WASHINGTON
– The White House, facing election-year questions about
President Bush's military service, released pay records
and other information Tuesday that it said supports
Bush's assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member
of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
The material included annual retirement point
summaries and pay records to show that Bush served.
"When you serve, you are paid for that service. These
documents outline the days on which he was paid. That
means he served. And these documents also show he met
his requirements," press secretary Scott McClellan told
reporters. "And it's just really a shame that people are
continuing to bring this up.
"These documents clearly show that the president
fulfilled his duties," McClellan said.
Photocopied payroll records distributed by the White
House were not all legible. The White House promised
clearer copies later Tuesday afternoon.
The documents indicate that Bush received credit for
nine days of active duty between May 1972 and May 1973,
the period that has been cited by Democrats as evidence
that Bush shirked his military responsibilities.
A
memo written by retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd Jr. at the
request of the White House said a review of Bush's
records showed that he had "satisfactory years" for
1972-73 and 1973-74 "which proves that he completed his
military obligation in a satisfactory manner."
Lloyd was personnel director for the Texas Air
National Guard from 1969 to 1995 and had reviewed Bush's
military records at the request of his campaign four
years ago.
The point summaries were released during the 2000
presidential campaign, but the pay records were not
obtained by the White House until late Monday from the
Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, McClellan said.
He said the center, apparently acting on its own,
reviewed Bush's records and came up with the pay
information.
"It was our impression from the Texas Air National
Guard - they stated they didn't have them," he said. "It
was also our impression those records didn't exist."
Bush on Sunday authorized the release of his Guard
records. McClellan said the latest material apparently
was all of Bush's records.
The pay information documented the dates when Bush
showed up for Guard duty, the spokesman said. "You are
paid for the dates you served," McClellan said.
Bush's military record was raised as an issue in the
2000 campaign and was revived this year by Democratic
National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who called
Bush "AWOL," absent without leave, during a period of
his service when he was in Alabama.
'Outrageous'
Asked if the records should end the controversy about
Bush's service, McClellan said, "You have to ask those
who made these outrageous accusations if they stand by
them in the face of this documentation that demonstrates
he served and fulfilled his duties."
Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968
shortly before graduating from Yale University.
Questions have been raised about whether family
connections helped him get into the Guard when there
were waiting lists for what was seen as an easy billet.
Bush says that no one in his family pulled strings and
that he got in because others didn't want to commit to
the almost two years of active duty required for
training as a fighter pilot.
A central issue is whether he showed up for duty
while assigned to Guard units in Alabama, where he
worked on a political campaign in 1972. "There may be no
evidence, but I did report," Bush told NBC's "Meet the
Press" on Sunday. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been
honorably discharged."
Another question is why he was allowed to end Guard
duty about six months early to attend Harvard Business
School. Bush said on NBC that he had "worked it out with
the military. And I'm just telling you, I did my duty."
Lloyd has said that Bush's early discharge was not
uncommon for pilots or other crewmen who were to leave
soon and had been trained on now-obsolete jets, as was
Bush's case.