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.
I'm just wondering why Kerry gets a pass.
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Because he's a Democrat! You are from planet Earth, right? ;-))
No, because the AP has never made the same request for Kerry's files. Only for President Bush's files. Imagine that. Boooooo!
Doesn't matter. Private property. Nunja bidness.
This may have been the October Surprise that $inator Hildebea$t was talking about.
This terrible judge was also a Yalie and appointed by Bubba Clinton.
Good it is out in the open.
Now this should mean the release of John Kerry's records.
This guy wants a Supreme Court spot.....He can go to
the porcelain fixture for it...as his guy won't be
there to nominate him.....keep it up...You're ass is
ours...LOL. Jake
Look, it was the same way with Clinton, when Clinton was attacked, that's when his poll numbers actually went up. You would think the Rats would have learned that lesson by now.
Observe how it is helping Kerry in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.
Here's a suggestion: we should all print out Form 180:
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/standard_form_180.pdf
and mail it to the Kerry campaign and reporters covering Kerry.
If Kerry ever has another press conference, I want to see a reporter call him out and challenge him to sign Form 180 then and there. But I won't hold my breath.
No, they don't.
The people who went to this judge know damn well that the only thing the MSM is gonna report is that a federal judge issued an order for all of Bush's military records.
The average person on the street will think "Oooooooh, this must be serious if a federal judge got involved. I wonder what Bush is hiding".
This was geared for PR purposes...to kill Pres Bush's re-elect chances by chipping away at anything and everything.
This clown damn near got the American people fired up on his decision to place all federal judges on probation and possible impeachment. He withdrew his first decision due to the uproar and pressures from his fellow lib judges.
I believe a first appeal of a rejection has to be made to whoever's named in the appropriate FOIA provisions. If it's gotten to court, this must have been going on for a while.
Its not the fact that Bush records are being released to me, its the dangerous precedent being set forward by this Judge. He is ordering the pentagon(1st overstep) to go through any and all records(including yours, including mine if need be) to fid all paper with Bush's name on it. a clear overstepping of authority and ignorance of the privacy act which used to protect everybody private info, accept in criminal cases where its devoid.
Baer, Harold Jr.
Born 1933 in New York, NY
Federal Judicial Service:
U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Nominated by William J. Clinton on April 26, 1994, to a seat vacated by Robert W. Sweet; Confirmed by the Senate on August 9, 1994, and received commission on August 10, 1994.
That was my first thought! To all who have alluded to poker player President Bush, I think you're correct. He baited the AP into the FOIA and now they'll have a conundrum, there is no there there and their pro-Kerry bias is exposed.
Pentagon releases docs that confirm President Bush's points and service, (and his honorable discharge) meanwhile Kerry continues to run on his "heroism" biop without supporting docs or signing the 180.
Yeah, but judicial watch made a request for Kerry's and got tuned down by DOD. NOW if they sue they have precedent to sight.
Judicial Watch has sued for Kerry's records, too. Why didn't the AP sue for Kerry's? What's up?
Booo is right! This AP "story" doesn't just report the AP's routine digging for dirt on Bush, but stuffs the "story" with all the past crud about the Pres. The AP & Rather are working day and night to save the floundering Kerry campaign.
I think so, obviously the judge watches Rather.
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