corrente

Forget Dan Rather and CBS. Regardless of the CBS memos scam questions still remain concerning Bush's service record.

"One serious question is whether some of Bush's superiors may have played an active role in hiding Bush's shoddy record -- pressured perhaps by powerful politicians -- by crediting him with crucial makeup training days that appear dubious in nature." - Eric Boehlert - Salon.com

Bush's very own "official" military records make that clear. So if you're looking for some document tampering to eyeball check out what Paul Lukasiak has found:

TAMPERING, FORGERY, AND PURGING OF BUSH MILITARY RECORD - PART I: EVIDENCE OF DOCUMENT TAMPERING ~ See: AWOL Project

THE MYSTERY OF AF FORM 11
A second form which has clearly been subjected to tampering is Bush’s AF Form 11, his Officer Military Record. There are three different versions among the documents that were released by the White House: an “old” version, whose entries extend only to sometime prior to July 7, 1972, an “unscribbled” version whose last entry is dated October 1, 1973, and an excerpt from the form (Item 8, “Chronologicial Listing of Service”) that has clearly been tampered, whose last entry is also 10-1-73.

[...]

Indeed, if one were to believe Bush’s Official Military Biography, one would think that he spent his last year affiliated with the Armed Forces as a pilot assigned to the Obligated Reserve Section of ARPC. Yet, according to the documents that were released by the White House, this is clearly not the case. The complete lack of appropriate documentation for virtually everything that occurred that is indicated by the documents strongly suggests that Bush's records were purged in order to avoid disclosing embarrassing information.

Coming attractions:

Judge orders government to find, release all Bush military records (AP) Thursday, September 16, 2004 - SFGate

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to find and make public by next week any unreleased files about President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service to resolve a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit already has led to the disclosure of previously unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting F-102A fighters and other jets.

Pentagon officials told Baer they plan to have their search complete by Monday. Baer ordered the Pentagon to hand over the records to the AP by Sept. 24 and provide a written statement by Sept. 29 detailing the search for more records.

Froomkin | WaPo, Monday, September 20, 2004

National Guard Watch
Yet more questions are being raised about Bush's National Guard service -- questions that have nothing to do with the disputed CBS document. The issue now is whether Bush may have received credit -- and maybe even payment -- for drills he didn't perform.

In the New York Times, Sara Rimer takes a long look at 1972, "the year George W. Bush dropped off the radar screen."

Rimer writes that "a review of records shows that not only did he miss months of duty in 1972, but that he also may have been improperly awarded credit for service, making possible an early honorable discharge so he could turn his attention to a new interest: Harvard Business School."

Rimer writes: "Payroll records released by the White House show that in addition to being paid for attending a drill in Alabama the last weekend in October, Mr. Bush was also paid for a weekend drill . . . on Nov. 11 and 12, and for meetings on Nov. 13 and 14.

"But there are no records from the 187th indicating that Mr. Bush, in fact, appeared on those days in October and November, and more than a dozen members of the unit from that era say they never saw him. The White House said last week that there were no records from the Alabama unit because Mr. Bush was still officially part of the Texas Guard. But Mr. [Bobby W.] Hodges, the former Texas commander, said the 187th 'should have a record of his drills.' "

Similarly, Rimer writes: "Documents released by the White House show that he was paid for drills in January, April and several days in early May 1973. . . . But Mr. Bush had been authorized to drill in Alabama only from September through November 1972."

Resource link:

Payroll records showing that Bush requested and received pay and point credit for which he was ineligible under Air Force policy (See Fraud—The Secrets of Bush’s Payroll Records Revealed) AWOL Project

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