SwiftVets.com

[neverforget]

Subtitle: For an anonymous source, Bill Burkett sure talked to a lot of people.

>>LISTEN TO DNC and Kerry campaign officials talk about the CBS memo scandal, and you might start to think that they protest too much. Just read the email Howard Wolfson sent to the press corps the other day. Wolfson is a political consultant, a former spokesman for Hillary Clinton, and a senior adviser at the Democratic National Committee. He's in charge of Operation Fortunate Son, the DNC political outfit meant to attack President Bush's service in the National Guard, but he wants you to know he is shocked--shocked--to find that the memos Dan Rather said came from the personal files of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian are actually forgeries.

The Democrats' rap on George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard runs roughly as follows: Political pressure must have helped Bush enlist in the Guard in 1968. There are gaps in his service record, notably some months in 1972-1973 when Bush was working on a political campaign in Alabama. There are missed medical exams and flight groundings, and some documents have never been found. The questions haven't been answered to the satisfaction of the president's critics--any more than the charges have been proved. And all this may be beside the point; Bush's activities from 1968 to 1973 have had no impact on voters' opinions of him. Yet.

Wolfson's job is to make Bush's Guard years matter. But, again, make no mistake: He wasn't involved with the forged memos. "Republican allegations of a 'Vast Left Wing Conspiracy' designed to expose the truth about the President's military service are laughable," he writes in his email. "No conspiracy is necessary to make clear that the President used strings to get into the Guard, missed his required physical, and failed to fulfill his duty." Is it even worth asking how the forgeries came to CBS? Nope. "The only outstanding questions here," he continues, "will be answered when the President steps forward, stops hiding behind spokespeople, and comes clean with the American people about his service."<<

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/680maaos.asp
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

[PatS]

I am not a member of the military and don't know the popularity or influence of the Army Times, but its web site links to the military documents of President Bush and Senator Kerry. All the documents from Kerry's web site are there. However, President Bush's documents start with the CBS memos, and include a few others covering the period from 72-74.
There is a small disclaimer that the Bush memos have not been authenticated, but the prominence of obviously forged memos as part of the Presidents miliary file is appalling.
Although the swiftvet cite is listed on Armytimes.com, I find the other information biased in Kerry's favor. There are links to Thurlows Citation and a number of articles about Seal operations in Cambodia.
Since the Swiftvets, as well as the military histories of O'Neil and Thurlow are on the site, I thought I'd mention it.

[cipher]

[kate]

[PatS]

Here are the series of links to the memos from Army Time.
Lieutenants Bush and
1. Armytimes.com

Home page—middle, under green banner, “Lieutenants Bush and Kerry
What the military records really show — documents, records and Web sites of interest to readers following the controversy surrounding the presidential candidates’ military service.

2. http://armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-363379.php
Lieutenants Bush and Kerry
What the records really show
In our story about the military records of President George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, which appeared in the Sept. 27 issue of the Military Times papers, these documents and Web sites were mentioned, used in our research or are of interest to readers following the debate:

Bush’s military records

3. http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/docs.html
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2004
Pentagon Releases More Bush Service Documents WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Friday released more records on President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service but they provided no new substantive information. The 10 pages released included documents that had already been made public and were in most part cover letters or forms pertaining to Bush's appointment as 2nd Lt in the Texas Air National Guard.
DOCUMENTS
Many of these documents are in PDF format and can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Military Service Records of President George W. BushRecords of the President's military service in the Texas Air National Guard and other assignments during the years 1968 to 1973.

Military Records of First Lieutenant George W. Bush for National Guard Service Between 1972 and 1973:
Please note: The following four documents were originally obtained by CBS News and sent to FindLaw by the White House on September 8, 2004. However, CBS News issued a statement Monday, September 20, 2004, stating in part that the network "cannot prove the authenticity of documents used in a 60 Minutes story about President Bush's National Guard service and . . . airing the story was a 'mistake' that CBS regretted." · Aug. 1, 1972 Memo ordering Bush's suspension from the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. · May 4, 1972 Memo ordering Bush to report for his annual physical examination with the Texas Air National Guard by no later than May 14, 1972. · May 19, 1972 Memo to the file from Bush's commanding officer about a telephone call from Bush asking about how he "can get out of coming to drill," and suspecting that "he's...been talking to someone upstairs." · Aug. 18, 1973 ‘CYA’ Memo from Lt. Col. Killian suggesting that his superior officer, Col. Walter B. Staudt, was "pushing to sugar coat" Bush's officer evaluation.