So he got paid... did he show up?

[khaosworks]

Bush 1972 payroll records 'found'

The US defence department has released payroll records relating to President George W Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972.

Earlier this month the Pentagon said it had inadvertently destroyed the documents, but a spokesman said they have been found in the city of Denver.

Correspondents say they do not shed light on Mr Bush's movements that year.

Democrats have accused the president of ducking the draft call to Vietnam in favour of less dangerous duties.

The White House has released some records in a bid to refute the charges.

'Clerical error'

In 1972 Mr Bush moved to Alabama to work on a political campaign, and opponents say he failed to turn up for guard duties during this time.

The records do not show whether he attended training with the Alabama unit that July, August and September because attendance records are kept separately from payroll records.

A defence spokesman blamed a clerical error for the Pentagon's previous failure to find the microfilm payroll records.

"We're talking about a manual process for records that are over 30 years old," Bryan Hubbard said.

Previously, the Pentagon said the microfilm containing the records had apparently disintegrated as staff were trying to preserve it from decay.

You know, I'm going to sound like a whiner who's not satisfied, but... I'm not satisfied. Whine.

Yeah, they've released the payroll records after people put up a stink about how convenient it was that these records relating to Bush's 1972 training period were "destroyed" while being preserved, but as it turns out, these just say he was paid, not that he was actually there. So what is that claim - that the Pentagon said a few weeks ago when they said that the documents "could have" settled the dispute - really worth? Turns out they couldn't have. Not in the slightest. Sooooo.... worth bupkis. I'm just saying.

Was. He. There? That's what we really want to know, guys. You know that. We know that. So stop pussyfooting around.

Comments

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't really have a problem with Bush or Cheney not going to Vietnam, per se. Hell, if I was in their position, I'd probably have tried something similar.

What bothers me, as I've tried to point out in my reply to Sherman above, is the hypocrisy in bringing patriotism up as an issue when the military service records are so disparate. It's the whole glass houses, pot-kettle thing, I suppose.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

What he said. These are the people who impugned Max Cleland as unpatriotic. That, coupled with their gloriously thorough incompetence at pretty much everything they do, but especially in matters military, makes their rhetoric against Kerry (and Wesley Clark and pretty much everyone else in their path) pretty galling.

And I do think Kerry's a better person than Cheney, but that mostly has to do with the scummery of Cheney. It's hard to go lower than the bottom of the barrel.