The Quadrangle

Issue date: 9/22/04 Section: News

After a month of attacks from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on John Kerry's Vietnam War record, military service continues to be an issue in this year's election, and now it is President George W Bush's military service that is coming under scrutiny. Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, and questions about whether he received preferential treatment in the Service and failed to fulfill his duty have plagued the president for a long time. These issues have recently resurfaced in the public eye after a group called Texans for Truth ran ads claiming that Bush skipped out on training during 1972. CBS ran an interview with a man who says he helped Bush get into the Texas Air National Guard. CBS also produced memos they claim are from a National Guard commander that further suggests that Bush got special treatment while in the Guard. In February of this year, the White House claimed that they had released all relevant documents that related to Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. However, in response to a request by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the Bush Administration released 17 pages of documents that were previously not seen by the public. The documents show that Bush logged 336 hours in a fighter jet and was ranked 22nd out of a class of 53 pilots when he finished his training in 1969 at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. They also show that Bush's last flight was in April of 1972, which is consistent with pay records showing that Bush had a lapse of duty between April and October of 1972. Bush transferred to the Alabama National Guard in 1972 to work in a Senate campaign. Opponents of Bush say that during those four months, Bush skipped out on attending drills and thus was in violation of his duty. Bush also skipped a physical exam before leavening for Alabama, which caused his pilots status to be revoked. The Bush Administration says he skipped the physical because the jet he flew was not available in the Alabama Guard. This gap in Bush's service records is what a group called Texans for Truth has seized upon. The group began running advertisements featuring Bob Mintz, a former lieutenant colonel in the Alabama National Guard. In the ad, Bob Mintz said he never saw Bush in the period when he transferred from the Texas Guard to the Alabama Guard. According to Mintz, he specifically remembers never seeing Bush because he was actively looking for Bush at that time. Mintz says he wanted to find Bush because he was a fellow bachelor who might like to go out and party. According to Mintz, neither he nor his friends ever saw Bush at the Alabama National Guard, and it would have been impossible to miss him in a unit of their size (about 20 - 30 pilots). Glenn Smith, the main figure in Texans for Truth said that he wanted to make the spot because he was mad over the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who attacked John Kerry. White House officials say that Texans for Truth are linked to the Kerry campaign and dismiss the ads as untrue and politically motivated. The biggest attack on Bush's National Guard service came from a CBS interview that aired on the program, "60 Minutes". Correspondent Dan Rather interviewed Ben Barnes who was the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives during the time that George Bush entered the Texas National Guard. Barnes claims he helped Bush get into the National Guard. In 1968 George W Bush graduated from Yale and would soon be eligible to be drafted into the military. At the time, American casualties in the war were getting high and a spot in the Texas Air National Guard was highly desirable because anyone who was in it had very little chance of being sent to fight in Vietnam. Not surprisingly, there was a long list of people that wanted to get in. According to Barnes, he was contacted by Sid Adger, a Texas oil man and mutual friend of Barnes and the Bush Family. Adger asked Barnes if he would help get George W Bush into the National Guard. Barnes agreed to do the favor and called General James Rose, the Head of the Texas Guard, and recommended George Bush for entrance to the National Guard. Barnes made the recommendation with out ever meeting or speaking with George W Bush. Shortly after the recommendation, Bush was accepted into the Guard. Barnes said that this was a favor he did for many young men of privilege. "I got a lot of young men from prominent families in the National Guard. Not that I'm necessarily proud of that." "I was a young, ambitious politician doing what I thought was acceptable, that was important-to make friends." Asked if this was a type of preferential treatment he responded, "Oh, I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get in the Air National Guard. I think that would have been a preference to anybody that didn't want to go to Vietnam...But those that could get in the Reserves or those who could get in the National Guard meant that they could serve and get military training. And chances are that they would not have to go to Vietnam." This is the first time the Barnes has told his story publicly, but Bush has had to defend how he got in throughout his political career. "Any allegation that my dad asked for special favors is simply not true...and the former president of the United States has said that he in no way, shape, or form helped me get into the National Guard. I didn't ask anyone to help me get into the Guard either." The White House was quick to point out Ben Barnes' political motivations. He is an advisor to the John Kerry campaign. The president's communication director, Dan Bartlet told reporters "I chalk it up to the politics they play down in Texas. I've seen how it works. But the bottom line is that there's no truth to this." It turned out that the Barnes interview was just half of the CBS exposé. CBS also produced four memos from one of Bush's former commanders. The documents were said to be obtained from the personal files of the late Colonel Jerry Killian. The first Memo is dated May 4, 1972. Killian appears to order Bush to get a flight physical "no later than 14 May, 1972." Another memo dated May 1972, refers to a conversation Killian had with Bush. They "discussed options of how Bush could get out of coming to drill from now through November...he is working on a campaign in Alabama... and may not have time to take his physical." Killian adds that he thinks Bush went over his head to get transferred, saying he "is talking to someone upstairs." Another memo says that Bush ignored a direct order. On August 1, 1972 Killian wrote "On this date I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to US Air Force and Texas Air National Guard standards and failure to meet physical examination...as ordered." The final memo, dated August 18th 1973, Killian writes that the man in charge at the Texas Guard, Colonel Buck Staudt, is putting pressure on Killian to "sugar coat" Bush's evaluation. The authenticity of the Killian memos came to a debate almost immediately. Some forensic specialists contend that some of the memos are fakes that appear to have been created on modern computers because they contain features that were not widely available on Vietnam-era typewriters. Farrell Shiver, a forensic document examiner said the superscript "th" (As in 11th) could not be produced on 1970's typewriters. But some of

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