The recent recovery of Mr. Bush's missing payroll records once again exposes the press's failure to definitively investigate Mr. Bush's military service. The press's inability to resolve the AWOL issue has
Josh Marshall arguing that the White House has succeeded in drowning the issue in a sea of documents.
While Marshall has correctly identified the White House strategy, he -- like the press -- ignores an obvious shortcut through the documents to heart of the issue. Despite the reams of official records, Bush's minders have built their case that Mr. Bush fulfilled his military commitment on one, lone unofficial document. This document -- a
memo by Albert Lloyd, a retired Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) Personnel Officer - is not only
factually incorrect it also just happens to obscure the most suspect element in Mr. Bush's military record. Even a minimal press investigation of the Lloyd Memo would give voters in November a much better understanding of both Mr. Bush's military record and the apparent efforts Mr. Bush's minders have made to limit public knowledge of his record.
The Lloyd Memo misrepresents Mr. Bush's retirement records and as a result hides his placement on inactive status before the end of his service commitment. The regulations in effect at the time imply that Mr. Bush's had to be slated for an early Air Force Reserve discharge in order to be placed on early inactive status. The documents released to date don't tell us why Mr. Bush would have been on his way out early but there is ample
evidence that irregularities in his earlier TXANG service were not appreciated by supervising Air Force Reserve Personnel officers. No member of the press has ever publicly asked Mr. Bush or his minders about his unexplained inactive status.
Not only did Bush's minders release the deceptive Lloyd Memo to the press in 2000 and 2004, they did so while in possession of the key retirement record that discredits the Lloyd Memo. So investigating the Lloyd Memo could both resolve a key issue in Mr. Bush's service record and cast light on whether Mr. Bush's minders have engaged in a cover-up.
Three questions need answers from the White House:
- Why was Mr. Bush placed on inactive status on 9/15/73?
- Why does Mr. Lloyd's memo cover-up Mr. Bush's inactive status?
- Why did Mr. Bush's minders provide the Lloyd memo to the press twice when they had the retirement record discrediting the Lloyd memo?
So where is the press? In the last few months my local paper -- the New York Times -- has offered lengthy investigative pieces on train crossing fatalities and inappropriate insurance sales to soldiers. These are important topics, but not exactly issues influential to the election outcome. Don't voters deserve to know whether or not Mr. Bush and his minders have been truthful about the President's military record?
The fact that just months before a pivotal election so many issues in Mr. Bush's service record remain unexplored and no one in the mainstream press seems the least bit interested really says it all about the current state of US journalism.