Media Corps: ABC's Jennings Ignores Bush Military Record
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Dear Media Corps member,
There are cries of outrage in the media about filmmaker Michael Moore's comment that a debate between Wesley Clark and George W. Bush would be "the general versus the deserter." Moore's comment came up during last Thursday's Democratic presidential debate when ABC News anchor Peter Jennings called it "a reckless charge not supported by the facts." Yet Jennings' own charge is contrary to the reports of major newspapers. Whether or not the legal designation of "deserter" applies to Bush, he failed to appear for duty for months -- possibly a year -- while a member of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, according to the Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post. To what was Jennings referring when he claimed there are no facts to support the charge that Bush was absent from his military service?
ABC News (If you're not a member of the Media Corps, click here to join. As a Media Corps member, you'll receive more alerts like this one in the future.) The matter of Bush's military record is by no means resolved. According to the Boston Globe in May 2000, after a political colleague of his father called Texas Air National Guard officials to get Bush a coveted slot in domestic service, Bush trained to fly the F-102. Shortly after being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1968, he was granted a two month leave to work on a Florida Senate race. In 1972, Bush moved to Alabama to work on another GOP Senate campaign and was reassigned to the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery. But there is no record of his service there. The general who commanded the Alabama unit at the time said Bush never appeared for duty. To date, Bush has been unable to remember the names of any of his commanding officers. After the election, Bush returned to Texas, "but apparently not to his Air Force unit." Bush spokesmen insist that in Texas he made up the hours of service missed in Alabama, pointing to a torn piece of paper in his Guard record. The Washington Post notes, however, "most of the dates and Bush's name except for the 'W' have been torn off." Further, the record shows that in May 1973 his superiors in Texas were unable to rate him for the prior 12 months because he had not appeared at the unit during that time. Shortly after, Bush was ordered to report for duty, which he then did. After 36 days, Bush was granted a discharge to attend Harvard Business School -- eight months before his six-year term expired. Despite calls to do so during the 2000 election, Bush has not accounted for the mysterious period from May 1972 to May 1973. During the 2000 election, the Globe, Times, and Post all investigated Bush's military record, but ABC News coverage consisted only of the following comment: "What about his military obligation in the Texas Air National Guard? He says he fulfilled it, but is hazy in his recollections. Did his father secure a safe slot for him, away from combat? Both men say no." These disconcerting questions were not followed by any journalistic research, leaving the viewer with no way to know what really happened. ACTION: Why did Jennings declare before a national audience that this is "a reckless charge not supported by the facts" when major newspapers found Bush's record very much in question and when his own network has never looked into the matter? Let ABC News know you'd like to see them look into the charge that Bush failed to report for his military service.
ABC News Your comments will be taken more seriously if you are polite, professional, and firm.
Sincerely, Sources: 1. Walter V. Robinson “One-year gap in Bush’s Guard duty : No records of airman at drills in 1972-73,” Boston Globe 23 May 2000: A1. 2. Jo Thomas “The 2000 Campaign: Military Service; Bush’s Guard attendance is Questioned and Defended,” New York Times 3 Nov. 2000: A27. 3. George Lardner Jr.; Howard Kurtz “2 Democrats: Bush Let Guard Down; Gore Surrogates Revive Issue of Apparent Laxity in Candidate's Military Service,” The Washington Post 3 Nov. 2000 : A22.
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