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.
If read this correctly it says Bush has to release his since he signed form 180. AP is claiming (I guess) that he has not released them all. We cannot sue to get Kerry's records since he has not signed the form.
Judge can't do anything unless the question is before him. It was for Bush's records.
LOL. Democrat Party Operatives now have judges doing campaign work for them. This is a great rope-a-dope. Bush is going to crush these loons. Crush 'em.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1211286/posts
been known for a while...
Drudge: "Judge orders government to find, release all Bush Guard records..." http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&u=/ap/20040916/ap_on_el_pr/bush_guard_records_1&printer=1
Okay, so what are we going to do about this besides complain? What can we do about this?
Notice that the date set is by SEPT 29!!
The judge IS more than likely in on this. The judge wants everything to go as planned so this can be out before the first debate.
Lawyers, what is out there? Can someone file a motion in front of this same judge to release Kerry's records and at very least get a ruling that shows his bias?
http://www.ndsn.org/summer96/baer.html
u.S. District Judge Baer Removes Himself from Controversial Drug Case
UPDATE
SUMMER 1996
On May 16, 1996 Federal District Judge Harold Baer, Jr. removed himself from a Manhattan, NY drug case saying his decision was "in the interest of justice" for the defendant (Don Van Natta Jr., "Baer, U.S. Judge, Removes Himself From Washington Hts. Drug Case," New York Times, May 17, 1996, p. B1).
Judge Baer ruled on January 24 that the search of Carol Bayless' car was unreasonable because police brutality and corruption are so prevalent in some neighborhoods in New York City that it is natural for people to run away from police. He said that even innocent people flee the police in Washington Heights, a neighborhood where officers were viewed as "corrupt, violent and abusive." Because he found the search unreasonable, Baer excluded 80 pounds of drugs as evidence and a videotape confession in which Ms. Bayless stated that she had made at least 20 round trips from New York to Michigan since 1991 to ferry drugs.
As was reported in the April issue of NewsBriefs, the judge reinstated the crucial drug evidence on April 1 in the case after a rare rehearing in March and considerable public and political criticism. Judge Baer denied that the political pressure had influenced his reversal, saying that he changed his mind after hearing the testimony of a second arresting police officer, and the defendant, Ms. Bayless.
The backgound on this case was reported in the March issue of Newsbriefs. On April 21, 1995, police observed four men putting duffel bags in the trunk of a rental car with Michigan plates. When the officers approached, the men ran away in different directions. The police then searched the car for drugs, confiscating 34 kilograms of cocaine and 2 kilograms of heroin. Officers testified that the men running away from them and the out-of-state rental car constituted enough "suspicion" to search the car.
By removing himself from the case, Judge Baer said he hoped to avoid time-consuming delays caused by an inevitable challenge to his decision to reinstate the drug evidence. He wrote, "It has become clear to me that for me to try this case will create several unnecessary and otherwise avoidable problems and attendant delay." The judge invoked a rarely used local rule, asking that the case be reassigned to another Federal District Judge.
The controversy over the original ruling and the decision to reinstate the evidence ignited a debate about whether political leaders were meddling in the courts. President Clinton said that he "regrets his decision" to appoint Baer and Bob Dole called for Baer to be impeached. This prompted four judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to respond in a March 28 statement, "The recent attacks on a trial judge of our circuit have gone to far. ... These attacks do a grave disservice to the principle of an independent judiciary (David S. Broder, "Rehnquist's rebuke to Dole and Clinton," Boston Globe, April 15, 1996, p. 11)."
Ramon W. Pagan, Ms. Bayless' lawyer, said he thought the judge's decision to remove himself was intended to get around the issue of political pressure. "This is one of the most unusual cases in jurisprudence, where you had the three most powerful men in the United States threaten a judge and cause my client to feel that she could not trust any of his future decisions." Pagan vowed to address the issue again in appeal.
It's not about "fear", unless you mean the fear of losing all right to privacy. Bush has already released his records by signing form 180...Kerry hasn't done so. Wanna take bets as to why?
something strange about some crackpot judge ordering the comander-in-chief to do anything....
As for Kerry, why hasn't Judicial Watch filed suit? Courts don't just issue these orders, they need a law suit, let's get with it! It is as much the fault of the rights for not acting quickly in bringing an action as anyone's fault. This gets really frustrating.
Interesting fact here this controversial judge, Harold Baer, Jr.
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.
Your rats have fake records ready to go and need a judge to put the document forgers in a place where they can say they found the documents.
Why do you fear the thought of Kerry releasing his records?
I went to Drudge. This is an order in a FOIA case filed by AP.
Judge, meet Dan Rather -- Dan, meet Judge. You two will have a lot in common to talk about now that your credibility and careers are worthless.
But, the fact remains that the president has apparently released all relevant records that he has. However, he is not the recordkeeper for all ANG documents, so if anything has not been found to this point it is not because of him.
yes it does.
hit refresh, it is there.
"(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Navy released documents Wednesday contradicting claims by Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry that all of his available military records have been released.
The Navy, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, also referred interested parties to Kerry's campaign web site for government military documents. "
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200409\SPE20040916a.html
Bush requested all his files be found. An issue, to some extent, is that portions were found and turned over to the media but refused to him.
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.