Posted on 09/09/2004 12:06:40 AM PDT by Utah Girl
The White House released memos Wednesday night saying that George W. Bush was suspended from flying fighter jets for failing to meet standards of the Texas Air National Guard.
The Vietnam-era memos add new dimensions to the bare-bones explanation of Bush's aides over the years that he was suspended simply because he decided to skip his annual physical exam. The exam was scheduled during a year in which Bush left Texas, where he had been flying fighter jets, to work on a U.S. Senate campaign in Alabama.
White House communications director Dan Bartlett told CBS'"60 Minutes II," which first obtained the memos, that Bush's superiors granted permission to train in Alabama in a non-flying status and that "many of the documents you have here affirm just that."
"On this date I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical examination ... as ordered," states an Aug. 1, 1972, memo by Lt. Col. Jeremy Killian.
n a memo a year later that uses only last names, Killian points to turmoil among Bush's superiors over how to evaluate his performance because there was no "feedback" from Guard officials in Alabama in 1972 and 1973 where Bush had been largely inactive.
"Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush," Killian wrote on Aug. 18, 1973. "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job - Harris gave me a message today from Grp (Bush's unit) regarding Bush's OETR (officer evaluation) 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."
The memo concludes: "Harris took the call from Grp today. I'll backdate but won't rate. Harris agrees."
Walter B. Staudt was commander of the Texas National Guard and Lt. Col. Bobby Hodges was one of Bush's superiors who two years earlier had rated Bush an outstanding young pilot and officer and a credit to his unit. Lt. Col. William D. Harris Jr. was another superior of Bush's.
A third Killian memo makes clear that Killian was concerned from the outset over Bush's plan to go to Alabama because the military had spent a substantial sum of money turning Bush into a pilot and that his National Guard duties might suffer if he went elsewhere.
"Phone call from Bush," Killian wrote in a May 19, 1972, memo. "Discussed options of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through November. ... Says that he is working on another campaign for his dad. ... We talked about him getting his flight physical situation fixed ... Says he will do that in Alabama if he stays in a flight status."
The memo added that Bush "has this campaign to do and other things that will follow and may not have the time. I advised him of our investment in him and his commitment."
The White House told CBS that Bush "met his drills then when he came back" from Alabama "and that's why he received an honorable discharge."
With national security and the war on terrorism looming large on voters' minds, supporters of Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry are attacking each candidate's Vietnam War records. Republicans have accused Kerry, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, of fabricating the events which led to his five medals. Democrats point to gaps in Bush's stateside Air National Guard service in 1972 and 1973 to say Bush shirked his duty.
Asked about Killian's memo which gives two reasons for Bush's suspension, Bartlett told CBS, "That might be official language." Bartlett said "the records have been clear for years that President Bush did not take a physical because he did not need to take a physical because, obviously, the choice was that he was going to be performing in a different capacity."
Asked about Killian's statement in a memo about the military's investment in Bush, Bartlett told CBS: "For anybody to try to interpret or presume they know what somebody who is now dead was thinking in any of these memos, I think is very difficult to do."
On Tuesday, the Defense Department released more than two dozen pages of records about Bush and his former Texas unit. They showed Bush flew for 336 hours in military jets after his flight training and ranked in the middle of his class.
Pentagon officials said they discovered the documents released Tuesday while performing a more comprehensive search "out of an abundance of caution" in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press.
The newly released records also showed that while Bush says he was in Alabama training with another Guard unit in 1972, his home unit in Texas was participating in the air defense of the southern United States by keeping two jet fighters constantly ready for launch within five minutes' notice.
The first sentence; a complete and utter lie.
Yep. I've been reading this tripe from various sources all day. We MUST fight for corrections and clarifications -- and not on page C-16.
I have contacted Drudge, on the off-chance that he might be interested in this kind of thing. Also advised 60 Minutes (HaHaHa).
FWIW, they were giving a completely different spin on this nonsense on the KABC radio hourly newscast. They referred to Barnes as a Democrat donor, and said that there were documents showing that Bush was suspended from flying, but it didn't matter because he had been approved to do duty at a non-flying unit.
The smear won't work if the MSM isn't working off the same playsheet.
Want to know why the RATs had no bounce, and the GOP a big one?
Simple - the media.
Prior to the formal RAT convention, the Socialist media had been conducting a continous convention on their behalf. No bounce, because the public wasn't exposed to anything new.
Prior to the GOP convention, the Socialist media filtered and blocked the GOP message. A huge bounce resulted when the GOP was able to speak directly to the public for almost the first time.
Moral of the story?
Bush needs to pierce the Socialist media blockade by making and leading the news - meeting with Putin, going to Florida, announcing new initiatives, etc.
I'd like to see how they come up with that.
Yep. Unfortunately, the MO seems to be to put smears out about President Bush (this National Guard smear, and Susan Estrich with the acoholic nonsense.) It gets in the voter's minds, and then the MSM can repent at their leisure. It is despicable.
Thanks! And I hope all is going better for you.
Especially from 'memos' coming from a dead man. How convenient.
FROM a dead man QUOTING other dead men.
This whole 'national guard' thing has worked so well for john kerry and the dems in the past, it's no wonder they're trying it yet again!
Seriously, people know bush by now. They know how he reacts to threats to our national security. He's been given a challenge to our country that's unrivaled in the past 60 years and performed how a commander in chief is expected to perform.
What the kerryites don't get is why the swiftvets were so effective- john kerry was an unknown coming into this election. He attempted to define himself based on his experience in vietnam 35 years ago, and found that rug pulled out from under him. The swift vets were devasting because he had nothing else to stand on.
The libs and the press will huff and puff and think this is going to blow down the bush white house. But it's pointless because people have already formed their impression of bush, for better or for worse. They're going to see this and say "so what". And they're going to be thinking that this makes the kerry campaign look even more pathetic.
The problem was the good guys wanted out because they were offered $50,000 - $150,000 bonuses to get out.
The idiots didn't want to get out because they knew they couldn't make it in the real world so I always wrote that the Gov't has spent XXX thousands training this person and we can't afford to lose him ect.. It never worked but I tried to make my point.
If Bush was a slug this commander wouldn't have tried to keep him !
You are ABSOLUTELY correct on this.
Where did CBS get these memos? I assume there would be hundreds of other memos by Bush's commanding officer, from the same source of a similar nature on other pilots also available.
The White House did NOT release these memos.
And I don't remember them vouching for them. I saw the interview.
They didn't say.
Thanks for the great research that you, and others, are doing here. It's going to make a real-world difference.
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