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Key Bush Military Service Files Destroyed
Fri Jul 9, 2004 12:23 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microfilm records related to President Bush's service in the Air National Guard three decades ago were accidentally destroyed when the military tried to improve its files, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Payroll records of large numbers of service members, including Bush, were ruined in 1996 and 1997 in a project to save large, brittle rolls of microfilm, Defense Finance and Accounting Service spokesman Bryan Hubbard told Reuters.
Bush's whereabouts during his service as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard in the United States during the Vietnam War have become an election-year issue, with some Democrats accusing him of shirking his duty.
The destroyed files kept in Denver on deteriorating 2,000-foot rolls of microfilm covered three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Bush's claims of service with the guard in Alabama are in question.
"It (the film) just crumbled. We were attempting to improve the preservation," Hubbard told Reuters. He said he did not know why the destruction had not been previously announced.
The White House said it has already been shown that Bush performed his duties in the National Guard.
"We released all of the documents that are available. We made that clear at the time and they demonstrate that the president fulfilled his duties in the National Guard at the time. And there is nothing new in this report," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
HUNDREDS OF PAGES
Last February, the White House released hundreds of pages of Bush's military records. Those records did not provide new evidence to place Bush in Alabama during the latter part of 1972, when some Democrats say he was basically absent without leave.
There was no indication at that time that the pay records had been destroyed.
"This whole thing was inadvertent. It happened a long time ago at a files storage site in Denver," a senior defense official, who asked not to be identified, said.
Continued ...
http://www.reuters.c...storyID=5632141
Fri Jul 9, 2004 12:23 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microfilm records related to President Bush's service in the Air National Guard three decades ago were accidentally destroyed when the military tried to improve its files, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Payroll records of large numbers of service members, including Bush, were ruined in 1996 and 1997 in a project to save large, brittle rolls of microfilm, Defense Finance and Accounting Service spokesman Bryan Hubbard told Reuters.
Bush's whereabouts during his service as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard in the United States during the Vietnam War have become an election-year issue, with some Democrats accusing him of shirking his duty.
The destroyed files kept in Denver on deteriorating 2,000-foot rolls of microfilm covered three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Bush's claims of service with the guard in Alabama are in question.
"It (the film) just crumbled. We were attempting to improve the preservation," Hubbard told Reuters. He said he did not know why the destruction had not been previously announced.
The White House said it has already been shown that Bush performed his duties in the National Guard.
"We released all of the documents that are available. We made that clear at the time and they demonstrate that the president fulfilled his duties in the National Guard at the time. And there is nothing new in this report," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
HUNDREDS OF PAGES
Last February, the White House released hundreds of pages of Bush's military records. Those records did not provide new evidence to place Bush in Alabama during the latter part of 1972, when some Democrats say he was basically absent without leave.
There was no indication at that time that the pay records had been destroyed.
"This whole thing was inadvertent. It happened a long time ago at a files storage site in Denver," a senior defense official, who asked not to be identified, said.
Continued ...
http://www.reuters.c...storyID=5632141
Wow. The second consecutive convenient headline for Bush. I'm far from a conspiracy theorist... in fact conspiracy theories make me roll my eyes into the back of my head as to observe my brain's functions. That being said, this stinks of rotten potatoes.
MultiQuote
But let's be fair. It's as convenient as Hil's missing Rose law firm records appearing in the white house all of a sudden.
