It’s fun, in an academic sense, to watch the ebb and flows of a White House scandal. As controversies go, the flap over whether Bush actually showed up for National Guard duty during Vietnam followed an unusual trajectory.
First of all, it took several years to become a full-blown scandal. Plenty of us knew there was a story there, but most political reporters ignored it until Michael Moore, of all people, reignited interest in the story by calling Bush a “deserter” at a Wesley Clark rally in January.
Second, even when the press corps got excited about the story, it fizzled when the paper trail ran dry. The White House claimed to release all the documents it had, the Kerry campaign didn’t push the issue, and despite the remaining holes in Bush’s record, reporters got bored and moved on.
But I have good news for those of you who’ve been anxiously waiting a new report. The Spokane Spokesman-Review ran a story over the weekend suggesting a slightly new angle to explain why Bush stopped flying altogether in 1972.
It’s been a peculiar omission from Bush’s record all along. Bush boasted in his autobiography about flying with his unit in the early 70s, but his own military records showed that he never flew at all during his his final 18 months of service in 1972 and 1973. No one’s ever offered an explanation for why Bush quit.
The Spokesman-Review suggested that Bush’s departure from the cockpit may not have been voluntarily at all, but rather mandated due to suspicions about Bush’s drug use at the time.
Military rules used in 1974 to ground two Washington Air National Guard airmen with access to nuclear weapons also applied to a Texas Air National Guard unit where Lt. George W. Bush was a fighter pilot.
Some military researchers and a former Texas Guard lieutenant colonel believe the stringent regulations — known as the Human Reliability Program — may have been invoked to stop Bush from flying Texas Air National Guard jets in 1972.
The HRP was instituted to “screen military personnel for their mental, physical and emotional fitness before granting them access to nuclear weapons and delivery systems.” If a pilot had an HRP issue, such as suspected drug use, he or she could be “immediately” barred from flying.
So, are there HRP documents in Bush’s file? We don’t know. The Spokesman-Review began an inquiry, but its reporters were denied any access to any information. At one point, the National Guard Bureau said its officials “were under orders not to answer questions.” The bureau’s Freedom of Information Act officer has even stopped accepting requests for information about Bush’s alleged service.
Unfortunately, while the Spokesman-Review piece raised another interesting angle, without any documentation for support, the article simply raises more questions without offering specific answers. If White House reporters were still covering the story, it’d be worth asking Scott McClellan if he was prepared to share HRP reports that may exist in Bush’s file, but alas, the press corps has lost interest.
The article raises the possibility of an explanation for Bush’s flying career being cut short. If the White House were to release Bush’s full service record, we may know for sure if there’s anything to this theory or not.