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.
Guys, will you please stop panicking? What are they going to find? I understand the Constitutional question in obtaining these records, but Bush ordered the Pentagon to release all of his records. Unless you feel that the President has a hidden file that nobody has seen (which I don't) that will "incriminate" him, I don't see what the big deal is.
I'm not worried about Bush. This will backfire in their face.
I'm incredibly concerned about the atempted invasion of not only G.W.'s privacy by a judge overreaching his bounds, but the order for an invasion of thousands of service members records to suit a political agenda.
They have gone too far. I don't want just a backlash in public sentiment, I want these people impeached from the bench immediately.
THE AP
"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.'
Kerry, the baby killing war criminal hasn't had a single press conference or Q&A session since the first Swift Vet ad hit. He has avoided even a little one with his mediot friends who travel with him and give the finger to those who are protesting Kerry.
Anybody checked E-Bay lately to see how many Selectics have been sold?? ;)
i can't stand it Terry Mc is on the Big Story. The republicans aren't doing a good job turning the debate back to Kerry. No one mentioned the 180...all about bush and guards...can't take it anymore.
The only thing that the DOD/StLouis would have is promotion records, 201 file etc....all his unit records stays with a unit, and all of those have a time destruction depending on what they are....
The big deal is that a judge ordered thousands of individual private records be violated to attempt to find incriminating evidence against a sitting President!
Again, WE are NOT worried Bush has incriminating evidence against him. We are furious that a judge overstepped his bound to invade the privacy of thousands of service personel! This is a real live WITCHHUNT dragging their records & lives into the mix!
Why don't they spend so much time and effort on Jean-Fraude Kerrie's Purple-Heart Owies? Don't people care the JFraude lied under oath before the Senate?
Personally, as long as they are not forged docs, i wouldnt care.
My personal concern is that a) not a finger is being lifted against kerry and his records which are being hid - the MSM are letting him get away with murder b) i am SICK of judical activism - especially the kind which are set on trying to torpeedo GOP candidates.
I thought Bush had released everything including dental records during the first campaign. All this amounts to is that the lefties are throwing up a smokescreen for F'n. Why do they not demand the form 180 be signed and then Kerry's documents released? Big time double standard.
Baer is notorious in New York. He once let a bunch of cocaine dealers go free because, when cops approached them, they ran. Baer opined that criminals of color had every reason to regard the NYPD as an occupation army. Therefore, the act of running shouldn't have excited the police officers' suspicions and they had no grounds to search the suspects' car, wherein was found (from memory) about 12 pounds of coke.
Needless to say, Baer is a Democratic club house butt boy.
This is just political posturing. Bush ordered them to release his records (why hasn't Kerry?), they did. Then someone found more records at the pentagon (?) and so the AP thinks they can squeeze more blood out of this turnup.....again. It's getting old and just makes Kerry look like he has something to hide because HE WON'T SIGN THE 180!
So, does this mean no more Rather-gate? Boo Hoo!
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.
Pity that I, a housewife, am more resourceful than a "news organization".:
Bush releases his Vietnam-era military files
February 14, 2004
excerpt:
On Friday, a retired officer with the Alabama Air National Guard told CNN that he witnessed Bush serving his weekend duty in 1972 -- an account that could be significant given the persistent Democratic questions.
Speaking Friday from Daytona Beach, Florida, John B. "Bill" Calhoun said he commanded Bush and that Bush attended four to six weekend drills at Dannelly Field in Montgomery. He said Bush was with the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Alabama in 1972.
The drills consisted of eight-hour shifts Saturdays and Sundays, Calhoun said.
~snip~
Infamous District Court Judge Harold Baer has come up with another stinker of a decision:
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a victory for a Ku Klux Klan group, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a New York state law violates the U.S. Constitution by barring public demonstrators from wearing masks.You may recall that in March 1996, Judge Howard Baer, Jr., a Manhattan U.S. District Court jurist and Clinton appointee, set off a storm of criticism when he ruled that 80 pounds of cocaine and heroin found by police in a car could not be used as evidence.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer held that the law violates the free speech rights of the Butler, Indiana-based Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. If the judge's decision is upheld, members of the group would be able to hide their identities by wearing hoods and masks at future New York rallies.
The city said it would appeal."
In declaring the drugs inadmissible, Judge Baer said there was no probable cause to search the car because it is not unusual for people to be leery of police in an inner-city neighborhood like Washington Heights....
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:wrvc1Mw8Ke4J:www.spartacus.ws/000388.html+U.S.+District+Judge+Harold+Baer+Jr&hl=en
I don't think it's the judge we should be questioning, but the A.P. - why are they only interested in Bush's records?
I'm upset over the AP asking for only one set of records, not both sets. Why not Kerry's? It's the blatant bias. 60 minutes never did a segment on the Swift boat vets.
The timing of all of this is very suspicious.
http://jsd.cqpress.com/Scripts/index.cfm
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Judicial Nominations & Confirmations
President George W. Bush submitted the following name to the US Senate for a District Judge position:
Paul A. Crotty of New York, was nominated to be US District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He will replace Harold Baer, Jr. who is retiring.
Agreed steve. Why is the AP not questioning Kerry's File?
Answer: Media collusion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.