Posted on 09/15/2004 5:58:21 PM PDT by ambrose
President Bush's Former Commander: "He was an asset"
LAST UPDATE: 9/12/2004 7:21:49 AM
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (AP) - The story goes that Col. Walter Staudt was so happy to have George W. Bush in his Texas Air National Guard unit in 1968 that he staged a pair of welcoming ceremonies to have his picture taken with the aspiring fighter pilot.
But these days, Staudt, a retired air guard commander, isn't talking about any role he may have played in getting the future president a coveted pilot slot in Houston, far from the war in Vietnam.
"I don't give interviews," Staudt gruffly told The Associated Press this week while peeking through a narrowly opened door of his home in an upscale subdivision in this city near San Antonio. "Goodbye. You're bothering me."
Other attempts to contact him over a three-day period were also unsuccessful.
Over the past 16 years, however, Staudt has been quoted on the subject in a number of major newspapers and at least one book. He has been consistent and often colorful in his basic messages: George W. Bush was a fine pilot and no strings were pulled to get him into the Texas guard.
In March, the 81-year-old ex-general had this to say to the Spokane Spokesman-Review about the president: "I love the guy. I'm so tired of this negative crap about him."
Six years ago, the Washington Post attributed these words to Staudt regarding Bush and his route into the air guard: "I'll tell you, he was an asset. ... Anyone who suggests there was family influence to get him in is a damn liar."
Staudt's part in the long-playing issue of Bush and his air guard service resurfaced in a recent report on CBS' "60 Minutes II."
The news segment that aired Wednesday was based on four memos, the authenticity of which have since been questioned. The memos attributed to Jerry Killian, a now-deceased officer who in the early 1970s commanded Bush's squadron at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston.
"Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush," read in part a memo dated Aug. 18, 1973. "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job. Harris gave me a message today from Grp regarding Bush's OETR and Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it. Bush wasn't here during rating period and I don't have any feedback from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate."
Bobby Hodges and William Harris were lieutenant colonels at Ellington in the early 1970s. OETR, or officer efficiency training report, is a performance evaluation and Grp refers to a military unit, possibly the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group that Staudt once commanded and in which Bush served.
Hodges could not be reached for comment Saturday. Harris is deceased.
Also mentioned in the memo is the 187th Tactical Reconnaisance Group, the Alabama air guard unit to which Bush was assigned in 1972 while working on a Senate campaign in that state. Questions persist as to whether Bush fulfilled his guard duties in Alabama.
Doubts have been raised about the validity memos, with at least one document expert suggesting that they may have been produced by computer programs that hadn't been invented at that time. And The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday that Staudt retired from the air guard more than a year before the relevant memo was reportedly written.
Robert Strong, who knew Killian and served in the air guard at the same time as Bush, called Staudt "the quintessential macho fighter pilot" who used to brag about having Bush and other prominent Texans under his command.
"He would show them off - they were almost like trophies," Strong, now a college professor in Austin, said in a Friday interview.
Going back to at least 1988, when George H.W. Bush was running for president, Staudt has been fielding the calls asking whether George W. Bush and other Texas sons of privilege were given preferential treatment.
"There wasn't any hanky-panky that went on there," Staudt told the Los Angeles Times during the summer of 1988.
Eleven years later, when Bush was Texas governor, the Times got a snarlier answer to the same question: "Nobody did anything for him. ... Neither his daddy nor anybody else got him into the guard."
Nice.
Are they sure it wasn't John Kerry?
Excellent find! Thanks for sharing it.
Add another line to the increasing number of reasons the documents were forgeries. So much for all the coroborating (CBS spelling) evidence cited by Rather.
He's just keeping his powder dry until Rather uses all his chips.
Except that the approved useages were "OER" and "Gp," according to the debunkers. These are among the details the forger supposedly got wrong.
Thanks for posting.
good to finally hear/see something, although if it were me, and someone put my name on a fake document, I'd be taking a bit more if asked about it.
gee, ap has no bias, do they.
Actually, Staudt may wait until CBS admits it was forged... then sue them for libel/slander based on their broadcast and print reports of his alleged actions.
I agree, He's waiting for someone at CBS to go over the line.
At that point, he doesn't need to give an interview. All he has to do is release a blistering statement.
I know some people about 81 that should not be interviewed because their mind just isn't what it used to be. I would think that someone who got to be a General would probably realize that. As for the 86 year old secretary, she said the memos are not what she typed. CBS is trying to put in her (or coax out) support for their position. But Rather didn't ask her straight up if Bush was ordered to the physical, did he?
[i]But these days, Staudt, a retired air guard commander, isn't talking about any role he may have played in getting the future president a coveted pilot slot in Houston, far from the war in Vietnam. [/i]
FAR FAR FAR from the war in Vietnam, of course!!!
Because she doesn't know, because she was a freaking pool secretary.
Bump
The TANG is like any employer. If someone is interested an has graduated from Yale, you snap them up.
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