Kent Southard, Bush Watch

For those who don't understand the context of Michael Moore's and other's characterization of George W. Bush as a military deserter, a quick tutorial:   My term of enlistment in the (Mo) Air National Guard overlapped with Bush's, and I have a clear memory of the announcement that the Air Guard would start testing for drugs. The available records show that it was at this time that Bush refused to take his annual flight physical, which would have included this test. Bush was subsequently demoted from flight status. (On these same orders demoting Bush, James Bath was demoted also for the same reason - refusing to take the flight physical. Bath was soon to become the American agent for Bin Laden family business interests, and providing the funding for Bush's oil ventures.) Bush then requested transfer to a Guard postal unit in Alabama. There are no records available showing his service there, and that unit's commanders are on record as saying they have no memory of him. The lack of records for Bush's service apparently show an absence of around two years. I can attest the pressure on Guard members at the time that any pattern of missed drills would be rewarded with activation to active duty. And the military code states any absence up to 30 days is AWOL, anything over is desertion.   This episode is important because it is illustrative of Bush's essential nature. Bush owed his Air Guard enlistment in the first place to his family name, and his pilot training too (how many pilots are accepted with an 'official' score of 25% on the pilot aptitude test?) And whatever the truth of any drug use, it's beyond argument that Bush simply turned his back on his commitment when it was inconvenient for him. As a man of life-long immense privilege, he has always done so, without ever being held accountable. If Bush and his administration seem increasingly to inhabit the same plane of unreality as Michael Jackson, there's a reason. One dances outside a court hearing on child molestation, the other says 'WMD or not, what's the difference?' --posted 02.02.04