Ben Barnes on 60 Minutes
Looks like Mr. Bush’s truncated enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard is going to be revisited.
Tomorrow, September 8th, CBS will air an interview with former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes; wherein he discloses that the Bush family, through associates, approached him to pull some strings to get the young George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard — thus avoiding Vietnam. (See the 60 Minutes page here.)
And, of course, there’s the A.P.’s freedom of information suit which reveals that at least 5 key documents are missing from Mr. Bush’s National Guard record. The missing documents are:
- Records of a required investigation into why [Mr.] Bush lost flight status. When Bush skipped his 1972 physical, regulations required his Texas commanders to “direct an investigation as to why the individual failed to accomplish the medical examination,” according to the Air Force manual at the time.
- A written acknowledgment from [Mr.] Bush that he had received the orders grounding him, [after losing his flight status].
- Reports of formal counseling sessions [Mr.] Bush was required to have after missing more than three training sessions. Bush missed at least five months’ worth of National Guard training in 1972.
- A signed statement from [Mr.] Bush acknowledging he could be called to active duty if he did not promptly transfer to another guard unit after leaving Texas. The statement was required as part of a Vietnam-era crackdown on no-show guardsmen.
- A report from the Texas Air National Guard to Bush’s local draft board certifying that Bush remained in good standing.
Meantime, we have an organization with demonstrable ties to the Bush campaign smearing Mr. Kerry’s heroic war record; and, still, Mr. Bush’s supporters (many of whom claim to be pro-military) stand by their man, like a battered wife.
To quote conservatives of yesteryear, America, where is the moral outrage? A genuine war hero is smeared, simply to advance Mr. Bush’s agenda, and I don’t hear a peep from so-called military supporters.
