September 10, 2004
Bush told forces chiefs to 'sweeten his war record'
From Roland Watson in Washington
AFTER a month in which John Kerry’s actions 35 years ago have dominated the presidential campaign, President Bush is now squirming under the spotlight as his wayward past comes under fresh scrutiny.
New evidence, supported by testimony from several well-placed individuals, threatened to tear holes in the official account of his Vietnam years with the Texas National Guard. They confirm that strings were pulled for Mr Bush to gain a highly prized slot as a trainee fighter pilot, and again when he wanted to relocate to Alabama. Mr Bush’s father was a Texas congressman at the time.
NI_MPU('middle');Contemporary memos suggest that Mr Bush personally pressed commanding officers to let him do fewer drills and leave Texas. At least one of his commanding officers was trying to “sugar coat” his record, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, commander in the Texas air national guard at that time. Mr Bush also refused a direct order to undertake a medical.
The White House was forced to denounce incendiary claims in a new book on the Bush dynasty, branding as “garbage” its assertion that Mr Bush took cocaine at Camp David while his father held political power, and also used cocaine and marijuana while serving with the Texas National Guard.
Kitty Kelley, a celebrity biographer famed for her salacious exposés of the rich and famous including the British Royal family, cited Sharon Bush, the President’s former sister-in-law, as a secondary source for the Camp David allegation.
The book, entitled The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, is due out next week, just as the presidential election campaign hots up, and clearly has Republican chiefs worried.
They have been pressing the networks to cancel a series of high-profile television and radio interviews with Ms Kelley and have sent memos to conservative talk radio hosts attacking Ms Kelley.
Mrs Bush, who is divorced from Neil Bush, a brother of the President, and whose ties with the Bush family are strained at best, issued a statement saying: “I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David. When Kitty Kelley raised drug use at Camp David, I responded by saying something along the lines of, ‘Who would say such a thing?’” Ms Kelley’s publisher insisted that the account was an accurate reflection of a four-hour lunch the author had with Mrs Bush and a 90-minute telephone call the next day in the presence of one of her editors.
The claims of drug use and absence from the national guard coincide in the early 1970s. Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, commander in the Texas air national guard, said in one memo dated August 1972 that the then Lieutenant George Bush had “made no attempt” to undergo a medical exam “as ordered”.
None of Mr Bush’s critics has suggested he failed to show for his annual physical to hide narcotics in his system. A previous book, though, alleged that Mr Bush had a cocaine conviction during his “missing months” in 1972 that was scrubbed from official records.
The issue of Mr Bush’s national guard service has been given new momentum after the dissection of Mr Kerry’s actions during the episodes that won him three medals for being wounded and two for bravery during combat in Vietnam. The Pentagon released a series of memos concerning Mr Bush’s service after the White House had insisted that all records on the issue were in the public domain.
AS REPORTED AT: ARTICLE
Bush told forces chiefs to 'sweeten his war record'
From Roland Watson in Washington
New evidence, supported by testimony from several well-placed individuals, threatened to tear holes in the official account of his Vietnam years with the Texas National Guard. They confirm that strings were pulled for Mr Bush to gain a highly prized slot as a trainee fighter pilot, and again when he wanted to relocate to Alabama. Mr Bush’s father was a Texas congressman at the time.
NI_MPU('middle');Contemporary memos suggest that Mr Bush personally pressed commanding officers to let him do fewer drills and leave Texas. At least one of his commanding officers was trying to “sugar coat” his record, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, commander in the Texas air national guard at that time. Mr Bush also refused a direct order to undertake a medical.
The White House was forced to denounce incendiary claims in a new book on the Bush dynasty, branding as “garbage” its assertion that Mr Bush took cocaine at Camp David while his father held political power, and also used cocaine and marijuana while serving with the Texas National Guard.
Kitty Kelley, a celebrity biographer famed for her salacious exposés of the rich and famous including the British Royal family, cited Sharon Bush, the President’s former sister-in-law, as a secondary source for the Camp David allegation.
The book, entitled The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, is due out next week, just as the presidential election campaign hots up, and clearly has Republican chiefs worried.
They have been pressing the networks to cancel a series of high-profile television and radio interviews with Ms Kelley and have sent memos to conservative talk radio hosts attacking Ms Kelley.
Mrs Bush, who is divorced from Neil Bush, a brother of the President, and whose ties with the Bush family are strained at best, issued a statement saying: “I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David. When Kitty Kelley raised drug use at Camp David, I responded by saying something along the lines of, ‘Who would say such a thing?’” Ms Kelley’s publisher insisted that the account was an accurate reflection of a four-hour lunch the author had with Mrs Bush and a 90-minute telephone call the next day in the presence of one of her editors.
The claims of drug use and absence from the national guard coincide in the early 1970s. Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, commander in the Texas air national guard, said in one memo dated August 1972 that the then Lieutenant George Bush had “made no attempt” to undergo a medical exam “as ordered”.
None of Mr Bush’s critics has suggested he failed to show for his annual physical to hide narcotics in his system. A previous book, though, alleged that Mr Bush had a cocaine conviction during his “missing months” in 1972 that was scrubbed from official records.
The issue of Mr Bush’s national guard service has been given new momentum after the dissection of Mr Kerry’s actions during the episodes that won him three medals for being wounded and two for bravery during combat in Vietnam. The Pentagon released a series of memos concerning Mr Bush’s service after the White House had insisted that all records on the issue were in the public domain.
AS REPORTED AT: ARTICLE
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