Bush Administration Furious That DOD Failed To Inform Bush That He Went AWOL Thirty Years Ago...And, Also, That There Were Still Records To Prove It

President Bush failed to carry out a direct order from his superior in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1972 to undertake a medical examination that was necessary for him to remain a qualified pilot, according to documents made public yesterday.

Documents obtained by the CBS News program "60 Minutes" shed new light on one of the most controversial episodes in Bush's military service, when he abruptly stopped flying and moved from Texas to Alabama to work on a political campaign. The documents include a memo from Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, ordering Bush "to be suspended from flight status for failure to perform" to U.S. Air Force standards and failure to take his annual physical "as ordered."

…

White House officials have argued that there was no reason for Bush to take the annual physical required of fighter pilots because there were no planes for him to fly in Alabama, where he applied for "substitute training" to replace his required service with the Texas Air National Guard. But the newly released documents suggest that Bush's transfer to Alabama, and to non-flight duties, was the subject of arguments between his National Guard superiors.

Also, records suggest that White House officials are full of shit as, again, the plane was being flown in Bush’s own unit for years after he “left” the Guard.

In an interview for "60 Minutes," White House communications director Dan Bartlett said that "partisan Democrats" were "recycling the very same charges we hear every time President Bush runs for reelection" and said, "It is dirty politics."

Except for that the most damning documents came from a Freedom of Information Request by the Boston Globe.

"It's clear that DOD [the Department of Defense] did not undertake as comprehensive a search as had been directed by the president," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, just days after assuring The Washington Post that the president's full personnel file had already been released. "We have again asked that they ensure that any and all documents [relating to Bush's military service] are identified and released.”

Hahahahahahahahaha…hoo! Because, of course, the White House just wants the truth to get out. Hahahahahahaha! Like when they first suggested that Bush didn’t get his flight physical because his personal physician was in Houston and Bush was in Alabama, and, again, as everyone knows, in 1972, there was no way to get from Alabama to Houston. Sure, you could get from Houston to Alabama, but you could not go back.

The highways, back then, were all one way.

And then, when everyone finally managed to stop laughing at that unbelievably stupid lie, someone managed to catch their breath and point out that personal physicians do not perform flight physicals.

And, then, the Bush White House, always eager to make sure that the full and complete truth is known in a timely fashion, said, “Uh, yeah…we knew that! Actually, Bush didn’t get his flight physical because his plane was no longer being flown. That’s what we meant to say. We misspoke.”

Until, again, when everyone stopped laughing, someone managed to wipe the tears out their eyes and point out that, in fact, Bush’s plane was flown for years after he left the Guard.

To which, again, the Bush White House, which is so frustrated at the inability of the Department of Defense to make a full disclosure of Bush’s record in an effort to quickly bring the truth to light, said, “Well, we knew that! We, uh, we just meant that this is, um, all…you know…old news and partisan politics! And we’ve been over this before! This is just a recycling of old charges!”

No, bullshitters, it’s not. It’s a cycling of the same charges that the Bush administration has never once honestly answered. And despite the fact that these records have been requested again and again, they have never been turned over.

Despite the fact that the White House swore all of Bush’s records had been released. Despite the fact that Bush looked America in the eye and stated that he had authorized the release of all these records way back in 2000, it took a Freedom of Information Act request and nearly a year of tireless pursuit to get the DOD to finally hand them over.

Gee, gosh, yeah. This must have been just an old Pentagon screw-up. This must have been an old mess-up by the DOD. Though, it’s pretty funny that if the DOD and the Pentagon messed up, all press queries have been directed not to the DOD, but to the White House. So the White House can try to get its story straight:

The Bush administration has issued government-wide instructions centralizing the release of all information relating to the president's service with the Texas Air National Guard between 1968 and 1973. Officers responsible for implementing the Freedom of Information Act for the National Guard and the Pentagon declined to respond to queries from The Post last week on the completeness of the president's records, referring a reporter instead to Krenke and the White House press office.

Isn’t it funny how the Bush administration is always plagued by bad intelligence? By carelessness at the DOD? By rogue campaign members?

(Doesn't it also make you wonder why we should trust the Bush administration with the executive branch as they can't seem to control any of it? I mean, if the Bush people are so goddamned incompetent that they can't even get the DOD to produce some records, how can we trust them with the federal budget? How can we trust them with national security? How can we trust them...oh, never mind. We can't.)

It just makes you feel sorry for them. Here the Bush administration is always trying to do the right thing and, yet, all around them, government agencies are screwing up and doing things that benefit the Bush administration but look really, really bad.

And the Bush administration would just like these darn government bureaucrats to stop doing them a bunch of favors and just be honest for a change! Even if it’s bad news for the Bush administration. All the Bush administration wants is for people to tell the truth!

You know, like Richard Clarke. And Joe Wilson. And Rand Beers. And Paul O’Neil. And Ben Barnes.

What a bunch of gutless, disgusting weasels. These clowns have been lying about Bush's service and supressing his records for a decade. And when they get caught? They blame it on the Pentagon.

What scum.

Comments

[Christine]

They made their own bed when they attacked Kerry on his service record in Vietnam. Now they have to sleep in it.

[susan]

But didn't Kerry attack Bush's national guard record before the swiftvet ads even aired? He didn't even use 527 surrogates, he attacked right from his own official campaign. Check out this press release dated APRIL:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0427b.html

[susan]

sorry URL got truncated. Here:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0427b.html

[susan]

wtf dude. ANyway add .html to the end there.

[Jerry]

Actually, Susan, as Kerry notes in the release, the attacks on his service record were made by surrogates. The Swiftboat Liars are not the first that the Bush camp has used in this way, and go back to mid-2003 at least. That Kerry takes personal responsibility for questioning Bush's "service" record is to his credit. Do you really feel that using surrogates is more admirable?!

And I credit him with being civil and raising questions backed by irrefutable fact, in stark contrast to the nature of the attacks from the Bushies. After all, Kerry has been hit with this crap since at least 1996 when the Boston Globe’s David Warsh suggested (in a piece that appeared a day before the gubernatorial election in which Kerry was running)that Kerry had committed a war crime in Vietnam, in the action for which he was awarded the Silver Star.

[Ellen]

I know they are assigned their own planes, but was bush only ALLOWED to fly ONE plane? And that plane was only allowed to fly in Texas? We have certain trucks in our business like that. Risky drivers have to stick to driving one truck and that's it.

I think he was so bad he was assigned those non-flight duties in a totally new state. (With Daddy's help) Maybe his plane WAS grounded, but they were able to salvage it after his irresponsible usage. They wouldn't give it back to him because he'd completely destroy it.

I guess any other person in the military can use bush as an example when they are "ordered" to do something and they don't, huh?

[Jerry]

That's right, Ellen. Heck, any guardsman in Iraq can go home any time they want. Just get killed or maimed for life (which is pretty darn easy!), and you're on the next flight home. Get to lay around for the rest of your enlistment! :)

[fornetti]

I do not believe this

[ricky]

Um, douchebag? The Bush administration admitted this.

Also, you're commenting on a four year old post from a blog that is no longer active.

Please stay off the internet until you have mastered remedial English skills. Thank you.

[Joan of Snark]

Permanently no longer active?

(Where did you go? Why did you leave? Your fans miss you!)