AWOL

Oh, the legs on this story. They just keep growing.

One of Billmon's readers (Paul Lukasiak) had a look at the records the White House finally deigned to release, and surprise, surprise, they don't quite jibe. And Billmon comments.

The document in question is the "ARF Retirement Summary" for Bush’s final year. This document was sent to Bush for approval on January 30th, 1974, three months after Bush had been placed on "inactive" status and six months after the last day he served, according to the records. This document, which says that Bush received only 40 points, is stamped April 10th, 1974, and is unamended. It lists Bush as having 19 points for "Active" duty, 16 points for "Inactive" duty, and 5 "gratuitous" points for service. (The documents in question are pages 17 and 18 of Bush’s "2000 Personnel File".)

[LTC (Ret.) Albert C. Lloyd Jr’s] summary of Bush’s last year says that Bush received 19 points for "Active" duty, 16 points for "Inactive" duty, and 15 "gratuitous" points for service.

...The bottom line is that the White House’s repeated claim that "the point summaries ... document that he fulfilled his duties. These records clearly document the President fulfilling his duties..." is completely false. The documents demonstrate that Bush did not fulfill his duties, even by the lax standards set by the White House itself.

Lloyd originally examined the documents in Bush's file at the TANG archives -- the integrity of which is somewhat in question. But these copies come from the Air Force Reserve's archives in Colorado. Did Lt. Col. Lloyd look at the new documents? Or, did he just rely on the report he filed four years ago, and assume the two sets were identical?

Not to get too conspiratorial about this, but it does strike me that a "5" can converted into a "15" simply by putting another digit in front of it -- that is, if somebody tries to clean up certain records, and either forgets (or takes a chance on) the fact that other copies of those same documents exist elsewhere.

Then again, may[be] ex-Lt. Col. Lloyd's eyesight just failed him -- then, now, or both. But, whatever the reason, if Paul is right, and the White House press guys hear about it, I think Scott McClellan is going to have a bit of a problem on his hands when he gets back to work on Tuesday.
  post