The fact that George W. Bush did not fulfill his responsibilities to the National Guard is no longer really in question. The evidence is overwhelming; the man shirked his duties to the military in a time of war. People are welcome to debate whether or not this matters now, but the debate over whether or not this happened is effectively over.
We’ve learned a lot over the last 24 hours:
* 60 Minutes ran a report last night that explained how Bush received special treatment to jump to the head of the Guard waiting list, and while in the Guard, Bush’s supervisor was pressured to “sugar coat” his service record. At one point, the supervisor wrote that his efforts to cover up Bush’s failures were “CYA” (cover your ass).
* Bush failed to carry out a direct order from his superior in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1972 to undertake a medical examination that was necessary for him to remain a qualified pilot.
* Bush was suspended from flying for the Texas Air National Guard because he failed to meet Guard standards.
* As Salon’s Eric Boehlert explained in a very detailed report, “[N]ot only did Bush walk away from his final two years of military obligation, coming dangerously close to desertion, but that he attempted to cover up his absenteeism through swindle and fraud.”
* U.S. News & World Report got in on the fun this week with a devastating article of its own, which carefully reviewed documents released by the White House earlier this year that contradict nearly all of the president’s claims.
* The White House used an inappropriate — and less stringent — Air Force standard in determining that President Bush fulfilled his National Guard duty.
* Even using this lesser standard, the president did not attend enough drills to complete his obligation to the Guard during his final year of service.
* During the final two years of his service obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. Instead, he took credit for makeup drills he participated in outside that time frame. Five months of drills missed by the President in 1972 were never made up, contrary to assertions made by the White House.
Given that Bush refused to take a mandatory physical, disobeyed direct orders, failed to meet Guard standards, and avoided showing up as directed, no one, at this point, can figure out how this guy actually received an honorable discharge.
For several experts contacted by U.S. News, how President Bush received his honorable discharge from the Guard remains a mystery. Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Secretary for Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs during the Reagan Administration, said it was apparent that President Bush “had not fulfilled his obligation.”
“When I look at his records it is clear he didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” Korb says.
Then again, as we learned earlier this year from the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen, it was pretty easy to get honorable discharges and military paychecks at the time, whether you met your obligations or not.
I was…lucky enough to get into a National Guard unit in the nick of time, about a day before I was drafted. I did my basic and advanced training (combat engineer) and returned to my unit. I was supposed to attend weekly drills and summer camp, but I found them inconvenient. I “moved” to California and then “moved” back to New York, establishing a confusing paper trail that led, really, nowhere. For two years or so, I played a perfectly legal form of hooky. To show you what a mess the Guard was at the time, I even got paid for all the meetings I missed…. In the end, just like President Bush, I got an honorable discharge. But unlike President Bush, I have just told the truth about my service. He hasn’t.