White House released papers show four instances of Lt. Bush Disobeying Orders

The following is adapted from an email I sent Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post regarding this poorly researched article.

The information you have that Bush after April 1972 was a "minimally satisfactory participant" in the Air National Guard relies purely on two sources, one implicated in committing fraudulent paperwork for Lt. Bush, and ignores numerous accounts in other media.

One of your sources, retired Maj. Gen. Paul A. Weaver Jr. had previously stated of Bush's service in this time period: ""It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable" in the Boston Globe.

At the New York Times Kristof referred to a 32-page analysis of Bush's records - "The record clearly and convincingly proves he did not fulfill the obligations he incurred when he enlisted in the Air National Guard," writes Gerald Lechliter, a retired Army colonel who has made the most meticulous examination I've seen of Mr. Bush's records.

Salon.com in an article called "Dangerously close to desertion" uses Paul Lukasiak's research extensively. Paul examined the White House's data dump of records in February, something every U.S.news organization failed to do despite being urged, and discovered:
- the payroll records which show the dates attended and for what period they applied to show that the five missed weekends in 72 were never made up, contrary to your report.
- even the White House now admits that Bush did not perform actual duties in Boston, but he collected pay only given for actual attendance.
- nearly all supposed training and attendance after April of 72 was at times contrary to what reserve regulations permitted
- .Lukasiak arrived at the overwhelming conclusion that not only did Bush walk away from his final two years of military obligation, coming dangerously close to desertion, but that he attempted to cover up his absenteeism through fraud.

Even disregarding the controversial CBS memos, which research shows appear to be typed on an IBM Executive model D with proportional spacing and the optional superscript TH available at Ellington Field at the time, the White House February data dump included four direct orders which lt. Bush never obeyed:
- the order to take the physical
- three separate orders to report to various bases at times his records show he didn't report.

(The Washington Post separate story of the memo's being able to be produced using standard Microsoft Word is dead wrong. Superficially documents look identical because they use the same font but the original memos have some letters and numbers not level on the line as happens in typewriters, not computers with modern printers.)

Part of the reason to support the authenticity of the CBS memos is that they only confirm documents already released by the White House which the U.S. media had refused to investigate.

U.S. News and World Report has a more complete account of Bush's lack of service in this time period. "Some experts say they remain mystified as to how Bush obtained an honorable discharge."

Retired Col. Rufus G. Martin, who was Bush's personnel officer in Texas and who is a major source for your story, would have to be the person responsible for fraudulent documents showing that Bush completed his required time if other documents and witnesses stating that Bush "has not been seen at this location" are true.

Your article did get the F-102 story correct, Ellington continued to fly these until 1974, but even the AP recently had a story stating Bush spokespersons were lying, excuse me, factually incorrect, when they had given the F-102 not being available at Ellington as an excuse for Bush ceasing to be a pilot.

The preponderance of the evidence is that Bush was not a "minimally satisfactory participant" but that Bush failed to do this and he and others, including Col. Martin, covered this up. The payroll documents the White House released show clear evidence of fraud.

Given this evidence of fraud, Col. Burkett's whistle-blower lawsuit alleging retaliation for among other things refusing to participate in destroying Bush military documents should also be re-examined by the media.