Just a thought. You right wingers, take your blinders off for just a
second. Does any of this sound fishy to you? What if it were a liberal
president? Would you then think that it is a normal turn of events?
Funny, when my uncle died, and I was doing his estate stuff, I didn't
have any problem at all in getting his records, from 1945!

Pentagon acknowledges some Bush Guard records destroyed

Friday, July 9, 2004


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(07-09) 07:44 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Military payroll records that could more fully document President
Bush's whereabouts during his service in the Texas Air National Guard
were inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.

In a letter responding to a freedom of information request by The
Associated Press, the Defense Department said that microfilm
containing the pertinent National Guard payroll records was damaged
and could not be salvaged. The damaged material included payroll
records for the first quarter of 1969 and the third quarter of 1972.

"President Bush's payroll records for those two quarters were among
the records destroyed," wrote C.Y. Talbott, of the Pentagon's Freedom
of Information and Security Review section. "Searches for back-up
paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful."

In February, the White House released some payroll and medical records
from Bush's Vietnam-era service to counter Democrats' suggestions that
he shirked his duty in the Texas Air National Guard.

Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973, much of
the time as a pilot, but never went to Vietnam or flew in combat. Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential candidate, is
a decorated Vietnam veteran, and some Democrats have questioned
whether Bush showed up for temporary Guard duty in Alabama while
working on a political campaign during a one-year period from May 1972
to May 1973.

Bush had asked to be able to transfer temporarily from the Texas Guard
to an Alabama base during that time so he could work on the Senate
campaign of a family friend. Reports differ on how long he was
actually in Alabama, but it's generally believed that he returned to
his Texas unit after the November 1972 election. The White House says
Bush went back to Alabama again after that.

The Pentagon letter was sent in response to an April lawsuit filed by
the AP under the federal Freedom of Information Act. That law requires
government agencies to make public information not specifically
exempted for disclosure.

The letter said that in 1996 and 1997, the Pentagon "engaged with
limited success in a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm."
During the process, "the microfilm payroll records of numerous service
members were damaged," the letter said.

This process resulted in "the inadvertent destruction of microfilm
containing certain National Guard payroll records," including Bush's,
the letter said.

Trying to calm the political unrest, the White House on Feb. 13
released Bush's Vietnam-era military records to counter suggestions he
shirked his duty. But there was no new evidence given at that time to
show that he was in Alabama during the period when Democrats
questioned whether he performed his service obligation.

The records showed that Bush, a pilot, was suspended from flying
status beginning Aug. 1, 1972, because of his failure to have an
annual medical examination. His last flight exam was on May 15, 1971.
There were no new documents, during that February release, to shed any
light on Bush's service in Alabama.