This is what I am talking about:
FORMER OFFICER BILL BURKETT ACCUSES BUSH OF DOCTORING MILITARY RECORDS IN '99
While some voters appear to view the George W. Bush 1976 drunk driving conviction in Maine as being too far in the past, "suspicions that the son of the last president might have lied about the conviction, or used family connections to expunge it from the record, would jeopardise the credibility of his pledges, delivered in campaign rallies all over the country, to 'uphold the honour and integrity of the office' if he wins on Tuesday." On Friday the Dallas Morning News reported that in 1996 Bush had lied to a reporter about his 1976 conviction. This morning the London Sunday Times has published stories by Tom Rhodes and Matthew Campbell in which Bush is accused of doctoring his military file to have it correspond with his '99 autobiography.
"A former officer in the Texas National Guard claimed Bush had doctored his military record. Bill Burkett, a former lieutenant-colonel, said Bush aides had been "scrubbing the files" to bury disparities between his record while serving as a reserve pilot during the Vietnam war and an account of the period in his official biography.... Burkett said Bush aides had visited the National Guard headquarters at Camp Mabry 'on numerous occasions' to make sure that records available to the public about his military service would tally with his autobiography's version of his time as a reserve pilot during the Vietnam war. Bush has always said he was 'discharged with honour' from the force, although it is known he was once grounded for failing to undergo a medical examination, and he reportedly went absent without leave." More information will be provided later, since the Boston Globe intends to break the story in the United States in its Sunday edition. --Politex, 11/4/00, 8:15 pm CT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
