HERO VS ZERO: DUBYA'S WAR RECORD PROBLEM
Feb 10 2004
By Tanith Carey Us Editor
GEORGE Bush has never exactly been in a position to boast about his glittering military career.
When others his age were losing their lives in Vietnam, Dubya stayed at home - learning how to pilot a plane with the Texas National Guard.
Now, more than 30 years later, the President may have reason to regret not doing his duty - it may not just be the Iraq war that loses him the next election. It could also be the war he never fought in.
That's because his most likely opponent in the race for the White House is now Democrat John Kerry.
Kerry has no fewer than three purple hearts from Vietnam - as well as the testimony of a comrade whose life he saved.
But if that weren't bad enough for Bush, things are getting worse. On top of the fact that Dubya managed to land a cushy posting, there are now claims that he didn't turn up at all.
Ultimately, it means the letters Awol could become almost as important as WMD in threatening his chances of another term.
The heart of the matter is a lost year in Bush's military career, when he was still supposed to be serving with the National Guard.
While Kerry's war record is well documented, the President is unable to remember much of where he was from 1972 to 1973.
What is known is that in May 1972, he asked to be transferred to the Alabama National Guard, so he could work on a Senate campaign.
Three months later, he was suspended from the Guard for failing to complete an annual medical exam.
AFTER that, the trail goes cold. There is no record that he attended the required drills in Alabama. When he returned to Texas in May 1973, his superior officers commented they hadn't seen him for almost a year.
Retired General William Turnipseed, the former commander of the Alabama Guard unit, said Bush didn't report to him, although the airman was required to do so.
"To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said.
By comparison, John Kerry is is all there. He's unusual among politicians because he actually asked to go to Vietnam. In fact, he hadn't even graduated from Yale before signing up for the Navy in February 1966.
He served two tours in Southeast Asia, one aboard a missile ship and then on a 50ft gunboat in the Mekong Delta, where he came under regular sniper fire.
Kerry was awarded the Silver Star in February 1969, after leaping ashore, chasing and shooting a Viet Cong soldier who had fired a rocket at his boat.
During his four months, Kerry also took a bullet in the leg and suffered two arm wounds, earning three Purple Hearts.
He was also awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy's Silver Star for gallantry in action. And in a country that appreciates old-fashioned heroism, few recommendations come louder Jim Rassman's.
The ex-Green Beret was pulled to safety amid sniper fire by a wounded Kerry in 1969.
Rassman, who embraced Kerry at a recent rally, declared: "I probably owe this man my life."
At the same time, Kerry earned his Democrat spurs by being anti-conflict. In letters home, he questioned the point of going to war and on his return, joined Vietnam Veterans Against The War. Standing beside Jane Fonda, he threw his ribbons away before telling a congressional hearing: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
His anti-war stance even led to his inclusion on an FBI list of subversives.
Historian Douglas Brinkley says Bush has a tough opponent.
"Kerry didn't just get decorated in Vietnam. He came back and led veterans against the war. That's when he became famous.
"There are 10 million Vietnam veterans and his campaign is using their associations in every state to bring out the vote. He has solid groups doing grassroots work for him."
With Kerry winning 10 of the 12 state caucuses, the presidential race looks likely to be fought on military record like never before.
The opening shots were fired when Democrat chairman Terry McAuliffe said: "I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was Awol in the National Guard.
"Bush never served in our military. He didn't show up when he should have."
WITH little ammunition, the Bush camp could only fire back by describing the attack as "the worst of election-year politics".
And there are signs that Bush has been seriously wounded.
A Time magazine poll says 60 per cent of Americans think Kerry did his duty during the Vietnam war. By contrast, only 39 per cent say Bush did his.
The same poll revealed that Kerry has also crept up on Bush in the past month - 48 per cent of people now back the Massachusetts senator.
A rattled Bush went on TV at the weekend to claim he had done his bit. "I got an honourable discharge - I did my duty."
Other commentators have pointed out that Bill Clinton's draft-dodging didn't stop him winning two terms.
There is also the problem that as a Senator, Kerry voted to authorise Bush to use force in Iraq, although he had voted against the 1991 Gulf war.
But this time, the war in Iraq is bound to put the military judgement and experience of the candidates under scrutiny like never before.
Above all, what could finally undermine Bush is the timing.
Last week, weapons inspector David Kay stunned the US by concluding that it's very likely that Saddam Hussein never had stocks of the weapons Bush used as the reason for going to war.
The American people like having "right" on their side. And they do not like the sight of more than 500 US soldiers being shipped home from Iraq in bodybags.
Ultimately, they may well decide that Bush may have been less enthusiastic about starting a war if, like Kerry, he had known what it was like to serve in one.
JOHN F KERRY
RECORD: Naval officer in Vietnam. Wounded in action
MEDALS: 3 Purple Hearts, Silver Star, Bronze Star
GEORGE W BUSH
RECORD: Didn't go to Vietnam. Went Awol from Alabama National Guard?
MEDALS: None
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