- Deb
July 8, 2004, 11:34PM
Pentagon: Bush record accidentally destroyed By RALPH BLUMENTHAL New York Times
WASHINGTON -- Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.
It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm.
No backup paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.
The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.
The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Bush's records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin said it came as news to him.
The loss was announced by the Defense Department's Office of Freedom of Information and Security Review in letters to The New York Times and other news organizations that for nearly six months have sought Bush's complete service file under the open records law.
There was no mention of the loss, for example, when White House officials released hundreds of pages of the president's military records last February in an effort to stem Democratic charges that he was "AWOL" for a time during his commitment to fly at home in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
The disclosure that the payroll records had been destroyed came in a letter signed by C.Y. Talbott, chief of the Pentagon's Freedom of Information Office.
===== " How come people always flip and think they're Jesus? Why not Buddha? Particularly in America, where more people resemble Buddha than Jesus. 'Ah'm BUDDHA!' 'You're Bubba!' 'Ah'm Buddha now..All I gotta do is change 3 letters on ma belt...' " - Bill Hicks