Guarding the Nation in Texas

Bush's National Guard story refuses to die. Perhaps that is because, unlike the Swiftees' attack on Kerry, it is true. The Associated Press is the only media company that has continued to hammer at the steel wall the Bush administration has erected around this information. As AP's Matt Kelley reported Sunday:

Documents that should have been written to explain gaps in President Bush's Texas Air National Guard [TANG] service are missing from the military records released about his service in 1972 and 1973, according to regulations and outside experts.

For example, Air National Guard regulations at the time required commanders to write an investigative report for the Air Force when Bush missed his annual medical exam in 1972. The regulations also required commanders to confirm in writing that Bush received counseling after missing five months of drills.

No such records have been made public and the government told The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that it has released all records it can find.…

Challenging the government's declaration that no more documents exist, the AP identified five categories of records that should have been generated after Bush skipped his pilot's physical and missed five months of training.

"Each of these actions by any member of the National Guard should have generated the creation of many documents that have yet to be produced," AP lawyer David Schulz wrote the Justice Department Aug. 26.…

The AP talked to experts unaffiliated with either campaign who have reviewed Bush's files for missing documents. They said it was not unusual for guard commanders to ignore deficiencies by junior officers such as Bush. But they said missing a physical exam, which caused him to be grounded, was not common.

"It's sort of like a code of honor that you didn't go DNF (duty not including flying)," said retired Air Force Col. Leonard Walls, who flew 181 combat missions over Vietnam. "There was a lot of pride in keeping combat-ready status."

Kelly lists five files that should have been among the records but were not:

• a TANG letter to Bush's draft board
  
• records of a required investigation into why Bush lost flight status
  
• written acknowledgment from Bush that he had received the orders grounding him
  
• reports of formal counseling sessions required after Bush missed more than three training sessions
  
• a signed statement from Bush acknowledging he could be called to active duty

Kelly quotes Maj Gen Paul A. Weaver Jr, former head of the Air National Guard, as saying the recordkeeping could have been better. That is certainly true, but as a former clerk in the Texas National Guard myself, I find it incredible—no, completely impossible—that all of those records were either uncreated or lost. It is far more likely that they were intentionally discarded. Kevin Drum did some super sleuthing a few months ago, and he found a witness to the dumping:

Lt. Colonel Bill Burkett, who worked at the Austin headquarters of the Texas Air National Guard in the 1990s, has charged that Bush's files were "cleansed" by TANG officers after Bush was elected governor in 1994.…

The Associated Press Bottom line: Burkett's story is largely credible (though obviously not proven); the number of missing documents from Bush's file is suspicious; and it's possible that even if some documents were purged from Bush's paper file in Austin they might still be recorded on the microfilm records made in the 70s and 80s. AP's request is a legitimate one, and hopefully the microfilm records will be made available to them before the election. After all, Bush is proud of his service in the Guard, right?

Bush got help all along from various Texas officials and friends of Poppy, including the lieutenant governor who helped him jump the queue initially and get into TANG ahead of many others. Ben Barnes is going to appear on CBS's 60 Minutes Wednesday night to talk about how guilty he feels that he rewarded rich and well-connected Texans, including W, thereby sending those without clout into the dangers of real combat in Vietnam. Eric Boehlert wrote more last week in Salon.

After Barnes, there was Midland politico and family friend Jimmy Allison, who helped find a place for the misbehaving W in Alabama. Also in Salon, Mary Jacoby has traced the sorry story.

The biggest question that remains is why Bush would give up the flying he loved. The most likely answer is that he was into drugs, and he was afraid the required physical would catch him. Kitty Kelley (that paragon of sober journalism) claims the drug was cocaine.

That charge may not be true, but until Bush releases his records and answers questions, the fictional stories will continue to outstrip the tawdry reality. Bush the irresponsible, still recognizable today.

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I have written earlier about Bush's miraculous enlistment in and contingent attachment to the Texas Air National Guard in "Lt. Bush, Where Are You?"

Comments

[Chris]

There is this story from the Boston Globe this morning.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/08/bush_fell_short_on_duty_at_guard?mode=PF