Bush to Release Military Pay Records
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
WASHINGTON ? The White House, facing election-year questions about President Bush's (search) military service, is releasing pay records and other information intended to support his assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard (search) during the Vietnam war.
The material, to be released Tuesday, was to include pay records and annual retirement point summaries to show that Bush served.
"These records clearly document that the president fulfilled his duty," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
The point summaries were released during the 2000 presidential campaign but the pay records were not obtained by the White House until late Monday from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo., McClellan said. He said the center, apparently acting on its own, reviewed Bush's records and came up with the pay information.
"It was our impression from the Texas Air National Guard ? they stated they didn't have them," he said. "It was also our impression those records didn't exist." Bush on Sunday authorized the release of his Guard records. McClellan said the latest material apparently is all of Bush's records.
The pay information documented the dates when Bush showed up for Guard duty, the spokesman said. "You are paid for the dates you served," McClellan added.
Bush's military record was raised as an issue in the 2000 campaign and was revived this year by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe (search), who called Bush "AWOL" ? absent without leave ? during a period of his service when he was in Alabama.
Asked if the records should end the controversy about Bush's service, McClellan said, "You have to ask those who made these outrageous accusations if they stand by them in the face of this documentation that demonstrates he served and fulfilled his duties."
Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 shortly before graduating from Yale University.
Questions have been raised about whether family connections helped him get into the Guard when there were waiting lists for what was seen as an easy billet. Bush says no one in his family pulled strings and that he got in because others didn't want to commit to the almost two years of active duty required for fighter pilot training.
A central issue is whether he showed up for duty while assigned to Guard units in Alabama, where he worked on a political campaign in 1972. "There may be no evidence, but I did report," Bush told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged."
Another question is why he was allowed to end Guard duty about six months early to attend Harvard Business School. Bush said on NBC that he had "worked it out with the military. And I'm just telling you, I did my duty."
McClellan said the White House would release statements ? previously distributed ? from Albert Lloyd Jr., who was personnel director for the Texas Air National Guard from 1969 to 1995 and who reviewed Bush's military records at the request of his campaign four years ago.
Lloyd has said that Bush's early discharge was not uncommon for pilots or other crewmen who were to leave soon and had been trained on now-obsolete jets, as was Bush's case.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
WASHINGTON ? The White House, facing election-year questions about President Bush's (search) military service, is releasing pay records and other information intended to support his assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard (search) during the Vietnam war.
The material, to be released Tuesday, was to include pay records and annual retirement point summaries to show that Bush served.
"These records clearly document that the president fulfilled his duty," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
The point summaries were released during the 2000 presidential campaign but the pay records were not obtained by the White House until late Monday from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo., McClellan said. He said the center, apparently acting on its own, reviewed Bush's records and came up with the pay information.
"It was our impression from the Texas Air National Guard ? they stated they didn't have them," he said. "It was also our impression those records didn't exist." Bush on Sunday authorized the release of his Guard records. McClellan said the latest material apparently is all of Bush's records.
The pay information documented the dates when Bush showed up for Guard duty, the spokesman said. "You are paid for the dates you served," McClellan added.
Bush's military record was raised as an issue in the 2000 campaign and was revived this year by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe (search), who called Bush "AWOL" ? absent without leave ? during a period of his service when he was in Alabama.
Asked if the records should end the controversy about Bush's service, McClellan said, "You have to ask those who made these outrageous accusations if they stand by them in the face of this documentation that demonstrates he served and fulfilled his duties."
Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 shortly before graduating from Yale University.
Questions have been raised about whether family connections helped him get into the Guard when there were waiting lists for what was seen as an easy billet. Bush says no one in his family pulled strings and that he got in because others didn't want to commit to the almost two years of active duty required for fighter pilot training.
A central issue is whether he showed up for duty while assigned to Guard units in Alabama, where he worked on a political campaign in 1972. "There may be no evidence, but I did report," Bush told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged."
Another question is why he was allowed to end Guard duty about six months early to attend Harvard Business School. Bush said on NBC that he had "worked it out with the military. And I'm just telling you, I did my duty."
McClellan said the White House would release statements ? previously distributed ? from Albert Lloyd Jr., who was personnel director for the Texas Air National Guard from 1969 to 1995 and who reviewed Bush's military records at the request of his campaign four years ago.
Lloyd has said that Bush's early discharge was not uncommon for pilots or other crewmen who were to leave soon and had been trained on now-obsolete jets, as was Bush's case.
