Favored treatment
New questions raised about Bush's military record
September 10, 2004
This has not been a great week for The Most Important Presidential Election In Our Lifetime. Vice President Dick Cheney warned of "the danger ... that we'll get hit again" with a terrorist attack if Americans are foolish enough to elect John Kerry as president, while Teresa Heinz Kerry announced that "only an idiot" would oppose her husband's health care plan. The presidential candidates themselves indulged in a bout of finger-pointing, disguised as an exchange over the war in Iraq.
Bombarded by rhetoric of this caliber — and by weeks of incessant attacks on John Kerry's military record — many voters may be tempted to accept the White House line that recent disclosures about President Bush's service in the National Guard are mere partisan politics and unworthy of notice. To anyone so tempted, we recommend a closer look.
Documents unearthed by CBS News indicate that Bush refused a direct order to have a physical examination in 1972, and that his squadron commander ordered his suspension for failing to meet performance standards. He also maneuvered — against the wishes of his superior officer, but with the help of influential friends — to "get out of coming to drill from now until November," to quote a 1972 document from the personal files of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian.
Killian, who died in 1984, had earlier issued favorable evaluations of Lt. Bush's performance in the Texas National Guard. By 1972, however, Bush was increasingly eager to get out of Texas and out of flying. His conduct was a serious disappointment to Killian, who emphasized in one memo that "I advised him of our investment in him and his commitment" and who fumed in writing that Bush was going over his head to receive favorable treatment. In 1973, Killian wrote, he resisted pressure from superiors to give Bush a favorable review.
CBS also broadcast an interview with Democrat Ben Barnes, former Texas lieutenant governor and House speaker, who confirmed earlier statements that he helped Bush and other privileged young men get out of service in Vietnam by getting into the National Guard. "I abused my position of power," Barnes now says.
Bush supporters are trying to marshal evidence that the new documents are forgeries (so far, the White House has made no such claim). Their eagerness to discredit the allegations is understandable. The documents highlight in a particularly dramatic way the contrast between a candidate who served honorably in Vietnam and an incumbent who pulled strings to avoid service.
The disciplined George W. Bush of 2004 obviously is different from the pampered and privileged young man who finessed his obligations to his country in 1972. Bush's fitness for office doesn't hinge on these disclosures — but his credibility about his own military record does.
In the past, the president and the White House have rejected any suggestion that Bush got preferential treatment; assured the public that they've released all records; and dismissed the notion that Bush's performance fell short of acceptable standards at any time. The record contradicts each of their assertions.
If the subject does become a larger issue in the campaign, Bush and his aides will have themselves to thank. This president, who projects an image of strength and basks in military imagery, has allowed his supporters to spread unsubstantiated and in some cases demonstrably false allegations about John Kerry's record — while denying verifiable facts about his own. His record of military service is fair game. So is his distortion of that record in 2004.
bouldernews.com |
