Text 2264, 93 rader
Skriven 2004-09-14 22:47:59 av Ed Connell (1:379/1.6)
   Kommentar till text 2223 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Re: Bush Entitled to wear ribbon
========================================
Hey, John.

 JH> Internet claim on Bush award disputed
 JH> By Gene J. Koprowski
 JH> United Press International

 JH> Published 9/13/2004 3:33 PM

 JH> CHICAGO, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The Air Force has knocked down allegations
 JH> by a Web site that said President Bush, when serving as an officer in
 JH> the Texas Air National Guard, wore a ribbon he was not authorized to
 JH> wear -- a military offense that could have led to a bad-conduct
 JH> discharge from the service if true.

 JH> The original story was offered to United Press International during
 JH> late August by operatives from Democrats.com, an Internet activist
 JH> group whose founder had earlier this year served as a source for The
 JH> Boston Globe and other media outlets on stories about Bush's service in
 JH> the guard in the 1960s and 1970s.

 JH> A summary of the story was also posted on the DemocraticUnderground.com
 JH> Web site by Walt Starr of Democrats.com last month, along with a photo
 JH> from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library of Lt. George W. Bush
 JH> wearing the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

 JH> An e-mail message to UPI on Aug. 27 from Bob Fertik, founder of
 JH> Democrats.com, stated, "Walt Starr called the Air Force and discovered
 JH> that the only AFOUA given to Bush's unit was in 1975 -- five years
 JH> after the photo. Case closed!"

 JH> The Air Force and the White House last week in interviews with UPI said
 JH> the allegations were misleading. White House spokesman Trent Duffy
 JH> referred UPI to the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Colorado where
 JH> Technical Sgt. Rob Mims is the spokesman.

 JH> Mims said the claims were "not true. I verified that (Thursday).
 JH> Lieutenant Bush received Air Force Outstanding Unit Award while he was
 JH> in basic training with the 3724th Basic Military Training Squadron at
 JH> Lackland Air Force Base, Texas."

 JH> Starr sent UPI a copy of a file of his research, including
 JH> correspondence he had with the Air Force seeking to obtain the service
 JH> records of Bush.

 JH> "This means, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that George W. Bush was
 JH> photographed wearing a ribbon he clearly did not earn," wrote Starr. He
 JH> said awards earned by the unit were given before Bush joined the unit.

 JH> Mims said that personnel records in the military are often incomplete
 JH> due to "clerical errors."

 JH> "But I did verify that that unit did get the award while he (Bush) was
 JH> there," said Mims.

 JH> The sergeant added that the photo in question was "taken after pilot
 JH> training."

 JH> Mims said he confirmed his information about the medal with the Air
 JH> Force's history office. "It's all there in black and white, we've
 JH> spelled it out," said Mims.

 JH> The White House, through Duffy, said: "Lieutenant Bush at the time was
 JH> completely authorized to wear those ribbons he has in those pictures.
 JH> He could only wear those ribbons if he has the wings. He earned his
 JH> wings in 1969."

 JH> When contacted by UPI Monday about the Air Force's statements, Fertik
 JH> refused to comment.

 JH> The news of the Air Force and White House disproving the allegations
 JH> about the Bush medal came Friday, as CBS News and other news
 JH> organizations were reeling from the disclosure that they had published
 JH> or aired possibly forged documents about Bush's military service
 JH> record.

 JH> The source of the CBS story has not been disclosed, but CBS is
 JH> conducting an internal investigation into the controversy.

They are trying everything including the use of rotten bait.  They are
desparate, but they don't seem to let disappointments and failures keep them
from trying for something else - anything else.  Someone should make a list
of all the failed smeer attempts by the Democrats.  By itself, that would be
eye-opening.

John, on that thing you wrote me about a while ago.  I didn't see the post
for a while because I now use a different address due to the volume of spam.
I have a good filter, but there is so much spam that it takes the filter
abominablly long to sort the mail.  Anyway, I am totally on board with your
idea.  I will provide if someone else is in charge. <g>


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 * Origin: Bush, "Let's roll."  Kerry, "Let's rollover." (1:379/1.6)