George W. Bush's military service/External Links 2004

The following are External Links 2004 of articles and other information pertinent to George W. Bush's military service. Also see George W. Bush's military service/External Links 1999-2003, George W. Bush's military service/Documents and George W. Bush's military service/Timeline.

As to the status of George W. Bush's military records, it is this:

"On Meet the Press [February 8, 2004], President Bush claimed he has already released all records of his whereabouts during the Vietnam War."

... or maybe this is the correct answer?

"Bush Orders Release of All National Guard Files" by Steve Holland, Reuters, February 13, 2004 (6:15 PM ET): "President Bush, trying to stamp out a political firestorm, ordered the release on Friday of all his National Guard files during the Vietnam War to answer election-year charges that he shirked his duty."

... or perhaps it's this one?

"Hundreds of pages of documents that the White House said comprise President Bush's entire military record offer no new answers to the election-year questions that have swirled around his Vietnam-era service. ... 'Our understanding is that this is the entire file,' presidential press secretary Scott McClellan said," according to the AP, February 14, 2004. 

2004


 * Bush AWOL Resources Page, bushwakedusa.com.
 * Chickenhawk-in-Chief. Maureen Griswold (author of KB Toys letter) writes to Kevin Keeshan, News Director of ABC7/KGO-TV, San Francisco, CA.


 * 4 January 2004: "Scrubbers" from Democrats.com. Article contains overview of "scrubs" dating to 2001.
 * 18 January 2004: "Bush Scandals" from Democrats.com.
 * 14 January 2004: "Bush's service record criticized" by Patrick Healy, Boston Globe.
 * 23 January 2004: "George W. Bush, A.W.O.L." by Michael Moore.
 * 25 January 2004: "AWOL? Deserter? Bring It On!" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com: "Either Way, Lt. George W. Bush Abandoned His Nation and Dishonored His Flight Suit. Either Way, This is a Fight Democrats Should Fight - and Win."
 * 27 January 2004: "You Say Deserter, I Say More Dessert" by Michael Moore, michaelmoore.com.
 * 1 February 2004: "Democratic Party Chief Attacks Bush on Military Record" by Kirk Semple, New York Times.
 * 2 February 2004: "George W. Bush's Lost Year in 1972 Alabama" by Glynn Wilson, The Progressive Southerner.
 * 3 February 2004: "GOP Returns Fire Over Bush's Military Service" by Maria L. La Ganga and Nick Anderson, Los Angeles Times.
 * 3 February 2004: "White House, GOP defend Bush's military record. RNC chief: Allegations that Bush was AWOL 'flat wrong'," CNN.
 * 5 February 2004 (with subsequent updates): "Bush's AWOL Lies: Famous Last Words!" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com. Includes all comments made by Brig. Gen. William R. Turnipseed, ret. (see end of article).
 * 5 February 2004: "Dems reload Bush AWOL charge" by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times.
 * 5 February 2004: "Bush's Guard service: What the record shows" by Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe.
 * 5 February 2004: "Bush's missing year. In 1972, George W. Bush dropped out of his National Guard service and later lied about it. With the media finally paying attention, will he now come clean?" by Eric Boehlert, Salon.
 * 6 February 2004: "Did Bush drop out of the National Guard to avoid drug testing? The young pilot walked away from his commitment in 1972 -- the same year the U.S. military implemented random drug tests" by Eric Boehlert, Salon.
 * 6 February 2004: "Bush's Military Deficit," Mother Jones.
 * 7 February 2004: "Questions on Bush's service" by Eric Alterman, Newsday.
 * 8 February 2004: Transcript of Tim Russert Interview with President Bush, MSN.com.
 * 8 February 2004: "Bush and the Blount campaign party trail - 1972" by blogger farmer, corrente.blogspot.com.
 * 8 February 2004: "While There's Blood in the Water..." by Atrios: (1) "In case there are some journalists hankering to do a bit of investigating. First, you could pursue the story about why Bush obtained a new driver's license number while governor of Texas." and (2) Did Bush commit perjury regarding his flight physical, Maine DUI, etc., for a civilian pilot's license?
 * 8 February 2004: "An Absence in Alabama. As Bush's military service re-emerges as an issue, here is what we know--and don't know" by Mark Thompson and James Carney, TIME.
 * 8 February 2004: "Let battle commence" by Julian Coman, who "reports from Washington on how the campaign for the US presidency is already being hijacked by the spectre of the Vietnam War."
 * 9 February 2004: "AWOL from the Truth. How George W. Bush Lied to Tim Russert About His Missing Military Records" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com.
 * 10 February 2004: "AWOL-Gate. 'Untorn' Document Scandal Exposes Need for a Special Prosecutor" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com.
 * 10 February 2004: "Bush Backpedals on Pledge to Release all Records on Military Service" from MoveOn.
 * 10 February 2004 White House Press Briefing with Scott McClellan.
 * 10 February 2004: White House's Scott McClellan and the "morning's gaggle on the new limited, White House-selected records release" by Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo.
 * 10 February 2004: "NATIONAL GUARD ROUNDUP....Here's a roundup of the latest on the National Guard stuff," Calpundit.com. Includes links to cited articles.
 * 10 February 2004: Commentary: " The Disgrace Of The 'Bush Method' .. [which] is to lie, and continue lying, evident in Bush's effort to obscure the truth about his military record" by Gerald S. Rellick, Intervention Magazine.
 * 10 February 2004: "Timeline of the president's National Guard Service," USA Today.
 * 10 February 2004: "Bush credited for Guard drills. But time frame leaves questions" by Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe.
 * 10 February 2004: "Facing Questions, White House Releases Bush Military Data" by David Stout, New York Times.
 * 11 February 2004: "Controversy Over Bush's Service Record: When war tore young men apart" by Jim Schaefer, Nancy A. Youssef, and Dan Shine, Detroit Free Press.
 * 11 February 2004: "White House releases Bush's Guard records" by Walter V. Robinson and Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe.
 * 11 February 2004: "Spokesman Defends Bush's Military Service, Backing Off President's Pledge to Open All Records," AP.
 * 11 February 2004: "Ex-officer: Bush file's details caused concern" by Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA Today.
 * 11 February 2004: "Yeoman of the Guard. AWOL? Probably not. A draft dodger? No question" by Josh Levin and Timothy Noah, Slate.
 * 11 February 2004: "Alabama commander regrets Bush comments. National Guard boss says he couldn't recall if president attended meetings" by Jim Cummins, NBC/MSNBC.
 * 11 February 2004: "An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George 'I'm a War President!' Bush" by Michael Moore, michaelmoore.com.
 * 11 February 2004: "George T. To George W." by P.J. Crowley, Tom Paine.
 * 11 February 2004: "The Smoking Microfiche. 'Pay' Records Prove Bush" Was AWOL in Alabama" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com.
 * 11 February 2004: "George W. Bush's Lost Year in 1972 Alabama" by Glynn Wilson, Axis of Logic.
 * 11 February 2004: "Bush met military obligation, [Bush] aide says" by Mary Orndorff and Brett J. Blackledge, The Birmingham News: " Bush did not receive military pay from May to September of 1972, according to the documents, and the former commander of the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron said Tuesday that Bush didn't show up during those months. ... 'He never did come to my squad,' said retired Lt. Col. Reese Bricken, who lives in Montgomery. 'He was never at my unit.'"
 * 12 February 2004: "Flap over Bush military service: why it's back" by Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor.
 * 12 February 2004: "George's War," Guardian/UK.
 * 12 February 2004: "Trolling for Truth" by Bob Fertik, Democrats.com.
 * 12 February 2004: "W left Guard unit too soon. 'Bama-bound without OK from Texas" by Larry Cohler-Esses and Bob Port, New York Daily News: "George W. Bush left his Texas Air National Guard assignment and moved to Alabama in 1972 even though the Air Force denied his request for a transfer, according to his military records. ... In fact, Bush, did not even ask for an official transfer until nine days after he moved to Alabama in May 1972. ... The Air Force quickly rejected Bush's request, saying the fighter pilot was 'ineligible' to move to the Alabama unit Bush wanted - a squadron of postal handlers. ... Nevertheless, Bush stayed in Alabama until his Texas commanders finally gave him written authorization five months later to train there."
 * 12 February 2004: "Bush's loss of flying status should have spurred probe" by Walter V. Robinson and Francie Latour, Boston Globe: "President Bush's August 1972 suspension from flight status in the Texas Air National Guard -- triggered by his failure to take a required annual flight physical -- should have prompted an investigation by his commander, a written acknowledgement by Bush, and perhaps a written report to senior Air Force officials, according to Air Force regulations in effect at the time."
 * 12 February 2004: "Move to Screen Bush File in 90's Is Reported" by Ralph Blumenthal, New York Times.
 * 12 February 2004: "Bush a No-Show at Alabama Base, Says Memphian FedEx Pilot Bob Mintz, backed up by a Carolina colleague, recalls no Dubya at Dannelly AFB in 1972" by Jackson Baker, The Memphis Flyer: "Two members of the Air National Guard unit that President George W. Bush allegedly served with as a young Guard flyer in 1972 had been told to expect him and were on the lookout for him. He never showed, however; of that both Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop are certain."
 * 12 February 2004: "1973 Document Puts Bush on Guard Base" by Mike Allen and Lois Romano, Washington Post: "The White House last night released a document showing that President Bush was at a military base in Alabama during the last year of his National Guard service, .... copies of a one-page record of a dental exam, complete with drawings of Bush's teeth, that showed he was at Dannelly Air National Guard base in Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 6, 1973."
 * 12 February 2004: "Bushites try to plug president's service gap" by Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star.
 * 12 February 2004: "White House Releases '73 Bush Dental Exam" by Deb Reichmann, AP.
 * 12 February 2004: "Dentist Doesn't Remember Treating Bush" by Allen G. Breed, AP.
 * 13 February 2004: "Seeking Memories of Bush at an Alabama Air Base" by David Barstow, New York Times: "Inside the Alabama Air National Guard an informal search is on for someone, anyone, who recalls encountering First Lt. George W. Bush in 1972. ... If Mr. Bush served in Alabama, how come no one remembers him?'''"
 * 13 February 2004: "What's Under the Ink? White House Comes Clean" by Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times.
 * 13 February 2004: "Bush's Duty, and Privilege" by Bob Herbert, New York Times Op-Ed: "So here's the thing: After strolling to the head of the line, and putting the Guard to the considerable expense of training him as a pilot, Lieutenant Bush didn't even bother to take his duties seriously. He breezed off to Alabama to work on a political campaign. He never showed up as required to take his annual flight physical in 1972, and because of that was suspended from flying."
 * 13 February 2004: "Q&A About Bush Service in National Guard" by Deb Reichmann, AP.
 * 13 February 2004: "What they said about... Bush's military record" by Edward Gibbes, Guardian/UK.
 * 13 February 2004: "Doubts about his Vietnam record dog Bush" by Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian/UK.
 * 13 February 2004: "More Arrests?" from Atrios: "The White House disclosed information in documents Thursday showing that President Bush had been arrested once for a college prank and was cited for two automobile accidents and two speeding tickets before he enlisted in the National Guard.
 * 13 February 2004: From the same Atrios web page comes an observation from Calpundit: Bush's Air Reserve flight suspension order shows that the name cited next under Bush is James R. Bath, "the guy who helped the Bin Laden family invest in George W. Bush's Arbusto Oil Company." Both Bush and Bath failed to take and pass a flight physical.
 * 13 February 2004: Again, Atrios is on the ball collecting: "Bush Discharge Papers": "Marty Heldt points out that while we have Bush's discharge papers from TANG, it doesn't seem we have his final discharge papers from ARF, though this FOIA request response letter says they exist. ...if this was the practice back then, the discharge papers could have a damning re-enlistment code."
 * 13 February 2004: "Doubts raised on Bush accuser. Key witness disputes charge by Guard retiree that files were purged" by Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe.
 * 13 February 2004: "Reporters Swarm on Alabama in Pursuit of 'AWOL' Story," Editor & Publisher.
 * 13 February 2004: "Ex-Guardsman Says Bush Served in Ala." by Allen G. Breed, Guardian/UK: However, "The 187th's former commander, retired Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, has said he doesn't remember Bush ever turning up on base, and more than a dozen members of the 800-person unit, including its commander, told The Associated Press this week they have no recollection of Bush. Critics have made much of the fact that the White House has failed to produce anyone who could remember seeing Bush there."
 * 13 February 2004: "We'll Re-Elect You If We Need You" from BottleOfBlog: "There you have it, folks. A classic case of 'It's true because we say so.' And that's good enough for me. Especially after that whole Iraq thing."
 * 13 February 2004: "Our Imperial Leader Has Spoken. Can We Doubt Him? Let Me Count the Ways" by Brian Cloughley, CounterPunch.

Bush Orders Release of All National Guard Files


 * 13 February 2004 (6:15 PM ET): "Bush Orders Release of All National Guard Files" by Steve Holland, Reuters: "President Bush, trying to stamp out a political firestorm, ordered the release on Friday of all his National Guard files during the Vietnam War to answer election-year charges that he shirked his duty. ... White House spokesman Scott McClellan said many pages of documents would be released and that a pool of reporters were allowed to see his medical records from that period.

... and the Records Say


 * 13 February 2004: "Bush Orders White House Release of Military Records" by Terence Hunt, AP: "Bush's medical records - dozens of pages in all - were opened for examination by reporters in the Roosevelt Room but the material was not being distributed publicly. ... The pay records show Bush, who was a 1st lieutenant, was paid for 25 days of service between May 1972 and May 1973, the year Democrats have been questioning. The pay records, however, do not say what Bush did to receive pay, or where he did it."
 * 13 February 2003: "W's AWOL Spin Update!" by David Corn, Capital Games.
 * 13 February 2004: White House Press Briefing by Scott McClellan. (Click on "President's National Guard Records".)
 * 13 February 2004: "Credibility Gulch," Washington Post.
 * 14 February 2004: "Democrats Not Swayed by Bush Documents" by Jennifer Loven, AP: "But the records provided no evidence Bush served in Alabama."
 * 14 February 2004: "Bush's military records released," BBC/UK: "Initial examination of hundreds of pages from 1968-73 gave no indication of anything out of the ordinary, correspondents said. ... But nor there was any new evidence to rebut the critics, they added. ... But there was no new evidence documenting that Mr Bush showed up for temporary duty in Alabama while working on a political campaign from May 1972 to May 1973 - a key demand by the Democrats."
 * 14 February 2004: "Bush releases his military records" by Walter V. Robinson and Wayne Washington, Boston Globe: "But the newly released records add no new information to the murkier conclusion to Bush's Guard service, the final 18 months when he had ceased flying and went more than five months at one point without attending a drill."
 * 14 February 2004: "Some light shed on Bush Guard service. Hundreds of files released; Dems say questions remain" by Michael Hedges, Houston Chronicle: "The records failed to directly confirm Bush did any service in Alabama, where, according to some critics, he shirked his Guard duty in the United States during the Vietnam War. ... [Emily Marks Curtis] said she didn't see Bush at the Alabama squadron's base, but 'I can say categorically he left Montgomery, then came back for what he said were Guard meetings.'"
 * 14 February 2004: "Bush Acts Against Critics on Guard Records and 9/11" by Elisabeth Bumiller and Philip Shenon, New York Times: "The White House maintains that Guard payroll records, a dental exam that Mr. Bush had in Alabama and the undisputed fact that he was living there during the time in question definitively prove that he turned up for duty. Mr. Bush's critics say the documents prove only that he had his teeth checked in Alabama on Jan. 6, 1973." The timing of the release of the records was also typical Bush administration "Friday night surprise": "The White House released the documents with little advance notice at 6:30 p.m., after much of the staff had left for a long holiday weekend. It seemed to be as much an effort at public relations as an attempt to quiet Mr. Bush's critics, at least temporarily, by demonstrating the president's willingness to be open about his military service."
 * 14 February 2004: "Bush's National Guard file released: No proof he served in Alabama" by Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, San Francisco Chronicle.
 * 14 February 2004: "Commander-in-Thief. The American Way" by David R. Hoffman, Pravda. Also here.
 * 15 February 2004: "Bush still under pressure over service record" by John Shovelan, ''ABC" (Australia).
 * 15 February 2004: "Few Can Offer Confirmation Of Bush's Guard Service. Friends and Acquaintances Lack Firsthand Knowledge" by Manuel Roig-Franzia and Lois Romano, Washington Post.
 * 15 February 2004: "Bush Goal Was Dodging War" by Jimmy Breslin, Newsday: "On George Bush's last paid day in the Texas Air National Guard, on April 16, 1972, the air war in Vietnam had turned furious because Richard M. Nixon had ordered large strikes against North Vietnam, the first since 1968. ... After that April 16, Bush went to Alabama and that pretty much ended his fighting career although he did battle cavities in a dentist's chair at Maxwell Field, Ala. ... What matters only is that Bush was in the National Guard in Texas because he was dodging the war in Vietnam."
 * 15 February 2004: "The Former Communciations Director for the Texas Democratic Party Has A Few Things to Say About the Press and Bush's Infamous National Guard 'Record'" by Jeremy Warren, BuzzFlash Guest Commentary.
 * 15 February 2004: "Adventures in Forensic Journalism" from Calpundit: "Former Lt. Colonel Bill Burkett says that members of George Bush's staff, along with senior officers at Texas National Guard Headquarters, purged Bush's National Guard files of potentially embarrassing material back in 1997. Is his story true? ... " Calpundit reviews Burkett's claims.
 * 15 February 2004: "Evidence on Bush adds up to AWOL" by Bill Press, Tribune Media Services: "George Bush himself left no doubt why he joined the National Guard: to get out of Vietnam. ... And now President Bush has the audacity to suggest that anyone who questions his military record is denigrating the National Guard. No, Mr. President, the person denigrating the National Guard is not the one asking the questions. It's the one who says he did his duty, but didn't."
 * February 13-19, 2004 (edition): "George and the Guard. The real question is how did the young man with marginal test scores get the plum wartime assignment" by Lou Dubose, L.A. Weekly.
 * 16 February 2004: "Bush's Test for Pilot Training Was Altered," BuzzFlash Reader Commentary. See page 25 of the records at USA Today.
 * 16 February 2004: "Portrait of Bush at 26 - 'Texas Soufflé'" by Larry Cohler-Esses and Bill Hutchinson, New York Daily News.
 * 16 February 2004: "Why Haven't Shrub's Written Lies Warranted Attention?" by R. Ramirez (SSG, USA RET), BuzzFlash Contributor: "Here is one thing consistently forgotten. In all of this, Mr. Bush proudly claimed he volunteered for duty in Vietnam in his run for the presidency in '99. But, last Sunday he admitted he lied about it -- yet no one in the media seemed to notice it or care about it! ... In George W. Bush's A Charge to Keep .... Bush claims that, after learning to fly the F-102 fighter jet, he was turned down for Vietnam duty because 'had not logged enough flight hours' to qualify for a combat assignment. Before going on to recall the 'challenging moments' that involved close formation drills at night during poor weather, he adds: 'I continued flying with my unit for the next several years.' ... Hmm, President Bush said in his interview: Russert: Were you favor of the war in Vietnam? ... President Bush: I supported my government. I did. And would have gone had my unit been called up, by the way. ... Russert: But you didn't volunteer or enlist to go. ... President Bush: No, I didn't. You're right."
 * 17 February 2004: "The cover-up that's worse than the crime" by Ernest Partridge, The Crisis Papers
 * 17 February 2004: ""A Multigenerational Family of Fibbers" by Kevin Phillips (Former Top Republican Strategist Examines the History of the Bush Family), Democracy Now: "But what is not being widely reported is that AWOL-gate is only the latest in a series of scandals within the Bush family, such as Iraq-gate, Iran-Contra, that date back generations."
 * 27 February 2004: "In Search of the President's Missing Years" by Mimi Swartz, New York Times Op-Ed.
 * 28 February 2004: "Bush bio on Web inflates Guard service" by Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe: "...the biography of Bush on the US State Department's website credits him with almost six years in the F-102's cockpit -- two years on active duty flying the plane and nearly four more years of part-time service as an F-102 pilot. The websites of at least five American embassies -- those in Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Vietnam, and South Korea -- use the identical language, even though Bush spent barely two years flying the airplane."
 * 27 April 2004: "Bush's flight from the Guard. Why was he abruptly grounded from flying? Why did he leave the Texas Guard two years early? A key report answering those questions is still missing from George W. Bush's records" by James C. Moore, Salon.
 * Jeffrey St Clair, "How Bush Got (and Lost) His Wings Tracking the National Guard Career of the Fatuous Flyboy from New Haven", Counterpunch, August 12, 2004.
 * "Controversial Bush National Guard Records Released: Bush Had Lapse Of Duty Between April And October 1972", The NewMexicoChannel.com, September 7, 2007. (Updated September 8, 2004).
 * John Whitesides, "Democrats Question Bush's Service, Costs of War", Reuters, September 8, 2004.
 * Nedra Pickler, "Kerry, Democrats borrow page from GOP book in new offensive against Bush, San Francisco Chronicle, September 8, 2004. (This is an Associated Press story).
 * "Barnes discusses getting Bush into Air National Guard", KLTV-ABC, September 8, 2004.
 * Stephen Kurkjian, Francie Latour, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Michael Rezendes, and editor Walter V. Robinson, "Bush fell short on duty at Guard: Records show pledges unmet", Boston Globe, September 8, 2004.
 * "Documents reveal holes in Bush's military record", Sydney Morning Herald, September 9, 2004. (This is a compilation of storiies from the Boston Globe, Associated Press and the Guardian).