Doubts raised on Bush accuser:Key witness disputes charge by Guard retiree that files were purged

Boston Globe ^ | 2.13.04 | Michael Rezendes

[RileyD, nwJ]

BINGO:
For instance, in a 1998 letter to Texas state Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, Burkett complained that he had not received adequate medical care when he became seriously ill after returning from a mission to Panama.

He also said Guard officials had retaliated against him because he had conducted a management study critical of the Guard.

With 12+ yrs USAF enlisted and 19+ yrs civil service these are credibility flags. Hard to imagine Guard officials taking the time and effort to 'retaliate' and BTW how was this individual able to conduct a management study critical of the Guard? Was it on duty time? Was it authorized? Was it validated? Was it ...

Not to mention, a career retired LTCOL would know that personnel records of military and civil service members are regularly purged of excess, duplicative, and out-of-date no longer useful information. Just ask anyone who has gone through a records review and seen their file size reduced by 10-40% during the review.

Bush didn't know what was in his records? Hmmm... Makes sense if he was not a careerist. He would not be making sure all the correct squares were filled in for advancement.

Any personnel specailists out there who can amplfy on these points?

RileyD, nwJ
www.daytonchessclub.com

[mware]

It's refreshing to see a story like this in The Globe.

Yeap, it was the Globe that started this whole National Guard story in the first place and then had to backtrack after the NTY cleared the president.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

...a retired Texas National Guard officer has maintained that President Bush's record as a member of the Guard was purged of potentially embarrassing material at the behest of high-ranking Bush aides laying the groundwork for Bush's 2000 run for the presidency.

Burkett, in his Globe interview and in Moore's book, titled "Bush's War for Re-election"

This all only proves one thing:
That Burkett's and Moore's motivations have nothing to do with clearing up inconsistencies with Bush's service record in regards to his 2000 campaign.
They are only interested in sabotaging his 2004 campaign. The title of the book tells all.

[jwalsh07]

Bush's permanent records were and have always been in Denver, Colorado and St Louis with the Air Reserve Personnel Center.

This reporter and every other moron reporter is just to freaking stupid to know that or to ask somebody that does know.

[Hon]

Officer Who Claims W Discarded Records Is A Bush-Hating Crackpot

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1076243/posts

[AppyPappy]

Well I'll be dipped in spit.

[EllaMinnow]

From The Corner at National Review:

THE POST AND BUSH’S GUARD SERVICE [Byron York]
In this morning's Washington Post, reporters Richard Morin and Dana Milbank, analyzing the results of the paper's latest poll, write, "In a sign that Bush has been set back by recent controversies over Iraqi weapons, his National Guard record and the federal budget, the number of Americans viewing him as a 'strong leader' has slipped to 61 percent, down 6 points from December and the lowest level since the 2001 terrorist attacks."

A look at the numbers inside the Post poll suggest that, at the very least, the president's service in the Air National Guard does not belong on the list of Bush's liabilities. When the paper asked respondents, "Do you think questions about George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War--are or are not a legitimate issue in this year's presidential election?" 66 percent of those polled said it was not a legitimate issue. Thirty percent said it was a legitimate issue, and four percent did not know or had no opinion.

Breaking the results down by party, 56 percent of Democrats said the president's Guard service was not a legitimate issue; 66 percent of Independents said it was not a legitimate issue; and 82 percent of Republicans said it was not a legitimate issue.

Viewing the results by region, a full 70 percent of those polled in the Midwest--an area with several key battleground states in the upcoming presidential election--said the president's Guard service was not a legitimate issue. Sixty-seven percent of those polled in the Democratic strongholds of the East said it was not a legitimate issue, along with 64 percent in the South and 67 percent in the West.
Posted at 09:20 AM

http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp

[finnman69]

Matthews did do his best to facilitate the guy getting his tall tale out but after in his exchange with norah crushed him with "what would throwing the files away accomplish, there are duplicate recirds."

[cyncooper]

With Norah O'Donnell pushing the Burkett story all day yesterday and onto Chris' show.

This very morning she actually repeated the whole thing, ran tape of the crackpot, did play tape of Allbaugh flat out denying it, and THEN at the end of all that, with all the implication she let drip from her voice, she announced this story debunking it.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[cyncooper]

Don't make the mistake that Norah crushed him. I recall Matthews brought that up first, and she said this was all the more reason why Burkett deserved closer scrutiny.

Yes, Norah, he does. But not in the way YOU have been presenting him.

Gack

[Mo1]

bookmark

[TracyPA]

If Matthews keeps up with this National Guard Bush bashing tonight I'm clicking him off. I am SICK of it. This Burkett guy made my skin crawl-especially when Chris painted this mental picture of Burkett listening at a door that was just opened a crack. Even my husband who is apolitical said "What a sneak!"

[SpinyNorman]

But the book's author, James Moore, a former Houston TV news correspondent, concedes he never interviewed some of the key players who could have verified Burkett's charges, including Conn and retired National Guard Colonel John Scribner -- the officer Burkett says he saw removing items from the Bush file.

Well, that just tanked that book!! LOL!!

Is it just me, or do all liberal authors, reporters and researchers seem to fabricate, plaigerize and falsify facts and sources? Bellisles (sp?), Blair, Barnicle, etc., etc. There is the makings of a nice list here......

[Sender]

DU says they aren't going to let this drop even if it's false, they don't care. Typical smear campaign. Example:

It don't matter (if it's false). It's now out there. Bush and AWOL have now been linked in the public mind. No matter how many denials they make, many more people will now connect bush with cheating on his obligation and that's exactly what we want to happen.

[NYCVirago]

But Conn, now a civilian government employee working with the US Army in Germany, said Burkett never told him of the conversation. And Allbaugh, a Washington consultant and lobbyist, said, "I would never be so stupid as do something like that."

Here's the gist of why Burkett's allegation is false. The idea that Allbaugh would be so stupid as to say such a thing over a speakerphone, when somebody else could hear, is ridiculous on its face. And to simply dispose of the records in the trash, where this Burkett clown could paw through them, is also laughable.

I wish the article would examine Burkett's motives -- as other freepers have discovered, this guy has a huge axe to grind against Bush and the Guard. What, this reporter couldn't do a google search on him?

[george wythe]

George O. Conn, a former chief warrant officer with the Guard and a friend of Burkett's, is the person whom Burkett says led him to the room where the Bush records were being vetted. But Conn says he never saw anyone combing through the Bush file or discarding records.

This Burkett has turned out to be quite delusional or malicious.

Either way, Burkett is a bold-face liar.

[VeniVidiVici]

Two key points:

1) If Bush was going to "purge" his file to make it look good, wouldn't he have done so before running for Governor?

2) As mentioned, records are routinely purged of old, false and duplicate data. Anybody that has been in the military for more than four years and hasn't done this is a flat-out liar.

[mwdouglass]

For more of "Who is Bill Burkett" ---
http://michael-friedman.com/archives/000139.html

- mwd
Houston, Texas

[Eva]

The DU are now claiming that Rather has used the FOIA to gain access to Bath's records and that Bath was grounded because of cocaine use and since Bush was grounded at the same time, must be guilty of cocaine use also. They claim that Rather is going use this information for a second attack on Bush, probably this week.

I wonder what makes them think that they could use FOIA to get Bath's records if they can't use it to get Kerry's or Bush's.