Posted on 09/16/2004 1:52:12 PM PDT by Spackidagoosh
Edited on 09/16/2004 2:17:33 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON - A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon (news - web sites) to find and make public by next week any unreleased files about President Bush (news - web sites)'s Vietnam-era Air National Guard service to resolve a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit already has led to the disclosure of previously unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting F-102A fighters and other jets.
Pentagon officials told Baer they plan to have their search complete by Monday. Baer ordered the Pentagon to hand over the records to the AP by Sept. 24 and provide a written statement by Sept. 29 detailing the search for more records.
"We're hopeful the Department of Defense (news - web sites) will provide a full accounting of the steps it has taken, as the judge ordered, so the public can have some assurance that there are no documents being withheld," said AP lawyer David Schulz.
White House officials have said Bush ordered the Pentagon earlier this year to conduct a thorough search for the president's records, and officials allowed reporters to review everything that was gathered back in February.
Through a series of requests under the federal open records law and a subsequent suit, the AP uncovered the flight logs, which were not part of the records the White House released earlier this year.
Both Bush's and John Kerry (news - web sites)'s service records in Vietnam have become a major issue in the presidential race. New records that have surfaced in recent weeks have raised more questions.
Bush's critics say Bush got preferential treatment as the son of a congressman and U.N. ambassador. Critics also question why Bush skipped a required medical examination in 1972 and failed to show up for drills during a six-month period that year.
Bush has repeatedly said he fulfilled all of his Air National Guard obligations.
The future president joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968, when he graduated from Yale. He spent more than a year on active duty learning how to fly and then mostly flew in the one-seat F-102A fighters until April 1972.
The pilot logs show a shift to flights in two-seat trainer jets in March 1972, shortly before Bush quit flying. Former Air National Guard officials say that could have been because F-102A jets were not available for Bush to fly or because of other reasons, such as concerns about Bush's flight performance.
Bush skipped his required yearly medical exam in 1972 in the months after he stopped flying in April. Bush has said he moved to Alabama to work on the unsuccessful Senate campaign of a family friend.
Bush never showed up for Guard service between late April and mid-October 1972. He won approval to train with an Alabama Air National Guard unit during September, October and November 1972, but more than a dozen members of the unit at that time say they never saw him there.
The only direct record of Bush appearing at the Alabama unit's base is a January 1973 dental exam performed at that base. Bush's Texas commanders wrote in May 1973 they never saw him between May 1972 and April 1973, a time when his pay records show he trained on 14 days.
Although military regulations allowed commanders to order two years of active duty for guardsmen who missed more than three straight months of drills, that never happened to Bush. Commanders had leeway at the time to allow guardsmen to make up for missed drills.
Each government agency has its own FOIA requirements and exceptions; they're probably broadly alike, but they should be requested under the proper provision of the USC. It wouldn't have gone to court unless the request to the NG or the Pentagon or whatever had been refused.
I believe that this is the judge who made a terrible ruling for the druggies involve.
There was so much heat on impeaching him, he changed his opinion. Even the Clintoon may have acted against this judge.
I couldn't find out who appointed him in my searches.
It is interesting that today, GW has nominated a replacement for him.
Thats exactly what they are doing, they are overstepping the privacy act and endangering other service men.
This judge's name rings a bell. He was definitely called on the carpet by O'Reilly for some real lefty ruling. I remember thinking this judge was nuts.
He is a Clinton appointee.
I know, but I'm trying to determine the extent of the overreach being attempted.
Did this judge order OTHERS records to be searched as well for the *possibility* they contained info on G.W.? The statement isn't clear. It isn't legal either way, but even more damning if a judge ordered a witchhunt into all service members records.
Exactly!!!
I think this is a big nothing. The AP got the documents that they requested. They did not find anything "juicy" so they have told the judge that they have not got what they want. So, the judge agrees and creates this order.
President Bush: "Take a memo. Dear Judge: As we say in Texas.......pound sand. Your pink slip is in the mail. Enjoy your retirement. I Remain, George W. Bush, President of the United States, and by God Don't You Forget It."
This time they might have learned how to fake them better, though.
They have probably learned a lot this past week.
And Dan's CBS Offices are probably full of Bush records. Where are Kerry's missing records.
Judge ORDERS? I'm sure this is authorized somewhere in the Constitution. Must be in one of those new secret pnumbral clauses I've been reading about.
Hey, great! Let's do the deal. Bring it on. Read my tagline.
Can you say Circus? What a joke this whole thing has become.Men, you may think I'm nuts, but if this is a taste of the future, armed resurection, REVOLTION, is in the cards to stop the left from ruining the country. Laugh if you will, but thats how I see it. Or we can just, ALL together, watch this great social experiment go right down the sh%^%er. Oil-em up.
And Dan Rather/CBS forgeries. America does not like piling on. Playing rough, but within the rules is popular - see Ice Hockey or Football. But piling on? No way.
This will just further damage Kerry by association. IMO.
The judge is acting on his own or responding to a legal action from the DNC? Something is very strange here. This is going beyond the usual court cases and actions. There is something very dirty going on here and now the courts are in it?
Relax, this is only an attempt by the lefties to get a better look at the signatures in the files, so they can make better forgeries.
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