The Bush Guard story

The last couple of weeks or so has produced quite a bit of additional coverage of the Bush Air Guard story.  The previous post deals with the "forgery" claim, which is taking on a life of its own as a story, it seems.  Here I'm posting several links that deal more with the substance of the story.  (But don't miss David Neiwert's post on the "forgery" claim: AWOL: Document diversion 09/12/04.)

A key source on this story has been The AWOL Project, a site by researcher Paul Lukasiak, who has been digging through the "document dump" of paper the White House released earlier this year on Bush's Guard duty.

Press articles

The case of the missing Bush documents by James Moore, Salon.com 07/15/04
The Ben Barnes blackout by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com 08/30/04
Ben Barnes to break silence on "60 Minutes" by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com 08/30/04
George W. Bush's missing year by Mary Jacoby, Salon.com 09/02/04

Bush fell short on duty at Guard Boston Globe 09/08/04.  Atrios points out that what these reporters figured out about the irregularities in Bush's exit from the Guard had already been analyzed by John Byrne of the Raw Story on 08/01/04: Bush was AWOL in 1972.

Missing in Action by Nicholas Kristof New York Times 09/08/04
President George W. Bush's Military Service: A Critical Analysis (2004) by Gerald Lechliter (*.pdf file)
Stung! by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com 09/10/04
In the same league as Fox by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com 09/10/04

The service quesiton by Kit Roane US News & World Report 09/20/04 edition (accessed 09/12/04) Via Atrios, who has been following this story closely.

Blog comments

David Neiwert (Orcinus):

Input, please 07/02/04

Steve Soto (The Left Coaster):

Guess Whose Guard Records Have Been "Destroyed" - Seven Years Ago 07/10/04

Josh Marshall:

08/29/04 on Ben Barnes
08/29/04 on Ben Barnes (2)
08/30/04 on Ben Barnes
09/01/04 on Ben Barnes
09/01/04 on Alabama 1972
09/06/04 on Alabama 1972
09/08/04 on the Killian memos
09/09/04 on Ben Barnes
09/09/04 text of Dan Bartlett interview on CBS
09/09/04 briefly analyzes Guard story
09/09/04 thoughts on the politics of theGuard story
09/09/04 on Bush defying orders

Atrios:

Bush Lies About Military Service 09/08/04
Bush Spits on Vietnam Vets 09/08/04

TAPPED (American Prospect):

Lying About Documents by Matthew Yglesias 09/09/04
Not Quite, But Good Effort! by Sam Rosenfeld  09/09/04

The significance of the National Guard story has less to do with Bush’s moral cowardice in avoiding a war he says he supported (though that’s certainly part of it) and more to do with the ease -- the absolute lack of hesitation -- with which he and the people around him lie whenever it suits their purposes.

Steve Gilliard:

Giliard uses more profanity at his blog than I would prefer.  But having followed him for quite a while, he's one of the best political analysts I've come across.  He is quick to see through the fog of the conventional wisdom when it's misguided.

The case of the missing records 09/06/04
Why did he do it? 09/09/04
Source: Barnes contacted by Poppy Bush 09/09/04
It's not only the fonts 09/10/04

The gaps in [Bush's]records are unique without some kind of discipline. He's missing large chunks of duty and there is clear evidence that he only flew for two of what should have been a four year flying career. What IS clear is something happened to him in 1972 which caused him to cease flying.

Masterful? Not quite 09/12/04

Gilliard thinks the whole "forgery" flap has actually backfired on the rightwingers who pumped it:

The right bloggers had a day to come up with some easily discredited [nonsense], which kept the whole issue of Bush's Guard service in the press. Where they do not want it to be. Rove wanted this to sink beneath the waves, now CBS, which takes their news reputation as seriously as a heart attack, is going to keep digging. What? Did you think they would roll over? Dan Rather doesn't like being called a liar by idiot kids and "document experts" who can't use a ruler to see if a line is justified.