Scrubbing Bush's Service Records: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal

April 27, 2004

Scrubbing Bush's Service Records

Joshua Micah Marshall concludes that the Washington press has taken yet another dive to cover for George W. Bush:

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: April 25, 2004 - May 01, 2004 Archives: Based on this article which ran today in Salon and emails I've exchanged today with veterans who are familiar with what these records should look like, apparently President Bush didn't release his complete military service records even though the White House repeatedly said he did. What gives? I fear this is becoming another example of my press colleagues' deep-seated corruption....

[T]here's an article out in Salon on Tuesday which makes a pretty straightforward case that the 'complete' service record the White House released last February, actually wasn't complete at all. Here are the key grafs ...

...the critical documents have still not been seen. The mandatory written report about Bush's grounding is mysteriously not in the released file, nor is any other disciplinary evidence. A document showing a "roll-up," or the accumulation of his total retirement points, is also absent, and so are his actual pay stubs... pay stubs and any IRS W-2 forms from his Guard years.... can be pieced together to determine when he was paid and whether he earned enough to have met his sworn obligations.

...

Unlike lawyers, journalists pay little attention to concepts like chain of custody... whoever possessed them and had the motive and opportunity to clean them up is a critical question. When Bush left the Guard about a half year early to attend Harvard Business School, his hard-copy record was retained in a military personnel records jacket at the Austin offices of the Texas Guard. Eventually, those documents were committed to microfiche.... Those records... cannot be released to anyone without the signature of the serviceman or woman. The White House has never indicated that Bush has signed the authorization form. And this is what prompts unending suspicion....

[T]he microfiche was shipped to the office of Maj. Gen. Danny James, commander of the Air National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va. James' staff printed out all of the documents on the film and then, according to those same sources, James vetted the material. Subsequent to being scrutinized by James (who commanded the Texas Guard and was promoted to Washington by Bush,) the records were then sent to the White House for further scrutiny prior to release to the news media. This is a considerably different process from what was practiced by Sen. John McCain during the 2000 presidential campaign ... McCain signed a release form, and his entire record, a stack of papers more than a foot tall, was made available to reporters without being vetted by the campaign.

Needless to say, the aforementioned James is the same James who is accused of assisting in scrubbing the paper copies of the president's record back in 1997.... [W]hy exactly can't the president just release his records the way McCain did? And, is that story about James getting a chance to go over these files true? If it is, I'd say some scribblers in town got suckered. Big time, as the vice president would say.

I suspect that key records have been destroyed, and that a McCain-style release would make it a little too obvious that the file has been scrubbed. Otherwise Bush would have kept his promise to Tim Russert, and done a McCain-style release.

Posted by DeLong at April 27, 2004 05:59 PM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this post

Comments

I don't get why JM is surprised by this. I thought this was pretty well known in realtime to anyone who has been reading the blogs. The issues with regard to the pay stubs and the officer's evaluation were definitely discussed months ago.

I assumed since there was no follow up that the press had decided to drop it, and they did. The ONLY reason it is an issue now is all the preznit's little helpers are desparately trying to dig something up on Kerry's record. That, and Salon picked up the ball on it.

Posted by: Alan on April 27, 2004 06:10 PM

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Links to released records for both Kerry and Bush are here:

http://www.awolbush.com/kerry-vs-bush.asp

Why is this even an issue when we have jobs, the economy and foreign policy? I think the Bush strategy is to go negative on Kerry with these non-issues that detract from his ability to deliver his message. Bush would like nothing better than the entire election coverage be about military records.

Posted by: bakho on April 27, 2004 06:24 PM

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The actual documents might have been scrubbed, but they should still exist on microfiche in the archives. All W has to do is sign a release dumping all into the public record. He won't do that. Therefore, we must conclude that there's really damaging information contained therein.

Posted by: Brian Boru on April 27, 2004 09:56 PM

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He's out at the ranch, loading up his dump truck with a fresh load of BS. I'll fetch my wheelbarrow, and tell my roses to get ready to feast.

Posted by: Barry on April 28, 2004 04:01 AM

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"Bush would like nothing better than the entire election coverage be about military records."

How, in a sane world, could that possibly be to GWB's advantage? Was Buffalo Bayou really as dangerous circa 1969-1972 as the Mekong?

"He's out at the ranch, loading up his dump truck with a fresh load of BS . . ."

Can't be the ranch in Crawford--no cattle there, just a few hats.

Posted by: rea on April 28, 2004 05:07 AM

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This issue is so ridiculous... It boils down to a simple truths... John Kerry, when he left Yale, had the balls to volunteer for Vietnam duty.. and once he got there to again volunteer for extremely dangerous missions, earning numerous medals (ribbons, whatever you want to call them) and praise from his superiors and the men that he led in battle. His experiences in Vietnam caused him to see the erroneous and backwards rationale that our nation used to justify the thousands dying in combat. He acted on his conscience and on principle by vigorously protesting a war that he wanted to end.

George Bush, when he left Yale... in contrast to his own father's war exploits... used his family's connections to be assigned to a Champagne unit. Understandable if he actually didn't support the war... but hypocritically, he did support it (then why avoid fighting in it??). Years later, in three seperate campaigns, he sends his surrogates out to smear his opponents who actually did serve in Vietnam. He won't actually attack his opponents himself. This says alot about his character.

Dick Cheney got four separate deferments from the draft. He also supported the war. Much of the responsibility for our current situation in Iraq (good and bad, depending on how you think it will turn out) lays on his shoulders. He continues to attack Kerry.

Both the president and vice president don't know what it's like to be SHOT AT. They are currently sending our young men and women to war where they are frequently being put in harm's way. The one person in the cabinet that was against the war, Colin Powell, knows very well what it is like to be shot at. His opinion hardly matters in the final decision to go to war.

My question is this.. Why do journalists continue to aid the Bush/Cheney attack machine and not fully expose it for what it is?? Kerry served, Bush/Cheney did not. Stop nitpicking and spinning useless information (ribbons vs. medals, the first of three purple hearts, etc...) and look at the facts!!!

Posted by: Tim on April 28, 2004 06:12 AM

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bakho writes " Bush would like nothing better than the entire election coverage be about military records."
Is this born out by the TV ads that (for my health) I am missing? Certainly the character issue is not as substantial as the economic issues. But is the Bush campaign exploiting the military careers (of each of the candidates) as a diversion tactic? Scary to think that Bush's military record is the flagship of his campaign. Rove has underestimated his audience, no?

Posted by: calmo on April 28, 2004 08:26 AM

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"Dick Cheney got four separate deferments from the draft"

And note that his oldest child was born 9 months and two days after they changed the draft rules so that married men without children could be drafted.

Posted by: rea on April 28, 2004 08:49 AM

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It is still my opinion that President Bush and Senator John Kerry wear their respective military records on their chest for all to see.

Having said that, it does seem to me that the issue could be put to rest if both of them would simply authorize the full and complete release of their respective military service records.

Posted by: bncthor on April 28, 2004 10:05 AM

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Calmo-
Keeping the press on Kerry and the military keeps them off the topic of Kerry and the economy. You bet it is diversionary and you bet it is intentional. Bush will claim his NG duty was part of his youthful indiscretion and he has a presidential record as a bonafide terrorist dead-or-alive ass kicker. Kerry gets his slam dunk military service record called into question. Meanwhile, Kerry is trying to deliver his message on the economy and he can't get the press off the side show and onto the real issue.

As recently occurred:
"The tone of the day and perhaps the campaign, though, was set shortly after sunrise as Kerry stood in the mouth of a West Virginia coal mine to conduct an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." The topic was not the economy, but Vietnam protests.

After a terse exchange with host Charlie Gibson, Kerry's displeasure at the interview was evident. Fuming, he muttered into a live television microphone: "They're doing the work of the Republican National Committee."

Posted by: bakho on April 28, 2004 01:11 PM

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Good thing I don't watch TV. I'm hoping that those undecided voters are atleast as bright as the bloggers here and can see through most of this crap. Is that asking alot?

Posted by: calmo on April 28, 2004 05:14 PM

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While Kerry unquestionably told not only a self-serving lie but a stupid one in regard to his medals, it should always be remembered that at least he actually showed up for -- indeed, volunteered for -- the war, and repeatedly and unnecessarily risked his life while he was there. Which is probably more than can be said for Bush -- unless you count his supposedly volunteering for Palace Alert, by an interesting coincidence within a few days of its cancellation -- and is definitely far more than can be said for Mr. Other Priorities. So let's keep everything in accurate perspective, hm?

Posted by: Bruce Moomaw on April 28, 2004 08:15 PM

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Postscript: Phil Carter thinks even less of the Kerry Medal Flap than I do:http://philcarter.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_philcarter_archive.html#108317796734664519 . But I think he's missing the point: it's hardly any skin off Kerry's neck that he threw his medals (or maybe just his ribbons?) away, but it IS still important that he both self-servingly and stupidly lied when he launched his Senate race by saying flatly that he HADN'T thrown them away. (Ditto for the ridiculous flap over his wife's SUV, which he could have avoided completely if he hadn't told a lie that was not only dishonest but STUPID.) This kind of behavior, to say the least, is not reassuring when one is considering what kind of president he might make.

Actually, Eric Alterman provided us with an advance watrning of Kerry's central flaw about two months ago, when he pointed out that Kerry is absolutely unwilling to admit that he EVER makes a mistake, even on those occasions when such an admission would obviously help -- rather than harm -- his political chances. Specifically, he's now trying to simultaneously insist that Bush got us into the Iraq war dishonestly, AND try to cover up the fact that he was one of the Senators who voted for it -- instead of stating the obvious truth that he and a hell of a lot of other senators got flim-flammed into voting for it precisely because the White House deliberately lied to the Senate about the evidence for war (and simultaneously concealed from them its own discovery that North Korea had restarted its Bomb factory).

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