DeSPURado
09-14-2004, 05:57 AM
"The records have now been fully released."
That was White House press secretary Scott McClellan talking about records of President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. Unfortunately for McClellan, he said that on Feb. 10 -- before two more waves of records were released. In July, the Pentagon, citing an "inadvertent oversight," released records that it had previously labeled destroyed. And in recent days, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe have obtained still more records.
The White House is no longer saying the "entire file" has been released. In fact, the search for Bush's Guard documents continues -- and is being directed by a three-star general, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who has coordinated the administration's statements on the issue, says: "My understanding is there is a constant review spearheaded by the FOIA office at the Pentagon to ensure all documents are located."
Now there is some grumbling among Bush loyalists about Bartlett's handling of the Guard records; they say he may have drawn extra attention to the matter by sitting on the most recent batch of documents before releasing them publicly. And the newly released documents have refuted two claims Bartlett made in 1999: that Bush was appropriately released from his Texas unit because it had phased out the F-102 jets that he flew, and that Bush transferred to a reserve unit in Boston. The F-102s were still being flown by Bush's unit when he departed, and Bush never signed up with a Boston area unit.
WPost (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A18907-2004Sep13?language=printer)
That was White House press secretary Scott McClellan talking about records of President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. Unfortunately for McClellan, he said that on Feb. 10 -- before two more waves of records were released. In July, the Pentagon, citing an "inadvertent oversight," released records that it had previously labeled destroyed. And in recent days, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe have obtained still more records.
The White House is no longer saying the "entire file" has been released. In fact, the search for Bush's Guard documents continues -- and is being directed by a three-star general, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who has coordinated the administration's statements on the issue, says: "My understanding is there is a constant review spearheaded by the FOIA office at the Pentagon to ensure all documents are located."
Now there is some grumbling among Bush loyalists about Bartlett's handling of the Guard records; they say he may have drawn extra attention to the matter by sitting on the most recent batch of documents before releasing them publicly. And the newly released documents have refuted two claims Bartlett made in 1999: that Bush was appropriately released from his Texas unit because it had phased out the F-102 jets that he flew, and that Bush transferred to a reserve unit in Boston. The F-102s were still being flown by Bush's unit when he departed, and Bush never signed up with a Boston area unit.
WPost (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A18907-2004Sep13?language=printer)