pba => Bush's military record has disappeared. He applied and got into what was called the "champagne unit" of the National Guard through his fathers influence who wrote letters and lobbied friends and associates on his behalf. This unit was reserved for the wealthy sons of influential people and sports figures. They never even thought about combat. That was the reason only the wealthy and personalties could get in.Nonsense! Bush’s record was gone over with a fine tooth comb, down to pay records and dental visits. (remember?) The one person who claimed he pulled strings for Bush was totally unsubstantiated by anyone and contradicted by every other person who trained or supervised him. Bush’s IP, Colonel Thomas G. Lockhart, USAF (Ret), said of Bush, “[He] put himself totally into the task of becoming the best aviator in the class. His unit flew Century Series jet fighters, which required the best pilots. There was no room for error, as these airplanes were unforgiving, and the price for a mistake was often the pilot's life. George W. Bush appeared to have that "fighter pilot attitude" from our first meeting. This attitude can best be described as: "I can handle the situation--regardless of the odds." He was extremely competitive and eager to learn every thing about his machine and the enemy's tactics. He was quick to pick up the flying skills necessary to maneuver an aircraft into a position to shoot down an enemy aircraft.”
The “Bush was AWOL” charge was thoroughly debunked, both in 2000 and 2004,
AWOL Charge Debunked. The October 26, 2004 edition of The Williamsburg, Pennsylvania Sun-Gazette ran a story about two brothers, Adam and Bryan Makos, historians and publishers of military aircraft magazine Ghost Wings, who spent some three years researching Viet Nam era fighter pilots, including Bush. What they found was the exact opposite of the claims made against Bush. They interviewed Officers who trained Bush as well as those who served with him. Former Texas House Speaker and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes made the unsubstantiated charges and CBS ran with them, which ended up being thoroughly discredited for not verifying the documents supplied them. It should also be noted that Barnes is a Democrat who was supporting and actively raising money for Kerry, at the time he made the accusations.
Three OERs of his: A 1970 [Bush] “clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot” and was “a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership.” 1971 [Bush was] “an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot” who “continually flies intercept missions with the unit to increase his proficiency even further.” 1972 [Bush was] “an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer.”
Hill NewsCol. John H. Wambough USAF (Retired), said, “Cowards (or people who lack courage) don’t take on the risks that Lt. Bush did in flying Fighter Interceptor Aircraft,” and “Having been a Squadron Commander, I can tell you this -- we know the status of our assigned personnel all the time -- everyone is accounted for. We reported the status of all our squadron personnel daily to a higher level in our organization. Likewise, Lt. Bush’s Squadron Commander of 30 plus years ago (Lt. Col. Killian, now deceased), would have known where Lt. Bush was or, at the very least, how to contact him should that have been necessary. The bottom line: Lt. Bush’s documented Air National Guard service exceeded the requirements set forth in his Guard contract and Lt. Bush received an Honorable Discharge.”
Ed Morrisey Jr., retired colonel with TANG and the man that swore Bush into the service in May 1968 said, “the argument that Bush got off easy by being in the National Guard doesn't take into consideration the context of the 1960s. Bush and the others were flying several flights day or night over the Gulf of Mexico to identify the unknown. The Cold War was a nervous time. You never knew. There were other things going on equally important to the country, and the Air National Guard had a primary role in it.''
Col. William Campenni (USAF)(TANG)(retired), who served with Bush in the TANG said, “[the Guard] did become a place of refuge for many wanting to avoid Vietnam. There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt. Bush and me) would be spending the next two years on active duty going through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot.”
Campenni also stated, “Another frequent charge is that, as a member of the Texas ANG, Lt. Bush twice ignored or disobeyed lawful orders, first by refusing to report for a required physical in the year when drug testing first became part of the exam, and second by failing to report for duty at the disciplinary unit in Colorado to which he had been ordered. Well, here are the facts:”
”First, there is no instance of Lt. Bush disobeying lawful orders in reporting for a physical, as none would be given. Pilots are scheduled for their annual flight physicals in their birth month during that month's weekend drill assembly -- the only time the clinic is open. In the Reserves, it is not uncommon to miss this deadline by a month or so for a variety of reasons: The clinic is closed that month for special training; the individual is out of town on civilian business; etc.”
”If so, the pilot is grounded temporarily until he completes the physical. Also, the formal drug testing program was not instituted by the Air Force until the 1980s and is done randomly by lot, not as a special part of a flight physical, when one easily could abstain from drug use because of its date certain. Blood work is done, but to ensure a healthy pilot, not confront a drug user.”
”Second, there was no such thing as a "disciplinary unit in Colorado" to which Lt. Bush had been ordered. The Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver is a repository of the paperwork for those no longer assigned to a specific unit, such as retirees and transferees. Mine is there now, so I guess I'm "being disciplined." These "disciplinary units" just don't exist. Any discipline, if required, is handled within the local squadron, group or wing, administratively or judicially. Had there been such an infraction or court-martial action, there would be a record and a reflection in Lt. Bush's performance review and personnel folder. None exists, as was confirmed in The Washington Post in 2000.”
Washington Times ArchivesLiberal groups have offered millions of dollars to anyone who served with him at the time he is accused of being AWOL to step forward and document in someway that they remember him being there and clear Bush's name. No one has ever come forward.Naturally, there isn’t anything for anyone to clear. Unsubstantiated accusations merit no response by anyone. The burden of proof is placed upon the one making the accusation, not the other way around. Didn’t you ever watch Perry Mason? Also, Bush’s wingmen stood with him, none accused him of the nefarious shortcomings you state, but stated the opposite.
Wingmen for Bush Kerry risked his life under fire to save another soldier who had been hit. Kerry himself was wounded. It is documented by the Pentagon who investigates all incidents. They have backed up the story and the medals.After accelerating away from the boat that had a mine explode under it (not Kerry’s), running down river fleeing the presumed battle scene (documented in a Washington Post article August 9, 2004, I believe). Rassman fell off of Kerry’s boat and by his own admission, “dove to the bottom of the river and stayed there as long as he could hold his breath” due to a lot of firing, later determined to be from the 5 Swift Boats there that day. Realizing he had lost a man from his boat, Kerry turned his around from some 5,000 yards away and went back to retrieve the now surfaced Rassman. Rassman was not shot, Kerry was not shot. Kerry’s medical record stated of this incident, "In firefight approx. 3 hours ago, pt was a) thrown against bulkhead sustaining injury (contusion) to R forearm." A contusion is a bruise. In the recommendation, written by Rassman, it was said, Lt.(jg) Kerry "from an exposed position on the bow" and with his "his arm bleeding and in pain." From a bruise?
An article in the October 1, 2004 edition of the Chicago Sun Times showed that it was Kerry himself who wrote the after action report now held by the Pentagon.
The Swift boat story has been discounted and discredited by the majority of those who were there at the time. The Swift boat allegations were made by one individual (I believe) who was not there. They were not just a few feet away. First, I suggest you actually learn something about Swift Boat Operations used in the rivers of South Viet Nam. Photos shared by both the Swift Vets and Kerry showed the boats in groups merely feet away from each other.
Secondly, shouting out that it is all lies and the Swiftees are liars, as did Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC's Scarborough Country, October 22, 2004, doesn't disprove anything.
The majority of those there that time were members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry only had the support of most of the crew that served on his boat. The one man that spent the most amount of time on Kerry’s boat with him, Steve Gardner, did not support him.
Incidentally, just as we did in our Helicopters, Kerry and the Swiftees did not live on their boats 24/7 by themselves. They too had barracks and mess halls and “O” Clubs where they congregated together in the evenings and the few off days we might have had.
The Swift Boat slander was instigated by a key Republican Businessman, who's name I forget at the moment, who has spent huge sums of money throwing lies and dirt and promoting right wing candidates. It was nothing more then another republican lie and Rove technique. Wrong! Houston home builder, Bob R. Perry put up the initial $100,000 after they formed and called their first press conference in May of 2004, which went ignored by the lamestream media. Perry came forward and fronted nearly two thirds of the $158,000 needed to produce the first commercial. After that, contributions poured in from all over the country in small amounts that added up, including from yours truly and as was duly reported to the government.
That Perry is a Republican should come as no surprise. He isn’t a George Soros (who funneled millions, not thousands into groups like moveon.org and such) but who would you expect to donate to a group opposing Kerry, John Edwards? Odd that Soros’s contributions never seemed to bother anyone from the left. Double standard?
Incidentally, John O'Neill, the spokesman for the group, was a lifelong Deomcrat who, it has been documented, donated much more to Democrat candidates than to Republicans, over the years. After the treatment he received from Democrats, he no longer is a member of that party.
The media gave credence to the story during election time but it has since been discarded as unreliable election dirt. A "shameful period" in election history. A new low. The term "Swifting Boating" has even made it's way into the American language and media describing when a candidate, or person, is barraged with dirt and unsubstantiated allegations. The Swift Boat story was a lie and is not even discussed any more. It went down the toilet with those "WMD" and Saddem's connections to al Qaeda.Wrong again. The Swift Vets called for a Press Conference in early May of 2004 and it was ignored by the lamestream media. That is when they decided to make the commercial.
No matter how you try to make ‘swiftboating’ a derogatory term, it fails to ruin the actual definition, “to reveal a truth about a politician they desire to remain hidden.”
Since you claim the Swift Boat Vets lied, I assume you can document where their allegations were proven as such? They provided multiple accounts of disparity in Kerry’s claims over the years, including where he claimed Nixon had him in Cambodia and lied about it over Christmas of 1968. HINT: Nixon wasn’t president at that time.
They provided eye witness accounts of events contrary to Kerry’s. They brought out the disparity in Kerry’s “honorable discharge” being dated 6 years after the time he would have received one and the fact that his medals were reissued in the early 1980s, including three different documented citations for the one Silver Star. They also brought out former Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, whose signature appears miraculously on the third citation for the SS who said, "It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me."
Your DNC talking points will be ignored
There are numerous books and accountants of atrocities that were told by returning Vietnam Vets and documented by independent and foreign journalists. You have to do a search because most of them came out int the late 60's, and during the 70's and 80's. Over two million Vietnamese were killed.Sorry, I don’t need comic books to teach me about Viet Nam. I was there and saw first hand what nonsense was being printed about it. Even Peter Arnett’s claims of chemical weapons was disproved.
Of Kerry’s Winter Soldier Investigation, not one who testified was willing to go on official record making the atrocity claims, even though offered immunity, when investigated and approached by government investigators. Most were discovered to not even be Viet Nam Veterans, some not even having served in any branch of the Military. One, Steve Pitkin, who did serve in Viet Nam, was wounded, signed an affidavit in 2004 of how he was coerced into making false claims at Kerry’s kangaroo investigation.
The North Vietnamese have came forward since and admitted that more than two million died. This after the left claimed the weekly body counts were made up by the US Military. Additionally, North Vietnamese officers have also came forward stating the anti-war left were “essential to their victory.” They knew they couldn’t defeat the American Military, so like today, they played to the anti-war left back in the states to draw down any public support we had. The Commanding General, Vo Ngyuen Giap, is said to have been considering negotiating a surrender after his forces were decimated in the fiasco of the Tet of ’68 offensive, but saw the discontent and the report by Walter Cronkite declaring he had won it. He had found our weak link and played it until he was victorious, two years after the last American troop left and after the Democrat controlled Congress of the time voted to cut off any and all support for South Viet Nam. Hence, it fell to communism in April of 1975.
The US was an Occupying Force" which had no right to be there. The war was illegal and a lie. Like most wars are to trick the average person into fighting them.I refer you to the words of famed Democrat, John F. Kennedy, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” What happened to the Vietnamese after America turned her back on them, as well as what happened in neighboring Cambodia and Laos should be a matter of shame to all demanding a similar abandonment of Iraq today.
Since were also subject to Vietnamese laws while there, we couldn't have much of an "occupying force."
Post Traumatic Stress effected tens of thousands of returning vets and many went untreated. They do have problems with violence, especially domestic violence and incarceration and homelessness. So, like Kerry, you lump us all as ‘monsters?’ I have never been jailed, never been homeless, raised two daughters to adulthood, although divorced, never hit a woman, least of all my wife, don’t drink, enjoy a cigar occasionally and every single guy I served with has a similar experience. 1/2 of one percent (out of 2.5 million) of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes, Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent, Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. PTSD claims are difficult to determine as well as easily faked. There was once even a woman who was almost awarded disability by the VA for PTSD related to her POW status in North Viet Nam. HINT: No women were ever captured and held in North Viet Nam during the war.
Care to back up your claims as to how screwed up we all are?
Additionally, wouldn’t your claims also apply to Kerry? Do you want a man who you feel is so prone to violence and PTSD in the White House?
We were not attacked by Iraq and the war is a lie.HINT: We are not at war with Iraq. We are at war with the terrorists that flooded into Iraq. We are not fighting a country, but a misguided ideology that wishes to oppress the entire globe under their radical view of a religion.
Granted, there are Chicken Hawks on both sides of the aisle but we find more democrats served then republicans. Jeeez. Your bogus list you posted was easily disproven by me. Your claim that Democrats hold moral high ground over Republicans is dishonest and deceptive in ignoring several prominent Democrats who never served, Harry Reid, Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich and more. Bogus claims were made about Republicans who did serve. You really should research things before making claims. As stated, neither party has any legitimate basis for claiming any high ground on the basis of who served and who didn’t.
I respect those who went to fight believing they were doing the right thing but time and history has shown the war was a lie. Believing otherwise does not do anyone any good.Then, you advocate the defeat of America by terrorists? You can claim respecting those who went to fight, but earlier claimed we that did “have problems with violence, especially domestic violence and incarceration and homelessness?” Pardon me if your claims of respect falls on deaf ears.
Today I continue to struggle to defend the Constitution against the tyranny of my own government and end it's crimes against humanity around the world.Your BDS can be treated.
