From 60 Minutes
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| Thu, 09-09-2004 - 12:10am |
"It's been a long time ago, but he said basically would I help young George Bush get in the Air National Guard," says Barnes, who then contacted his longtime friend Gen. James Rose, the head of Texas' Air National Guard.
"I was a young ambitious politician doing what I thought was acceptable," says Barnes. "It was important to make friends. And I recommended a lot of people for the National Guard during the Vietnam era - as speaker of the house and as lt. governor."
George W. Bush was among those he recommended for the National Guard. Was this a case of preferential treatment?
"I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get into the Air National Guard or the Army National Guard," says Barnes. "I think that would have been a preference to anybody that didn't want to go to Vietnam or didn’t want to leave. We had a lot of young men that left and went to Canada in the '60s and fled this country. But those that could get in the Reserves, or those that could get in the National Guard - chances are they would not have to go to Vietnam."
But 60 Minutes has obtained a number of documents we are told were taken from Col. Killian's personal file. Among them, a never-before-seen memorandum from May 1972, where Killian writes that Lt. Bush called him to talk about "how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November."
Lt. Bush tells his commander "he is working on a campaign in Alabama…. and may not have time to take his physical." Killian adds that he thinks Lt. Bush has gone over his head, and is "talking to someone upstairs."
Col. Killian died in 1984. 60 Minutes consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic.
In a memo from Aug. 18, 1973, Col. Killian says Col. Buck Staudt, the man in charge of the Texas Air National Guard, is putting on pressure to "sugar coat" the evaluation of Lt. Bush. Staudt, a longtime supporter of the Bush family, would not do an interview for this broadcast.
The memo continues, with Killian saying, "I’m having trouble running interference and doing my job."
"He was trying to deal with a volatile political situation, in dealing with the son of an ambassador and former congressman," says Strong. "He was trying to deal with at least one superior officer, Gen. Staudt, who was closely connected to the Houston political establishment. And I just see an impossible situation. I feel very, very sorry, because he was between a rock and a hard place."
One of the Killian memos is an official order to George W. Bush to report for a physical. The president never carried out the order.
On Aug. 1, 1972, Lt. Bush was suspended from flying status, due to "failure to accomplish his annual medical examination." That document was released years ago. But another document has not been seen until now. It’s a memo that Col. Jerry Killian put in his own file that same day. It says "on this date, I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended not just for failing to take a physical….but for failing to perform to U.S. Air Force/Texas Air National Guard standards."

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http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
It's all hitting the fan now. Dan Rather's was talking about retirement earlier this year. Now would be a good time.
To think just yesterday people here were howling "How dare you shamelessly impugn the words of a dead man (Killian)?!"
STILL no one can come up with anything positive FOR Kerry. Just baseless attacks on our president and our armed forces by proxy.
Edited 9/10/2004 11:14 am ET ET by janeigh
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5955784/
This is exactly why this issue and the issue of what Kerry did or did not do during his service in Vietnam should just go away. Who knows what is truth and what is made up....also who cares since it happened over 30 years ago.
I agree with Sen. McCain, who said that the ads attacking what Kerry did in Vietnam are wrong, but it was okay to question Kerry's actions of what he did upon his return from Vietnam.
"Why are people making things so complicated..."
I know!!
Desperate Kerry-lovers!
Edited 9/10/2004 3:07 pm ET ET by janeigh
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