WP: Assembling Full War Records a Challenge (Bush and Kerry)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60557-2004Sep29?language=printer

Although both President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have repeatedly said they have made public their complete military service records, neither presidential candidate has yet permitted independent access to original files held in a high-security vault.

The lack of outside verification of the military personnel records of the candidates has made it more difficult for journalists and historians to evaluate their Vietnam War-era service, which has been the subject of lively election-year debate. In Bush's case, Texas Air National Guard officials have also delayed or prevented public access to 30-year-old unit records that could shed light on whether he received favorable treatment from the Guard because of his father's political connections, as his Democratic opponents have alleged.

More than seven months after the White House announced that Bush's records had been "fully released," files continue to trickle out almost weekly from the Pentagon and elsewhere. Some of the newly released records contradict earlier claims by the Bush camp, such as his assertion in a 1999 campaign autobiography that he gave up flying "because the F-102 jet I had trained in was being replaced by a different fighter."

In the past few weeks, both candidates have been forced to deal with questions about what they were doing in the Vietnam War even as they honed their debating points about Iraq and the war on terrorism.

Assembling a full Vietnam War-era record for the two men is complicated by the fact that the files are scattered around more than a dozen repositories. In addition to master personnel files on each candidate, which are at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, researchers have been looking for the records of the units in which they served. Typically, unclassified unit records are available to the public under much less restrictive conditions than individual files.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. FratBoy has a LOT more questions to answer than Kerry...

...and by this time everyone should know that.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. "what they were doing in the Vietnam War"

OK folks, what's wrong with this remark?

This is as far as a rational guy needs to go in the "piece" of shit.

They won't give up one inch will they?

[olddem43]

5. Only one was "in the Viet Nam War"

while the other was avoiding it. That's what's wrong here.

[liveoaktx]

3. So, they STILL have records they won't release? Does the Post have to sue,

too?

****
Even so, the Bush administration has made it difficult for researchers to gain access to unclassified Guard files. For months, all requests relating to Bush's military service were referred to one public affairs officer at the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke. The Freedom of Information Act officer assigned to the Bush records case, James Hogan, declines to talk directly to reporters.

This week, in response to complaints about lack of access, the Pentagon permitted a Post reporter to inspect records held by the Air National Guard history office in Crystal City. The Post has so far been unable to gain access to more detailed records preserved by the 147th in Houston or the Texas adjutant general's office, including a collection of "special orders" that could shed light on Bush's Guard service.

[PsN2Wind]

4. Assembling George Bushs

war record is the simplest thing in the world. He HAS none.

[fearnobush]

6. Kerry's "unit records are much more accessible than those of Bush."

"In part because Kerry served with the Navy rather than the National Guard, his unit records are much more accessible than those of Bush. The Navy maintains a historical center at the Washington Navy Yard where researchers can freely inspect the records of Kerry's Swift boat outfit, Coastal Division 11. The records include after-action reports and unit histories, which have made possible a detailed reconstruction of Kerry's day-to-day activities."


Kerry records are much more accessible than those of Bush. Thats why the SW liars keep smearing, because they know Bu$h went AWOL and that is hard to disprove.

History will say, George W. Bush - First and only AWOL to become president. This era of US history was known as "The Nightmare."

[KansDem]

7. A most telling statement...

The unit histories undermine the initial contention of the Bush camp that he gave up flying because his services as an F-102 pilot were no longer needed. They show that the F-102 remained the workhorse of the 147th through mid-1972, when Bush moved from Texas to Alabama to take part in a political campaign, even as pilots were being trained on the more sophisticated F-101. Fifteen F-102 planes were in service in the 147th that year, compared with 18 planes in 1968, the year Bush joined the Guard.

The use of F-102s expanded in October 1972, when the group assumed a new "24-hour active alert mission" to safeguard the southern boundary of the United States against "surprise attack," according to the unit history. The new mission required that two F-102 fighter-interceptors be on five-minute alert at all times. The plane was not phased out until September 1974, 2 1/2 years after Bush stopped flying.

Well, well, it appears that BushBaby not only "developed a fear of flying" in 1972 that led to his skipping out on his responsibilities, but that he decided to desert his post at a time when he and his crew were put on a "new '24-hour active alert mission' to safeguard the southern boundary of the United States..." Not exactly the kind of behavior we'd expect from a Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces. Certainly not leadership by example.

Why is it so difficult to call Bush for what he is? A liar and a fraud. Look here, Corporate Media:

"Bush is a liar and a fraud!"

See how easy it is? Now its your turn...