Bernard Weiner: 'Bush's AWOL scandal: Let's break through the media barrier'

Bernard Weiner (link courtesy of Smirking Chimp) encourages progressives to get involved in getting the updated story of Bush's AWOL scandal into the mainstream media:

"When considered within their proper legal and policy context, the Bush records effectively rebut the White House claim that Bush 'fulfilled his duty.' When considered as a whole, these documents reveal that Bush spent the last two years of his six-year Military Service Obligation in an active effort to avoid fulfilling the obligations and commitments he incurred upon entering the Texas Air National Guard.

"They also show that while some Texas officials aided and abetted Bush's efforts (and others apparently acquiesced to what was happening), there is no reason to question the character of Alabama officials, or Air Reserve Forces personnel as a whole. Finally, the only conclusion that can be reached from an examination of Bush's records for the period after he quit the Air National Guard is that the Air Force attempted to take punitive measure against Bush, but that political pressure prevented those measures from being carried out."

Lawrence Korb -- who was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics under Reagan from 1981-85 -- appears to agree with the conclusion based on the key five-month period of Bush's service when there are no records that he reported for duty: "If you don't show up, you're absent without leave, by definition."
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No money is being asked for here. You don't need to write a check to anybody in order to move this AWOL issue forward. All you need to do -- and it may well affect the outcome of this election, and thus the future of our country for the next decade -- is to devote an hour or so of your time, and some 37-cent stamps, in the service of your country.