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arry Hope wrote:
http://www.memphisflyer.com/content.asp?ID=2834&onthefly=1
BUSH A NO-SHOW AT ALABAMA BASE, SAYS MEMPHIAN
FedEx Pilot Bob Mintz, backed up by a Carolina colleague, recalls no
Dubya at Dannelly AFB in 1972.
JACKSON BAKER |
2/13/2004
MEMPHIS --
Two members of the Air National Guard unit that President George W.
Bush allegedly served with as a young Guard flyer in 1972 had been
told to expect him and were on the lookout for him.
He never showed, however; of that both Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop are
certain.
The question of Bush's presence in 1972 at Dannelly Air National Guard
base in Montgomery, Alabama -- or the lack of it -- has become an
issue in the 2004 presidential campaign.
Recalls Memphian Mintz, now 63:
"I remember that I heard someone was coming to drill with us from
Texas. And it was implied that it was somebody with political
influence. I was a young bachelor then. I was looking for somebody to
prowl around with."
But, says Mintz, that "somebody" -- better known to the world now as
the president of the United States -- never showed up at Dannelly in
1972.
Nor in 1973, nor at any time that Mintz, a FedEx pilot now and an
Eastern Airlines pilot then, when he was a reserve first lieutenant at
Dannelly, can remember.
"And I was looking for him," repeated Mintz, who said that he assumed
that Bush "changed his mind and went somewhere else" to do his
substitute drill.
It was not "somewhere else," however, but the 187th Air National Guard
Tactical squadron at Dannelly to which the young Texas flyer had
requested transfer from his regular Texas unit -- the reason being
Bush's wish to work in Alabama on the ultimately unsuccessful U.S.
Senate campaign of family friend Winton "Red" Blount.
It is the 187th, Mintz's unit, which was cited, during the 2000
presidential campaign, as the place where Bush completed his military
obligation.
And it is the 187th that the White House continues to contend that
Bush belonged to -- as recently as this week, when presidential
spokesman Scott McClellan released payroll records and, later,
evidence suggesting that Bush's dental records might be on file at
Dannelly.
"There's no way we wouldn't have noticed a strange rooster in the
henhouse, especially since we were looking for him," insists Mintz,
who has pored over documents relating to the matter now making their
way around the Internet.
One of these is a piece of correspondence addressed to the 187th's
commanding officer, then Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, concerning
Bush's redeployment.
Mintz remembers a good deal of base scuttlebutt at the time about the
letter, which clearly identifies Bush as the transferring party.
"It couldn't be anybody else. No one ever did that again, as far as I
know."
In any case, he is certain that nobody else in that time frame,
1972-73, requested such a transfer into Dannelly.
Mintz, who at one time was a registered Republican and in recent years
has cast votes in presidential elections for independent Ross Perot
and Democrat Al Gore, confesses to "a negative reaction" to what he
sees as out-and-out dissembling on President Bush's part.
"You don't do that as an officer, you don't do that as a pilot, you
don't do it as an important person, and you don't do it as a citizen.
This guy's got a lot of nerve."
Though some accounts reckon the total personnel component of the 187th
as consisting of several hundred, the actual flying squadron -- that
to which Bush was reassigned -- numbered only "25 to 30 pilots," Mintz
said.
"There's no doubt. I would have heard of him, seen him, whatever."
Even if Bush, who was trained on a slightly different aircraft than
the F4 Phantom jets flown by the squadron, opted not to fly with the
unit, he would have had to encounter the rest of the flying personnel
at some point, in non-flying formations or drills.
"And if he did any flying at all, on whatever kind of craft, that
would have involved a great number of supportive personnel. It takes a
lot of people to get a plane into the air. But nobody I can think of
remembers him.
"I talked to one of my buddies the other day and asked if he could
remember Bush at drill at any time, and he said, 'Naw, ol' George
wasn't there. And he wasn't at the Pit, either.'"
The "Pit" was The Snake Pit, a nearby bistro where the squadron's
pilots would gather for frequent after-hours revelry.
And the buddy was Bishop, then a lieutenant at Dannelly and now a
pilot for Kalitta, a charter airline that in recent months has been
flying war materiel into the Iraq Theater of Operations.
"I never saw hide nor hair of Mr. Bush," confirms Bishop, who now
lives in Goldsboro, N.C., is a veteran of Gulf War I and, as a Kalitta
pilot, has himself flown frequent supply missions into Iraq and to
military facilities at Kuwait.
He voted for Bush in 2000 and believes that the Iraq war has served
some useful purposes -- citing, as the White House does, disarmament
actions since pursued by Libyan president Moammar Khadaffi -- but he
is disgruntled both about aspects of the war and about what he sees as
Bush's lack of truthfulness about his military record.
"I think a commander-in-chief who sends his men off to war ought to be
a veteran who has seen the sting of battle," Bishop says.
"In Iraq: we have a bunch of great soldiers, but they are not
policemen. I don't think he [the president] was well advised; right
now it's costing us an American life a day. I'm not a peacenik, but
what really bothers me is that of the 500 or so that we've lost almost
80 of them were reservists. We've got an over-extended Guard and
reserve."
Part of the problem, Bishop thinks, is a disconnect resulting from the
president's own inexperience with combat operations.
And he is well beyond annoyed at the White House's persistent claims
that Bush did indeed serve time at Dannelly.
Bishop didn't pay much attention to the claim when candidate Bush
first offered it in 2000.
But he did after the second Iraq war started and the issue came front
and center.
"It bothered me that he wouldn't 'fess up and say, Okay, guys, I cut
out when the rest of you did your time. He shouldn't have tried to
dance around the subject. I take great exception to that. I spent 39
years defending my country."
Like his old comrade Mintz, Bishop was a pilot for Eastern Airlines
during their reserve service in 1972 at Dannelly.
Mintz then lived in Montgomery; Bishop commuted from Atlanta, a
two-hour drive away.
Mintz and Bishop retired from the Guard with the ranks of lieutenant
colonel and co
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....can only forward others thoughts and none of his/her own. Didn't a
democrat, jimmy carter, pardon all the Viet Nam VETS?
It too is ashamed that President Bush has no contest in the next
presidential race. Looks like the true kERRY is coming out each and every
day!
vOX pOOPULI, your full of it!
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...can only forward others thoughts and none of his/her own. Didn't a
democrat, jimmy carter, pardon all the Viet Nam VETS?
No, he didn't. Why would he? Being a Vietnam vet was never a crime.
It too is ashamed that President Bush has no contest in the next
presidential race. Looks like the true kERRY is coming out each and
every day!
The true Kerry? Which one is that? The one that supported the war in Iraq,
or the one that now condems it?
I wouldn't bet too much money on Kerry in this race. You don't rise as high
as he did in Massachusetts politics without doing things most of the voters
in this country oppose.
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Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
No, he didn't. Why would he? Being a Vietnam vet was never a crime.
Cowboy is a bit of an idiot ... then again cowboy's aren't known for
their intelect.
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Krztalizer wrote:
This is hogwash. If they really wanted to know where he was, they
should be looking at his logbook, which would prove where he flew and
when. Why dont they even mention his logbook?
Pay attention, he's got no logbook entries for the time in question,
he wasn't flying then as he was grounded for either failing, or refusing
to take his Airman's Medical Exam (cocaine anyone?) ...
His missing time in Alabama would have been on the ground,
had he bothered to show up.
v/r
Gordon
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war;
neither in Russia nor in England nor in America,
nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders
of the country who determine the policy and
it is always a simple matter to drag the people
along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist
dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same way
in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall
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B2431 wrote:
From: "Cowboy67" cowboy67111NOSPAM@yahoo.com
...can only forward others thoughts and none of his/her own. Didn't a
democrat, jimmy carter, pardon all the Viet Nam VETS?
Carter pardoned the draft dodgers, not the vets.
CowBoi69 is a stammering imbecile.
--
"We huddled 'em up. We made them squat down... I poured four clips
into the dinks...the mothers kept hugging their children...we kept on
firing..."
- Paul Meadlo
United States Army commenting on US War crimes at My Lai
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B2431 wrote:
From: "Cowboy67" cowboy67111NOSPAM@yahoo.com
...can only forward others thoughts and none of his/her own. Didn't a
democrat, jimmy carter, pardon all the Viet Nam VETS?
CowBoi69 is a stammering imbecile.
C there we go again with the name calling. Again, I am sure your parents are
not too proud of the little sperm droplet that they raised.
--
"We huddled 'em up. We made them squat down... I poured four clips
into the dinks...the mothers kept hugging their children...we kept on
firing..."
- Paul Meadlo
United States Army commenting on US War crimes at My Lai
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2431 wrote:
From: "=> Vox Populi " vox@popu.li Vox Populi " <vox@popu.li>
There are many reasons why he missed his physical some of which have
already been addressed in this thread. Can you PROVE he ever used
cocaine? Other than the rumours floating around have you any reason
to believe he used cocaine other than the fact that you don't like
Bush?
You mean other than the fact that he obliquely admitted as much ...?
Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired?
=> Where is Carlos Lehder Rivas? - Bu$h Family Drug Kingpin <=
HOSTAGES: A Multi-Part FTW Special Investigation
a.. Medellin Cartel Co-Founder Carlos Lehder A Free Man in Gov't. Charade? --
Wife of Drug Lord Speaks
b.. American International Group, Arkansas, ADFA, Contras, Carlos Lehder and
Coral Reinsurance
c.. Connections to 1996 Dark Alliance Series by Gary Webb
Carlos Lehder
[Part One of a Multi-Part Series]
by
Michael C. Ruppert
[ Copyright 2001, Michael C. Ruppert and From the Wilderness Publications. All
Rights Reserved. ]
[EDITORIAL NOTE - From The Wilderness is a sole proprietorship and dba. It is
written and edited by one person. Me. I do almost all of the research.
Therefore, in the following story, for both legal reasons and for better reading
I have decided to use the personal pronouns "I" and "me" instead of standard
editorial references in the third person.]
----------
-- This series is dedicated to Mark Swaney of the Ozark Gazette for his
intellectual courage and tenacity; to John McGlaughlin, the straightest and
toughest man who ever honestly carried a badge; to Celerino Castillo III, with a
heart bigger than his beloved Texas; to all the young men and women, mostly
minority, who are serving up to life in prison for crimes that don't remotely
compare to those of Carlos Lehder, and to all the innocents in Colombia who
stand at the brink of the next Vietnam War.
-----------
But perhaps most importantly it is about the lies that the American people tell
themselves each day as they drown in a sea of denial, worried about their
pension plans, investments and careers, needing to deny the fact that the
so-called war on drugs is a flimsy house of cards that consumes millions of
innocent lives every year. It is a story about the lies told by the major media
that chooses to ignore the reality of hard documentation about CIA involvement
in the drug trade. If there is a common thread to this story it is the fact that
lies make us all hostages of our own fears and failings. Eventually these lies
entangle us to the point where even the slightest movement becomes impossible
and, being unable to move, we sink and we drown - all the while looking for
someone else to blame.
Denial is not a river in Egypt.
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, aka Carlos Lehder, is the stuff of which legends
are made. Legends are sometimes good, sometimes bad. As is the case with most
legends there is a beautiful woman involved. There is also intrigue, crime,
violence, corruption and betrayal. But legends, when examined closely, almost
always tell more about the civilizations that create them than they do about the
one who carries the name. Carlos Lehder is not a Colombian legend. He is an
American legend. It is America that created him. America that made him rich.
America where he began his criminal life. America where he was imprisoned and
America that, it now appears, has set him free. It is America's shame that
Lehder's freedom, if established, and alleged employment by the U.S. Government,
are hidden behind lies told, not by Lehder himself, but by the American
government to its own people.
In 1979-80, reportedly with the assistance of the CIA and legendary drug
smuggler Barry Seal, Lehder co-founded the Medellin Cartel with Pablo Escobar
and brothers Fabio and Jorge Ochoa. As celebrated on CNN and by recent books
like Killing Pablo (Mark Bowden, 2001), Pablo Escobar was gunned down in a hail
of Colombian bullets directed by U.S. intelligence in December, 1993. The Ochoas
have faded into the jungle-like vortex of Latin American lore although an
October 1999 Reuters story indicated that Fabio Ochoa had been arrested (again)
in Bogota. Word of his promised extradition to the U.S. has been hard to find.
Carlos Lehder remains the only cartel head to have ever been extradited to, then
tried, convicted and sentenced to life plus 135 years in, the United States.
Prosecutors agree that Panamanian strongman General Manuel Antonio Noriega -
against whom Lehder testified in return for a reduced sentence of 55
"non-paroleable" years in 1989 - was merely one of Lehder's employees.
Other new material indicating that Lehder, after his 1987 arrest and
extradition, provided information to the DEA that assisted in Escobar's downfall
has been characterized by his prosecutor, former US Attorney Robert Merkle, as
nearly worthless. "That's BS. We didn't need his help to get Escobar," says
Merkle.
As disclosed in this first of a series of special reports, I have now amassed a
sizeable body of documents, records, witness statements and even a tape
recording of Lehder's alleged wife indicating that Carlos Lehder is a free man
who has kept his money, who travels the world freely and who makes a mockery of
any notion that he might be a federally protected witness - hiding to ensure his
safety or the safety of his family. One telling clue to Lehder's apparent lack
of fear is the fact that he is listed by name in 411 directory assistance in La
Fayette, California, just outside San Francisco. My researcher, while looking
for other information, came across the listing and sent it to me. I was able to
confirm it as a listing for the Carlos Lehder - not a coincidence - through
confidential sources who know Lehder's self-professed wife, Coral Marie Talavera
Baca Lehder. And I have spoken to Coral by calling her at that number myself.
Mrs. Lehder was, until June 22, a manager for the insurance giant AIG in San
Francisco. [Subsequent segments of this special series will focus on
investigations into allegations of money laundering by AIG with and through the
Arkansas Development Financial Authority in 1987 - the same year Lehder was
originally captured].
I had lunch with Coral two days before she resigned. When I called her San
Francisco office the following Monday, June 25, a company receptionist told me
that she had, "Gone to Cuba."
Coral's reported flight to Cuba cuts off several interesting avenues that
warrant further investigation. Just prior to press time for Part I of this
series, a defense source connected to Lehder's appeal for sentence reduction
told me that their experience indicat
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Alan Minyard wrote:
On 14 Feb 2004 06:38:56 GMT, b2431@aol.com (B2431) wrote:
From: "=> Vox Populi " vox@popu.li Vox Populi " <vox@popu.li>
Dan
I think that we should start a rumor about Kerry's use of heroin
while a member of the Senate. Nobody could *prove* that it is not
true :-)
George Bush Keeps Changing His Story
Governor Bush's Cocaine Problem
This article, first published in the summer of 2000, is not about George
Bush's drug use. It is about how he dodges, ducks, and hedges when confronted
with his past drug use. American citizens deserve a leader who can be frank and
honest.
by Adam J. Smith
First he refused to confirm or deny it. Later he would say only that "when I was
young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible." Next he said that the
issue wasn't relevant. Then he said that he wouldn't address "rumors." Then he
said that he could pass a standard security check dating back seven years.
Finally, he said that he could've passed the security check in his father's
White House -- fifteen years. Though he had to think before specifying whether
he could've passed it then or now. Now, no matter what he says, the issue seems
destined to dog him until the day he comes clean.
Texas Governor and Republican presidential frontrunner George W. Bush, Jr. has a
cocaine problem.
Under normal circumstances, an individual's past drug use, especially if that
use occurred in the distant past, should not be relevant to their qualifications
for present employment. But in the race for the United States Presidency, it is
relevant on two counts. In fact, in Governor Bush's case, it is relevant on
three.
As governor of Texas, George W. Bush, Jr. supported and signed legislation
increasing penalties for drug possession in that state. In one instance,
Governor Bush signed legislation mandating jail time for people caught with less
than a single gram of cocaine. As a candidate, Bush's handling of the cocaine
question offers clues as to how he deals with embarrassing mistakes -- admit
them and move on, or obfuscate and side-step. As President, Governor Bush would
preside over a national drug policy that is increasingly punitive, the driving
force behind the nation's ascendancy to the title of world's most prolific
incarcerator.
In 1992, Republicans asked whether Democratic candidate Bill Clinton could
summon the moral authority to send young people to war, given the fact that he
had successfully avoided military service during his youth. Today, Governor Bush
must be asked whether he can summon the moral authority to send young people to
prison, given the fact that he had avoided the DEA in his youth.
It is becoming increasingly clear that George Junior most likely did toot a line
or two back in his halcyon days. The relevant question, then, is whether or not
he believes that five or ten years in prison would have been the appropriate
societal response to that use. And if not, why he believes that such treatment
is appropriate for the children of fathers who were not Ambassadors to China,
Directors of the CIA, Vice Presidents or Commanders-in-Chief.
The truth is that George Junior was never in much danger of being treated like
less fortunate Americans who get sucked into our runaway criminal justice
system. As the rich son of a powerful man, it is unlikely that he would have
been pulled over, searched, or busted in a street sweep. Rich people don't buy
their coke on the street, in quarter gram increments. And if by some strange
confluence of events he had been caught and arrested -- rather than sent on his
way with a wave of his ID -- he would have certainly had an expensive attorney,
and a spot waiting for him at the Betty Ford Clinic. The judge would likely have
wished him well in his recovery. It would've taken an act of God or else an act
of monumental stupidity on his own part for George Junior to have ever seen the
inside of an American prison for drug possession.
But now he's running for president. And the questions keep coming. And his
answers keep changing. And try as he might to create a statute of limitations
for questions about his personal life, there is no such statute for hypocrisy.
Sending people to prison, increasing their sentences by the stroke of his pen
for the very behavior that he now claims is irrelevant in his own history, does
not speak well for the honor or the conscience of the man. George W. Bush Jr.
has a cocaine problem. But he's got a big lead in the polls, and more than
thirty million dollars in the bank. He'll suffer an awful long time before he
hits bottom. Right now, pathetic as it is to watch, his evasive machinations in
the face of confrontation can only mean one thing. He's still in denial.
----------------------------------
Adam Smith is Associate Director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network.
http://www.drcnet.org/
Al Minyard
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war;
neither in Russia nor in England nor in America,
nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders
of the country who determine the policy and
it is always a simple matter to drag the people
along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist
dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same way
in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall
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You mean other than the fact that he obliquely admitted as much ...?
You know, if you don't want to look even dumber than you do you might try
not using words incorrectly.
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t_mark wrote:
You mean other than the fact that he obliquely admitted as much ...?
You know, if you don't want to look even dumber than you do you might
try not using words incorrectly.
Hab yo' mama try and 'splain it to you ...
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t_mark wrote:
You mean other than the fact that he obliquely admitted as much ...?
You know, if you don't want to look even dumber than you do you might try
not using words incorrectly.
uh, you shouldn't try this game
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