Kerry & the draft an interesting story..

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Kerry & the draft an interesting story..
34
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 11:42pm
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."

Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.

"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/07/wkerr07.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/07/ixnewstop.html




Edited 8/26/2004 11:45 pm ET ET by truemobile

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Sat, 08-28-2004 - 1:17am
"That dog won't hunt. "


On May 27, 1968, George Bush Jr. was 12 days away from losing his student draft deferment, at a time when 350 Americans a week were dying in combat. The National Guard, seen by many as the most respectable way to avoid Vietnam, had a huge waiting list -- a year and a half in Texas, over 100,000 men nationwide. Yet Bush and his family friends pulled strings, and the young man was admitted the same day he applied, regardless of any waiting list.

Bush's unit commander, Col. "Buck" Staudt, was so excited about his VIP recruit that he staged a special ceremony for the press so he could have his picture taken administering the oath (even though the official oath had been given by a captain earlier.)

Bush and his allies have tried to deny this with several changing stories, but Bush himself admits lobbying commander Staudt, who approved him, and court documents confirm that close family friend and oil magnate Sid Adger called Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes, who called General James Rose, the head of the Texas Air National Guard, to get Bush in. Rose, who is now dead, told his friend and former legislator Jake Johnson that "I got that Republican congressman's son from Houston into the Guard."

Staudt's unit, the 147th, was infamous as a nesting place for politically connected and celebrity draft avoiders. Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen's son was in the unit, as was Republican Senator John Tower's, both of Sid Adger's sons and at least 7 members of the Dallas Cowboys.

Here is an excellent web site with actual photos of the military documents from Bush's career: http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/document.htm

"2 Democrats: Bush Let Guard Down", By George Lardner Jr. and Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, November 3, 2000; Page A22

Questions remain on Bush's service as Guard pilot , By Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe, 10/31/2000, pA14

"Bush Twins Summer Vacay", Entertainment Tonight Online, June 3, 2002


"1-Year gap in Bush's Guard duty", by Walter Robinson, Boston Globe, May 23, 2000

"Ex-Lawmaker Says He Helped Bush Join the Guard in Vietnam War", by Jim Yardley, New York Times, September 27, 1999

"Barnes moves to block questions about Bush, Guard", by Ken Herman, Austin American-Statesman, September 9, 1999

"Records of Bush's Ala. Military Duty Can't Be Found", by Wayne Slater, Dallas Morning News, June 26, 2000 pA06

"Friends: Barnes was asked to help get Bush in Guard", by George Kuempel and Pete Slover, Dallas Morning News, Sept. 8, 1999

"Texas Speaker Reportedly Helped Bush Get Into Guard", by George Lardner, Jr., Washington Post, Setember 21, 1999 pA04

"Bush's Air Guard career an unusually easy flight", by Richard Serrano, Los Angeles Times (reprinted in the San Francisco Chronicle), July 4, 1999 pA-6

"At Height of Vietnam, Graduate Picks Guard", by George Lardner Jr. and Lois Romano, Washington Post, July 28, 1999 pA01

"Bush flies into an air force cocaine cloud", by Tom Rhodes, The London Sunday Times, June 18, 2000

"Ex-Pol at Center of Bush Flap", by Michael Holmes (AP), Washington Post, September 8, 1999

"Barnes says he urged Guard slot for Bush", by Pete Slover and George Kuempel, Dallas Morning News, September 29, 1999

"Adviser asked Barnes to recall Guard details before Bush joined race", by Pete Slover and George Kuempel, Dallas Morning News, September 26, 1999

"Bush Worked Campaign While in Guard", by Chris Williams (AP), Washington Post, May 23, 2000 "Gtech settles Littwin lawsuit", by Ken Herman, Austin American-Statesman, October 30, 1999 Gtech paid Littwin $300,000 and got a strict confidentiality agreement from him.

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Sat, 08-28-2004 - 2:30am

Hello ariedog!


Welcome to the board!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Visit My Website!

Email me!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Tue, 08-31-2004 - 1:27pm
I could be mistaken, but I thought that was the case.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Tue, 08-31-2004 - 2:03pm
No, I do not believe you are mistaken.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

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