Yes, and if Sen. John Kerry (D-Mekong Delta) and Gen.
Wesley Clark (D-NATO) run on the Democratic ticket
together, the symmetry will be sublime: two decorated
Vietnam veterans against two chickenhawks...And as the
_resident once again, as with 9/11, tries to hide his
own incompetence and misdeeds behind false claims of
"intelligence breakdowns," the discontent and despair
has turned to disgust within the communities of
military and intelligence professionals. There is no
need for another commission, the LNS archive is packed
with stories about how right-on on the CIA was in its
opposition prior to the invasion of Iraq, and of how
the Bush cabal resorted to fabricating its own
"intelligence" under the auspices of Rumsfeld,
Woefullwitz and Puerile to justify its foolish
military adventure...Yes, the time is ripe to discuss
the _resident's character. The deaths of over 500 US
soldiers in Iraq demands it...And let's *start* the
proctomorphic exploration in Alabama 1970-1972...
Frederick Sweet, Intevention Magazine: Clark and
Kerry, two combat veterans are running for the
presidency of the United States. Now is a good time
for an open, public, and repeated review of Bush's
disgraceful military record. The American people have
the right to know what kind of cowardly
Commander-in-Chief occupies the White House. And if
the likes of Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw
lack the moral fiber and journalistic integrity to
tell our fellow citizens the truth about those in
power then, friends, it is up to the rest of us to do
their jobs for them!
Support Our Troops, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=627
Article & Essay: Bush AWOL, ABC Absent, But Moore
Correct
George Bush went AWOL, so ABC News attacks Michael Moore. What?
By Frederick Sweet
ABC-TV's Peter Jennings didn't know that Bush had been
AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard, in his
shameless display of ignorance before millions of
American viewers during the Democratic debate.
I witnessed ABC-TV's moderator Peter Jennings bullying
a debater, the retired Gen. Wesley Clark on prime time
TV about one of his supporters, Academy Award
filmmaker Michael Moore. Jennings characterized Moore
as a “controversial filmmaker” and then called him
"reckless" for shouting "deserter Bush" during a rally
for Clark in New Hampshire.
Jennings Doesn’t Know?
During the Democratic debate last Thursday debate
moderator Jennings demanded that Clark tell him how he
can accept the endorsement of the "controversial
filmmaker." Keeping his cool, Clark simply said, "Mr.
Moore is entitled to his opinion. I may not have
expressed it the same way. But I certainly accept his
endorsement for me as the Democratic presidential
candidate."
The next day, Michael Moore posted his response at
MichaelMoore.Com: “I would like to apologize for
referring to George W. Bush as a ‘deserter.’ What I
meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an
election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a
functional illiterate. And he poops his pants. In
fact, he shot a man in Tucson ‘just to watch him
die.’”
Moore continued: “Why wasn't it obvious to them, I was
pointing out how Bush had deserted our constitution
and Bill of Rights as he tries to limit freedom of
speech and privacy rights for law-abiding citizens?”
MoveOn.org promptly wrote: “… Jennings' own charge [of
‘recklessness’] is contrary to the reports of major
newspapers. Whether or not the legal designation of
‘deserter’ applies to Bush, he failed to appear for
duty for months -- possibly a year -- while a member
of the [Texas] Air National Guard during the Vietnam
War, according to the Boston Globe, New York Times,
and the Washington Post, [and The New Republic]. To
what was Jennings referring when he claimed, ‘there
are no facts to support the charge that Bush was
absent from his military service’?”
How can Jennings allow himself to be so ignorant about
something so well established? How can a TV journalist
with his immense research resources not know what the
rest of us have known? George W. Bush was AWOL for
over seven months while on duty at the National Guard
between 1972 and 1973.
The Record
Last year, President Bush got himself dropped onto an
aircraft carrier dressed in full Air Force pilot's
flight gear. Then he sneaked into Iraq to serve a
plastic turkey to GIs in Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day.
But he will never discuss his military record. There
are good reasons for this and Peter Jennings, calling
himself a journalist, should have known what they are
long before lashing into Clark for Moore's comments.
During his presidential campaign in 2000, George W.
Bush promised to restore honor and integrity to the
White House, to strengthen the military, and to speak
the plain truth on the campaign trail. Obviously, if
Bush had received a dishonorable discharge from the
military, then he would never have been made the
Republican candidate for President.
But what we do know is that during the early months of
the 2000 presidential race, The Boston Globe and the
Washington Post had published investigative reports on
George W. Bush's military deportment during the
Vietnam War. That year, additional Bush military
records had been obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act by U.S. Air Force pilot Robert A.
Rogers (ret. 1st Lt. Mission Pilot) and published by
him as, "Bush's Military Record Reveals Grounding and
Absence for Two Full Years." Rogers had served in the
Air National Guard for eleven years, from 1954 through
1965. Indisputably, Bush had been AWOL while assigned
to Guard duty during the Vietnam War.
On November 3, 1970, while Bush's father was being
re-elected to Congress from Houston, Brig. General
Rose promoted George W. to 1st Lieutenant. That's the
same man who spirited Bush into the Texas Air National
Guard at the request of the Bush family's influential
businessman friend.
Bush claimed, he wanted to become a fighter pilot like
his dad, who had flown combat missions in the Pacific
during World War II as the youngest American airman.
"I wanted to fly, and that was the adventure I was
seeking," he told the New York Times in July 2000.
Denying that he was trying to avoid combat in Vietnam,
presidential candidate Bush said, "One could argue
that [I] was trying to avoid being the infantryman but
my attitude was I'm taking the first opportunity to
become a pilot and jumped on that and did my time," he
said.
By July of 1970, Lt. Bush had earned his wings by
racking up about 300 hours of training flight time in
the F-102. This had qualified him to fly the F-102
without an instructor, but it was far short of the 500
hours required to volunteer for active duty combat
operations in Vietnam. He'd never have to worry about
fighting overseas.
First Lt. Bush had been credited with 46 days of
flight duty from June 1970 to May 1971, the expected
Guard weekend duty and "extra" runway standby alert
time for that year. However, that would be the last
time Bush had fully met his qualified jet fighter
pilot obligation to serve four complete years as a
fully trained and qualified fighter pilot.
After May 1971, Bush abandoned his sworn obligation to
the Texas Air National Guard and America. By May of
1972, he had only 22 flight-duty days to his credit,
14 days short of the minimum 36 he owed the Guard for
that year. Then it got worse.
Bush flew for the last time in an F-102
fighter-interceptor in April of 1972. He never flew
again, in spite of the fact that he still had two full
years remaining of his six-year pilot service
commitment. On May 15, 1972, Bush simply "cleared this
base" wrote Lt. Col. William D. Harris Jr., one of
Bush's two Squadron supervising officers in his
official report. Bush had flown the coop.
Bush's Military Records
During the 2000 South Carolina Republican primary
campaigns, fellow Senators spread rumors about Senator
John McCain's mental health stemming from his
imprisonment in Vietnam as a POW. McCain immediately
put an end to those rumors by releasing his entire
military record, officially confirming no indications
of adverse physical or mental conditions.
Long ago, Bush could easily have put to rest
accusations that he had been AWOL and a deserter by
simply releasing his complete military service record.
This record cannot be released by the Air Force
without Bush's signed consent.
National Guard records available to the public show
that on September 5, 1972 Bush had been ordered to
start serving three months in an active but non-flying
administrative Guard unit, the 187th Tactical
Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery, Alabama. He had
been assigned to four certain duty days in October and
November. Bush's new orders had been cut over three
months after his transfer request to an inactive
Alabama Guard unit was denied.
“I was there on temporary assignment and fulfilled my
weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed
weekends. I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't
flying because they didn't have the same airplanes. I
fulfilled my obligations,” he told the Dallas Morning
News while campaigning in Alabama on June 23, 2000.
But there is no official notation in Bush's service
record that he ever showed up for duty, despite his
written orders. General William Turnipseed and Lt.
Col. Kenneth Lott, who commanded the base at the time,
told the Boston Globe, they were certain that Bush
never appeared. "To my knowledge, he never showed up,"
Turnipseed told the Boston Globe in May 2000.
It's time to revisit Bush's military record.
Moore says, “… they [TV news personalities] have
created the brouhaha over Bush's military record,
often without telling their audience what the exact
charges are. It seems all they want to do is to get
Clark or me -- or you -- to shut up. ‘We have never
investigated this and so we want you to apologize for
bringing it up!’”
Moore continues, “Well, I'm glad they have gone nuts
over it. Because here we have a Commander-in-Chief
--who just took off while in uniform to go work for
some Republican friend of his dad's -- now sending our
kids over to Iraq to die while billions [of dollars]
are promised to Halliburton and the oil companies.
Twenty percent of them are National Guard and Reserves
(and that number is expected to double during the
year). They have been kept in Iraq much longer than
promised, and they have not been given the proper
protection. They are sitting ducks.”
Clark and Kerry, two combat veterans are running for
the presidency of the United States. Now is a good
time for an open, public, and repeated review of
Bush's disgraceful military record. The American
people have the right to know what kind of cowardly
Commander-in-Chief occupies the White House. And if
the likes of Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw
lack the moral fiber and journalistic integrity to
tell our fellow citizens the truth about those in
power then, friends, it is up to the rest of us to do
their jobs for them!
Breaking news story (02/01/04):
The New York Times website posted "Democratic Party
Chief Attacks Bush on Military Record" --. Terry
McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, is quoted at an interview on the ABC News
program “This Week,,” saying, “I look forward to that
debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full
of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who
was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard. George Bush
never served in our military in our country. He didn't
show up when he should have shown up. And there's John
Kerry on the stage with a chest full of medals that he
earned by saving the lives of American soldiers. So,
as John Kerry says, ‘Bring it on!’”
(Posted Monday, February 2, 2004)
Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology
in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis. You can email your
comments to Fred@interventionmag.com