The Emperor has no uniform, and the "US mainstream
news media," particularly the major network and cable
news organizations, refuse to tell the US electorate
that there is a naked, and disturbed, deserter
wandering around the White House posing as the
Commander-in-chief...
Charles Laurence, Daily Telegraph: After weeks of
denigration of the Democratic challenger's Vietnam war
record, Mr Kerry's backers have responded with
allegations against the President - including the
claim that he was once photographed in uniform wearing
a medal ribbon he had not earned...
The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award -
which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept
Squadron in which Mr Bush served until 1975, five
years after the photograph was taken, according to the
group US War Report.
"Why is this fraud important? Because it betrays the
Honour Code that every officer learns and carries
throughout his or her career," said Walt Starr who
investigated the medals for the group. Separately a
new book, Deserter, by Ian Williams, a British-born
author, challenges the President with details of how
he used his father's influence to join the Texas Air
National Guard as a trainee pilot, thereby avoiding
service in Vietnam, and then allegedly disappeared
from his base without fulfilling his duty.
Support Our Troops, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
Kerry campaign attacks President over 'war honour he did not earn'
By Charles Laurence in New York
(Filed: 29/08/2004)
Supporters of Senator John Kerry yesterday warned of
"blowback" against President George W Bush for the
political "attack ads" by the Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth which have damaged Mr Kerry's election campaign.
After weeks of denigration of the Democratic
challenger's Vietnam war record, Mr Kerry's backers
have responded with allegations against the President
- including the claim that he was once photographed in
uniform wearing a medal ribbon he had not earned.
As polls showed that Mr Bush had edged ahead of Mr
Kerry for the first time, a pro-Kerry organisation
labelled the President an "impostor" over the
photograph, taken in 1970 and discovered in his
father's Presidential Library in Houston, Texas.
The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award -
which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept
Squadron in which Mr Bush served until 1975, five
years after the photograph was taken, according to the
group US War Report.
"Why is this fraud important? Because it betrays the
Honour Code that every officer learns and carries
throughout his or her career," said Walt Starr who
investigated the medals for the group. Separately a
new book, Deserter, by Ian Williams, a British-born
author, challenges the President with details of how
he used his father's influence to join the Texas Air
National Guard as a trainee pilot, thereby avoiding
service in Vietnam, and then allegedly disappeared
from his base without fulfilling his duty.
"Bush has set himself up, and now that the issue is
coming up he is going to have to answer questions on
his own documented record," said Williams.
Williams's book offers evidence that Mr Bush stopped
training in 1972, and failed to take an annual
physical examination demanded of all pilots. Deserter
also claims that Mr Bush failed to turn up for duty in
Alabama, an omission which could have resulted in a
charge of being absent without leave, or even
desertion.
MoveOn.com, an independent organisation, has repeated
the claim in television advertisements that Mr Bush
abandoned his military post and the American media has
taken up the story. "Alabama is where serious
questions arise over whether or not Bush fulfilled his
obligations to the Guard," said William McTavish, a
Republican, and editor of the Washington on-line
political magazine Capitol Hill Blue.
Mr Bush has strongly denied abandoning his duties. He
says he left his Texan unit after requesting transfer
to Alabama, so that he could also work on a political
campaign.
Asked about the medal ribbon, a White House spokesman
said he could not respond until the record had been
checked.
Meanwhile a new Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
television campaign shows veterans accusing Mr Kerry
of "treachery" for testifying that atrocities were
committed in Vietnam. Williams warned: "There will be
blowback, because it is a documented fact that
atrocities occurred, and also that Kerry did not
accuse all Vietnam vets of committing them."
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