Bush Records of Service Were Destroyed

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Registered: 03-25-2003
Bush Records of Service Were Destroyed
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Fri, 07-09-2004 - 9:51am
“HOUSTON, July 8 - Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.” ...

Pentagon Says Bush Records of Service Were Destroyed

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

July 9, 2004

HOUSTON, July 8 - Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.

It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.

The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.

The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Mr. Bush's records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin, said it came as news to him.

The loss was announced by the Defense Department's Office of Freedom of Information and Security Review in letters to The New York Times and other news organizations that for nearly half a year have sought Mr. Bush's complete service file under the open-records law.

There was no mention of the loss, for example, when White House officials released hundreds of pages of the President's military records last February in an effort to stem Democratic accusations that he was "AWOL" for a time during his commitment to fly at home in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director who has said that the released records confirmed the president's fulfillment of his National Guard commitment, did not return two calls for a response.

The disclosure that the payroll records had been destroyed came in a letter signed by C. Y. Talbott, chief of the Pentagon's Freedom of Information Office, who forwarded a CD-Rom of hundreds of records that Mr. Bush has previously released, along with images of punch-card records. Sixty pages of Mr. Bush's medical file and some other records were excluded on privacy grounds, Mr. Talbott wrote.

He said in the letter that he could not provide complete payroll records, explaining, "The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) has advised of the inadvertent destruction of microfilm containing certain National Guard payroll records."

He went on: "In 1996 and 1997, DFAS engaged with limited success in a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. During this process the microfilm payroll records of numerous service members were damaged, including from the first quarter of 1969 (Jan. 1 to March 31) and the third quarter of 1972 (July 1 to Sept. 30). President Bush's payroll records for these two quarters were among the records destroyed. Searches for backup paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful."

Mr. Talbott's office would not respond to questions, saying that further information could be provided only through another Freedom of Information application.

But Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for Defense finance agency in Denver, said the destruction occurred as the office was trying to unspool 2,000-foot rolls of fragile microfilm. Mr. Hubbard said he did not know how many records were lost or why the loss had not been announced before.

For Mr. Bush, the 1969 period when he was training to be a pilot, is not in dispute. But in May 1972, he moved to Alabama to work on a political campaign and, he has said, to perform his Guard service there for a year. But other Guard officers have said they had no recollection of ever seeing him there. The most evidence the White House has been able to find are records showing Mr. Bush was paid for six days in October and November 1972, without saying where, and the record of a dental exam at a Montgomery, Ala., air base on Jan. 6, 1973.

On June 22, The Associated Press filed suit in federal court in New York against the Pentagon and the Air Force to gain access to all the president's military records.

The lost payroll records stored in Denver might have answered some questions about whether he fulfilled his legal commitment, critics who have written about the subject said in interviews.

"Those are records we've all been interested in," said James Moore, author of a recent book, "Bush's War for Re-election," which takes a critical view of Mr. Bush's service record. "I think it's curious that the microfiche could resolve what days Mr. Bush worked and what days he was paid, and suddenly that is gone."

But Mr. Moore said the president could still authorize the release of other withheld records that would shed light on his service record.

Among the issues still disputed is why, according to released records, Mr. Bush was suspended from flying on Aug. 1, 1972. The reason cited in the records is "failure to accomplish annual medical examination."

Mr. Bartlett, the White House spokesman, said in February that Mr. Bush felt he did not need to take the physical as he was no longer flying planes in Alabama. Mr. Lloyd, the retired colonel who studied the records, gave a similar explanation in an interview.

But Mr. Lloyd said he was surprised to be told of the destruction of the pay records that might have resolved some questions.

http://nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/campaign/09records.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sat, 07-10-2004 - 11:27pm
All of Europe goes on vacation in August. Is "socialism" to blame?

(The August vacation thing may be the only issue on which President Bush agrees with the Europeans. When he took the entire month of August off thousands of people also died. OOh! Sorry...I had to say it!)

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 1:29am


Yup.

<(The August vacation thing may be the only issue on which President Bush agrees with the Europeans. When he took the entire month of August off thousands of people also died. OOh! Sorry...I had to say it!)>

It's inaccurate and a tired old song. Every president we've ever had has conducted the business of the country while on "vacation". Clinton was getting the very same criticism while he was in office.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 10:02am

<<All of Europe goes on vacation in August. Is "socialism" to blame? >>


Yes, in fact; it was a direct result of their 35 hr. work week.


<<(The August vacation thing may be the only issue on which President Bush agrees with the Europeans. When he took the entire month of August off thousands of people also died. OOh! Sorry...I had to say it!)>>


Very tacky, and you know very well, that the president works whether he is at the WH, Camp David, or his ranch.





Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 12:20pm
Seems to me Clinton was 'vacationing' in the Oval Office... ;-)

As for vacations... America is way too anal about the subject... Europe has a much healthier attitude about such things. Here it's work until you drop, feel guilty about being away.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 12:22pm

sorry, I have to laugh at this... you said "anal" and "Clinton" in the same

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 12:42pm
Point taken. ;-)

I'm no fan of his personal life, but did very much enjoy the interview of him in Time a few weeks back. Amazing hos ex presidents suddenly have a handle on how things should work... and only find it when they aren't beholden to anyone.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 12:46pm

<>


AH HA!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 12:53pm
<>

You know, I used to cut the President some slack on this issue, since I know it's possible to work from almost anywhere. But then I saw F9/11.

Reporters are asking Bush questions while he's clearing the ever present brush, and someone brings up the fact that he's taken an awful lot of vacation time, away from Washington, for a president, and a new one at that. (the longest Presidential vacation in 32 years, in fact.) Bush answers that even though he's at the ranch, he's still doing alot of work since it's possible to work while on vacation. Seems reasonable. But then the reporter (or a different one, it's hard to tell) follows up by asking what he's working on the rest of the day...and Bush just goes blank. He has absolutey no idea what he's doing the rest of the day, and seems to realize that they just caught him in a trap. Sometimes body language can tell you volumes more than bookloads of statistics. Bush manages to say something vague about "meetings" on "certain initiatives" but it's just gobbely gook and everyone knows it. And the "liberal media" was nice enough not to show the clip.

I'm sure he did all the things his staff told him he had to do.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 1:20pm
<<<<>>>

Well I for am am sickened that were enough'idiots'(Harsh word very harsh) that put Bush in the White House in the frist place but what scares me even more is that knowing what he is really all about that he may very well be voted in again. Now that is sickening.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 1:20pm
The interview was in Time magazine...