releasing "pay" records, so this is the only document provided by the White House that could possibly show whether Bush was "paid" for the 4th quarter of 1972 (September-December), when Bush was allegedly in Alabama.

And though the document is difficult to read, one thing is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt: Bush was not "paid" for any dates in the 4th Quarter of 1972.

The crucial section is the bottom, where the dates are clearly arrayed. Here is a schematic diagram, leaving out dates without entries to save space. The headings for the columns after day 31 are unclear, so we gave it our best guess.

Here are some assumptions we must make to interpret the data:

1. The "normal" entries occur between days 1-30.
2. Day 31 appears to be a "dual use" column. In months with 31 days, there could be a numeric entry if points were earned on that date. In the months with fewer than 31 days (Feb, Apr, Jun, Sep, Nov), "99" appears to be inserted as a placeholder.

Using these assumptions, we can draw the following conclusions.

1. Bush's last date of "pay" was April 16, 1972. (The only entries after that date are on April 31, Jun 31, Sep 31, and Nov 31. Since those are all 30-day months, and the entries all say 99, we can conclude that these are "placeholder" numbers on the form, not "pay" dates for duty served.) This corresponds with his known service record.
2. Bush was not "paid" on the dates claimed by the White House in the 4th Quarter: October 28-29 or November 11-14.

The bottom line is clear: Bush was never paid for service during his time in Alabama.