Meg Laughlin of Knight Ridder has written an important article about Bush's time at Project P.U.L.L. in 1973 - while Bush was AWOL from the National Guard. Laughlin's article offers important evidence that Bush's work with P.U.L.L. was indeed community service, as J.H. Hatfield argued in "Fortunate Son" - the biography that led to Hatfield's suicide (hornsandhalos.com). "George had to sign in and out - I remember his signature was a hurried cursive - but he wasn't an employee. He was not a volunteer either," [Althia Turner] said. "John [White] said he had to keep track of George's hours because George had to put in a lot of hours because he was in trouble." "John [White] didn't say what kind of trouble 43 was in - just that he had done something and he (John) made a deal to take him in as a favor to 41 to get some funding," [Fred] Maura said. If Bush was indeed performing community service, what crime had he committed? Was it a DUI - or worse? The latest blog at bobfertik.com...

On Feb. 13, Scott McClellan refused to tell the Helen Thomas whether Bush performed community service. But at long last, the truth about Bush's community service in 1973 is coming out! According to an important article by Meg Laughlin of Knight-Ridder, Bush spent much of 1973 working with inner-city kids in Houston at Project P.U.L.L. because "Bush had gotten into some kind of trouble." "George had to sign in and out - I remember his signature was a hurried cursive - but he wasn't an employee. He was not a volunteer either," Althia Turner said. "John [White] said he had to keep track of George's hours because George had to put in a lot of hours because he was in trouble." Was Bush arrested in 1973 for DUI - or worse? Was Bush defrauding the National Guard for no-show pay? Did Bush endanger the lives of the children by taking them flying? The latest blog at http://bobfertik.com ...

As Michael Moore so effectively pointed out, G. W. Bush has spend more time on vacation than any other president. Now, add to his vacation time the time he is spending on the road schmoozing to his hand-picked claques (complete with prompters scattered through each audience to chant, clap or laugh in all the pre-scripted places), and you have a president who is SERIOUSLY AWOL. Soldiers are dying in Iraq, jobs are bleeding out of the country on a weekly basis, the price of oil is the highest in US history, and 45 million Americans are without healthcare. But where is Bush? Out chanting slogans. This is probably exactly why there is a flu vaccine shortage - when Bush learned about it back in August, he was just too darn busy preparing his soundbytes and slogans for his next "show." This story from September 16, right after the administration was informed of the impending vaccine shortage, is revealing. And, since then, Bush has spend MORE, not less, time out campaigning.

Paul Lukasiak writes, "New information with regard to the meaning of a special code which appears on George W. Bush's Air National Guard discharge papers indicates that he was being thrown out of the Air National Guard for failing 'to possess the required military qualifications for his grade or specialty, or does not meet the mental, moral, professional or physical standards of the Air Force.' In other words, despite the fact that Bush had an unfulfilled six year Military Service Obligation, he was discharged from the Air National Guard not because he moved to Boston, but because he failed to meet his obligation to maintain his qualifications as an F102 pilot. " To further this investigation, Democrats.com is offering a $1,000 Reward to anyone who can authoritatively document the meaning of PTI 961 (http://tinyurl.com/4ezsz).

From the AP, via Corrente: "Weeks after Texas National Guard officials signed an oath swearing they had turned over all of President Bush's military records, independent examiners found more than two dozen pages of previously unreleased documents about Bush. ... The 31 pages of documents turned over to AP Thursday night include orders for high-altitude training in 1972, less than three months before Bush abruptly quit flying as a fighter pilot. ... The training involved instruction about the effects of lack of oxygen on the body and exercises in which the pilots are exposed under supervision to the thin air of high altitudes. The purpose is to familiarize pilots with the effects of lack of oxygen so they can recognize them and take appropriate action to avoid blacking out at the controls.' ... You know what can cause brain damage, and sometimes does it by accelerating the onset of a deterioration which would otherwise take place much later in life? Google 'anoxia.' "

John Byrne writes, "A newly released document from George W. Bush's military records lends credence to rumors that the recent flap over 'forged memos' was in fact engineered from within the White House, RAW STORY has learned. At the very least, the timing of the release shows that the White House deliberately withheld a genuine document which contained the characteristics of the memos which are said to have been forged. From the beginning, Bush's supporters have claimed that typewriters of the period could not produce the documents... The document is a memo written to Bush notifying him of his promotion to First Lieutenant. Dated Feb. 19, 1971, it was typed more than a year before the first of the CBS memos. And, like the CBS memos, this document uses a proportionately spaced font and has the characteristics of a document produced on contemporary computers using Microsoft Word."

Greg Palast writes, "[William] Safire in the Times, in charging that Burkett faked the document, demanded the military open a criminal investigation. Darn right they should. They haven't. Why not? Maybe they don't want to check into this 'fake' document because maybe it's not fake. An investigation should begin with questions for the President. After all, he can clear up the matter lickety-split. 'Mr. President, did you or did you not ask your commander Lt. Col. Killian how you could shirk your duty to show up?' 'Mr. President, did you or did you not refuse a direct order to take a medical exam and pee into a jar?' 'Mr. President, did Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes make any calls to get you out of 'Nam and into the Air Guard? Yes or no?' ... It is for the President, not Bill Burkett, to answer the question, 'Did your daddy the congressman vote to send other men's sons to Vietnam while pulling the strings to keep you cozy and safe? Yes or no, Mr. President, yes or no?' "

It seems pretty damn despicable to us that a man who was too cowardly to even complete his duties while sequestered in safety in the States during Vietnam should be in charge of ordering other, braver young men and women to their deaths or lifetimes of disability in a hellish, pointless war. Salon reports: "A new source has emerged with what she says is personal knowledge about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard unit in 1972--because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem were affecting his ability to pilot his F-102A plane." The new info comes from Janet Linke, the widow of Jan Peter Linke, who replaced Bush in 1972 when Dubya became too scared to fly. Linke, a former teacher and single mother, is considered an extremely credible source."He [Bush] just became afraid to fly," she said." Yeah - afraid it would interfere with his partying.

Bob Fertik blogs, "Since Walter Robinson published his groundbreaking story '1-year gap in Bush's guard duty' on May 23, 2000, journalists and researchers have been trying to find out WHY Bush stopped flying in 1972... Now, FINALLY, we have a simple answer: Bush developed a 'fear of flying,' possibly influenced by his drinking. Below are two articles based on interviews with Janet Linke, the widow of the F102A pilot (Jan Peter Linke) who had to replace Bush when he quit flying in 1972. Jerry Killian told her and her husband about Bush's flying problems. Linke's story is confirmed by several of her friends. It is also confirmed by the few records that remain, including Bush's grounding order and his flight logs. Finally, it is confirmed by Bush's fellow pilot Deane Roome: 'You wonder if you know who George Bush is. I think he digressed after a while. In the first half, he was gung-ho. Where George failed was to fulfill his obligation as a pilot. It was an irrational time in his life.'"

During Bush's highly-publicized interview with Bill O'Reilly on 9-28-04, Bush LIED four times! He lied about getting preferential treatment to get into the Guard... about flying for 570 hours... about serving 1.5 years of "Active Duty" ... and about fulfilling his duties. The bottom line is that George Bush LIED repeatedly to Bill O'Reilly. Hey Bill - when are you going to invite an expert on Bush's Guard service to tell the TRUTH???

Paul Alexander writes in Rolling Stone, "Even with his free pass keeping him out of harm's way, George W. Bush did not fulfill his obligation to attend Guard drills on a regular basis while in Alabama. Exactly what was he doing? For one thing, he was drinking heavily. 'You had a bunch of guys and girls in their twenties just out of college - what do you think happened?' says Devere McLennan. 'We probably kept the state liquor store in business.'" ... Bush's work on the campaign, such as it was, had been noted. 'I heard what people were talking about,' says Tom Blount, Red Blount's son, who was living in Washington, D.C., at the time. 'I knew the guy was screwing around.' "

A Buzzflash Editorial: "And as far as the alleged 'forged documents,' wouldn't, as a recent pro-democracy web article by Mike Burke speculated, it be the perfect Rovian touch to have planted forged documents that actually contained the truth? After all, you could discredit CBS and the nettlesome Bush National Guard facts in one fell swoop. It has, as Burke notes, the mark of Rove written all over it. If you have the media focus on memos that are essentially true according to a compilation of the facts surrounding Bush's record of service (and the secretary of the man who allegedly wrote them, even though she thinks the memos themselves may not be real as actual documents, they DO reflect the reality and basic facts of Bush blowing off his Guard service, she confirms), but get the press to focus on whether the memos are authentic or not, then you discredit the facts by discrediting the memos. How sweet a technique is that?"

New York Post political gossip columnist Frederic U. Dicker says "The hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the longtime GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard 'memos.' The irony would be delicious, since Rather became famous confronting President Nixon, in whose service a very young Stone became associated with political 'dirty tricks.' Reached at his Florida home, Stone had no comment."

Although we respect Dan Rather for admitting the Bush guard documents couldn't be authenticated, he did America a major disservice by failing to uphold the CONTENT of the story, which even the woman who typed the originals corroborated. Meanwhile, the original source of the documents, which were given first to Bill Burkett, who then gave them to CBS, remains unknown. Was the whole thing was a scam engineered by Bush campaign operatives to cast doubt on the wealth of other evidence that Bush went AWOL.

Bob Fertik blogs, "8 days have passed since CBS presented the Killian memos to the American people. The memos have set off a firestorm in the media and on the Internet. Yet despite all the attacks, George Bush and the White House have NEVER called them fraudulent. Of course, George Bush himself won't answer questions, so I can't quote him. But his spokespeople have been asked repeatedly about the documents - and have systematically avoided called them frauds. Why? I have a very simple explanation: because George Bush and Dan Bartlett and Scott McClellan know every sentence in the memos is TRUE. You don't believe me? Watch me put them to the test. I, Bob Fertik, will contribute $1,000 of my personal money to the Republican National Committee if George Bush, Dan Bartlett, or Scott McClellan will say the following in public: 'George Bush believes the Killian memos are all UNTRUE, and the events described in the memos are all FALSE.' That's all. I'm waiting... "

CBS has refused to allow the Bush smear machine to obliterate the truth by focusing all eyes on the now infamous "suspect documents." These documents are nothing more than red herrings - red herrings planted by (we are betting) Karl Rove. His scheme: induce the idiots in the media to focus on typefont rather than truth. And so they have - ignoring even the statement by the woman who actually typed the originals that the content and story that went with them was most certainly true. Today (Sept. 20) CBS ran the story by Barnes again with a note stating that they would investigate the documents - but NO STATEMENT (contrary to their media rivals' spin) that they recant the content of the story.

The Repug smear machine is trying to discredit Ben Barnes by calling him a "long-time partisan Democrat." But "Ben Barnes has close ties to the Republicans -- including Scott McClellan's family. Barnes has contributed $51,500 to TX GOP candidates since 2000. [TXEthics Commission, http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/] Scott McClellan's mother, Carole Keeton Strayhorn is a friend of Barnes -- Barnes contributed $35,000 to Carole Keeton Strayhorn's campaign in 2003. [Texas Ethics Commission, http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/] [New York Times, 9/15/03]The former TX Lt. Gov. contributed $500 to Jeb Bush during his failed 1994 campaign for Florida's governorship. [Dallas Morning News, 10/25/94] Barnes was on a fundraising events committee to benefit Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson. [Austin American-Statesman, 1/13/04] In 1995, Barnes contributed $250 to the Tom Delay Congressional Committee. [www.tray.com]."

The biggest story here may be the identify of who was behind feeding CBS and Dan Rather dubious documents. What was obviously intended as a diversion from the CONTENT of the Bush AWOL story - which has been confirmed by many different unimpeachable sources, including the lady who typed the original (untampered with) documents - may become much bigger: the forgery of federal documents by persons unknown to aid the Bush campaign. We say INVESTIGATE! And Dan, don't be a chump - EXPOSE YOUR SOURCE. You aren't protecting a real whistleblower - you are protecting a Bush operative and treasonous fraud. During the debates, Kerry should ask Bush point blank for the truth - get the creep on RECORD with a lie!

Bob Fertik blogs, "The memos have set off a firestorm in the media and on the Internet. Yet despite all the attacks, George Bush and the White House have NEVER called them fraudulent. Of course, George Bush himself won't answer questions, so I can't quote him. But his spokespeople have been asked repeatedly about the documents - and have systematically avoided called them frauds. Why? I have a very simple explanation: because George Bush and Dan Bartlett and Scott McClellan know every sentence in the memos is TRUE. You don't believe me? Watch me put them to the test. I, Bob Fertik, will contribute $1,000 of my personal money to the Republican National Committee if George Bush, Dan Bartlett, or Scott McClellan will say the following in public: 'George Bush believes the Killian memos are all UNTRUE, and the events described in the memos are all FALSE.' That's all. I'm waiting... "

Howard Kurtz writes: "In her interview with Rather yesterday, Knox repeated her contention that the documents used by '60 Minutes' were bogus. Knox, 86, worked for Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian while he supervised Bush's unit in the early 1970s. 'I know that I didn't type them,' Knox said of the Killian memos. 'However, the information in there is correct,' she said, adding that Killian and the other officers would 'snicker about what [Bush] was getting away with.' "

Bob Fertik blogs, "Here are 8 reasons why the Killian memos are true. 1. Wednesday. 2. Thursday 3. Friday 4. Saturday 5. Sunday 6. Monday 7. Tuesday 8. Wednesday Today (9-15-04) is the 8th day the Killian memos have been public. Yet the White House STILL has not called the memos frauds... If the White House announces the documents are fraudulent - and they turn out to be TRUE - then the Buseviks could lose the ELECTION. And if that happens, not only do they have to leave the White House, not only do they (and their powerful cronies) fall off the federal budget gravy train, but also many of them stand an excellent chance of going to JAIL for any one of several dozen scandals. So stay tuned. Every day that goes by WITHOUT the White House declaring the memos fraudulent is one more reason to believe the memos are TRUE."

Jennifer Loven AP: "If you're looking for President Bush, don't bother searching the White House. Bush has not spent a full day in Washington since Aug. 2 -- roaming the country rather than staying in the Oval Office as he seeks a second term. On Wednesday, he'll break a 44-day, outside-the-Beltway streak to host a concert and reception at the White House in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. But not for long: He's back on the road the next day. On Aug. 2, Bush stayed in town for a Rose Garden appearance in which he announced his support for a national intelligence chief and establishment of a national counterterrorism center. In between, Bush visited 21 states in 44 days, including three stays at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and some time at his family's home on the Maine coast. "

On the day George Bush spoke to the National Guard Association, Bob Fertik writes: "On September 6, 2000, Bush spoke at the annual conference of the American Legion in Milwaukee, WI. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, here is how Bush introduced himself: 'George Bush, Post 77, reporting for duty,' Bush said as he took the stage at the Midwest Express Center, wearing the American Legion hat of the post he belongs to in Houston. Unfortunately Mr. Bush was not entitled to wear that hat; in doing so, he was impersonating a veteran. Until now, no one has questioned the photo of Bush wearing a veteran's hat... I challenge any reader to prove that George Bush is entitled to call himself a Veteran. Bush's military records are available below."

Democrats.com was one of the first news outlets on the internet to expose Bush's AWOL National Guard record. Even before the un-Supreme Court installed "Our Misleader" in Dec. 2000, Democrats.com was on top of the story. "Aides to Texas Governor George W. Bush visited the Air National Guard archives at Camp Mabry in 1997 and possibly altered Bush's military service records to conceal Bush's grounding from flight in 1972 and subsequent missed duty, according to a former senior official of the Texas National Guard." And we are still on top of the story. To access our archive of more than 180 stories on Bush's AWOL military mis-service, visit www.democrats.com/awol

While the media has focused on the Killian memos, they have completely ignored the other half of the 60 Minutes story - Ben Barnes saying he used his political clout to get Bush into the Guard at the request of the Bush family, which Bush vehemently denies. NY Daily News reports that after Bush left the Guard early to go to Harvard Business School, Bush told his Harvard professor that Poppy's friend got him in! "Yoshi Tsurumi said yesterday that Bush told him his father's connections got him into the Texas Air National Guard. 'But what really disturbed me is that he said he was for the Vietnam War'... 'He was very casual about it,' the professor said. 'I said, 'Lucky you, how did you manage it?' He said, 'My dad had a good friend who put me at the head of the waiting list.''" Bush is a hypocrite - and a liar. Why isn't Prof. Tsurumi on all the cable news shows?

Who needs CBS's memos when US News & World Report has turned up a drawerful of smoking guns? America Blog reports: "Bush's violation of the rules was even worse that we thought. This is a BIG honking story. At this point, I'll give the GOP the CBS memos if they want 'em - who cares if they're real now. USNews, known to be a conservative-leaning magazine, has just come up with independent evidence showing Bush shirked EVEN MORE of his National Guard duty than we thought, that the White House lied about it, and that there is no explanation for how Bush could reasonably get an honorable discharge." Now let's see if NBC, FOX, AP and the rest of the Bush-nosing media bothers to air any part of this story!

Whenever Bush is challenged about going AWOL in 1972, he claims his Honorable Discharge absolves him of all sins. But for the first time, the conservative weekly US News is challenging the validity of Bush's HD. "Some experts say they remain mystified as to how Bush obtained an honorable discharge. Lawrence Korb, a former top Defense Department official in the Reagan administration, says the military records clearly show that Bush 'had not fulfilled his obligation' and 'should have been called to active duty.'... The regulations must be followed, adds James Currie, a retired colonel and author of an official history of the Army Reserve. 'Clearly, if you were the average poor boy who got drafted and sent into the active force,' he says, 'they weren't going to let you out before you had completed your obligation.'" Coming from US News, this is huge!!!

Bob Fertik blogs, "While the media is breathlessly trying to prove CBS broadcast fraudulent AWOL memos, three other networks committed fraud this week - yet no one but Salon's Eric Boehlert noticed. All 3 networks gave time to retired Lt. Col. John 'Bill' Calhoun, who claims he saw Bush performing drills in Alabama in the SUMMER of 1972. There's only one problem with Calhoun's story - Bush's OWN records show Bush didn't get credit for any time until October. We don't need typewriter experts to prove that October is not in the SUMMER - making Calhoun's statements an obvious fraud.! Of course it's been 32 years and people's memories fade, so on 2-24-04, Democrats.com submitted a FOIA request for Lt. Calhoun's records, to see if his drill dates overlapped with Bush's (http://democrats.com/display.cfm?id=199). However, in February the White House ordered the Pentagon to reject ALL FOIA requests - so the truth remains a mystery."

The media is buzzing with the possibility that the Killian memos broadcast on 60 Minutes are forgeries. The truth hangs on whether any commonly-used typewriters in the 60's-70's had proportional spacing and superscripts. If you HAVE a typewriter like that (perhaps an IBM Executive Electric like http://www.etypewriters.com/1954-b-2.JPG), please type out a replica of Killian's first memo and see if your typewriter matches his. If it does, tell us about it in Bob Fertik's blog.

For four years, Dan Bartlett has repeatedly lied about Bush's service. How many new lies did he tell 60 Minutes? Bob Fertik examines Bartlett's interview word by word.

Washington Post: "[Records obtained by] '60 Minutes' shed new light on one of the most controversial episodes in Bush's military service [sic] includ[ing] a memo from Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, ordering Bush 'to be suspended from flight status for failure to perform' [and] failure to take his annual physical 'as ordered.' '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.' [D]ocuments 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.... Killian complained that he was under pressure from his superior, Col. Walter B. 'Buck' Staudt, to 'sugar coat' Bush's officer evaluations." Are the memos real? Or forgeries planted by Karl Rove?

"The Democratic Party Wednesday declared examination and criticism of Bush's military record fair game with the release of reports alleging Bush failed to fulfill the requirements of his duty with the Air National Guard. 'This is a very big issue. This is a very big issue for the American public,' Democratic National Convention Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday. 'The president has been caught in direct contradiction -- lies -- and all I can tell you is that the president's credibility is issue No. 1.'... Speaking in a conference call Wednesday, McAuliffe told reporters to 'stay tuned' to find out how Democrats would work on the angle of the issue. He also said it was Republicans' fault this issue was taking such center stage. 'George Bush's allies have made an issue of John Kerry's service. And we are going to make issue of the president's credibility ... All of this is on the table. And it's going to be on the table between now and November 2nd,' he said." You GO, Terry!

A team of Globe reporters worked together to investigate Bush's Guard service. What they found ain't pretty. "Twice during his Guard service -- first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School -- Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty. He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show." Worse, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlet lied about it to the media, claiming Bush finished his six-year commitment at a Boston area Air Force Reserve unit after he left Houston. "Not so, Bartlett now concedes. ''I must have "misspoke." " Retired Army Colonel Gerald A. Lechliter, who studied Bush's records and old National Guard regulations is furious: ''He broke his contract with the United States government -- without any adverse consequences. And the Texas Air National Guard was complicit in allowing this to happen."

Boston Globe's Walter Robinson reports: "Twice during his Guard service - first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School - Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty. He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show.... Bush's attendance at required training drills was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his service had been 'satisfactory' - just four months after Bush's commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit for the previous 12 months. [Retired Army Colonel Gerald A. Lechliter says] 'He broke his contract with the US government - without any adverse consequences. And the Texas Air National Guard was complicit in allowing this to happen.'" WHY???

"Texans for Truth, established by the 20,000-member Texas online activist group, DriveDemocracy.org, has produced a 0:30 second television advertisement, 'AWOL.' The ad features Robert Mintz, one of many who served in Alabama's 187th Air National Guard -- when Bush claims to have been there -- who have no memory of Bush on the base. In other words, Bush failed to fulfill his military duty while others were dying in Vietnam." As Nick Kristof writes, "Mr. Mintz is a compelling witness. Describing himself as 'a very strong military man,' he served in the military from 1959 to 1984. A commercial pilot, he is now a Democrat but was a Republican for most of his life, and he is not a Bush-hater." Start packing for Crawford, George...

Nick Kristof writes, "[Bob] Mintz recalled why he remembered Mr. Bush as a no-show: 'Young bachelors were kind of sparse. For that reason, I was looking for someone to haul around with.' ... Another particularly credible witness is Leonard Walls, a retired AF colonel who was then a full-time pilot instructor at the base. 'I was there pretty much every day,' he said, adding: 'I never saw him, and I was there continually from July 1972 to July 1974... If he had been there more than once, I would have seen him'... 'The record clearly and convincingly proves he did not fulfill the obligations he incurred when he enlisted in the Air National Guard,' writes Gerald Lechliter, a retired Army colonel who has made the most meticulous examination I've seen of Mr. Bush's records (I've posted the 32-page analysis here). Mr. Lechliter adds that Mr. Bush received unauthorized or fraudulent payments that breached National Guard rules, according to the documents that the White House itself released."

AP reports, "Bush's 2000 campaign suggested [W] skipped his medical exam in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete. Records show Bush's Texas unit flew the F-102A until 1974 and used the jets as part of an air defense drill during 1972. A six-month historical record of his 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, also turned over to the AP on Tuesday, shows some of the training Bush missed with his colleagues during that time. Significantly, it showed the unit joined a '24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack' in the southern United States beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a time when Bush did not report for duty, according to his pay records... As part of the mission, the 147th kept two F-102A jets - the same Bush flew before he was grounded - on ready alert to be launched within five minutes' warning." There goes Bush's alibi. Now we know the truth - when Bush was needed to protect the Homeland, Bush went AWOL - just like on 9-11.

AP writes: "The records show his last flight was in April 1972, which is consistent with pay records indicating Bush had a large lapse of duty between April and October of that year. Bush has said he went to Alabama in 1972 to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost him his pilot's status in August of that year... The newly released records do not include any from five categories of documents Bush's commanders had been required to keep in response to the gaps in Bush's training in 1972 and 1973. For example, National Guard commanders were required to perform an investigation whenever any pilot skipped a medical exam and forward the results up the Air Force chain of command. No such documents have surfaced." Still AWOL (after all these years...)

"In 'George Dub-ya Bush, the Phony Fighter Pilot,' Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam veteran, ex-Air Force pilot and registered Republican, tells how he found an official Bush biography on the Internet that claimed the president flew National Guard jets almost six years... Scott is the only investigative journalist since 1988 to interview Chester Mierzejewski, 83 - honorable and highly decorated Avenger tail gunner who saw Big George bail out and blew the whistle on him before the presidential election... Scott uses USAF documents, newspaper archives, Bush family autobiographies and authorized bios to show that George W. received a commission during the Vietnam War without any officer training, grounded himself by failing to take his annual flight physical, went AWOL in Alabama to work for the GOP, boozed until age 40 instead of preparing for national leadership, lied about his missing Guard service to get elected and tried to ruin the reputation of primary opponent, Senator John McCain."

Bush says he released ALL records, but AP wants these files. "1) A report from the Texas Air National Guard to Bush's local draft board certifying that Bush remained in good standing. The government has released copies of those DD Form 44 documents for Bush for 1971 and earlier but not for 1972 or 1973. 2) Records of a required investigation into why Bush lost flight status. [Note: Democrats.com broke THIS story on 10-4-00]. 3) A written acknowledgment from Bush that he had received the orders grounding him. His Texas commanders were ordered to have Bush sign such a document; but none has been released. 4) Reports of formal counseling sessions Bush was required to have after missing more than three training sessions. Bush missed at least five months. 5) A signed statement from Bush acknowledging he could be called to active duty if he did not promptly transfer to another guard unit after leaving Texas. The statement was required as part of a Vietnam-era crackdown on no-show guardsmen."

The Bush family insists they did NOT pull strings to get W into the Guard. "Friends said Barnes will expand on the remarks in his interview with '60 Minutes' while taking care not to contradict sworn testimony from 1999, in which he said that no member of the Bush family had directly asked him for help... Barnes is now telling friends that he understood that Adger was making his request on behalf of the Bush family, even though Barnes has no memory of Adger explicitly saying he was. Barnes based his understanding on the knowledge that Adger was extremely close to the Bush family and Barnes's feeling that Adger would not have acted without their consent. At the time, Barnes was speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and in close touch with the head of the Texas Air National Guard, Brig. Gen. James Rose. Adger and Rose are dead."

It isn't a crime for Bush to falsely claim to be a veteran to get into the American Legion, but it sure is a slap in the face to the 25 million Americans who - unlike Bush - served the Active Duty needed to qualify. According to this careful examination, Bush was not qualified to join American Legion Post 77 in Houston, Texas in 1995. That makes him a "Phony Veteran." There ought to be a term for pretending to be a Legion member - how about "Legion-Air Disease"?

"Before there was Karl Rove, Lee Atwater or even James Baker, the Bush family's political guru was a gregarious newspaper owner and campaign consultant from Midland, Texas, named Jimmy Allison. In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and asked a favor: Could Allison find a place on the Senate campaign he was managing in Alabama for his troublesome eldest son, the 25-year-old George W. Bush? 'The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in trouble and embarrassing the family, and they just really wanted to get him out of Houston and under Jimmy's wing,' Allison's widow, Linda, told me. 'And Jimmy said, 'Sure.' He was so loyal.' Linda Allison's story, never before published, contradicts [Bushit's alibi]. According to what Allison says her late husband told her, the younger Bush had become a political liability for his father, who was then the United States ambassador to the United Nations, and the family wanted him out of Texas."

Eric Boehlert writes,"Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates' military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician [Ben Barnes] who says he landed Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now 'ashamed' of his actions. The explosive comments from a central player in the National Guard drama - captured on video and available online - have received just cursory coverage in the mainstream media since it was brought to light on Friday. The shoulder-shrugging response stands in stark contrast to the media orgy that has greeted the hollow, secondhand allegations made about John Kerry's Vietnam service by the Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has yet to make a single factual allegation stick about the circumstances surrounding Kerry's five war medals."

Greg Palast: "Bush was elected governor of Texas by a whisker [and former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes who now regrets helping Bush get into the National Guard was] a big time corporate lobbyist [who] 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.... 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 [the GTech lottery contract] 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] 'Barnes agreed never to confirm the story [of the draft dodging] 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.'"

Salon reports, "Another bombshell in the battle over Vietnam service that has been raging in the 2004 race exploded on the Web Friday. In a video originally posted on the Web by a pro-Kerry organization in Austin, Texas, Ben Barnes, a former lieutenant governor of Texas, apologized for his role in getting a young George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard while young men who were not from prominent or wealthy families 'died in Vietnam.'... 'I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas National Guard when I was lieutenant governor, and I'm not necessarily proud of that. But I did it.'... Bush insisted [in 1999] that neither he nor his father sought Barnes' assistance. 'I can tell you what happened,' said Bush. 'Nothing happened. My Guard unit was looking for pilots and I flew for the Guard. I'm proud of my service and any allegation that my dad asked for special favors is simply not true ... I didn't ask anybody to help get me to the Guard either.'" Got lie detector?

Here is a photograph published on the Presidential Library site of George H.W. Bush. We can clearly see that in this photograph taken sometime before his promotion to 1st Lt. in 1970, George W. Bush is wearing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (AFOUA) and a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon (SAEMR) just below his pilot wings. According to a just-completed investigation by Walt Starr, Bush's unit (the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron / 147th Fighter Intercept Group) did not receive its first AFOUA until 1975. For weeks, the media has put John Kerry's 5 medals under a microscope. Now we learn that George Bush was so ashamed of his undistinguished service record that he had himself photographed with a ribbon he NEVER earned. That makes Bush an IMPOSTOR. Help us DEMAND the media give as much coverage of Bush's fraudulent ribbon as it has given to John Kerry's genuine combat medals.

Citizens For Honest Fighter Pilots reports, "When the Bush-AWOL/deserter scandal first erupted months ago, I overheard [well, the person was talking loudly, so how could I help but hear?] an aide to a radical conservative congressperson run down exactly what happened to create this situation: Bush was 'acting inappropriately' on the base in Texas, then was picked up on a DUI for alcohol and marijuana. In order to 'create a break in the record,' he was shipped off to Alabama for rehab. That is why he never showed up for his Guard duty - he was in rehab. That also refutes the spin that he had gone there to work on a congressional campaign [note: the campaign workers have said he only appeared at headquarters a few times, and they called him the 'souffle' because of the 'hot air' he spewed when he did show up]."

"Announcer: If you have any questions about George Bush's National Guard service record, just ask the men who didn't serve with him. John Maguire: I did not serve with George Bush. Ted Brody: I did not serve with George Bush. Michael Jansen: I did not serve with George Bush. Maguire: I know George Bush is lying about his service, because I was skiing with him in Aspen the whole time. Brody: His accounts of where he was and where he wasn't are as different as being at a frat party and being in the military. Literally. Jansen: George Bush cannot be trusted to be there for America, especially if there is anywhere near an airforce base. Brody: We got so drunk. Maguire: We got so drunk. Jansen: We got so drunk. Maguire: George Bush is a deserter. But he does like to party." Watch this hilarious satire!

Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard of USA TODAY write: "Why did Bush, described by some of his fellow officers as a talented and enthusiastic pilot, stop flying fighter jets in the spring of 1972 and fail to take an annual physical exam required of all pilots? What explains the apparent gap in the president's Guard service in 1972-73, a period when commanders in Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for duty and records show no pay to Bush when he was supposed to be on duty in Alabama? Did Bush receive preferential treatment in getting into the Guard and securing a coveted pilot slot despite poor qualifying scores and arrests, but no convictions, for stealing a Christmas wreath and rowdiness at a football game during his college years?... Dan Bartlett told USA Today,. 'The resident has authorized the release of his records and we are complying with all requests. Some are taking longer than others, but all will be addressed.' " Sure - somewhere around 2040!

Korean War vet Philip Vargas writes, "It is clear from the evidence that Bush dishonored his solemn oath to serve and protect our country in accordance with the US Constitution. He also disgraced the US military uniform. Bush must therefore answer to the American people for his conduct, but most importantly he must answer to all those who have served our country honorably and most specially those who are now sacrificing and putting their lives at risk in his illegal and unnecessary war. And, if I may, he has disgraced our country. We are the most hated country in the world and Americans are the most hated people in the world and Bush is the most hated leader in the world, even more than Saddam Hussein. To the best of my knowledge, no other politician or political leader in the history of our country has ever had such a disgraceful foreign policy and military record."

The Nation: "At issue is whether Bush was, technically at least, a deserter in his fourth year of National Guard service [when] no one on the base remembers seeing him.... [Bush] was ordered to report for a flight medical exam in July 1972 [which he] 'failed to accomplish' [Bush] returned to Texas with zero active duty days.... [Bush used] nepotistic influence, jumping a long line, despite a 25 percent score on his pilot aptitude test [and] a series of driving convictions [and] was commissioned an officer despite ... no pilot experience [or] time in the ROTC [then] went missing for a year, [and] terminate[d] his service early.... His use of the National Guard to escape Vietnam should have inhibited him and his party from successively attacking the patriotism and martial virtues of triple amputee Senator Max Cleland and John Kerry--having earlier pointed fingers at Bill Clinton. But going AWOL ... deserting for a year even from this surrogate service, makes [Bush] doubly vulnerable."

Bill L. Burkett LTC (ret) writes, "I have reviewed the assumptions that Lukasiak had to use through the first 63 months of Bush's career - before Bush just quit and was transferred to an obvious records hold - and believe that his conclusions are correct... Was 1LT George W. Bush AWOL? The use of terms such as Deserter or AWOL have often been used as the focus of debate rather than the actions and inactions of 1LT Bush, to the discredit of the actual events and their impact. Documentation has refuted all claims that 1LT Bush continued to meet either the published regulations requirements for satisfactory drill participation, or the orders of his commander LTC Jerry Killian who later within the Officer Evaluation process notes that 1LT Bush was not available or seen during that rating period - a period of twelve months. Failure to appear as ordered is certainly considered as Absent without Leave."

Ian Williams writes, Bush joined the National Guard "with the aid of nepotistic influence, jumping a long line, despite a 25% score on his pilot aptitude test--and despite a series of driving convictions that should have required a special waiver. He was commissioned an officer despite having no pilot experience, no time in the ROTC, and without attending Officer Training School. And then he went missing for a year, and as a reward was allowed to terminate his service early so he could go to Harvard Business School. His use of the National Guard to escape Vietnam should have inhibited him and his party from successively attacking the patriotism and martial virtues of triple amputee Senator Max Cleland and John Kerry--having earlier pointed fingers at Bill Clinton. But going AWOL... makes him doubly vulnerable. Which may of course account for the seeming fungibility of his paperwork, even though, in truth, these people have no shame." Buy "Deserter" by Williams at democrats.com/books

After EXHAUSTIVE research, Paul Lukasiak writes, "An examination of the Bush military files... lead to a single conclusion: George W. Bush was considered a deserter by the United States Air Force. After Bush quit TXANG, he still had nine months of his six-year military commitment left to serve. As a result, Bush became a member of the Air Force Reserves and was transferred to the authority of the Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC) in Denver, Colorado... ARPC had to order Bush to get a physical examination, for which Bush did not show up. ARPC then designated Bush as AWOL and a 'non-locatee' (i.e. a deserter) who had failed to satisfactorily participate in TXANG, and certified him for immediate induction through his local draft board. Once the Houston draft board got wind of the situation, strings were pulled; and documents were generated which directly contradict Air Force policy, and which were inconsistent with the rest of the records released by the White House."

Linda Starr blogs Bush "was actually grounded in a two page disciplinary report signed by LTC Jerry Killian, his commanding officer. I dare ANY reporter to ask Bush what this document contains. Ask why he hasn't signed an official release for release of his entire files (because this document is what they are hiding, and it's really bad). Don't take my word for it, ask the WH and/or Bush to produce it. If they insist it doesn't exist, ask if they are aware there are copies of this very report floating around on the Internet. Then ask if they still insist this document doesn't exist. "

Bush Body Count writes, "There are no witnesses left to verify whether or not Bush fulfilled his Guard duty, and no witnesses left to verify that he did indeed receive special treatment. In spite of a substantial reward that has been posted, no one has come forward to claim that he fulfilled his commitment. Lt. Col. William Harris was one of two commanding officers who could not perform George W. Bush's annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973. They stated in their filing that 'Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report.' Fortunately for George W. Bush, Lt. Col. Harris is not here to verify his 1973 statement. He's dead. Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian was another of George W. Bush's commanding officers. He cannot testify in a court of law as to George W. Bush's dereliction of his sworn duty. Lt. Col. Killian is dead... The names are included because they were relatively young men, whose deaths were convenient to Bush."

Bush dodged Vietnam by using powerful family friends to get into the Texas Air National Guard "Champagne Unit." Bush was required to train with his unit one weekend each month. But for at least five months in 1972 (May-Sept), Bush did NOT report for duty. The Pentagon just found the pay records that prove Bush received NO pay for those 5 months. Bush was AWOL - and a DESERTER. Why did he decide to stop flying - was it alcohol or drugs? Was there a Flight Inquiry Board? Once again, we demand Bush's MEDICAL and DISCIPLINARY records!

Ian Williams writes, that Bush's "commanding officers back in Texas wrote that they did not see him for a year. He was ordered to take his annual medical and Alabama, and 'failed to accomplish' it thereby grounding himself as a pilot. Technically, all that was desertion -- and guardsmen in that era were ordered to Vietnam for failing to do their Guard Service. Most distressing is to see how effective the White House has been in spinning the press, while covering their own asses. On February 13 this year, 83-year-old Helen Thomas of Hearst tried for the best part of the White House briefing to get a straight answer to the question: Was George W. Bush ever sentenced to community service in 1973? Scott McClellan implacably stonewalled and refused to answer. Indeed, he refused even to ask the president. Did this evasion make the headlines? Not at all!" Read Williams' new book on Bush's AWOL, "Deserter."

Bush "pioneer" (that's $200K, folks) Christopher Egan is releasing a new film, "Eclipsed by The Sun - The Political Education of John Kerry," about Kerry's ill-fated 1972 congressional campaign. "Egan said he is in discussion with national networks and local television about a commercial airing" - no doubt on FOX. We can't believe Republicans want to bring up 1972 of all years - because that's the year Bush went AWOL because of his still-unreported alcohol or drug problem! Any network that shows this film should show "Horns and Halos," the film about J.H. Hatfield, whose investigation of Bush's AWOL past eventually led to his tragic suicide (http://hornsandhalos.com/)

Newsday: "Military payroll records that could more fully document Bush's whereabouts during his service in the Texas Air National Guard were inadvertently [yeah, right - like anyone with four or more brain cells believes that!] destroyed, according to the Pentagon." In response to an oh-so-convenient request from AP (American Propaganda), the Pentagon was able to shovel its latest load of B.S. [Bush Spin] to the media. The DOD says microfilm containing the pertinent National Guard payroll records was damaged and could not be salvaged [yep, after being fed to a shredder they usually are in pretty bad shape!]. The damaged material included payroll records for the first quarter of 1969 and the third quarter of 1972. " Says Pentagon wonk C.Y. Talbott: "Searches for back-up paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful." [But only because they didn't search Donald Rumsfeld's pockets!]. Did AP and the Pentagon really think this would lay Bush's AWOL demon to rest?

NY Times reports, "Military records that could help establish Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon." Yeah right - the dog ate Bush's records. "The destroyed records cover three months (July-Sept) in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question." Gee, how conVENient! "Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director who has said that the released records confirmed the president's fulfillment of his National Guard commitment, did not return two calls for a response." Duh - he's the guy who SCRUBBED Bush's records starting in 1997! "Among the issues still disputed is why, according to released records, Mr. Bush was suspended from flying on Aug. 1, 1972." Hey NYT - forget the payroll records, demand the MEDICAL and DISCIPLINARY records!!

"AP sued the Pentagon and the Air Force on Tuesday, seeking access to all records of Bush's military service during the Vietnam War... There are questions as to whether the file provided to the news media earlier this year is complete, says the lawsuit, adding that these questions could possibly be answered by reviewing a copy of the microfilm of Bush's personnel file... The White House has yet to respond to a request by the AP in April asking the resident to sign a written waiver of his right to keep records of his military service confidential. Bush gave an oral waiver in a TV appearance [with Tim Russert on 2/8/04]... The government 'did not expedite their response ... they did not produce the file within the time required by law, and they will not now estimate when the file might be produced or even confirm that an effort has been initiated to retrieve a copy from the microfilm at the Texas archives,' the lawsuit says." Hey Russert - make Bush sign the waiver on national TV!

Bush keeps reminding us all how he's "the war-time president." As a "war-time president" and supposedly commander in chief of the US military, with an average of four American soldiers dying each day in Iraq, and a scandal the size of Texas exploding over military abuses of prisoners, shouldn't Bush be on the job, in Washington? But nope, untroubled by such things as national security and responsibility, he's off on a toot across the midwest to brag to the populace there about all those new part-time $7/hr jobs that are opening up!

The speech received limited and selective coverage in the media, if at all. It deserved better. This powerful defense of John Kerry and its indictment of the Bush administration is available on video at the Senator's web site.

In a scathing speech on the Senate floor, [Frank] Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, said, "We know who the chicken hawks are. They talk tough on national defense and military issues and cast aspersions on others," he said. "When it was their turn to serve where were they? AWOL, that's where they were." Lautenberg pointed to a poster with a drawing of a chicken in a military uniform defining a chickenhawk as "a person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it." "They shriek like a hawk, but they have the backbone of the chicken.The lead chickenhawk against Sen. Kerry [is] the vice president of the United States, Vice President Cheney," Lautenberg said.

Kerry declared Bush "owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it... I'm not going to stand around and let them play games." 1. Bush Has Said He Used No Special Treatment To Get Into The Guard. How Does He Explain The Fact That He Jumped Ahead Of 150 Applicants Despite Low Pilot Aptitude Scores? 2. Col. Albert Lloyd Said A Report From Alabama To Ellington Should Have Been Filed. Where Is That Report? 3. Why Did Bush Miss His Medical Exam In 1972? 4. Where Are The Complete Results Of The Required Investigation Into Bush's Absence From The Exam? 5. Why Did Bush Specifically Request To NOT Be Sent Overseas For Duty? 6. Why Does The White House Say Bush Was On Base When Bush's Superiors Filed A Report Saying He Was Gone For A Whole Year? 7. Why Is The Pentagon Under Orders To Not Discuss Bush's Record With Reporters? 8.Where Are Bush's Flight Logs? 9. Why Hasn't Bush Himself Demonstrated That He Showed Up For Service in Alabama?

Asked why he and Bush were grounded in 1972, James Bath "dismissed the suspensions as trivial. 'It happens all the time, especially in the Guard,' he said. 'In a regular squadron it is real easy to get your physical, but in a Guard unit, it is a different kettle of fish because the flight surgeon is also a civilian.' Bath, who referred to Bush as 'Geo' ... said that 'the base is a ghost town except when the whole unit is there. When you fall out of requirements, it is no big deal; you are simply not able to be on the flying schedule. That is it, full stop.' Bath asserted that allegations that Bush had been using drugs are a 'bogus issue,' but declined to answer precisely why he and Bush failed to undergo their physicals. 'I'm telling you that it [drug use] did not happen. It is beyond laughable. I wasn't with him 24/7, but Geo did not use drugs. Geo did not use drugs, and I really know the facts.'" OK, was he just stinkin' no-good drunk? Was he working for the CIA? What is the truth?

"Q Kerry says it's a smear campaign. He also says that it's a phony controversy. But he goes beyond that, and he says that this comes from a President who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Your response? MR. McCLELLAN: I think you're asking to get into political attacks by Senator Kerry. This is the latest political attack. And I think that those questions are best directed to the campaign." When did Bush-Cheney campaign chair Marc Racicot become the expert on Bush's missing military records? Wasn't that McClellan's job? Isn't he the guy who released Bush's carefully shredded military records late on a Friday and called them 'complete'? American taxpayers want to know: will the Washington Press Corps stand for McClellan's endless effort to lie, deny, evade, and confuse - while he is getting handsomely paid by the taxpayers? As McClellan's boss used to say, "It's OUR money"!

Jim Moore writes that Bush "and his staff are doing a very good job of convincing the public he has released all of his National Guard records and that they prove he was responsible during his time in Alabama and Texas. But the critical documents have still not been seen. The mandatory written report about Bush's grounding is mysteriously not in the released file, nor is any other disciplinary evidence. A document showing a 'roll-up,' or the accumulation of his total retirement points, is also absent, and so are his actual pay stubs. If the president truly wanted to end the conjecture about his time in the Guard, he would allow an examination of his pay stubs and any IRS W-2 forms from his Guard years. These can be pieced together to determine when he was paid and whether he earned enough to have met his sworn obligations."

"'When they start questioning what I did or didn't do 35 years ago, or said, on a personal level, I'm going to fight back,' he told NBC News. 'If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates, he owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it.' But Mr. Kerry's aides asserted that the debate played to his advantage, noting that he had received three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star during his time commanding Navy Swift boats. 'Every time the Republicans force this debate, the only thing that comes across is that John Kerry is a war hero,' said Stephanie Cutter, a senior Kerry aide. 'And it is a stark comparison with George Bush, who still can't prove he showed up for National Guard duty.'" You GO, JFK!

On the House floor, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), "who spent seven years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war, said the young Kerry 'blasted our nation, chastised our troops and hurt our morale... What he did was nothing short of aiding and abetting the enemy.' Comparing Kerry to former antiwar activist Jane Fonda, Johnson said: 'He's called Hanoi John.' The presiding officer, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), briefly cautioned members not to disparage senators by name, but other Republicans poured it on... Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), a Navy psychiatrist during the war, alluded to Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard. People who served actively then, he said, have a right to speak out. 'But if you were in the National Guard and you didn't show up, you were AWOL for a whole year, you've got real nerve to start an attack on John Kerry's character,' McDermott said. 'Some people were simply not available; they never showed up for their flight physical.'" Hey Sam - you're digging Bush's grave!

The Boston Globe has abandoned its quest for the truth about Bush's grounding and AWOL during his National Guard duty, and now is attacking John Kerry's military record. In an open letter to Globe reporter Michael Kranish, Bob Fertik documents Dan Bartlett's latest lies. We demand complete and truthful answers to the 2 questions posed by Walter Robinson of the Globe back on Feb. 14: why Bush went AWOL for many months in 1972-73, and why Bush was grounded.

"Military rules used in 1974 to ground two Washington Air National Guard airmen with access to nuclear weapons also applied to a Texas ANG unit where Lt. George W. Bush was a fighter pilot. Some military researchers and a former Texas Guard lieutenant colonel believe the stringent regulations - known as the Human Reliability Program - may have been invoked to stop Bush from flying Texas ANG jets in 1972... Bush's pilot code was among those covered by Air Force Regulation 35-99, a previously undisclosed document recently obtained by The Spokesman-Review. Human reliability regulations were used to screen military personnel for their mental, physical and emotional fitness before granting them access to nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Under the rules, pilots could be removed immediately from the cockpit for HRP issues, which happened in the 1974 Washington ANG case. The two Washington airmen were suspended on suspicion of drug use, but eventually received honorable discharges."

"Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia walked into the North Miami Armory after repeating his determination not to return to the Middle East and fight. Mejia, 28, of Miami Beach, was in Iraq for about five months until October, when he returned home on leave. He did not return to duty... Florida National Guard spokesman Jon Myatt said Mejia had been classified as a deserter because he was missing from his unit for more than 30 days. Bush disappeared for at least a year so why wasn't he a deserter?"

When Bush lived in Montgomery Alabama for that short, vague period in the early 1970s, he is still remembered by many. The good memories have all to do about superficial charm and a gift of gab. But the family of his landlady, a (then) 68-year-old recall that, "He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people's possessions," said Mary Smith, whose family found damaged walls, broken furnishings and a chandelier destroyed after Bush left the house. A bill sent to collect the damages went unpaid. A relative of "Red" Blount, the guy on whose campaign Bush worked, recalls a lazy, irresponsible "Texas souffle" who spent more time bragging about his drinking exploits than working, leaving others to do his job.

Boston Globe reports, "The biography of Bush on the US State Department's website credits him with almost six years in the F-102's cockpit -- two years on active duty flying the plane and nearly four more years of part-time service as an F-102 pilot. The websites of at least five American embassies -- those in Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Vietnam, and South Korea -- use the identical language, even though Bush spent barely two years flying the airplane. After the 2000 election, when evidence of Bush's abbreviated flying career and his propensity to miss required drills became public, the presidential biography written for the White House website made no mention of the period of Bush's service, only that he served as an F-102 pilot." But since 2001, the State Department biography of Bush has continued to promote the lie - the same lie Bush included in his 1999 autobiography, "A Charge To Keep," in which he claimed he flew with his unit for "several years."

"A MadCowMorningNews investigation into the controversy currently swirling around... George W. Bush's service in the National Guard has uncovered evidence indicating that Bush's disputed 'lost year' is not the only period of time during his abbreviated stint in the Guard that remains shrouded in mystery... Evidence unearthed in our investigation indicates that George W. Bush, while supposedly serving in the Texas Guard in 1971, may instead have been detailed to the massive covert operation of the U.S. government going on at that very moment in Central America [especially in transporting 'tropical plants']." This still doesn't explain my Bush skipped out on his national guard duty in '72/73, since going AWOL would have been a lousy cover story for a "covert operative." But it may give insight into what else he was up to, that may have helped him to get sidetracked by the "fruits" of tropical plants.

Josh Marshall writes: "This morning we noted that Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot tried to float the demonstrably false line that President Bush had volunteered for service in Vietnam, but hadn't been 'selected'. Now, our first thought was that Mr. Racicot might be angling to be the next winner of the 'Heather Wilson 'I think the American people are a bunch of god-forsaken idiots' Award'. But this isn't just a blatant misstatement of the facts that Racicot apparently believes the press will be too timid to call him on. He's even contradicting what the president himself said only two weeks ago." Racicot has fudged the truth about his own military service. And he used the ROTC to avoid the draft. It's only fitting that Racicot and other chickenhawks would defend their fearless (NOT!) leader. Birds of a feather flee together.

Dallas Morning News: "'His teeth were there,' says the gently mocking Web page. 'Was he?' The teeth -- and the dental chart -- belong to George W. Bush, who as president continues to fend off questions about his National Guard service. On Monday, Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau offered a $10,000 reward in his syndicated newspaper comic strip for anyone who 'personally witnessed' Bush reporting for drills at Dannelly Air National Guard base in Alabama between May and November 1972. Trudeau explains in strips later this week -- and on his website, doonesbury.com -- that the reward money will be given to the USO in the witness' name. The White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign had no comment Monday."

The Freeway Blogger writes: "This one's easy: Take a piece of cardboard and paint the letters A, W, O, and L on it and affix it securely (duct tape and coathangers work best) to a bush next to your local freeway. Take a picture and send it to us here. Best photo wins a T-Shirt and twenty five bucks."

"Bush, dogged by questions about his Vietnam-era service in the Air National Guard, surrounded himself with a sea of military olive and beige yesterday, touting his credentials as commander in chief at an Army base that has sent thousands of troops to Afghanistan and Iraq and lunching with a soon-to-be-deployed group of guardsmen. White House officials said Bush's campaign-style stop at Fort Polk had nothing to do with the controversy over gaps in his service record with the Air National Guard between May 1972 and May 1973. 'This event has been in the works for several weeks,' White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. But one officer at the base said Fort Polk received orders last week to begin preparing for the president's visit."

Todd Smyth writes, "Many are saying the Vietnam war was winding down in 1972 and Bush simply lost interest. But the air war heated up just days before Bush vanished from the radar. On April 10, 1972 Richard Nixon began the largest air strikes against North Vietnam, the first since 1968. 'The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time,' Nixon privately declares. Heavy B-52 bombardments of Hanoi and Haiphong harbor, 145 miles deep into North Vietnam territory, prompt the heaviest protesting at home by April 15... AP reported 11 American planes had been downed in the first raid on Haiphong. A United States communique on April 15 said that four American aircraft, were downed in raids around Haiphong. The Hanoi government claimed 15 planes were shot down. Pictures of captured US fighter pilots appeared on the front pages. George W. Bush's last paid day in the Texas Air National Guard was the very next day, April 16, 1972."

Bush "was suspended from flying on Aug. 1, 1972, an action that some Guard officials have said should have set off an inquiry. No records of any such inquiry have been released. On Friday, White House officials disputed speculation that he skipped the physical because the Air Guard introduced drug testing in 1972. Dan Bartlett said that Mr. Bush did not take the exam because there was no need; the 187th Tactical, he said, did not fly the F-102, the fighter jet Mr. Bush was trained to fly in Texas. But several retired airmen from the 187th said in interviews this week that Mr. Bush could easily have been checked out to fly in the Phantom II, the two-seat reconnaissance jet in use at Dannelly in 1972. Another question is precisely how Mr. Bush obtained an honorable discharge from the Guard on Oct. 1, 1973, eight months before his six-year commitment ended. Mr. Bush's military records should have contained paperwork explaining why he was allowed to leave the Guard early for Harvard."

From a Buzzflash reader commentary: "Bush's AFOQT record shows that the 'Pilot Aptitude' score was blacked out and the value '25' entered and initialed by 'RJD'. One possible meaning is that a value lower than '25' was blacked out and replaced with the value '25'. Is '25' the lowest score for anyone to be admitted to flight training?"

USA Today reports that Bush's "advisers and friends have explained that Bush stopped flying because his unit was phasing out the F-102 in 1972. They also say he was not able to get a required flight physical in Alabama, where his records show he was granted permission to train in the fall of 1972. Bartlett said there was no need for a physical exam because Bush stopped flying. Guard records, however, show pilots in Bush's unit in Texas were still flying the F-102 in 1974, a year after Bush left the Guard." And let's remember this quote from the Boston Globe on 7-28-2000: "If [Bush] had come back to Houston, I would have kept him flying the 102 until he got out," said Major General Bobby W. Hodges, a Bush admirer. "But I don't recall him coming back at all."

David Niewert writes that "the gross character flaw that the AWOL matter reveals is [that this] is a presidency sold to the public on the phony image of Bush as a man of superior character. [This leads to the arrogance that dresses Bush up in a flight suit] in way specifically designed to emphasize his own phonied-up service record, for the sake of a photo op... That style of governing goes out the window when the 'duty and honor' guy turns out to have disobeyed orders, violated his oath and kissed off his duty by skipping his physical and unilaterally taking off for Alabama... AWOL matters because it reveals how this administration not only has no respect for the truth, but it lies -- repeatedly, without conscience, and so far without consequence... Once it has become clear that the president's credibility deservedly is nearly nonexistent, then a number of other issues -- Plame, the economy, the environment -- come into much clearer focus."

Master Sgt. James Copeland (ret.)"remembers meeting Bush on two occasions. He does not remember the precise dates. On one occasion, Copeland said, Bush and Lt. Col. John 'Bill' Calhoun came to Copeland's office with a question about... where to mail Bush's checks... Copeland thinks he referred the pay question to the paymaster for the Texas National Guard. The other time Copeland remembers meeting Bush was at the base canteen. Bush was there drinking coffee or a soft drink, Copeland said... While Copeland said he thinks claims that Bush was AWOL are baseless, he said one thing puzzles him. 'All Bush would have to do to get proof of his Alabama service is pick up the phone and contact military records,' he said. 'It seems a little odd that he hasn't done that.' Copeland also is puzzled by dental records that Bush produced as evidence of his duties at Dannelly. 'We had no dentist at Dannelly Field,' Copeland said. 'The only dentists were at Maxwell (Air Force Base).'"

Jimmy Breslin writes, "Of course he had joined the National Guard so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam. That he barely went to any National Guard drills is also his business. What matters to all our senses is that he is a president who struts around as a war hero, who dodged Vietnam and most of the National Guard drills and who with less shame than anybody we have had maybe ever, sends your kids to a war that he ducked as if he was allowed to do it by birth. The picture of him playing soldier suit on an aircraft carrier, the helmet under his arm like he just got back from a run over Baghdad, marks him as exceedingly dangerous. He believes he is a warrior president. He is not. He is a war dodger. Therefore, it is preposterous for George Bush to be a commander of anything. He doesn't have the right to send people to war and yet he orders them off, and almost cheerfully... We have a commander in chief who plays soldier with other people's lives."

On 2-13-04, the White House changed one crucial AWOL document before releasing it to the media: they removed the name of Maj. James Bath from the order that grounded Bush. Bush and Bath were good friends, and it's possible they were grounded on the same order because they were busted for the same alcohol or drug crime. In 1976, when Bush Sr. became head of the CIA, Bath became a CIA liaison. In 1978, when Bush graduated from B-school and started his first business named Arbusto ("shrub"), Bath invested as much as $1 million from funds he managed on behalf of Salem bin Laden and Khalid bin Mahfouz. Salem was Osama's big brother, and died in a mysterious plane crash in Texas in 1988. bin Mahfouz, a powerful Saudi banker, was one of the largest stockholders in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. (Enter "James Bath" and "bin Mahfouz" in our search engine). Is the White House afraid we'll "connect the dots" between Bush, the Bin Laden family, and Saudi money dating back to 1978?

Charlie Rangel on Meet the Press: "it was George Bush who climbed out of a combat fighter plane in camouflage full-combat uniform. He is the one that brings his military service into issue. And the fact that he avoided going into combat, that he deliberately stated that he didn't want to run to Canada, he didn't want to be an infantryman in Vietnam and he joined the Air Guard--now, they're serious questions... Whether or not he refused to take a physical, whether or not he was suspended as a pilot, whether or not he avoided doing military duty in order to participate in a campaign, whether or not he left early to go to Harvard... These are really issues especially when he says on your program that he's the war president and that he is willing to have a whole lot of Americans, over 530 lives lost, 2,000 people maimed, for a war that we didn't have to fight according to some of the experts. And now we're challenging whether or not he's properly served this country." You GO, Charlie!

Paul Lukasiak writes, "An examination of the documents pertaining to George W. Bush's service in the National Guard, which were released by the White House on Friday, demonstrate that Bush did not complete his National Guard service obligation... According to the Lloyd memo, 'Members of the Air National Guard/Reserve are required to have 50 points per retirement year in order to have a satisfactory year for retirement/retention.' Although Lloyd asserted that Bush had 56 points in his final year, the documentary evidence shows that Bush had only 40... The bottom line is that the White House's repeated claim that 'the point summaries ... document that he fulfilled his duties. These records clearly document the President fulfilling his duties...' is completely false. The documents demonstrate that Bush did not fulfill his duties, even by the lax standards set by the White House itself." Great work, Paul!

USA Today reports, "The White House disclosed information in documents Thursday showing that Bush had been arrested once for a college prank and was cited for two automobile accidents and two speeding tickets before he enlisted in the National Guard... At the time, the Air Force typically would have had to issue a waiver for an applicant who had multiple arrests or driving violations... There is no record of an enlistment waiver in Bush's military file. Critics have charged that Bush received favorable treatment to get into the National Guard... He received a competitive spot in a fighter jet unit at a time when there was a long waiting list for National Guard openings." Remember, Bush got a 25% on the pilot aptitude exam, the lowest passing score. With such dismal aptitude, why on earth would they give a jerk with 2 accidents and 2 speeding tickets the keys to a multi-million dollar airplane? "FAVORITISM" doesn't begin to describe this scandal!

"Scott McClellan finally lost it Friday, according to White House reporters... Facing perhaps his toughest week as press secretary, McClellan got testy Tuesday under questioning by CBS correspondent John Roberts during the televised briefing. He then blew up at old pro Helen Thomas during the private 'gaggle' for reporters on Friday. Thomas had gotten a tip that Bush might have been absent from duty in Alabama because he was performing court-ordered community service in Texas in 1972. She asked McClellan if that was accurate. According to reporters in the press room, McClellan got red-faced and became so angry, it looked to some as if he were ready to pounce... McClellan was expected to be a kinder, smoother Ari Fleischer. Where Fleischer was a product of the capital and knew how to use back channels to help reporters at major papers, McClellan is part of Bush's Texas entourage, worked with the President when he was governor, and is not playing by Washington rules."

Buzzflash quotes from a Boston Globe article: "The documents also do not clear up another mystery about Bush's military service: why... Bush, a fighter-interceptor pilot, did not take his required annual flight physical examination in mid-1972. On Aug. 1, 1972, he was suspended from flight status for not taking the physical, and never flew again." From a BuzzFlash Reader: "Bush supporters are now trying to argue Bush shunned his 1972 flight physical because his Texas unit was transitioning to a newer aircraft. Bush didn't have time enough left on his commitment to train on the replacement aircraft. According to the operational history of the F-102, Bush's 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Texas ANG, Ellington ANGS, flew the F-102A from 1960 until 1975. They didn't transition to the McDonnell F-101B VooDoo until 1975. http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f102_2.html '111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Texas ANG, Ellington ANGS, 1960 to 1975. Transitioned to F-101B 1975.'"

The Houston Chronicle reports: "The documents provided no obvious explanation for why Bush neglected to take a physical examination in 1972, resulting in loss of his status as a pilot... John B. Calhoun, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Alabama National Guard, said Friday he remembered seeing Bush throughout the summer and fall of 1972 at Dannelly Field. Calhoun was a flight safety officer there. He said Bush was assigned to him to perform nonflight status duties as a temporary transfer from the Texas Guard. 'He came in his uniform and sat in my office reading training manuals and safety reports,' said Calhoun, 69, an Atlanta contractor. 'We didn't have F-102s (the aircraft Bush trained on in Texas), so he couldn't fly. He just made his drills in my office,' he added. But the documents released Friday indicated Bush's transfer to the Alabama squadron wasn't approved until September 1972, months after Bush's presence as recalled by Calhoun."

Josh Marshall writes, "Yesterday, though, there was a new development when one of the president's fellow Guardsmen, John B. Calhoun, came forward to say that he clearly remembered him showing up for his required drills in Alabama through the summer and fall of 1972. 'We didn't have the planes that he could fly,' Calhoun told the Associated Press. 'But he studied his manuals, he read flying safety regulations, accident reports -- things pilots do quite often when they are not getting ready to fly or if they don't have other duties.' Interestingly, though, as the Houston Chronicle notes this morning, the documents released Friday night show 'Bush's transfer to the Alabama squadron wasn't approved until September 1972, months after Bush's presence as recalled by Calhoun.' Oops." And according to CBS/AP: "Calhoun's account appears to be at odds with records released by the White House. They show that President Bush logged no Guard duty -- anywhere -- from April 17th until October 28th."

"The White House maintains that Guard payroll records, a dental exam that Mr. Bush had in Alabama and the undisputed fact that he was living there during the time in question definitively prove that he turned up for duty. Mr. Bush's critics say the documents prove only that he had his teeth checked in Alabama on Jan. 6, 1973... The White House released the documents with little advance notice at 6:30 p.m... It seemed to be as much an effort at public relations as an attempt to quiet Mr. Bush's critics, at least temporarily, by demonstrating the president's willingness to be open about his military service. The announcement that Mr. Bush would appear before the 9/11 commission came less than a half-hour later, shortly before 7 p.m., in a short statement e-mailed to reporters by the White House. In it, the White House said Mr. Bush had agreed to a request for a private meeting with the commission, which is led by Thomas H. Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey."

"George W. Bush may or may not have gone AWOL [oh yes, he did!] during his Texas National Guard vacation from Vietnam but one thing's sure: The media did. Tuesday's sudden - and oh-so-fortuitous - release of his service records during a heated White House press conference had them finally reporting for duty - four years after The Boston Globe's Walter V. Robinson broke the story. At the time, it was ignored, minimized or pooh-poohed by The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the television networks etc. A database search of that period turned up some 13,000 references to former President Bill Clinton's having avoided the draft - and only about 50 about Bush's military career. Now it has become a campaign issue for the self-styled 'wartime president' who refused to fight but did not hesitate to send other people's children to die... And so, in our inimitable way of coming down from the hills to shoot the wounded, we media types smell blood."

"Files released by the White House... show that the future president was an exemplary pilot whose military record contains numerous gaps in the last two years of his six-year commitment. The White House, seeking to quell a revived controversy, released hundreds of pages of records that were previously withheld. The documents include what the White House describes as all the non-medical elements of Bush's military personnel file, including performance evaluations, documentation of his honorable discharge, and a thick bureaucratic paper trail of applications, promotions and transfers. The records... provide no evidence that he did any military service in Alabama, to which he had requested a transfer in May 1972 to work on a Senate campaign that ended in November 1972. And the records show officials from Bush's home base in Texas declining to provide details of his activities between May 1972 to April 1973, even though such documentation was requested by National Guard headquarters."

Helen Thomas has proved once again that she is the gutsiest journalist in America. On Friday, Thomas challenged Scott McClellan with this simple question: "Did the President ever have to take time off from Guard duty to do community service?" McClellan quickly went into counter-attack mode, asking her: "What's your interest in that question?" Thomas held her ground, repeatedly asking for a simple Yes or No answer to her question. A few other journalists rallied to her defense. McClellan then claimed, "The community service issue was addressed four years ago." Sure it was - by destroying J.H. Hatfield. But that didn't answer the question - did Bush perform community service as a result of an arrest for an alcohol or drug problem? Keep asking the question, Helen!

Eric Boehlert writes, "Burkett says when the incident occurred in 1997 he discussed it several times with his friend and fellow officer George Conn. In 2002, Conn confirmed to USA Today that Burkett talked to him about the conversation he overheard regarding Bush's file, and did so within days of it happening. This week Conn told the New York Times via e-mail, 'I know LTC Bill Burkett and served with him several years ago in the Texas Army National Guard. I believe him to be honest and forthright. He calls things like he sees them.'' But in Friday's Boston Globe, Conn, now a civilian government employee working with the U.S. Army in Germany, denied Burkett ever told him about the conversation Burkett overheard concerning Bush's military file. Burkett dismisses Conn's new version of the story. 'The truth hasn't changed,' said Burkett. 'The only thing that has changed is George Conn's statement.'"

If something sounds too good to be true... Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun has come forward to "prove" that Bush did serve in the Alabama Guard on THE VERY WEEK the AWOL story finally hits the mainstream media. The GOP claims Calhoun contacted them in 2000. Yeah, right - like they would keep that secret! So now they have Calhoun laying it on with a trowel: "I saw him each drill period. He was very aggressive about doing his duty there. He never complained about it. ... He was very dedicated to what he was doing in the Guard. He showed up on time and he left at the end of the day.'' Meanwhile, two other Alabama guardsmen have come forward to say Bush NEVER showed up. Hey Rove, that's 2 to 1, and the two are working WITHOUT a script!

Josh Benson writes, "Perhaps more striking is how often serious questions of misconduct have been flat-out ignored. John Allen Muhammad, convicted last November for his participation in the D.C. sniper shootings, served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978-1985, where he faced two summary courts-martial. In 1983, he was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL. Sentenced to seven days in the brig, he received an honorable discharge in 1985... Even if Bush did go AWOL, that doesn't disqualify him from serving as president... More worrisome is that Bush refuses to own up to his conduct in the Guard, hiding instead behind an inconsequential discharge letter and pretending that it's evidence enough of his sterling record of service. 'You don't just say, 'I did something' without there being verification,' Bush has said. 'Military doesn't work that way.' Except that, sometimes it does."

"The White House released details of Bush's arrests and traffic violations as a young man amid questions about his military service at the height of the Vietnam War. Scott McClellan revealed the information because of questions stemming from the fact that they were blacked out on National Guard forms given to US media, sparking more questions about Bush's actions 30 years ago. McClellan said Bush had previously disclosed arrests for stealing a Christmas wreath while a student at Yale, and for rowdiness at a football game. McClellan also listed speeding tickets from July and August of 1964 and two collisions, one in 1962 and another in August 1962 -- downplaying the Guard's decision to black out the information. 'I'm just amazed by the kinds of conspiracy theories that some have chosen to pursue,' he said on board Air Force One.'" Oh - you mean the alcohol/drug abuse that grounded Bush in 1972, and led to community service at Project PULL? Hey Scott - we're trolling for truth!

The Memphis Flyer reports, "Two members of the Air National Guard unit that Bush allegedly served with as a young Guard flyer in 1972 had been told to expect him and were on the lookout for him. He never showed, however; of that both Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop are certain." Both men assert that, since there were only 25 to 30 pilots assigned to their air base, they would certainly have met Lt. Bush if he'd shown up for duty. They were told to expect him, they kept a lookout for him, they never saw him.

Bob Fertik writes, "For Scott McClellan, any attempt to examine these documents in greater detail - or to find out what Bush actually did after April 1972 - is 'trolling for trash.' By accident, McClellan may have revealed the 'trash' that really scares the White House. A reporter named Elisabeth innocently asked McClellan about Bush's failed flight physical - which is at the heart of explanation for why Bush went AWOL in April 1972. McClellan... repeated his 'trolling for trash' and 'gutter politics' mantras five times. Hey Scott, let's get something straight: we are the taxpayers who pay your salary. You work for us, as you will quickly discover if you are handed a subpoena. And we, the taxpayers, are trolling for truth. So when you accuse us of 'gutter politics' and 'trolling for trash,' we're not going to be intimidated. In fact, you're just inspiring us to dig deeper into the facts you want to hide: lies, dirty tricks, drinking, drugs, arrests, coverups, and criminal conspiracy."

As Texas Gov. George W. Bush prepared to run for president in the late 1990s, top-ranking Texas National Guard officers and Bush advisers discussed ways to limit the release of potentially embarrassing details from Bush's military records, a former senior officer of the Texas Guard said Wednesday. A second former Texas Guard official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, was told by a participant that commanders and Bush advisers were particularly worried about mentions in the records of arrests of Bush before he joined the National Guard in 1968, the second official said. Bill Burkett, then a top adviser to the state Guard commander, said he overheard conversations in which superiors discussed "cleansing" the file of damaging information.

"Bush's August 1972 suspension from flight status in the Texas Air National Guard -- triggered by his failure to take a required annual flight physical -- should have prompted an investigation by his commander, a written acknowledgement by Bush, and perhaps a written report to senior Air Force officials, according to Air Force regulations in effect at the time... Two retired National Guard generals, in interviews yesterday, said they were surprised that Bush -- or any military pilot -- would forgo a required annual flight physical and take no apparent steps to rectify the problem and return to flying. 'There is no excuse for that. Aviators just don't miss their flight physicals,' said Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard, in an interview."

Josh Marshall writes: "This is getting a little bizarre. Scott McClellan says no blanket release of the president's military service records. No medical records. No disciplinary records, if they exist. But dental records? Bring it on! Late on Wednesday, the White House released 'a copy of a dental evaluation President Bush had in the National Guard in Alabama during the Vietnam War...' The White House says that this dental exam at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama on Jan. 6, 1973 provides further proof that the president completed his duties in Alabama. Why it proves that, I'm really not sure. Then there's this: 'The record was accompanied by a statement from Dr. Richard J. Tubb, the president's current physician, who stated that he read Bush's records, which covered a period from 1968 to 1973, and concurred with the doctors' assertion that Bush was 'fit' for service. 'The records reflect no disqualifying medical information,' Tubb said.' What's going on here?"

Dallas Morning News reports: "Retired National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett said Tuesday that in 1997, then-Gov. Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, told the National Guard chief to get the Bush file and make certain 'there's not anything there that will embarrass the governor.' Col. Burkett said that a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, he saw Mr. Bush's file and documents from it discarded in a trash can. He said he recognized the documents as retirement point summaries and pay forms. Bush aides denied any destruction of records in Mr. Bush's personnel file. 'The charges are just flat-out not true,' said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director."

"A second former Texas Guard official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, was told by a participant that commanders and Bush advisers were particularly worried about mentions in the records of arrests of Bush before he joined the National Guard in 1968, the second official said."

"George W. Bush left his Texas Air National Guard assignment and moved to Alabama in 1972 even though the Air Force denied his request for a transfer, according to his military records. In fact, Bush did not even ask for an official transfer until nine days after he moved to Alabama in May 1972. The Air Force quickly rejected Bush's request, saying the fighter pilot was 'ineligible' to move to the Alabama unit Bush wanted - a squadron of postal handlers. Nevertheless, Bush stayed in Alabama until his Texas commanders finally gave him written authorization five months later to train there."

"Another aspect of Bush's service that continues to prompt questions is why he missed a physical in 1972 that caused him to be suspended as a pilot. In 1999, Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said Bush missed his physical because he was in Alabama, and there were only a few special doctors who could do physicals. McClellan would not even let the question be asked Wednesday. When a Daily News reporter tried several times to ask about the missed physical, McClellan said, 'I'm not going to engage in gutter politics. I'm going to focus on what we're doing to make the world safer, to make the world a better place.' Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for personnel and a Navy flier in Vietnam, said a pilot losing his flight status was a serious matter. 'We spent $1 million to train him to fly,' Korb said. 'You're supposed to be ready to fly if we need you. If you didn't show up for your flight physical, good heavens!'"

When George W. Bush went to Alabama in 1972 to work on Winton Blount's political campaign, his National Guard duty wasn't the only thing that he blew off. According to Blount's nephew, C. Murphy Archibald, Bush spent most of his time bragging about his "youthful pranks" at Yale, including all the times he got stopped for drunk driving but was let off because he was a Bush. Archibald also says he was asked to "take over" Bush's campaign duties because Bush wasn't doing them. A long-overlooked aspect of this campaign is that Blount attacked his opponent for being in favor of busing -- that's right, Bush worked for a candidate who basically ran on a segregationist platform. These facts should have come out in 1999 and 2000. But no, the news media had more important things to report, like the color of Al Gore's shirts. And because the American people didn't learn the full truth about George W. Bush, more than 500 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqis are dead.

Bob Fertik writes: "Three weeks after Election 2000, Democrats.com received the first 'untorn' version of the retirement points awarded to Lt. George W. Bush in his 5th year of service in the Texas Air National Guard. This new document exposes contradictions in Bush's account of his AWOL years (1972-73) and highlights the need for a Special Prosecutor to investigate criminal tampering with George W. Bush's military records."

From CalPundit: "First, payroll records alone are simply not enough. If Bush wants to put this controversy to rest, he needs to commit to opening up his complete record. So far he appears to hedging mightily on this. Second, many of these documents have been available for years. It's just that no one ever thought to look for them. Bob Fertik of Democrats.com... got copies of the ARF attendance records back in 2000 via a FOIA request, something that any reporter could have done as well... There are at least two good reasons to be skeptical about Bush's story: (1) some of it simply doesn't add up and (2) he has refused to release his entire military record. Considering the trouble it's causing, why would he do that unless there were something awfully embarrassing in there? Bottom line: if Bush's story is really true, he can put a stop to all this speculation instantly by simply ordering all the relevant archives to release his entire record, warts and all. Why won't he?"

Even if Bush CAN prove he served a lousy NINE DAYS in the National Guard from 1972-1973, who is going to be impressed? Certainly not the less "fortunate sons" who were drafted and shipped to Vietnam because their Daddy's couldn't "fix it" for them and pay their way out and into Harvard. Certainly not the National Guardsmen who are in Iraq, some having served CONTINUOUSLY for over 200 days in a war zone. Bush even has the audacity to claim that even though he had not volunteered to go to Vietnam, he would have gladly done so. If he was such a patriot, what was he doing at Harvard while the war was STILL ON? This is still a sorry and pathetic record for a man so willing to send others off to die.

As all veteran newsfolk know, the average reader reads only the headlines and the first 2 or 3 paragraphs of any news article. The corporate media are taking advantage of this to try to prop Bush up over the AWOL case. If you read just the headlines & first few paragraphs, you might imagine Bush has been vindicated. But read on! In the Pentapost spin job, you find the REAL story at paragraphs 8 & 9: "According to the documents, Bush was performing service or unit drills in early 1973, at a time when his commanding officers wrote that they could not evaluate him because 'he has not been observed' at Ellington Air Force base in Houston. No one who served in Bush's Alabama unit at that time has come forward, despite years of publicity on the subject, to confirm the president's assertions about his service. The brigadier general Bush was to report to in Alabama has said he has no recollection of Bush's doing so."

"With John Kerry, a decorated war hero, likely to be the Democratic nominee, it will be an issue in this campaign. Indeed, Democratic surrogates have already made it an issue with party chairman Terry McAuliffe accusing Bush of being AWOL in the Alabama National Guard. It is an ugly charge and one that should be squarely rebutted. Partisanship aside, when the president is asking extraordinary sacrifice of members of the military, including the Guard, it is fair to ask how well he himself served the nation... Bush had an opportunity to address this gap in his military resume during his hour-long interview with NBC's Tim Russert and his sketchy response must have surely dismayed his supporters. Surely with all the resources at George Bush's disposal the question of whether he did or did not show up for Guard service in Alabama can be settled quickly and definitively."

"The Defense Department has requested that President Bush's payroll records from his service in the National Guard be sent to Washington from a DOD archive in Colorado, to ascertain whether they can be released to news organizations and public interest groups that have formally requested them in recent days, according to DOD officials. Bush, in an interview shown Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' said he would release all his records, including pay stubs, to put to rest political suggestions that he may not have fulfilled his duty near the end of his Guard service, from May 1972 to May 1973. The president also suggested there might not be anything in the records that has not already been in the public domain."

From Salon's War Room: "Bush defended his National Guard duty and suggested, as have the RNC's Ed Gillespie and other Bush defenders, that questioning gaps in his military record is akin to slamming guardsmen everywhere. 'BUSH: Political season is here. I was -- I served in the National Guard. I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable discharge ... 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 have served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq.'" Hey Bush, no one is denigrating service to the National Guard. We just want to know if you went AWOL. We'd ask the same thing if you had served in any of the other armed forces. The voters have a right to know if their Commander-in-Chief, who sends soldiers to die in wars, abandoned his own post!

Josh Marshall writes: "What I think the president was trying to do here was to give those watching the interview the impression that he's willing to completely open up his records. Yet at the same time he's tossing in this false statement so that when reporters follow up and ask where those records are, his aides will say that what he meant was that they'd release those records they released in 2000 --- which is to say, none of them. As I say, on the surface, this seems like a clever dodge that may buy some time... The bottom line is that the president told Russert that he'd release all his service records. That's the press corps' hook. And in the relatively near future, as much as they may wriggle, his aides will either have to come forward with those records or go back on the commitment the president made in front of the whole country."

From the Daily Mislead: "On Meet the Press yesterday, Bush claimed he has already released all records of his whereabouts during the Vietnam War.1 However, this does not appear to be the case. Bush is being scrutinized for his failure to provide evidence of his service during a year when he should have been in the National Guard. Yesterday, Bush specifically claimed that 'we did [release all the records] in 2000' to prove his case. But as the Washington Post reported, 'no such information has been released'... While Bush falsely claimed to have released all records and now says he will cooperate with inquiries, he has simultaneously dispatched aides to attack those demanding answers. Bush campaign chairman Marc [Chickenhawk] Racicot said 'To suggest...that the military should 'answer questions' about President Bush's honorable discharge is an outrage.'"

Bob Fertik writes, "George W. Bush promised Tim Russert he would provide 'everything.' In order to learn the truth, we truly need everything in all of his files, including his service records, tax records, medical records, and disciplinary records. Some of these records appear to be unavailable because they were removed from Bush's files, perhaps criminally. In these cases, Bush should order anyone who handled his documents to provide sworn affidavits about their activities. Other records have been withheld for privacy reasons. In these cases, Mr. Bush should issue a formal waiver of his privacy rights to all record-keeping branches of the National Guard, including federal and all state branches. Finally, some of these records may be in his personal or family files. In these cases Mr. Bush should instruct his personal staff to conduct a thorough review for any documents that would complete the public record."

On 'Meet the Press,' Bush's explanation for how got out of the National Guard 8 months early to go to Harvard and pursue his MBA: "I made an arrangement with the military," as he put it. Must be nice! We bet the poor guys and gals serving EXTENDED tours in Iraq, thanks to Bush, wish THEY could just "make an arrangement" with the military to get out early. Bet none of them would have been let off the hook because they wanted to get an MBA! And we bet they'd be happy for 8 days off, let alone the 8 months Bush was given thanks to his daddy and other pals in high places.

"John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and Democratic presidential front-runner, questioned Sunday whether Bush had fulfilled his Vietnam-era commitment to the National Guard. 'Just because you get an honorable discharge does not in fact answer that question,' he said... 'The issue here, as I have heard it raised, is was he present and active on duty in Alabama at the times he was supposed to be? I don't have the answer to that question,' said Kerry, who won three Purple Hearts, one Bronze star and one Silver star in Vietnam. Kerry said it was OK to choose service in the Guard over service in Vietnam, 'but when you make your choice, people have an obligation to at least live out the choice they make.' He walked away without saying whether Bush lived out his choice, saying it is up to the media 'and other people' to decide whether Bush's records need reviewing." Kerry is exactly right - the media and BUSH need to prove that Bush actually reported for duty in Alabama.

From Bushwatch: "1. Mr. President, would you briefly tell us where your commanding officers and their superiors are today?... 3. Mr. President... Why didn't the relevant military authorities have records of your attendance when you returned to Houston? 4. Mr. President, when you returned to Houston you never took a medical test, as required by the government Reserves. Part of the medical test was a drug test. Why didn't you take the required medical test? 5. Mr. President, is it true that, as a result of not taking the required medical test, the military grounded you from flying, and you never flied again as a Reservist. 6. Mr. President, after you were grounded because you failed to take the medical test, how much time was left in the Reserves and how many meetings did you attend?... 9. Mr. President, is it usual in the Reserves for the military to allow long-time absentees to cut their military obligations short in order to continue their education?"

On Sept. 15, 1972, Capt. Kenneth Lott, the head of personnel for the 187th Tactical Recon Group wrote: "Lt. 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 ANG 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.

Spencer Ackerman writes, "Why didn't the press seize on Bush's spotty military record? For one thing, the story required proving a negative: that Bush was not somewhere he was supposed to be. Even though there was copious and consistent documentation, backed by eyewitness memory, that Bush shirked his Guard duties from May 1972 until May 1973, there was no evidence that could demonstrate affirmatively he was elsewhere. As a result, the he-said, he-said storyline took hold. In addition, military service was not an easy subject for Gore to raise:.. Given that the media's Bush-fueled stereotype of Gore was that he would say or do anything to be elected, Gore had to be cautious about how he used his record in the campaign. It was a justified fear. CNN ran a piece shortly before the Democratic convention on how an old campaign brochure showing Gore carrying an M-16 'was a bit misleading, ... [leaving] the impression, his critics said, that he was an infantryman.'"

Way back in 2000, Democrats.com and OnlineJournal.com were the first to ask whether Bush stop flying and went AWOL in May 1972 because the National Guard had just begun random drug testing. Now Salon's Eric Boehlert is asking this exact question. "Air Force Regulation 160-23, also known as the Medical Service Drug Abuse Testing Program... was officially launched by the Air Force on April 21, 1972... As of April 1972, Air National guardsmen [including Lt. Bush] knew random drug testing was going to be implemented... 'I never would have done anything to jeopardize myself. I got airborne and I got on the ground very successfully,' he told reporters on Aug. 19, 1999. But today we know that for his last 18 months in the Guard, from April '72 to late '73, Bush didn't have to get airborne, because he simply quit flying." Hey Tim Russert: ask W if he quit flying in 1972 because of drugs, and don't stop asking until he tells the truth!

From CalPundit: "Although there are no records showing that he attended drills in Alabama, there is... the infamous 'torn document.' This document supposedly records Bush's attendance record in Texas from May 1972 to May 1973. However, the astute observer will note several things about this document: It is strategically torn along its left edge. There is no name on the document, only a single letter: W. Does it say '1LT BUSH GEORGE' just before the initial? Maybe, but the page has been torn so there's no way to tell. The Social Security number is blacked out. The tear eliminates the year and month of all the dates. (The date at the bottom right is just a note added by a reporter.) In other words, there's really no evidence that this document refers to George W. Bush or even that it refers to the period 1972-73. But it's even worse than that: it turns out that this document wasn't even part of Bush's original service file."

Capitol Hill Blue editor Bill McTavish writes, "I requested copies of Bush's military records as well as the records of the guard units in Houston and Alabama from May 1972 through May 1973 and went through them page by page. I could not find any record of Bush attending any guard meetings during that period nor were there records of him performing any service for either unit... With such a record of absences, Bush could have been declared AWOL (absent without leave) or -- in extreme cases -- desertion. Normally, when a guard member or reservist misses a certain number of meetings, they are sent to active duty military... So the man who kissed off his military obligations 32 years ago and let others fight and die in his place later became President of the United States and ordered still others to fight and die. Which is a disgrace for those young men and women who have died in Iraq. It's one thing to fight and die for your country. It's something else to do it for a deserter."

Starting in June 2000, Online Journal began publishing some of the most important articles about Bush's AWOL, written by Linda L. Starr and Bev Conover. These seminal articles are now available, so check out the stories the media refused to cover in 2000.

Bill Press: "Americans deserve to know, and not just for political reasons. According to the UCMJ, a person who is AWOL for more than 30 days is guilty of desertion, with a maximum punishment of death. There is no statute of limitations... There's one way to put the issue to rest once and for all. Let Bush name one guardsman he met during the seven months he served in Alabama. Just one. If he can, the issue's dead. If he can't, it's a good sign he's lying... Is it, as Racicot charges, dirty pool for Cleland to raise this issue? Not at all. I remind you that Max Cleland is a decorated Vietnam hero who left both legs and one arm behind on the battlefield. He lost his Senate seat when Bush went to Georgia and accused him of being unpatriotic because, while he sponsored his own homeland security bill, he dared oppose Bush's version of the same legislation. If it was OK for Bush to question triple-amputee Cleland's patriotism, it's OK for Cleland to question Bush's military service."

Eric Boehlert writes, "If the [AWOL] story takes root it could do real damage to Bush's reelection run, which is anchored on his image as a trusted leader in America's war on terrorism. Trying to make the subject go away could prove difficult, though. 'It's a booby trap that's out there ticking for Bush,' warns retired U.S. Army Col. David Hackworth. 'His opponents are going to keep turning this screw until something gives.' Right now, the network news is covering the political jousting. It remains unclear, however, whether mainstream journalists will take the time to examine Bush's military record and ask the president why, after receiving pilot training that cost 1970s taxpayers nearly $1 million, he took it upon himself to decide he was finished with his military requirements nearly two years before his six-year obligation was up. Bush's infrequent responses to questions on the issue have been by turns false, misleading and contradictory."

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied Democratic charges that Bush shirked his military duties in the early 1970s unlike Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. He called the accusations 'shameful' and the 'worst of election-year politics.' But Dean, who has faced questions about skiing in Colorado after he received his deferment for a back problem, said Bush should not be immune from the same line of questioning. 'Certainly my military record was fair game and I think the president's is as well,' the former Vermont governor told reporters. 'What's fair game in this campaign is anything that was asked of me to be asked of everybody else.'"

"It's sublime to watch Bush & Co. lie about something as simple as whether Bush went AWOL or not in 1972... When irrefutable proof emerges, the statements below will be exposed as pure lies. Of course, Bush & Co. are very skillful liars, so we have coded each lie as follows: [LIE] Lie. An intentional statement of facts that are not true. [SHL] Second Hand Lie. This technique involves quoting someone else telling a lie, so you can't be blamed for the lie. [EVA] Evasion. This technique involves answering a question that is different from the one being asked. [NDD] Non-denial denial. This technique involves simply saying 'no' without contradicting a single fact. [CON] Condescension. This technique involves saying how 'sad' or 'pathetic' or 'desperate' it is that critics keep raising a question, without answering the question. [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."

In the continuing saga of the AWOL Truth vs. the NY Times, the Times rolled out some heavy artillery - Elizabeth Bushlover. EB is excellent at taking dictation from Karl Rove's mouthpieces about how mean the Democrats are, but incapable of asking the simple journalistic question: is the AWOL charge TRUE? It's time for the Pulitzer Prize committee to demand the return of all prizes from the Times until they can assign a reporter to distinguish rhetoric from facts. Send your contempt for content-less reporting to keller@nytimes.com, public@nytimes.com

PentaPost's Mike Allen writes, "The White House, the Republican Party and the Bush-Cheney campaign mounted a choreographed defense yesterday of President Bush's attendance record in the National Guard and denounced Democrats for raising questions about his service. The messages marked the first time that all the parts of Bush's 2004 political machine have collaborated on a simultaneous line of attack, and reflected his advisers' mounting concern about an issue that they hoped had been put to rest after his [s]election in 2000. " So what did they say? "Bush's aides did not release new information to clear up questions about a one-year gap in the public record of Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Bush and his aides have said he reported to an Alabama unit during the period, from May 1972 to May 1973. No paper record has surfaced that documents Bush's attendance." The truth will out!

Daily Brew writes, "Do you want to have a little fun with the Freedom of Information Act, and potentially have a major impact in the US Presidential election? Send this letter to the Department of Defense, and see if anyone notices. Be sure to insert your real name, address and phone number at the beginning and end of the letter, and note you are on the hook for $50 in copying fees." The letter begins: "Pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. s. 552, I request access to and copies of any records demonstrating that any payments were made to President George W. Bush for active duty service in the National Guard from the time period beginning May 1, 1972 and ending April 30, 1973."

"Without naming McAuliffe, [White House Spokesman Scott] McClellan said 'these kinds of attacks have no place in politics and everyone should condemn them.' Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot attacked Kerry directly. 'To suggest, as Sen. Kerry has, that the military should 'answer questions' about Bush's honorable discharge is an outrage,' he said." Hey Scott, the voters have a right to know about their Commander-in-Chief's record. In fact, this should have been discussed back in 2000 -- instead of being covered up by the Media! These are legitimate questions, not the kind of unsubstantiated smears that your party waged against Clinton and Gore. As for Racicot, an "honorable discharge" doesn't mean that Bush didn't shirk his duty. Soldiers disobey orders and still receive an "honorable discharge." Bush appears to have eluded punishment, thanks to his Daddy's powerful connections. Hey Racicot, you're a fine one to talk -- you signed up for the ROTC to avoid the draft, you chickenhawk!

In a letter to Washington Post reporter Lois Romano, Robert Reynolds writes, "Bush has sent us into a war that has killed hundreds of our best young citizens and wounded thousands more. He needs to be held to account. His official records indicate that he stopped his service sometime before May of 1972 , two years before the end of his obligation to the Ready Reserve. There is no disputing that. That he received an honorable discharge is not a testament to his honorable service, but rather one that indicates that he received preferential treatment not available to those being charged with AWOL and desertion today. As an AF veteran and one that also served in the reserves I can assure you that I could not have just stopped showing up, and I could not have skipped meeting and made them up later. I would have been charged under the UCMJ either as AWOL (failure to report for duty) or for Desertion (failure to report for duty over 30 days). Ask any veteran and they will tell you the same."

Soon, the truth about Bush's AWOL will come out - despite repeated stabbings from the NY Pravda (a.k.a. Times). PentaPost's Lois Romano got Bushmouth Terry Holt to flatly declare: "The president was never AWOL." LoL! How should we parse this Bushspeak? "The president." Of course, we all know he's just the Resident. "Was never AWOL." Bush was AWOL both as Resident (on 9/11, when he sat in a classroom for 20-30 minutes after the 2nd plane hit the WTC) and as a 1st Lt. in the Texas Air National Guard, when he "cleared this base" on May 15 1972 and did not report for duty for at least 6 months - as even Bush admits - and more likely for the rest of his tour. Romano also quotes Scrubber-in-Chief Dan Bartlett saying Bush "specifically remembers" performing some of his duties in Alabama. But on Monday, Gen. William Turnipseed "stood by his contention that Bush never reported to him." Nixon famous last words were "I am not a crook." Bush's will be "I was never AWOL."

"John Kerry, who has turned his decorated Vietnam War service into a theme of his campaign, said yesterday that Bush and the US military should settle questions about whether Bush completed his military service requirement in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s... [He] said that the matter of Bush's military service record was 'a question that I think remains open.' Kerry added that he lacked 'the facts' to make a judgment about accusations that Bush ended his military commitment prematurely. 'It's not up to me to talk about them or to question them at this point,' Kerry said of the accusations. 'I don't even know what the facts are. But I think it's up to the president and the military to answer those questions.' Kerry also said he was not sure if he would exploit Bush's military record as an issue in the fall general election if he were to become the Democratic nominee. 'I don't know yet, I haven't made up my mind,' Kerry told reporters." You GO, John!

On Sunday, "the chairman of the Democratic National Committee accused Bush of being AWOL during his Air National Guard service, a signal of the ferocious campaign ahead once the Democrats finish with one another. Revisiting an issue that arose briefly at the end of the last presidential election, the chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said he expected Mr. Bush's record of military service in the 1970's to become an issue this fall, particularly if the Democrats nominate the front-runner, Senator Kerry. Mr. McAuliffe said he was staying neutral in the fight for his party's nomination. But, he said, if Mr. Kerry is the nominee, McAuliffe will relish comparing him with Mr. Bush. '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 National Guard, McAuliffe said. 'George Bush never served in our military in our country,' he said. 'He didn't show up when he should have showed up.'"

Eleanor Clift says Bush "has not been candid about his absences from the Guard... Records unearthed by the [Boston] Globe showed that Bush was removed from flight status in August 1972 for failing to take his annual flight physical. Bush aides said he didn't take the physical because his personal physician was in Houston, and he was in Alabama working on a political campaign. But that explanation didn't hold up because flight physicals must be administered by certified Air Force flight surgeons, and Bush easily could have found one at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., where he was living. Kerry's candidacy was elevated when a former Green Beret whose life he saved showed up on the campaign trail in Iowa to attest to Kerry's courage. In addition, former Georgia senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam and was defeated in 2002 after GOP attacks on his patriotism, appears regularly with Kerry. Bush can't match that. If he's smart, he won't try."

The NY Times attacked Terry McAuliffe for calling Bush AWOL:"[Bush] did not appear for duty from May to November 1972, when he was working as the campaign manager... A National Guard official and Mr. Bush's spokesmen have said he made up the missed dates, as Guard regulations allow." This is bush*t. Yes, Bush could have made up his 4th quarter (Oct-Dec) 1972 absence during that same quarter - and while he did arrange credit on his service record with the help of his daddy's friends, there is no evidence - or witnesses - that he actually SHOWED UP. But what about his 2nd quarter (April-June) and 3rd quarter (July-Sept) absences? Bush was AWOL during those quarters and he NEVER made up that time during those quarters to comply with National Guard rules. E-mail Executive Editor Bill Keller keller@nytimes.com and Public Editor Dan Okrent public@nytimes.com or call 212-556-1234 and demand the TRUTH about Bush's AWOL and his grounding for alcohol or drugs (http://democrats.com/smokingjet)

The Republican propaganda machine NEVER allows a Democratic charge to go unanswered. So when Terry McAuliffe said Bush "went to Alabama for one year. He didn't show up. Call it whatever you want, AWOL, doesn't matter" - GOP chair Ed Gillespie should have rebutted this charge immediately on the GOP web site. Amazingly, Gillespie deliberately said NOTHING, instead distorting John Kerry's record. In fact, a search of RNC.org for "AWOL" or "Deserter" comes up empty. Why is the GOP making no effort to prove Bush reported for duty from May 1972 to November 1972? Because Bush was AWOL for at least 6 months, and probably 2 years. Hey Ed Gillespie - we TRIPLE DARE you to publish these words: "George Bush showed up for all of his required drills." We guarantee those words will never appear at GOP.com.

Terry McAuliffe told George Stephanopoulos he looks forward to the Democratic nominee "standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard. George Bush never served in our military in our country. He didn't show up when he should have showed up. And there's John Kerry, on the stage with a chest full of medals that he earned by saving lives of American soldiers. So is -- John Kerry says, Bring it on... They did this to Max Cleland, a triple amputee, in the Senate race in Georgia. We will not stand by and allow that to happen again. The facts are what they are, George. George Bush got out of college in 1968, the height of the draft. He used his father's contacts to get a spot in the Texas Guard. He then wanted to go work on an Alabama Senate race. He went to Alabama for one year. He didn't show up. Call it whatever you want, AWOL, doesn't matter. But if this is the way the Republicans are going, you bet, bring it on, legitimate debate." You GO, Terry!

From the US Army Research Institute publication "What We Know About AWOL and Desertion: A Review of the Professional Literature for Policy Makers and Commanders." The second page, under the headline "What is a Deserter?", states: "Currently, any soldier who has taken an unauthorized leave from his/her training or duty station is considered AWOL. On the 31st day of AWOL, this status is officially changed to Dropped From Rolls (DFR), or desertion. This can be considered the 'administrative' definition of the term. From a legal standpoint, individuals are considered deserters when they have been convicted of the crime through a court martial." Bush ADMITS he was AWOL for SIX MONTHS - from May 15, 1972 until at least November 26 - and most likely for two years.

"BLITZER: Terry McAuliffe, when Wesley Clark was on that stage with Michael Moore, one of his campaign supporters, and Moore called Bush a deserter and General Clark refused to distance himself from that comment right away, was that a huge blunder? You don't believe that Bush was a deserter, do you? MCAULIFFE: Well, Wolf, in order to be a deserter, you have to actually show up. Let's just deal with the facts. As you know, when Bush got out of college in 1968, it was at the height of the draft. It's well known that the president, former president, used some of his influence to get George Bush into the Texas National Guard. He then wanted to go to Alabama and work on a Senate campaign. So he went to Alabama for a year while he was in the National Guard, and he never showed up. I mean, I would call it AWOL." WE say Bush was AWOL and a Deserter! See Bob Fertik's article at http://democrats.com/display.cfm?id=322

Michael Moore writes, "I was just attempting my best impersonation of that announcer guy for the World Wrestling Federation, asking the cheering crowd if they would like to see a smackdown ('debate') which I called 'The Generaaal Versus The Deserterrrr!!' (You can watch it here - hardly anyone in the media has shown this clip because viewers would suddenly see the context of my comments.) When the press heard me use that word 'deserter,' though, the bells and whistles went off, for this was one of those stories they knew they had ignored - and now it was rearing its ugly, truthful head on a very public stage. Without a single other word from me other than the d-word, they immediately got so defensive that it looked to many viewers like they - the press - maybe had something to hide." They sure do! If Americans knew the truth about Bush's desertion - after watching him strut in the flight suit he dishonored - they'd demand his immediate impeachment. Watch the clip - it's priceless!

"I think there's no question that Wes Clark didn't do a great job fielding that question about Michael Moore's calling the president a 'deserter' in the debate a couple nights ago. But I was somewhat mystified by Peter Jennings rather prejudging the question by saying there was no factual support for the charge... Now, desertion has a specific meaning. It refers to people in the military who take off with the intent never to come back or who abandon their post at some moment of danger or critical importance. Given that, it seems pretty clear that a charge of desertion doesn't apply. But Jennings seemed to imply that Bush's military record was beyond question... And Jennings must know that during the 2000 election there was quite a lot of reporting from in papers like The Boston Globe among others that Bush was repeatedly AWOL during the time he served in the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s."

Bob Fertik writes, "The case for AWOL is open and shut, because Bush was absent without leave on several occasions... But the case for desertion is less clear. The question is whether Bush meant his AWOL to be permanent. Put another way, did Bush abandon his commitment to be a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard? Given the totality of circumstances, we believe the answer to this question is Yes, making Bush indeed a 'deserter.' It may be too late to try this case in a military court. But as we enter the 2004 election - an election in which Bush's single most important claim is his record as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces he abandoned when he was young enough to fight - this case can be tried in the court of public opinion. The Democrats should fight this battle, because it goes to the heart of Bush's lack of fitness to be Commander-in-Chief. And this is a battle the Democrats will win, because millions of Americans are outraged that Bush lied to them about the Iraq war."

Michael Moore writes: Peter "Jennings, referring to me as 'the controversial filmmaker,' asked if Clark wanted to distance himself from me and my 'reckless' remark. Clark would not back down, stating how 'delighted' he was with my support, and that I was entitled to say what I wanted to say - AND that I was not the only one who had made these charges against Bush. The pundits immediately went berserk after the debate. As well they should. Because they know that they ignored this Bush AWOL story when it was first revealed by an investigation in the Boston Globe (in 2000). The Globe said it appeared George W. Bush skipped out in the middle of his Texas Air National Guard service - and no charges were ever brought against him. It was a damning story, and Bush has never provided any documents or evidence to refute the Globe's charges. George W. Bush was missing for at least a 12 month period. That is an undisputed fact. If you or I did that, we would serve time."

"Wesley Clark suggested Saturday that questions remain about Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard, but stopped short of endorsing a comment by actor-director Michael Moore that Bush was 'a deserter.' Moore, a Clark supporter, introduced [Clark] at a campaign rally here by saying he looked forward to debates between Clark, if he wins the Democratic nomination, and Bush. 'I want to see that debate: the general versus the deserter,' Moore said to enthusiastic applause, reiterating a line he uses frequently. Clark, asked later by reporters if he agreed with Moore's characterization of Bush as a 'deserter,' said: 'I've heard those charges. I don't know whether they're established or not. He was never prosecuted for it. The question in this election is can we bring a higher standard of leadership to America.'... Clark insisted, 'I'm not going to get into the issues of what George W. Bush did or didn't do in the past.'" C'mon Wesley, take on AWOL Bush!

On 11-22-03, the NY Times ran a front-page attack article about Howard Dean's medical deferment for a back ailment called spondylolysis. Dean was characteristically honest with the Times: "In a recent interview he said he probably could have served had he not mentioned the condition. 'I guess that's probably true,' he said. 'I mean, I was in no hurry to get into the military.'" Well, duh. Neither was George W. Bush, but the Times again ran in terror from confronting THOSE facts, noting only that Bush denied "he had used family connections to land a spot" in the Texas Air National Guard. The Daily Howler documents the NY Times's scrubbing of the truth about Bush's AWOL, both by columnist Nicholas Kristof and reporter Jo Thomas. Bush's "surprise" photo op with non-AWOL soldiers in Iraq once again raises the issue of Bush's AWOL - demand the truth by writing letters@nytimes.com

"Simone Holcomb's choice was between duty and family. She chose family, and now the military may punish her. Holcomb, an Army medic married to an Army sergeant, refused an order to return to duty in Iraq because it could have meant losing two of their seven children in a custody battle. 'For me to get on a plane and abandon my children would be against the law,' Holcomb said Wednesday. 'And I don't know how any parent on Earth could leave without knowing how they're going to be taken care of.' Her commanders in Iraq have told her by e-mail that she is absent without leave, she said. Officials said the punishment for going AWOL ranges up to discharge or imprisonment." When Bush went AWOL, he was choosing between duty and drinking or right-wing politics or -- choosing both. How can Bush punish Simone Holcomb without punishing himself first?

On 9-12-03, "Bush delivered a personal thank you today to the soldiers who bore the brunt of the burden in Iraq - the army's Third Infantry Division... Pvt. Kenneth Henry, 21, a radar operator with a field artillery unit, said the response was muted by the pervasive knowledge among the soldiers and their families that they will likely have to return to Iraq soon. 'How could [he] make these people feel better when [he] just said you're putting $87 billion into sending them back?' Henry asked. Henry spent about six months in Iraq, traveling from Kuwait over the border to Nasiriyah and through the Karbala Gap before helping to take the Baghdad airport. He said he lost 10 members of his unit, the Alpha 1-39 Field Artillery, and he's not eager to go back. 'What I heard him say was, 'You went there. You took names. Came home. Now you're going back,'' Henry said. 'He likes war. He should go fight in a war for two days and see how he likes it.'"

Former Marine Corporal Jeff Zamrzla of Topeka, KS writes, "I have sent the following message to the p-resident and would suggest all vets who served the USA do the same: 'Mr. pResident, As a disabled Viet Nam vet who served his country to the fullest extent while in the Marine Corps, when will you finish your tour of duty? As I understand it, you have over 14 months of duty left with TANG. Might I suggest you place yourself on active duty and finish your tour in Iraq? Since you believe that it was the right thing to do, put your own body on the line, much as you wouldn't do in Viet Nam. I think sending today's youth to do what you wouldn't is unconscionable. Even as I attended NCO School we were told never ask of your men what you would not do yourself. A great leader never asks more from his men than from himself, words to live by Mr. Bush."

In his new blog, Greg Palast writes, "On camera, I spoke with Texas cattle rancher Bill Burkett, formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the air guard... 'I was in the [Guard Adjutant] General's office, General Daniel James .... He gets a telephone call from Joe Albaugh, who was the Governor's chief of staff, and Dan Bartlett ... on the voice box ... and they wanted General James to assemble all of the Governor's files, that [Karen Hughes, Bush's aide] was going to write a book.... But Joe told General James, 'Make sure there's not anything in there that'll embarrass the Governor.'' And there wouldn't be. Burkett asked if the general's staff really intended to purge the files; and sure enough, as evidence of the affirmative reply, he was shown the piles of pay and pension records in the garbage pails destined for the shredders... Military pay records are public records -- and now they are conveniently unavailable." We demand an investigation by the Pentagon's Inspector General!

From a Salt Lake City Tribune Editorial: "But there remains the matter of allegations -- denied and forgotten, but never refuted -- that Bush never reported for duty when he wrangled a transfer to the Alabama Guard in order to work on a friend's political campaign. You might think that people would remember serving with the man who later became president [sic], but nobody has been found in Alabama who does."

Bush on why the Air National Guard took him: "They could sense I would be one of the great pilots of all time."

February 1968: Bush takes an Air Force officers test. Scores in 25th percentile in the pilot aptitude portion. Declares that he does not wish to serve overseas.

Bush: "I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war."

May 27, 1968: Bush enlists in Texas Air National Guard. Aided by Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes, he jumps over waiting list.

Bush on lessons learned: "I learned some good lessons from Vietnam. First, there must be a clear mission. Secondly, the politics ought to stay out of fighting a war. There was too much politics during the Vietnam War."

May 26, 1972: Transfers to Alabama Guard unit so he can work on Senator William Blount's reelection campaign. According to his commanding officer, Bush never shows up for duty while in Alabama, nor can anyone confirm he ever serves in the Guard again.

Gene Lyons writes: "Evidently, Bush will run as a one-man reunion of the Village People, the dreadful disco act. Having previously costumed himself as a Businessman (his ventures mostly failed), and Owner of the Texas Rangers (he had a one percent share), he's added Cowboy and Fighter Pilot to his repertoire. In reality, his Texas ranch was acquired in 1999; Bush's time in the saddle is limited to golf carts... The White House seemed to hint that the president [sic] himself would perform the landing aboard the Abraham Lincoln... That would have been a reckless stunt. Formally grounded for failure to take a required medical exam soon after completing his pilot's training, Bush hasn't flown a military aircraft since... the Boston Globe pretty conclusively proved in May 2000 that Bush went AWOL for more than a year during 1972-73... [it] was all but ignored during the 2000 campaign by a Washington press clique obsessed with made-up tales about Al Gore 'inventing the internet' and such."

Senator Robert Byrd decried Bush's "Top Gun" act -- at the taxpayer's expense: "To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the President [sic] to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech. I do not begrudge his salute to America's warriors aboard the carrier Lincoln, for they have performed bravely and skillfully, as have their countrymen still in Iraq, but I do question the motives of a deskbound President [sic] who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech. As I watched the Resident's speech, before the great banner proclaiming 'Mission Accomplished,' I could not help but be reminded of the tobacco barns of my youth, which served as country road advertising backdrops for the slogans of chewing tobacco purveyors. I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw."

With George Bush posturing for the cameras tonight in declaring an end to combat in Iraq, let's not forget that he deserted his National Guard Post. "It's well documented that George W. Bush never showed up for National Guard duty for a period of approximately one year, possibly more, in 1972-1973. Despite all the talk about 'honor and dignity,' Bush seems to have a problem meeting his commitments." And as he salutes Normandy, remember that his grandfather Prescott Bush was a financier of the Nazis, whose companies assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Our troops were just two weeks from fighting the Germans in North Africa.

BuzzFlash writes, "Right now, hundreds of American soldiers are dying and being wounded in a war that was sold to Americans on a shifting desert sand of lies. Most of the men who are responsible for sending our brave young men off to die were themselves cowards (Chickenhawks) who supported the Vietnam War, but sent other young men to die in their places. The top two Chickenhawks, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, had different excuses to explain the yellow streaks down their backs. Dick Cheney said he was too busy to go to Vietnam. George W. Bush said he was too busy patrolling the skies of Texas. The reality is that both of them spent most of the Vietnam War boozing themselves up (and in George W's case indulging in some white candy on the side [and going AWOL] ). In memory of the young men in Vietnam who died in combat... here are the young men from Midland, Texas, (Bush's hometown) and Casper, Wyoming, (Dick Cheney's hometown) who died in Vietnam in place of Bush and Cheney."

Here's a Toronto Star article from last November: "Certainly the media showed its soft side last week. As George W. Bush piously observed Veterans Day, media pundits somehow restrained themselves from pointing to the irony that the U.S. Commander-in-Chief, who's sometimes referred to as a 'former fighter pilot,' has an embarrassing military past. His records show that for months at a time during the Vietnam War, Bush could be classified as, at best, 'absent without leave' (AWOL) or, at worst, as an army deserter. This would be equivalent to the media withholding comment as former U.S. President Bill Clinton publicly espoused the virtues of marital fidelity."

As Bush moves the American public toward accepting W-ar with Iraq as inevitable, he asks our courageous military personnel to undertake duties that he himself shirked. "Mr. Bush, whose permission to fly was revoked by the military (he was suspended, assigned to a disciplinary unit and not allowed to fly military assignments again) liked to portray himself to voters as a 'fighter pilot.' But his embellishments didn't stop there:..As the State Plans Officer for the Texas National Guard, I was on full-time duty at Camp Mabry when Dan Bartlett was cleansing the George W Bush file prior to GW's Presidential announcement. For most soldiers at Camp Mabry, this was a generally known event. The archives were closely scrutinized to make sure that the Bush autobiography plans and the record did not directly contradict each other. ...This effort was further involved by General Daniel James and Chief of Staff William W. Goodwin at Camp Mabry." So writes Bill Burkett.

Editor's note: On 11/5/02 we received the following letter:

"There is a innaccurate website news item at www.democrats.com titled "Rep.Bentsen (D-TX) Carries Formal Complaint On Bush's Military Desertion To Department of Defense" 26-Oct-02 Military.

No such complaint has been received by our office and no such complaint has been forwarded to DOD. Again, this is 100% inaccurate and should be removed from any reliably accurate website. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Drew Wallace
Legislative Assistant
Congressman Ken Bentsen"

We apologize for posting an inaccurate link.

"In these days of guys who never fought in Vietnam advocating a tricky engagement in Iraq, it is interesting to see what George Bush did in the military, how he misrepresented it, and what's been done recently to make sure no one notices. Mr. Bush, whose permission to fly was revoked by the military (he was suspended, assigned to a disciplinary unit and not allowed to fly military assignments again) liked to portray himself to voters as a 'fighter pilot' But his embellishments didn't stop there... Asked how he got into the Air National Guard, Bush said, 'They could sense I was going to be one of the great pilots of all time'... See photocopies of documents (obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, which the Bush Administration is now busy gutting) showing that George W. Bush failed to report for Air National Guard duty, was disciplined, and was booted out as a pilot for refusing to take a drug test" and transcripts of Senators Inouye and Kerrey commenting on 'missing W.'

In spite of the determined stonewalling by the "liberal media", Americans are well aware that during the Vietnam War, George W. Bush got into a nice safe "champagne unit" of the Air National Guard thanks to his daddy's influence, and Dick Cheney "had other priorities". Letters like this one (in the Asheville NC Citizen-Times) are appearing every day in newspapers across the country, expressing outrage that these cowards are so eager to send other people's children off to be killed. (For the shameful details of Bush's National Guard record -- he skipped out on nearly a third of his commitment -- visit http://www.awolbush.com)

"On November 2, 2000, four days before the most disputed election in American history, military veterans in the US Senate lashed out at candidate George W Bush for his failure to explain a six-month lapse in his National Guard service. 'At the least, I would have been court-martialed. At the least, I would have been placed in prison,' Senator Daniel Inouye said. Bush would offer no explanation for his absence and, as he had throughout the campaign, refused to discuss his military service during the Vietnam War. Why would a man who was running for the office of Commander and Chief of the US Armed Forces refuse to discuss his service in the military? Why didn't the public and press take notice? Their attention that day was focused on something else." Is Bush's chestpounding about an Iraqi W-ar to divert scrutiny from Harken, Enron, Carlyle Group conflicts and the rest of his corrupt cronies? Want to bet your kid's life on it?

Revelations that the military officer, Major General Daniel James, who ordered George W. Bush's AWOL records scrubbed (and who has now been confirmed as the Director of the US Air National Guard), subjects them both to military court-martial. The Uniform Code of Military Justice stipulates: "(803.3) d) A member of a reserve component who is subject to this chapter is not, by virtue of the termination of a period of active duty or inactive-duty training, relieved from amenability to the jurisdiction of this chapter for an offense against this chapter committed during such period of active duty or inactive-duty training. (843.43) (a) A person charged with absence without leave…may be tried at any time without limitation." The General's complicity is also punishable. "(898.98) Any person subject to this chapter who (2) knowingly and intentionally fails to enforce or comply with any provision of this chapter regulating the proceedings…shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."

BuzzFlash reports, "Major General Daniel James was head of the Texas National Guard at the time of the alleged scrubbing of George W. Bush's National Guard records. He was appointed by George W. Bush to be commander of the nation's Air National Guard - and was confirmed by the Senate last week." The man who exposed Bush's AWOL past - Lt. Col. Bill Burkett (Ret.) - knows why James got the job. "I was outside the Adjutant general of Texas office when I overheard a call from Joe Allbaugh and Dan Bartlett that told General James to "make sure there is nothing embarrassing in the Governor's file" in preparation for his reelection run and a run for the presidency. I was present when James and Asst AG General Marty told a state services employee to do the same. I was there when the retained records person surrendered files under order of COL William Goodwin, Chief of Staff, for the scrub of the Governor's files."

Even prior to the 2000 "election", reports started to surface questioning the legitimacy of George W. Bush's military records. Articles appeared in the Boston Globe and the London Sunday Times, stating that Air National Guard Commanding Officer Bill L. Burkett LTC (ret) and others alleged that the military records of the Gov. of Texas had been "cleansed." Of particular interest was the fact that Bush reportedly refused a physical and a drug test, which prompted disciplinary action in the form of "Obligated Reserve Unit punishment detail." It is further alleged that there is no evidence that Bush ever showed up to fulfill his obligation to our military between 1972 to 1973 and was therefore AWOL. A website called www.talion.com has chronicled the story and is presenting what they claim are photocopies of government documents which prove the allegations against Bush. (Scroll near the bottom to view linked photocopies.)

NY Daily News columnist Michael Daly writes: "On this Memorial Day weekend when our commander-in-chief suddenly finds himself less in command, we might think back to the day that 22-year-old Lt. George W. Bush of the Texas Air National Guard filled out a form that asked whether he wished to volunteer for duty overseas. Overseas in 1968 meant Vietnam, and Bush had signed up for the Guard just 12 days before he was eligible to be drafted whether he wanted to or not. He returned the form with a check in the box next to the words 'Do not volunteer'... Bush secured the job through his father, then a congressman who vigorously supported sending other men's sons to Vietnam, volunteer or no... Bush faced John McCain in the primary, and ... did not hesitate to smear a pilot who had survived the Hanoi Hilton." Indeed, after being treated to Patton-esque pictures of Bush this past weekend, keep in mind that Bush was AWOL from the National Guard for over a year (see smokingjet.com).

Following the crash of a National Guard aircraft that killed all 21 guardpersons on board, Bush extended his condolences to their families. "This tragic loss on a routine training mission reminds us of the sacrifices made each and every day by all of our men and women in uniform. The price of freedom is never free. Today's events remind us that it is sometimes unspeakably high." But like the office he mocks with his illegitimacy, Bush makes a mockery of words like "sacrifice" and "the price of freedom". Our Commander-In-Thief was in fact AWOL from the National Guard (See Democrats.com's special report at http://smokingjet.com) but paid no "price" for his "freedom" to skip out on his own military commitment. The media has been complicit by not challenging Bush over his disgraceful military record, despite .an avalanche of letters from citizens who learned about Bush's AWOL years from Democrats.com.

Aides to Texas Governor George W. Bush visited the Air National Guard archives at Camp Mabry in 1997 and possibly altered Bush's military service records to conceal Bush's grounding from flight in 1972 and subsequent missed duty, according to a former senior official of the Texas National Guard.

"During my service, if I missed training for two years, at the least, I would have been court-martialed. I would have been placed in prison," Senator Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) said in demanding that George W. Bush account for his missing two years of National Guard Service. Inouye challenged the ability of Bush to lead the military in light of the Governor's checkered National Guard career. Inouye and Senator Bob Kerrey (Nebraska), both Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, spoke at a noon conference call today that focused on Bush's failure to inform the American public about Bush's unexplained absence from service.

So what if it's only four days until the election. The Washington Post finally realized that Bush might be playing fast and loose with his National Guard service record. It took them long enough, but we'll take it.

It's a big day, folks. The mainstream media finally broke its silence about Bush going AWOL for the last two years of his Air National Guard service. Reporter Walter Robinson of the Boston Globe gets the credit for reporting on two stories covered by Democrats.com exclusives - the reward offered by Alabama veterans (now $3,500), and former VA Secretary Jesse Brown's criticism of Bush. The Globe story was hammered by Senator Bob Kerrey, the only Congressional Medal of Honor winner in Congress, on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. It was also discussed by Alan Holmes on FOX's Hannity & Colmes.

Our grassroots effort to bring media attention to George W. Bush's military record scored a big victory today when the Arizona Daily Star published an editorial challenging Bush to explain his year-long absence. "It is clearly a coordinated campaign [hooray!!], but this newspaper has received dozens if not hundreds of e-mails from throughout the nation expressing outrage at the fact that (1) Texas Gov. George W. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligation in the early 1970s and that (2) the press has failed to disclose this shirking of duty. The Texas governor's response to the charge is that he basically can't remember what he did for a year of his life...The argument that Bush completed his military obligation will remain a simple, unfounded assertion until Bush explains what he did between May of 1972 and May of 1973."

Democrats.com has been on a mission recently to smoke out George W. That's because he has two years of missing National Guard service as was revealed in the Democrats.com article, "The Smoking Jet. Unfortunately, the press has not picked up on Bush's character problem: he lied about his stateside Guard experience, lied on several accounts. Joe Conason writes about the issue in the New York Observer. We hope that other journalists will soon follow suit. Bush is getting away with rank deception, pure and simple.

Democrats.com, an independent news and community site for America's 100 million Democrats, today offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who can prove that George W. Bush actually reported for duty with the Alabama National Guard in 1972. "We applaud the effort by Vietnam veterans from Alabama to find out the truth about Bush's failure to report for duty in Alabama, contrary to a specific order," said Bob Fertik, co-founder of Democrats.com. "To show our solidarity, we will double the reward by offering an additional $1,000," he said.

The cover story of George Magazine claims our expose about George W. Bush's military record is "incorrect." So we went over every detail of their story, and guess what? They're wrong and we're right! It's time for the press to start asking Bush some hard questions about his last two years in the Air National Guard - and time for Bush to stop lying.

Ten Jefferson County (Alabama) Vietnam veterans are offering $1,000 to anyone with proof that Texas Gov. George W. Bush actually served in the Alabama National Guard. Bush has insisted on numerous occasions that he reported for duty in Alabama in 1972, but he can't produce any evidence or witnesses. "We don't want anybody like that leading our country," veteran John Stewart said Friday as nine other veterans surrounded him at Linn Park. "Not me as a veteran."

On October 4, Democrats.com published an explosive article called "The Smoking Jet" which reveals that George W. Bush was "AWOL" for the last two years of his 6-year service in the Air National Guard - directly contrary to his repeated assertions that he "fulfilled his obligations." This absence followed his grounding as a pilot - most likely the result of substance abuse. These issues go to the heart of Bush's promises to strengthen the military, bring integrity to the White House, and to tell the truth. We've tried to get the mainstream media to pick up this story, but they are more interested in tearing down Al Gore than in exposing the facts about Bush. So we're turning to you, our loyal readers - help us bypass the pro-Bush media by contributing to our banner ad campaign. Visit www.smokingjet.com!

Earlier this year, the Boston Globe published an exhaustively researched article on a year that George W. was missing from National Guard Duty. A new report in TomPaine.com from a citizen researcher shows that Bush showed up for duty only one day in that year. Dubya sure is a man of character, as Papa Bush readily declares. The only problem, Papa, is not's the kind of character that you would want in the fox hole with you. Your son would be AWOL in a second, as he was for a year of his so-called military service.