So what really happened to George W. Bush during 1972 and 1973? When asked, Bush and his spokesmen say he was honorably discharged from the Texas Air National Guard, ergo he could only have been serving honorably during that time. Given that it is at least conceivable that the son of an influential Congressman might be able to get away with some shenanigans and still be discharged honorably from the National Guard, a greater accounting has been requested.
(Actually, you didn't even have to be the son of anyone influential, as Richard Cohen of the Washington Post freely admits.)
So after a week of stalling following Bush's promise to open up his records on Meet the Press, the White House has now released 400 pages of documents which they claim is a complete record of Bush's military history. It started as a trickle, first with a complete version of a torn document that purports to show Bush showed up for duty on certain dates, followed by a record of a dental exam at an Alabama base, followed finally by a dump just before a long holiday weekend.
Unfortunately, there is nothing new in this latest set of documents. Not surprisingly, there are still many unanswered questions. I have listed some of the ones I think are important, along with their significance.
- Why is the "torn document" issued by the ARF? The "torn document" first appeared in the original National Guard article from the Boston Globe. It shows Bush's social security number (redacted in publicly released versions) and some numbers that appear to award points for guard duty. The untorn version has W's full name and is issued not by the Texas or Alabama Air National Guards, but by ARF. ARF stands for "Air Reserve Force". So why ARF and not TANG or AANG?
Bush has never mentioned serving in the ARF, leading one to believe he may not want it to be known. Why? Possibly because one could be sent from the ANG to the ARF as a form of disciplinary action, as it greatly increased one's chances of being called to active duty. See the previous link for more details.
- Why isn't the answer to the question "did Bush serve community service?" a simple "no"? Helen Thomas asked White House press secretary Scott McClellen this simple question about the gaps in Bush's National Guard service and got several minutes of evasions in response. A rational person can only conclude that Bush did serve community service during this period, or something akin to it.
- What is significant about Bush serving community service in 1972? This allegation has been made before, in a completely different context. J.H. Hatfield, in his book Fortunate Son, alleged that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, and that his father got W's record expunged by a judge close to the Bush family in exchange for community service, which of course, was also kept off his official record. More on this accusation below.
- Why did Bush not maintain his flight status by taking his yearly physical in 1972? This is an important question. The taxpayers spent around a million dollars training Bush to become a pilot. By not taking his physical, and being subsequently grounded, he unilaterally decided to throw that money in the trash. It should have set off an investigation, but there is no record of one. If Bush was having drug troubles in 1972, and his father was pulling favors and bailing him out, this question may be the key to getting to the bottom of the mystery.
The allegation of a drug arrest in Fortunate Son deserves some discussion. The story was dropped by the press when it was learned that author J.H. Hatfield was discovered to have a criminal record regarding a car bombing. While such a record should certainly call into question the integrity of any individual, the actual facts alleged by Hatfield were never challenged or disproven.
Hatfield claimed to have interviewed a director of a community service program in downtown Houston who stated that Bush had been required to perform service under her guidance. Furthermore, Hatfield claimed to have received his initial tip from someone within the Bush campaign, someone Hatfield later revealed to be Karl Rove.
Knowing now how Rove operates, it is not difficult to imagine him worrying that the story would break soon and deciding to feed it to the most easily discredited writer he could find. Imagining is not knowing, but in this scenario, Hatfield would have been the perfect dupe.
The book itself is largely a disappointing read for those trying to find dirt on W. Hatfield is even-handed to a fault and paints a generally positive portrait of a man who is extremely skilled at translating his family name into money and power. The arrest allegation shows up as an appendix, almost an afterthought, and is accompanied by much agonizing over whether to trust the sources and go with the story.
And finally, Hatfield was found dead in a motel room a couple of years into Bush's administration. It is easy to fall into conspiracy theories involving murder, but I for one believe the suicide diagnosis. Like Vince Foster, Hatfield was a man who felt his life had been destroyed by a vicious political machine, and could see no other escape.
In the end, it seems fairly clear that Bush got himself in to some kind of trouble (the specific cocaine charge was never strongly substantiated), and was rescued by his father, with discreet community service as the agreed upon punishment. Perhaps W's superiors at TANG got wind of his troubles and agreed to quietly move him to ARF and then wash their hands of the politically-connected son. Whatever the truth is, the dots just seem to sitting out there, waiting to be connected.
9:13:55 PM 
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