NYT Portrait of George Bush in '72
0ldvet
September 20, 2004
MILITARY SERVICE
Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Sept. 17 - Nineteen seventy-two was the year George
W. Bush dropped off the radar screen.
He abandoned his once-prized status as a National Guard pilot by
failing to appear for a required physical. He sought temporary
reassignment from the Texas Air National Guard to an Alabama unit but
for six months did not show up for training. He signed on as an
official in the losing campaign of a Republican Senate candidate in
Alabama, and even there he left few impressions other than as an
amiable bachelor with a good tennis game and a famous father.
"To say he brought in a bunch of initiatives and bright ideas," said a
fellow campaign worker, Devere McLennan, "no he didn't."
This year of inconsequence has grown increasingly consequential for
President Bush because of persistent, unanswered questions about his
National Guard service - why he failed to take his pilot's physical
and whether he fulfilled his commitment to the Guard. If anything,
those issues became still murkier this past week, with the controversy
over the authenticity of four documents disclosed by CBS News and its
program "60 Minutes" purporting to shed light on that Guard record.
Still, a wider examination of his life in 1972, based on dozens of
interviews and other documents released by the White House over the
years, yields a portrait of a young man like many other young men of
privilege in that turbulent time - entitled, unanchored and safe from
combat, bouncing from a National Guard slot made possible by his
family's prominence to a political job arranged through his father.
In a speech on Tuesday at a National Guard convention, Mr. Bush said
he was "proud to be one of them," and in his autobiography he writes
that his service taught him respect for the chain of command. But 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.
Mr. Bush, nearly 26, went to Alabama in mid-May 1972 to work on the
campaign of Winton M. Blount, a construction magnate known as Red who
was a friend of Mr. Bush's father. The Democratic opponent was Senator
John J. Sparkman, chairman of the Senate banking committee, a
legendary power in what was still a solidly Democratic South.
Mr. Bush, while missing months of the Guard duty that allowed him to
avoid Vietnam, was the political director of the Blount campaign,
which accused Mr. Sparkman - a hawk on the war - and the national
Democrats of supporting "amnesty for all draft dodgers" and of showing
"more concern for coddling deserters than for patriotic American young
men who have lost their lives in Vietnam." In the last week of the
race, the Blount campaign ran a radio advertisement using an edited
recording of Mr. Sparkman that made him appear to support forced
busing of schoolchildren, which he opposed.
Although campaign records list Mr. Bush as third in command, people
who worked in the race said he was not involved in those tactics or
with the overall agenda. Mr. Bush's connection was Jimmy Allison, a
political operative from Midland, Tex., who was running the campaign
and was a close friend of George H. W. Bush, having managed the elder
Mr. Bush's 1966 Congressional victory in Houston.
Mr. Allison's widow, Linda, who volunteered in the Blount campaign,
said she became curious about the young Mr. Bush's job after noticing
his coming into the office late and leaving early.
"I asked Jimmy, 'What does Georgie do?' '' Mrs. Allison, 73, said in
an interview, repeating the account she had given to Salon, the online
publication. "He just said George had called him and told him that
Georgie was having some difficulties in Houston. Big George thought it
would be beneficial to the family and George Jr. for him to come to
Alabama to work on the campaign with Jimmy."
Wandering Pleasure-Seeker
In Houston, nearly five years out of Yale, Mr. Bush had been adrift,
without a career or even a long-running job. He had been rejected by
the University of Texas law school and had briefly considered, then
abandoned, a run for the Texas Legislature. Acquaintances recall him
tooling around town in his Triumph sports car, partying with a crowd
of well-to-do singles.
His jobs had mostly come through family ties, and in 1971 he was hired
as a management trainee at Stratford of Texas, an agricultural and
horticultural conglomerate owned by a Bush family friend, Robert H.
Gow. Mr. Bush's immediate supervisor, Peter Knudtzon, then Stratford's
executive vice president, recalls him as a smart, dutiful worker who,
while lacking direction, was keenly interested in the process of
politics - "how people get elected, where the power is."
Every so often, he would take off work to fly with the National Guard.
His entree to the Guard had come through Ben Barnes, then the
lieutenant governor of Texas, who has said that he helped get Mr.
Bush, among other well-connected young men, a slot at the request of a
Bush family friend. When Mr. Bush applied, in 1968, one of the forms
he filled out asked if he would volunteer for overseas duty; he
checked "I 'do not' volunteer for overseas."
And he got off to a splashy start. After basic training and a year at
flight school in Georgia, he was assigned to Ellington Air Force Base
outside Houston, where he flew F-102 fighter jets. In March 1970, with
his father, himself a World War II Navy pilot, in Congress, the Texas
Air National Guard issued a news release announcing that the young Mr.
Bush "doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed," but from
"the roaring afterburner of the F-102." As he wrote in his
autobiography, "It was exciting the first time I flew, and it was
exciting the last time." In a November 1970 evaluation, his squadron
commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, called him a "top-notch" pilot
and a "natural leader."
By 1972, though, something had changed; the excitement seemed to have
waned. Mr. Bush's flying buddy from Ellington, Dean Roome, said Mr.
Bush may have been frustrated because the unit's growing role as a
training school left young pilots fewer opportunities to log hours in
the air. Others who knew him believe he simply lost interest. He was
once again at loose ends, without a regular job, having left Stratford
after a year or so, unhappy in the company's buttoned-down atmosphere.
Whatever precisely was drawing Mr. Bush away from flying, it was then,
in the spring of 1972, that the Alabama job came along. He had worked
for Jimmy Allison before - on a 1968 Senate campaign in Florida - but
this would be his first full-time job in the family business,
politics.
Still, there was the matter of his commitment to the Guard. Moving to
Alabama meant taking a temporary leave from his Texas unit; Guard
officials say it was not unusual for civilian officers to take jobs
away from their home states. Mr. Bush did not wait to line up a spot
with an Alabama unit before arriving in Montgomery in mid-May.
Mr. Bush first tried to join the 9921 Air Reserve Squadron in
Montgomery, which was classified as a "standby reserve unit." Unlike
his unit in Texas, the Alabama unit had no planes and its members were
neither paid nor required to attend monthly drills.
In July, though, senior Guard officials rejected Mr. Bush's transfer,
saying he had to continue with a "ready reserve unit," which requires
monthly attendance. In that same period - the precise timing is not
clear - he did something that brought his dwindling flying ambitions
to a close: he failed to take the annual physical exam required of all
pilots.
In his 1999 book, "A Charge to Keep," Mr. Bush did not mention the
missed physical or the suspension. "I was almost finished with my
commitment in the Air National Guard," he wrote, "and was no longer
flying because the F-102 jet I had trained in was being replaced by a
different fighter." In fact, when he missed his physical he had almost
two years left in the Guard.
Later, an aide to Mr. Bush explained that he had missed his physical
because he was waiting to get examined by his personal physician. But
pilots were required to be examined by military doctors.
More recently the White House has said that he did not take the
physical because Alabama units were not flying the F-102. But his
second application to transfer to Alabama - after the rejected
transfer in July - was filed in September 1972, at least two months
after he had missed his physical.
Whatever the reason, on Sept. 5, Mr. Bush was notified that he was
suspended from flying "for failure to accomplish annual medical
examination."
By that time, still without an Alabama unit, he had not attended a
required monthly drill for almost five months, according to records
released by the White House. Under the law at the time, he could have
been sent to Vietnam. But in the relatively relaxed world of the
Guard, and with hardly anyone being called up for active duty anymore,
officials took no action. He was free to stay in Montgomery and work
on the Blount campaign.
Richard Nelson, who had been Mr. Blount's political director,
remembers briefing Mr. Bush when he arrived in town. "He was a bright
young man," Mr. Nelson recalled. "I knew who his father was."
The months in Montgomery were part of what Mr. Bush has described as
his "nomadic" years, when he "kind of floated and saw a lot of life."
No one remembers him worrying about his Guard status - or, for that
matter, much of anything else. He worked the phones in the Montgomery
office and drove around the state meeting with county chairmen. He
played tennis at Winton Blount's mansion and partied with the other
young campaign workers at watering holes like the Top of the Star, at
the Montgomery Holiday Inn.
Kay Blount Pace, 52, the candidate's daughter, said Mr. Bush did not
act like the son of the man who was then the United States ambassador
to the United Nations. "This was just Joe Blow - cute, fun George
Bush, who fit in with the campaign," Ms. Pace said.
Murphy Archibald, a nephew of Winton Blount's, remembers Mr. Bush
rolling into the office at noon and joking about how much he had had
to drink the night before.
"I found him to be far younger than his age," recalled Mr. Archibald,
a Democrat in Charlotte, N.C., who had gone to Vietnam in 1968.
One way or another, Vietnam ran through the lives of the young
campaign workers in Montgomery. Devere McLennan said he figured he got
lucky when, after enlisting in the Marines, he washed out of Quantico
with a bad back. Another campaign worker, Emily Marks, had a college
boyfriend who had been killed by a land mine in Vietnam a couple of
years before. In 1972, Ms. Marks, the daughter of an old Montgomery
family, was dating George Bush, and she remembers that he was in the
Guard but could offer no detailed recollections. "A lot of people were
doing Guard duty," she said in an interview.
That September, grounded from flying but still obligated to his Guard
service, he wrote to his Texas squadron commander, Colonel Killian,
asking for permission to perform his monthly drills with the 187th
Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery for September, October and
November, according to documents released by the White House.
"We told him that was O.K. with us," said Bobby W. Hodges, then a
commander in the Texas Guard. He was told he would have to do drills
there, Mr. Hodges added. "He may or may not have done it. I don't
know."
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 after the Blount
election, 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. Hodges, the former Texas commander, said the 187th "should
have a record of his drills."
Mr. Bush's former campaign colleagues remember being aware that he had
some relationship with the Guard. Mr. McLennan recalled going with Mr.
Bush to the dry cleaner to pick up his Guard uniforms. Joe Holcombe,
who managed the Montgomery office, remembers Mr. Bush missing a
meeting at the candidate's house.
"Jimmy said, 'He's with the Guard,' '' Mr. Holcombe said.
A Fight Between Hawks
That fall, political observers were predicting a big victory for the
incumbent, but the Blount campaign fought hard.
Although both candidates were hawks in a fiercely pro-military state,
Mr. Blount tried to align his opponent with George McGovern, the
Democratic Party's antiwar presidential candidate. Then, a few days
before the election, the Blount campaign broadcast a radio commercial
in which Mr. Sparkman, a staunch segregationist, was heard saying
"busing is all right."
According to an account in The Birmingham News, the Blount campaign
had produced the commercial by deleting part of Mr. Sparkman's lengthy
answer to a question about busing during a radio interview, and
switching a question and answer on the subject. The Blount campaign
maintained at the time that the interview had simply been compressed
for time's sake, but the Sparkman campaign said the tape was doctored
to inject racial innuendo. Blount campaign workers say these tough
tactics had the mark of Mr. Allison.
Mr. Bush's own retelling of the Blount campaign leaves out any
negative aspects. He described Mr. Allison, who died in 1978, as "a
wonderful friend" and "a mentor in a way." He wrote that "I witnessed
firsthand the effects of populist campaigning." Gov. George Wallace,
who was shot that spring, taped a radio commercial for Mr. Sparkman
casting Mr. Blount as an elitist multimillionaire who lived in a
mansion with 26 bathrooms.
Winton Blount lost in a landslide. "A good man went down to defeat,"
Mr. Bush wrote.
A Return to Houston
After the election, Mr. Bush returned to Houston, moving out of his
small rented bungalow in Montgomery. He left the place a mess, with a
broken light fixture and piles of debris, according to Mary Smith,
whose husband was the bungalow's caretaker. Ms. Smith said her
husband, who has since died, sent Mr. Bush a bill for professional
cleaning but never heard back.
By January 1973, Mr. Bush had a new job, with an inner-city youth
program organized by John L. White, a former professional football
player who knew his father. And he continued his erratic relationship
with the National Guard, where he had 18 months left of his six-year
commitment.
A review of records raises questions about whether he was properly
credited for his service. Documents released by the White House show
that he was paid for drills in January, April and several days in
early May 1973. These drills were in Alabama, the White House said,
and his old friend Emily Marks, now Emily Marks Curtis, said she
remembered Mr. Bush returning to Montgomery for Guard duty.
But Mr. Bush had been authorized to drill in Alabama only from
September through November 1972.
By the summer of 1973, Mr. Bush had decided to go to Harvard Business
School. According to documents released by the White House, he wanted
an early discharge from the Guard but did not have enough service
points for 1972 and 1973, since he had missed months of training.
Guardsmen were required to earn 48 points each fiscal year, or four
points for each weekend drill every month.
Although missed drills can be made up, regulations at the time said it
had to be done within 30 days and in the same fiscal year. As the time
for his early discharge neared, Mr. Bush was lacking enough points;
according to records for July 1973, he attended drills on 18 days that
month.
When questions arose about Mr. Bush's Guard service, the White House
asked a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, Albert C. Lloyd Jr., to
review his record. In a memorandum released by the White House in
February, Mr. Lloyd wrote that from May 1973 through May 1974, Mr.
Bush accumulated 35 training points and 15 points for being a Guard
member "for a total of 56 points.'' It is not clear how Mr. Lloyd came
up with 56, instead of 50. Another military document released by the
White House indicates that Mr. Bush had earned only 38 points from May
1973 until his discharge that October.
A retired Army colonel, Gerald A. Lechliter, who has prepared an
extensive analysis of Mr. Bush's National Guard record, described Mr.
Lloyd's memorandum as "seemingly an attempt to whitewash Bush's
record." Mr. Lloyd declined comment last week.
Mr. Lechliter, who describes himself as a political independent, also
said that Mr. Bush was not entitled to 20 credits he received from
Nov. 13, 1972, until July 19, 1973, because the service was being made
up improperly.
Mr. Lechliter also said that Mr. Bush should not have been paid for
these sessions. "That would appear to be a fraud," he said in an
interview last week.
However the points added up, on Oct. 1, 1973, Mr. Bush was awarded an
honorable discharge. By that time he was already at Harvard.
------------
Sara Rimer reported from Montgomery for this article, Ralph Blumenthal
from Texas, and Raymond Bonner from Texas and Washington.
Alan Lichtenstein
> On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 07:03:07 -0500, 0ldvet <0ld...@nos.net> wrote:
>
> >MILITARY SERVICE
> >Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time
>
> Haven't you heard? This chapter in the campaign is over.
Only in the minds of right-wing ideologues.
> Everyone who has
> tried to smear GWB's service has been proven wrong, lying, or just plain
> political hacks.
Again, only in the minds of right-wing ideologues.
> Get over it. Let it go. Only a few fringe GWB haters are
> hanging on to this tired old story.
There are those of us who understand that Bush has made the centerpiece of
his campaign, in fact, the ONLY item of his campaign, his leadership. This
history plays directly to that question, as it clearly casts doubts on
that. After all, how can one who skirked his duty, used influence to cover
it up be considered in ANY leadership position?
Alan
Harry Thompson
"Bob Adkins" <bo...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:lj60l0lofjp4o382d...@4ax.com...
> >Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time
>
has
> tried to smear GWB's service has been proven wrong, lying, or just
plain
are
> hanging on to this tired old story.
>
You are very much mistaken. The chapter isn't over and is very serious.
Bush makes the 2nd president in a row who avoided military service for
his country. One did it through deferments, the other through privilege.
We have not had this since WW II.
Irving Kristol, the neo-con's neo-con makes the point that some
compelling ideology is needed to convince a young man that he should
risk dying for his country. With 1st Clinton, and then Bush being so
successful without the sacrifice and the willingness to sacrifice, it is
clear to me if not to you that our leadership no longer has that
compelling ideology.
The lesson is clear: one must be a chump to serve one's country. Already
it is blacks, chicanos, and poor whites who are the bulk of our Armed
Services. Anybody who can will avoid service, and only the hapless will
go.
In your burying of Bush's service you are proving e. e. cummings
prescient:
plato told
him:he couldn't
believe it(jesus
told him;he
wouldn't believe
it)lao
tsze
certainly told
him,and general
(yes
mam)
sherman;
and even
(believe it
or
not)you
told him:I told
him;we told him
(he didn't believe it, no
sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth
avenue
el;in the top of his head:to tell
him
-- e. e. cummings 1944
There was a scandal in WW II involving the sale of US scrap metal to
Japan which the Japanese turned into bullets. That's what the
"nipponized bit" of the 6th Ave Elevated is referring to. The person
referred to had a compelling faith that led him to war. e. e. cummings
is mocking that faith.
There is much more to say, but let me end with this thought: We have
lost it if our leaders can dodge sacrifice for their country and be
rewarded. As Ezra Pound put it, our civilization is "an old bitch gone
in the teeth" if that is so.
Please reconsider your partisanship.
Hap
Angelo Campanella
> There was a scandal in WW II involving the sale of US scrap metal to
> Japan which the Japanese turned into bullets. That's what the
> "nipponized bit" of the 6th Ave Elevated is referring to. The person
> referred to had a compelling faith that led him to war. e. e. cummings
> is mocking that faith.
I think your timing is off. My recollection (vs yours) is that the scrap
sales preceded WWII by many years. The ships Japan built in anticipation
of the WWII era were built from steel that included scrap metal, some of
it from the US. Recall that we spent the '30's in a depression, and
dollars were scarce. Buyers were welcome then.
> There is much more to say, but let me end with this thought: We have
> lost it if our leaders can dodge sacrifice for their country and be
> rewarded. As Ezra Pound put it, our civilization is "an old bitch gone
> in the teeth" if that is so.
I should think you should not want to be among those gone at the teeth.
I suggest that we not prepare to fight the last wars' battles (Korea,
Viet Nam, etc.), but focus on the future. Our biggest vulnerability is
our trade deficit including oil. This news group (of retirees) should
focus on providing our best wisdom for our descendants, and stop
bickering amongst us like teen-age girls.
> Please reconsider your partisanship.
Exactly. There should be none.
Angelo Campanella
Casey Stamper
news:7260l0do2864st8lr...@4ax.com:
Ah yes, the non-partisan viewpoint of the NYT is always so
refreshing.
All I have to say is, "Get over it." None of the past issues on
either side make that much difference now. The question you
have to ask yourself is, "Who will make a better president in
this particular time period?" I just can't believe that John
Kerry is that man.
--
remove nospam to use email
Casey
casey....@nospamgmail.com
remove nospam to use email
"The dogs bark . . . but the caravan moves on"
old Arabic saying
leto...@nospam.net
>On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 07:03:07 -0500, 0ldvet <0ld...@nos.net> wrote:
>>MILITARY SERVICE
>>Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time
>Haven't you heard? This chapter in the campaign is over. Everyone who has
>tried to smear GWB's service has been proven wrong, lying, or just plain
>political hacks. Get over it. Let it go. Only a few fringe GWB haters are
>hanging on to this tired old story.
No its not. You hero went AWOL. He wanted the war --> and refused to go.
>-- Bob
Alan Lichtenstein
> On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 07:41:19 -0500, "Harry Thompson" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> >risk dying for his country. With 1st Clinton, and then Bush being so
> >successful without the sacrifice and the willingness to sacrifice, it is
>
> And just whose perverted opinion is it that flying F-102's for 6 years is
> not sacrifice? Michael Moore's?
>
> -- Bob
Err.....not quite six years. The Times article that you conveniently snipped,
leaves much room to doubt that Mr. Bush did much flying after 1972.
Furthermore, it is hardly sacrifice when he specifically indicated on official
documents that he would not volunteer for overseas duty, as his adversary, John
Kerry did, and has the medals to prove it.
But the FACT remains, that even in the safe haven of the National Guard, Mr.
Bush was unable even to complete the 'sacrifice' demanded by the Guard. He has
been insubordinate, failed to maintain his flight status, and clearly failed to
complete his requirement. The fact that these lapses were whitewashed to give
him an 'honorable' discharge does not alter the fact that he was a creature of
privilege. George Bush, by his actions of thirty years ago has demonstrated a
lack of leadership necessary to lead our country. And that lack, is crucial;
his entire campaign is based on that supposed leadership.
That leadership has clearly tarnished in the eyes of most open-minded
individuals. Left with an otherwise dismal record with respect to health care,
jobs, and the economy, to say nothing of the disaster he has made of the
budget, Mr. Bush has demonstrated his shortcomings, and thus, a clear reason
why he should be removed from office by the electorate.
Alan
Alan Lichtenstein
And you think that George Bush IS? You have come to s somewhat curious
conclusion considering the economy, the deficit, the outsourcing of
jobs, the war, and his failure to obtain any meaningful health care or
prescription drug benefit. I would be most interested on how you came
to those conclusions.
Alan
leto...@nospam.net
>On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 07:41:19 -0500, "Harry Thompson" <m...@privacy.net>
>wrote:
>>risk dying for his country. With 1st Clinton, and then Bush being so
>>successful without the sacrifice and the willingness to sacrifice, it is
>And just whose perverted opinion is it that flying F-102's for 6 years is
>not sacrifice? Michael Moore's?
bush didn't show up for 6 years -- like he was required to. -- he went
AWOL. When are you going to accept facts you don't like?
>-- Bob
HawkCW4
Tell you what feller, you give me a fact, I'll check it and see if I
like or dislike it. THen I will check and see if I will accept the ones
I didn't like. So far you have not provided any. But let the games begin.
Ed
USA Ret
>
>
>
>
>>-- Bob
>
>
Belmonts
His facts are like Bill Burkett memos.
leto...@nospam.net
>HawkCW4 wrote:
Is that right! -- you mean bushs pay records don't show he was AWOL?
Do tell us where he was for 5 months and the authority to be absent. --
Also check with your shrink about you being an idiot.
leto...@nospam.net
at 08:58 PM, Bob Adkins <bo...@charter.net> said:
>On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:33:52 -0700, HawkCW4 <Haw...@cox.net> wrote:
>>Tell you what feller, you give me a fact, I'll check it and see if I
>>like or dislike it. THen I will check and see if I will accept the ones
>>I didn't like. So far you have not provided any. But let the games begin.
>FACT: I don't like fucking traitors like John Kerry.
>FACT: I don't like fat-assed little liars like Michael Moore.
FACT: I don't like people who go AWOL -- like bush.
FACT: I don't appointed leaders who sit looking stupid when people are
jumping out of windows and dying, and the USAF is waiting for his
authority to defend the nation.
FACT: I don't like leaders who lie to make wars and act like hitler.
FACT: I don't like assholes who lie -- like you.
>-- Bob
Horvath
>FACT: I don't like people who go AWOL -- like bush.
You must hate Kerry, also.
While the left questions where George Bush was during the final year
of his
obligation, they and the press ignore completely the similar
obligations of
John Kerry. John Kerry enlisted in the Navy and signed an Officer
Candidate
Agreement on February 18, 1966. This agreement called for the
Candidate to
(Par 3) to serve a total period of 6 years in the Naval Reserve of the
United States, including active and inactive duty.
(Par 4) agrees that on completion of active duty, he will remain for
Service
in the Ready Reserve for a period which when added to his active duty
will
total 5 years. Upon completion of 5 years of satisfactory service on
active
duty and in the Ready Reserve he will be eligible to transfer to the
Standby
Reserve for the remaining portion of his service obligation.
(Par 5) the candidate understands that the provisions of law require
satisfactory participation in the Ready Reserve, unless relieved of
such
participation by competent authority or as provided by law. Such
participation may be satisfied annually by not less 48 drills and not
more
than 17days active duty for training.
Lt. John Forbes Kerry was released from active duty and transferred to
the
Naval Reserve on 3 January 1970. He wasn't transferred to inactive
standby
status until 1 July 1972, then Honorably Discharged on 16 February
1978.
Where was Lt. Kerry during the18 months from 1970 to 1972? Did he
attend the
required drills and active duty that he agreed to? Was he AWOL or did
he
violate his agreed commitment on accepting a commission as an officer
in the
service of the United States.
We do know that he made an unauthorized trip to Paris in June of 1970
to
meet with Madam Win Thi Binh, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional
Revolutionary Government of Vietnam (PRG) -- the political wing of the
Vietcong -- and with representatives of Hanoi who were in Paris for
the
peace talks-- in direct violation of the UCMJ's Article 104 part 904,
and
U.S. Code 18 U.S.C. 953. That meeting, and Kerry's subsequent coddling
of
Communists while leading mass protests against our military in the
year that
followed, also place him in direct violation of our Constitution's
Article
three, Section three, which defines treason as "giving aid and
comfort" to
the enemy in time of warfare. In April of 1971 he went before the
Senate
Committee on Foreign Affairs claiming all kinds of atrocities on the
part of
his fellow comrades in arms in further in violation of Article 3.
While John Kerry's hero status is in question in the United States he
is
still considered a hero in Vietnam where his picture is in a place of
honor
in the Vietnam War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. He is honored for
leading the
Vietnam Veterans against the War and helping the Communists bring the
war to
conclusion.
Geor...@Horvath.net
This signature is now the ultimate power in the universe.
leto...@nospam.net
>On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:07:06 GMT, leto...@nospam.net wrote this crap:
>>FACT: I don't like people who go AWOL -- like bush.
>You must hate Kerry, also.
Are you an out patient or just totally stupid? Kerry was not AWOL. He
had no reserve reporting duty. -- You know that, but the right is so
desperate they will stoop to any level of lie for bush.
Now take more meds and don't come back until you have more then one
working brain cell.
Belmonts
You actually have no facts and it is well past time for your going into
the kill file.
leto...@nospam.net
>leto...@nospam.net wrote:
Well I see you are either very stupid or afraid of the answer. --> bushs
pay records have been released. they show a 5 month period when he did not
report for duty. That means he was AWOL.
Deal with it or see your shrink aobut why you have a problem with truth
you don't like.
HawkCW4
>>like or dislike it. THen I will check and see if I will accept the ones
>>I didn't like. So far you have not provided any. But let the games begin.
>
>
I'm in for this one.
>
> FACT: I don't like fat-assed little liars like Michael Moore.
I'm in for this one.
Horvath
>In <kpl2l0hpn1tscfbpn...@4ax.com>, on 09/22/2004
> at 06:44 AM, Horvath <Geo...@Horvath.nosepamm.net> said:
>
>>On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:07:06 GMT, leto...@nospam.net wrote this crap:
>
>>>FACT: I don't like people who go AWOL -- like bush.
>
>
>>You must hate Kerry, also.
>
>
>Are you an out patient or just totally stupid? Kerry was not AWOL. He
>had no reserve reporting duty. -- You know that, but the right is so
>desperate they will stoop to any level of lie for bush.
>
>Now take more meds and don't come back until you have more then one
>working brain cell.
You better read the following paragraphs again, and explain to me how
he WASN'T required to do any reserve duty. Since Kerry enlisted in
the Naval Reserve, he was REQUIRED to serve four years active duty and
two years innactive.
Kerry served only three and a half years active, period. He was
missing for eight years.
leto...@nospam.net
How about fellows who lie to make war and won't admit it? You like them
kind too?
Horvath
>>>
>>> FACT: I don't like fat-assed little liars like Michael Moore.
>
>>I'm in for this one.
>
>
>How about fellows who lie to make war and won't admit it? You like them
>kind too?
How about people who give aid to the enemy, and extend the war, like
John Kerry did?
Lone Haranguer
See his honorable discharge. Kerry is the one with unlikely military
records.
LZ
>
>
>
>>-- Bob
>
>
Lone Haranguer
> In <kpl2l0hpn1tscfbpn...@4ax.com>, on 09/22/2004
> at 06:44 AM, Horvath <Geo...@Horvath.nosepamm.net> said:
>
>
>>On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:07:06 GMT, leto...@nospam.net wrote this crap:
>
>
>>>FACT: I don't like people who go AWOL -- like bush.
>
>
>
>>You must hate Kerry, also.
>
>
>
> Are you an out patient or just totally stupid? Kerry was not AWOL. He
> had no reserve reporting duty. --
Not true. His records show he was not transferred to the inactive
reserve until 1972 and not discharged until years later.
Bush had a DISCHARGE and his records were transferred to the Air Force
Reserve records center, a separate entity from the ANG.
LZ
HawkCW4
Not really, but give me a name and let me take a look at what obviously
upsets you. Maybe I can help.
Ed
USA Ret