Is Bernie Goldberg Right? Had Bush "In Fact Volunteered to Go to Vietnam?"

Former CBS News journalist Bernard Goldberg is making a major claim on his website and in his appearance as a Fox News consultant on The O'Reilly Factor this week. He claims to have found "A 'Lost' Fact in the Rathergate Mess."

According to Goldberg: "Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents -- a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about -- and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is it: "Mary Mapes knew before she put the story on the air that George W. Bush, the alleged slacker, had in fact volunteered to go to Vietnam." [emphasis as in the original]

Much of the Rathergate controversy depends upon questions about the factual basis for Dan Rather and Mary Mapes' assertions about George Bush, which were largely based upon bad forgeries that quickly fell apart as the provenance of the source material was questioned. Numerous investigators' work, including my own in the Chicago Sun-Times [Sept 10, 2004 "Critical Bush Memos on Guard Service Faked?"], concluded that the "Texas National Guard" papers being used could not have been produced on typewriters available in the 1970s. So much for any "facts" they may have contained.

But what of Goldberg's "'Lost' Fact?" What is its factual basis, and why does it deserve our attention now?

According to Goldberg: "Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 [2004] Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG [Texas Air National Guard] did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush "did want to go to Vietnam but others went first." Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had in volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify.

This information, despite the fact that it has been available since the CBS report came out four years ago, has remained a secret to almost everybody both in and out of the media ... ."

That is certainly potentially important "information," as Goldberg correctly terms it. But is it fact?

Complaining to your buddies in the service about where you would RATHER be serving is perfectly normal. I did it myself as a young lieutenant. But that is not the same as actually filling out the paperwork for a transfer. Both the report Goldberg refers to and Goldberg's own statements seem to me to go farther than the existing evidence. From Goldberg's account it all appears to be oral testimony. That is a pretty thin basis for the flat statement Goldberg is making: "Bush... had in fact volunteered to go Viet Nam." Mapes shouldn't have ignored the oral statements, clearly. But neither do they have the force of documented fact.

A transfer of duty assignment was the key plot device in two popular World War II era movies. In Mr. Roberts, Henry Fonda did a lot of complaining about his assignment too, and finally got a transfer from a transport to a warship, but he kept formally filling out the paperwork and applying until he got it. A unit commander has to pass on any application for transfer. In Twelve O'Clock High, commander Gregory Peck had to delay his pilots' filled out transfer applications procedurally long enough to build up the morale in his unit. My point is the popular culture already "knows" what a "request for transfer is," and it isn't bitching to military buddies about what one would prefer. Why doesn't an experienced journalist like Bernard Goldberg?

Bush's, or anyone else's commanding officer can state his disapproval, but he has to eventually pass the paperwork on. So there would be a formal record in Bush's file which he already produced prior to the 2004 election.

Remember, pilot training is cued to the "needs of the service." One only gets a limited choice of aircraft, if there is any choice at all, as a new pilot. And it costs a lot of money to train a pilot. The military doesn't want to retrain one on another aircraft, unless his retention in service makes it cost effective and the pilot stays on active duty long enough to amortize the additional cost.

The training for an "interceptor" role Bush flew is vastly different than the "fighter bomber" missions Bush might have been trained for in Viet Nam, since presumably he wouldn't be interested in logistics flying of transports or refueling. His F 102 type aircraft was only used very briefly in Viet Nam in an operation called "Palace Alert" and was found inappropriate to the missions there as it could not drop bombs. Bush's assigned unit, the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, had as its primary mission attacking slow Soviet bombers inbound on nuke missions to the US. The F-102 was a "widowmaker" with lots of crashes. The formal reports on his performance show Bush was an excellent pilot on a difficult plane.

But that does not mean he was an ideal candidate for retention and retraining to become a hot jock over Vietnam as the war was winding down and there was already an excess of pilots. And nothing I have seen shows any interest on Bush's part to stay in the service longer than his service obligation at the time. The controversy over his taking the medical exams raised by Mapes and others was caused precisely because Bush didn't bother to take them, not because he was "AWOL" (Terry McCauliffe), but because he wanted to get out of the service and go to B school and could have cared less about losing his flight status. None of which the press (with zero military experience these days) understood anymore than they understood the holes in Kerry's "record" any veteran could see plain as day.

Much of the problem with reporting this kind of thing these days is the lack of military experience of journalists. Bernie Goldberg overreacted to a valid discovery of some sourced opinion Mary Mapes should not have ignored, a journalistic irony if there ever was one.

If Fox and Goldberg want to play this strong an angle they should directly ask Bush for a copy of any formal application he made to be transferred to Viet Nam (there is a DOD form for it... it is a normal enough occurrence in the service so that there is one pre-prepared for a request for transfer). If nothing is produced, the news story is quite a bit different than what they are running as I am sure they will agree.

I am not for giving either Dan Rather or George Bush a free ride on anything based upon rumor and verbal scuttlebutt. Bernie knows the rules of hard reporting as well as anyone. Let him apply them to himself as well as others.

He has the same challenge to meet Mapes and Rather failed. Show us valid paperwork. And in the case of any request for transfer to duty in Viet Nam by young George Bush, it should be easy to find, if in fact it exists.

As of now it is still only a supposition.

Comments

[Decipherer]

The fact that a reporter's reporter like Dan Rather was forced out of his job at CBS over that investigative report, flawed in some ways but not others though it may have been, is perhaps one of the most egregious examples of the way in which the media and their corporate masters folded like a cheap tent in the face of the Bush-Cheeney-Rove propaganda machine.

This sorry episode goes to the very heart of why our country was wrongfully steam-rolled by this criminal gang which forced our country into a war of choice based on lies and all that has flowed from it after Sept. 11, 2001.

Taking down Dan Rather had a seriously chilling effect on all media and any serious, in-depth, and unbiased reportage. It must never happen again.

[S1m0n]

The given document may well have been a trap, but it does genuinely appear to have trapped Rather.

[EbonBear]

Unfortunately true. Unfortunate because the story was rock solid and had been known for years.

[steamboat]

I'll give you all my thoughts as a VietNam vet.

NO, NO, NO-----I do not think Bush ever volunteered for 'Nam......Just like Cheney, Biden, Dodd, Quayle. Who all had numerous deferements to stay out. At least Clinton was the honest one about avoiding it.

His father got him out, just like Teddy Kennedy's dad pulled strings to get Teddy out of Korea. Getting him great duty in Paris instead.

And a guy who went to the American Legion convention told me a bombshell.­........Th­at Jesse (the Body) Ventura isn't this big Navy Seal Nam vet he always says he is. This guy told me Ventura was confronted that he was just a demolition guy and had no tour of 'Nam. That a guy at the convention confronted Ventura about it and that Jess then just walked-off red-faced.

[springsm]

Oh my, a valient effort to change history and his legacy. Timely I would guess...with the adoration of Ted Kennedy who WILL be missed, Bush wants to get some of the love. Baloney...he hunkered down in an elite national guard unit and drank his way out of that too.

[S1m0n]

If Bush "wanted" to go to Vietnam he was drunk and boasting in a bar. After the fact.

[Decipherer]

If Bush had actually wanted to go to Vietnam, he could have easily marched his sorry @ss over to the office of the local Army recruiter who would have been only too happy to have signed him up and gotten him on his way.

Serving in what I think they called that "champagne" air unit meant that no matter what, he wasn't going.

[beardog321]

Part II-

In dog School, the same thing happened, sort of. I had gotten orders to Korea, and 3 days before graduation, me, and 4 other guys had their orders changed from Korea to the states. I ended up at Barksdale AFB, LA. The rest of my time in the service I filled out dream sheets every month, and picked my top 3 choices. I spent the remainder of my Air Force tour in Barksdale. That's why they call it a dream sheet.

[ratmonkey1]

The last week of boot camp at Sampson Air Force Base we recieved
a dream sheet just like you. I carefully picked three different choices
which were ignored of course & sent to AP school in Georgia. (Gordon).
Most of my buddies were sent to Korea but I was lucky & spent my days
in the UK. I loved it there & now I'm just a sick old coot but my UK friends
will remain ever young. I hope we get a good health-care bill passed.
Not all old coots are stupid, just most of us. :) Take care.

[pakaal]

Thank you both for your service, gentlemen.

[beardog321]

As a veteran from back in the 70's, the military services had a form for everything. There is a DD-Form for request of transfer, and we use to call it the dream sheet. The reason behind that is that where ever you wanted to go, well you were dreaming that they would actually send you there. I was in the Air Force, and I wanted to see the world, one of the reasons I joined.
Before I graduated from The Security Police Academy I got orders for Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota. At that time, we could swap with fellow security policemen in the academy, because we all had the same AFSC, or for you civilians, Air Force Specialty Code, which was our job number. I was an 811XX, the last 2 Xs being what level of competence one was. So, I swapped for Germany with this guy who didn't want to go to Germany. I had also tested to go to Dog School, and be a K-9 cop, but hadn't heard anything.
So, I got pen pal at my new assignment, and he wrote and told me about it, blah. blah, blah. The week before graduation everyone had gotten their orders except me, which wasn't good. I kept asking and no one had an answer, so I went to the base CBPO, and they said, didn't anyone tell you, you're going to dog school.

[ratmonkey1]

Hi beardog321: I like you was an AP. I trained on an Army base (Gordon) way
back in 1950. The Korean war was in bloom but I was sent to the UK by ship. :(
It was a country in bad shape because recovery from WW2 was not easy. I learned
to love the people & the history. Those days were terrific. Now I worry about my health
& if the American people will stop believing in silly far right myths.

Anyway I enjoyed your dog story :) which is typical for the military. Arf-arf.

[randyjet]

There IS a WRITTEN record that Bush did NOT want to go. It is on his enlistment form where it asks if he would like OVERSEAS assignments. He checked NO OVERSEAS assignments wanted. The WHOLE point of choosing the Guard over the regular Air Force was to AVOID going to Vietnam. There were TONS of open slots for pilots in the USAF at the time. He could have easily enlisted in the regular Air Force and been a pilot. Of course, that would have meant he would HAVE to go to OCS too, instead of getting his commission right out of basic as he did. It makes me wonder about this writer that he overlooks THAT FACT, that Bush never had to do what almost ALL OTHER OFFICERS had to do. They had to go to OCS or have been in ROTC for years. Bush instead got a pass on all that kind of thing and had his political connections get him a commission.

[DarkWitch]

Don't confuse him with the facts, he's already made up his mind.

[realpolitic]

It is so telling of Bernie Goldberg that he is still trying to resurrect George Bush. I saw an article the other day that showed a copy of a Bush military record where he checked the box that said he did not wish to be considered for duty in Vietnam. If Bush wanted to go he had a thousand opportunities. I am sure the armed forces would have been glad to accept a trained pilot. Bush used contacts to get in the Air National Guard and had no intention of going to Vietnam. It was not like the military was turning people down for service.

[Durango]

Everyone who was of draft age from, say 1965 to 1973 knew what service in the National Guard meant. At least what it meant for rich kids.

Rich kids whose Daddies had influence.

The media and their cohorts try to pretend they don't know what happened. But it is obvious.

Only poor kids went to Vietnam. Anyone with money or influence could avoid the draft.

Which is what made Kerry's service all the more honorable. And the Bush/Rove Swiftboating all the more despicable.

BTW What did Karl do during the war?. He was also perfect age for cannon fodder.

[Quek]

Guard Units flew thousands of hours in Vietnam. Don't let your hate of Bush disparge the service of the thousands of National Guard who served in Vietnam. You should read the history of the national guard in conflict before insulting the national guard. Currently they have served in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. This argument about hiding in the guard is an insult to those who fought and died as part of the national guard.

[lovable]

BERNIE WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE??­??????????

[unitron]

Judging by some of the comments, I think that perhaps some here are confusing Bernard Goldberg with Jonah Goldberg.

[unitron]

So far, no one has posted here pretending to be *Jonah* Goldberg.

[Decipherer]

Read much?

[littleolwinemakerme]

They are both superbly non-credible so what's the dif?

[larohdel82]

the press was scared to death to investigate bush's military record worried about rareing what i want to know did he complete his mi;itary obligation you have to remember he was poping the cork back then thats why he got grounded as a veitnam vet i have the right to know.

[realpolitic]

You are so right. The press was completely cowered with anything to do about Bush!

[Durango]

I suspect he quit flying the same time they began drug testing.

But you are 100% correct. As a vet you DO have the right to know.

[justlw]

I don't believe Bush volunteered. If there were one shred of evidence to support that, Rove would have made sure it was being trumpeted 24/7 throughout both campaigns.

(Actually, I'd say he'd be doing that, even WITHOUT evidence, as long as he didn't think there'd be any evidence to *refute* it popping up at the wrong time.)

In both elections, Bush was running against people who did spend time in Viet Nam. Why would they not let it "leak out" that Bush volunteered, if they at all possibly could? Thus, they couldn't. Thus, he didn't.

[XQZME]

Actually the conservative blogs at the time made several references to the fact that he had volunteered. Those who served with him even discussed it. The real new news is that even Mapes knew about it . Of course the MSM, being anti-Bush, suppressed this information. I suppose the majority of commentators on this board were ignoring the conservative blogs, back then.

[justlw]

Link?

Would this be the same suppressive MSM that played the Swiftboat stuff 24/7?

Again: if there were an opportunity to play Bush up as a Viet Nam volunteer, Rove would've made sure we all heard about it. They needed something to counter Gore and Kerry's Viet Nam experience, and what we wound up with was Swiftboat.

[Decipherer]

Where did you get the idea into your lizard brain that the MSM was "anti-Bush?"

Get this straight, Sparky, the MSM rolled over and played dead for Sock Puppet and President Cheeney, and you know it.

Why would they or anyone bother with the conservative blogs which like their radio and TV bloviating gasbags are nothing but a pack of lies?

Listen and check the facts once in a while.

[mcmchugh99]

To me, the real question about Vietnam has never been whether this or that person tried to get out of going. We all know that many did. They tried every trick in the book to get out of it.

The important question is whether we should have been there at all. I say we should not have, going back to the 1946-54 war, when we assisted France in trying to keep its colony in Indochina.

We were never anything else but foreigners and outsiders in a country that has little affection for those because of its history.

[Durango]

The leaders, starting with Truman, confused Communism with nationalism.

I have no doubt that had Roosevelt lived a few more years we would never have been involved in Vietnam. He didn't care for French Colonialism. And would not have given SE Asia back to the French.

Truman did not have the experience or wisdom of Franklin Roosevelt. Which is not a dig on Truman. No one else did either.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

.....almost completely irrelevent to this story about the veracity of claims made on behalf of Bush about his record of service in the air national guard of texas: Was/is Bush lying about his military service record--war or no war?

The answer(s) have been and still are: "YES"!

[OneTop]

Of course GWB volunteered and actually showed up ... although a little late.

I saw it on Family Guy

[mapleaforever]

Bush goes AWOL on his National Guard responsibilities but really wants to go to Vietnam. Riiiiight.

"Let me go daddy. Let me go. Puleeeze?"