by James Glaser
November 6, 2002

Every age in America it seems has "their war." For President George W. Bush and myself, that war was Vietnam. People of our age had a few choices when it came to that war. A person could hear their country's call to arms and join up to fight like I did or they could search their soul, find that this war was a dishonest American endeavor, and work to stop the war, refusing to fight in a war they truly felt was wrong. Both of these options were honorable answers to the choice given to Americans of that day.

There were other choices also. One could leave the country, give up their citizenship, and refuse to participate in either side of the war issue. I think this was the hardest path a person could make as it separated them from family and friends for life. This path was a total commitment to their belief.

There was another way and that is the way the current President of the United States took. In 1968, while during an average week 350 Americans were giving their lives for their country and hundreds if not thousands were getting wounded, a young George W. Bush used family connections to jump ahead of over 500 other young men and joined the National Guard.

George W. Bush, the same man that will gladly send your son or daughter into the midst of combat, was accepted into the National Guard on the very day he applied even though there was a waiting list of over 500.

Not everything is fair in America, but things do work out if you have the right connections and George W. has had those connections his whole life.

There is nothing wrong with duty in the National Guard, If you signed up honestly. Not only was George Bush dishonest in the way in got in, but in a time of war George W. Bush was a deserter from his unit and should have gone to prison.

Granted these are harsh charges and I am not the first to make them. I have read articles about this dereliction of duty by our President in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, The New Republic, and the Augusta Chonicle. All of the stories and the personal testomony by Bush's commanding officers tell the same story. George Bush signed up for military duty in the National Guard in a time of war and he deserted his unit. Desertion, probably the greatest of offenses that one can commit while in the Armed Forces, has no "statute of limitation" and President Bush could be charged today and sent to prison.

There are a couple of web pages that tell the story better than I can, (www.awolbush.com) is one and there is a real fine article by Doctor Fredrick Sweet in the current edition of (www.interventionmag.com) titled "Military Deserter Before Commander-In-Chief."

In a Boston Globe interview Medal of Honor winner Senator Bob Kerry expressed disgust at the Globe's finding that while Kerry was fighting in Vietnam George W. Bush had sidestepped National Guard Duty. "A riled up Kerry said this lapse amounts to Bush being AWOL-- absent without leave."

"It upsets me," Kerry said in the interview, "when someone says, 'Vote for me, I was in the military,' when in fact he got into the military in order to avoid serving in the military, to avoid service that might have taken him into the war. And then he didn't even show up for duty."

The President of the United States is the Commander-In-Chief of our Armed Forces and that is a heavy responsibility. For that leader to have deserted his post in a time of war is not only a crime, but a terrible example to the troops that have to trust this man's judgment. What is to say that George Bush will not repeat that same desertion and leave every American soldier hanging in their hour of need.

I just finished listening to President Bush in his campaign speech in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he was speaking on behalf of Norm Coleman. In that Speech the President stressed patriotism and how Americans have to look out for each other. George Bush had an opportunity to be patriotic and he walked away from that patriotic duty if his comrades in arms can be believed. In any Military unit each member looks out for the other in that unit, if one person walks away, the whole unit suffers.

I would like the Commander-In-Chief of the United States to refute these charges that have been made by so many. This is important and that is why there is no time limit on a crime of this nature. This "Desertion" can not be swept under the rug like some traffic ticket. This crime is an offense to every man and women in America and especially those that have served and those that are currently serving our Nation in the Armed Forces.