Arthur Brown – 9/14/04

This page was last updated on September 16, 2004.

Voters should dump Bush; Arthur Brown; Beaver County Times; September 14, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I am ashamed that I am a Republican.

“After 34 years, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, both draft dodgers, and the Republican Party saw fit to bring up and question U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s Purple Hearts as being self-inflicted.”

[RWC] Hmm, so George Bush serving in the National Guard was draft dodging? Dick Cheney legitimately received student and marriage deferments; is that now draft dodging? At the time of the Vietnam War, draft dodging required an illegal act, like running to Canada or ignoring a draft notice. Now, it appears every draft-age man who didn’t see combat action in Vietnam is a draft dodger. A friend of mine was drafted but served in Germany. Was he a draft dodger because he didn’t see combat?

While we’re being ridiculous, let’s call John Kerry a draft dodger. After all, after having his own student deferment request turned down, Kerry enlisted in the Naval Reserves to avoid being drafted by the Army.

Sorry, Mr. Brown, Kerry’s own “Band of Brothers” – the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth –started “medalgate,” not President Bush, VP Cheney, or the Republican Party. The SBVT is made up of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

“Unless the military manual has changed, a self-inflicted wound in a combat zone is a court-martial offense. Yet no charges were brought up on Kerry. The only medal Bush can claim is the silver spoon in his mouth when he was born.”

[RWC] No one – including the SBVT – alleged the wounds were intentionally self-inflicted. The SBVT statements make it clear the alleged self-inflicted wounds were the result of accidents. In one case, the SBVT allege Kerry fired a grenade too close to shore, it hit some rocks, and Kerry was hit by a small piece of ricocheting shrapnel. Fortunately, the wound was no more than a scratch. The other case is similar. Kerry and another solider, James Rassmann, tried to blow up a rice cache with hand grenades. Kerry didn’t get behind cover fast enough and got some rice and a small piece of shrapnel in his butt. In an authorized biography, Tour of Duty, Kerry himself said, “I got a piece of small grenade in my ass from one of the rice-bin explosions.”

“The Alabama Air National Guard now has doubts that any records were ever kept on Bush. It also claims that the officers did not have time to keep records. The company clerk keeps the records, and the only thing the officers do is sign them.

[RWC] I don’t know where Mr. Brown got this information. When asked about a specific document type not found for Lt. Bush, a former head of the Air National Guard said, “One of the downfalls back then in the National Guard was that not everyone wanted to be chief of staff of the Air Force. They just wanted to fly or maintain airplanes. So the record keeping could have been better.” That’s a long way from saying there were no Bush records.

“Maybe they didn’t keep any records on Bush because all they could document is how many times he went to the men’s room.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Brown wants to ignore the released records. Apparently, released records will be complete and valid only if they show Lt. Bush was “AWOL.”

While we’re on the topic of records, President Bush long ago signed the forms required for all of his military records to be released. To date, John Kerry has refused to sign the same forms. Why?