Fort Knox vs. Fort Dix

"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed managed to wangle slots in the Army Reserve and National Guard units... Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country." ~~ excerpted from My American Journey: An Autobiography by Colin Powell

by Bridget Gibson: <rbsclay@grm.net>

02/15/04: (ICH) The trickling of military documents during the past week has done little to  clear up the mysteries that have surrounded the service that George W. Bush so ‘proudly’ gave during the Vietnam War. If anything, it has shown that we needed to know the answers to these questions long ago – long before November 4, 2000.

With Five Hundred and thirty-nine (539) Americans dead on the sands of Iraq and more than 110,000 still at risk, with One Hundred and Sixty Six-Billion Dollars ($166,000,000,000.00) committed and more needed, we should have  been told the whole story.

Even though this is late, it is still relevant. It is perhaps more relevant  than ever. This man who now calls himself “The War President” must be examined ever more closely than before. The facts must be placed in the sunshine where they should have lived all along. The darkness that has shrouded every movement of this man and his administration has caused losses inestimable to far too many.

George Walker Bush (born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut) is the son of Congressman (1967-1971) George Herbert Walker Bush (later our 41st president). His grandfather, Prescott Bush had been a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 through 1963. The Bush family has money, lots of money. Their money was passed down for several generations and more was made from oilfields and banks. There are news articles that state with certainty that the Bush family made a tremendous addition to their wealth 
from the use of slave labor (from the Auschwitz death camp) at the Silesian coal and steel mines in Poland during Hitler’s occupation there.

With family connections like these, I’m sure it was easy to get any favor that was asked.

From 1956 through 1968, Thirty Six-Thousand One Hundred and fifty-two 
(36,152) military personnel had died in the Vietnam War. The total 
casualties would eventually exceed fifty-eight thousand (58,000).

The records show that the Air Force lost 2,584, the Army lost 38,209, the 
Coast Guard lost seven, the Marine Corps lost 14,838 and the Navy lost 2,555.

With those odds and branches of services – with even the Coast Guard losing 
lives – the safest place to be was obvious – The National Guard.

How, on May 28, 1968, did George vault over a waiting list of 500 other 
eligible candidates with an entry score of 25% (the lowest acceptable 
rating and with 95% being the acceptable rating for a future officer)? This 
answer may never be known. What we can know with certainty is that George 
signed up for six (6) years of service, then decided that his priorities 
were greater than those of his country, left the jurisdiction of his Texas 
Air Guard and moved to Alabama to work on a failed political campaign.

His application to the Texas Air Guard has been released showing that he 
had been arrested and had numerous traffic accidents and violations. The 
rules, at that time, required a waiver for such violations, yet there are 
no notations for any waivers for his cases.

We know that George Walker Bush did not appear for any guard activities for 
a lengthy period during 1972 and 1973. We know that he was suspended from 
flying on August 1, 1972 for failing to appear for an annual medical 
evaluation. Mr. Bush’s aide, Dan Bartlett stated that the reason for not 
appearing for his medical evaluation in 1972 was that “There was no reason 
to take a flight exam when he wasn't flying and wasn't going to fly.” 
George Bush decided that he was not going to fly even though we, the 
taxpayers, spent over $1 Million ($1,000,000.00) for his training. A 
condition for his admittance to the Texas Air National Guard required a 
lifetime commitment to fly.

I am unaware of any case where a National Guard member has had the 
privilege of choice regarding their service duties. How would our National 
Guard function if the commanding officers were not in charge? But in this 
case George W. Bush was allowed to ‘fulfill’ his duties as he saw fit, even 
choosing to end his commitment almost one year early so that he could 
attend Harvard University in the fall of 1973.

We may never know if the life that George saved was his own, but we can 
know that the treatment he received was different.

We have had several representatives that did serve in Vietnam in our Senate 
and Congress. One that I feel the need to mention at this time is Max 
Cleland. Former Senator Cleland has been on the receiving end of some very 
negative Republican campaign ads. Last year he was viciously smeared by his 
Republican opponent for being “weak on security.” The television ads were 
run comparing Max Cleland with Osama bin Laden. These ads were run while he 
was presenting to Congress S.B. 929. This Vietnam veteran authored S.B. 929 
(`The Max Cleland Over the Road Bus Security and Safety Act of 2003), which 
passed with unanimous consent.

These duplicitous ads, discrediting and dishonoring his sacrifices and 
endeavors, were successful in unseating one of America’s unsung heroes. In 
Vietnam, he lost his right arm and both legs when a grenade exploded. The 
year? 1968. The same year George Walker Bush was busy avoiding active 
combat duty in a deadly war.

Currently, in our highest office, there sits a man that has blasphemed our 
country by his words and deeds. He has obfuscated and hidden the facts from 
view for far too long.

He has led our country into two wars that have produced nothing but more 
chaos and death for far too many innocent lives.

His party has been allowed the moral high ground in ways that should never 
have been imagined. Our country has been hijacked by radicals and 
warmongering zealots.

Today, unlike 1968, there are more than 174,000 National Guard members 
deployed across the globe on active duty assignments. The questions of 
honor and duty for these young men and women are quite different than those 
questions of honor and duty for George Walker Bush. If any of them fail to 
appear for duty and training, the consequences are grave and the personal 
humiliation is even greater.

It is up to the citizens of this country to become informed in ways that 
they have not been in the past years. Our government, led by George W. 
Bush, runs amok with its deadly and wasteful ways. Our Congress is 
prepared to once again raise the National Debt ceiling an additional $1 
Trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00). During the past two years, that debt has 
grown beyond $7 Trillion ($7,000,000,000.000.00). An additional trillion 
will allow it to increase above $8 Trillion ($8,000,000,000,000.00).

Now is the time for all good citizens to come to the aid of our country. 
Sound the alarm. The dangers that we face through these continued actions, 
that are passing as governing, will change our nation irrevocably and 
forever. There is not a moment to waste.

If your congressional representatives are not heeding your words and 
continue to allow this administration to lead us into debt and destruction, 
we must speak loudly and with one voice in November.