Recent questions raised about President George W. Bush's National Guard service have revived heated debates over whether the current president did, in fact, serve completely and honorably during his time in the Texas Air National Guard.
Documents made public last week by CBS' "60 Minutes" call into question several of Bush's assertions, most seriously whether he completed his service and whether he was justified in missing a physical. The memos from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian seem to indicate that he may have been pressured to give favorable treatment to Bush.
Regardless of the status of the memos, it was also revealed that Lt. Col. Killian, in August of 1972, suspended Bush from his flight status for not performing to Texas Air National Guard standards and for failure to take a physical requested four months prior.
While the White House has maintained that Bush did not take the physical simply because he was no longer an active pilot, Killian's order may indicate that the omission of the physical was not expected by Bush's superiors.
Additionally, it appears that the president did not fulfill an obligation he made when attending Harvard Business School to join a local National Guard unit and complete his service obligation.
Many will question why Americans are still wrestling with the ghosts of Vietnam three decades after the end of American action there. The war in Southeast Asia was one that ripped at the very fabric of this country, leaving many young people dead, and many more unspeakably scarred by what they had seen and done. Such wounds, because they run so deep, may not heal in our lifetime.
Last month a Texas-based group with demonstrated ties to Bush senior advisor and chief political strategist Karl Rove ran a series of ads that called into question Democratic candidate John Kerry's service in Vietnam. Kerry's service earned him three purple hearts, a bronze star, and a silver star. Additionally, many of Kerry's former mates tell of his heroic actions during his brief tour as a swiftboat captain. In this sense, by attacking Kerry with information that has yet proven to be true, Bush's surrogates invited a comparison that would be unflattering to the current president, given the known questions concerning his service.
President Bush is the commander in chief of a military force that is involved in two major overseas operations. As such he has authorized wars that now mean our citizen soldiers are being called up at rates not seen since World War II. So long as our current National Guardsmen are serving honorably overseas, the American people deserve to know about whether their president did the same.<$>
