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[MIMIC]

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to find and make public by next week any unreleased files about President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service to resolve a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit already has led to the disclosure of previously unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting F-102A fighters and other jets.

Pentagon officials told Baer they plan to have their search complete by Monday. Baer ordered the Pentagon to hand over the records to the AP by Sept. 24 and provide a written statement by Sept. 29 detailing the search for more records.

"We're hopeful the Department of Defense will provide a full accounting of the steps it has taken, as the judge ordered, so the public can have some assurance that there are no documents being withheld," said AP lawyer David Schulz.

White House officials have said Bush ordered the Pentagon earlier this year to conduct a thorough search for the president's records, and officials allowed reporters to review everything that was gathered back in February.

Through a series of requests under the federal open records law and a subsequent suit, the AP uncovered the flight logs, which were not part of the records the White House released earlier this year.

Seattle PI/AP

Guess it's the only way to learn the truth about Bush: legal recourse.

 

[Dan]

The only winners here are the lawyers handling these lawsuits. Everyone else is losing out, big time.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Well if the Pentagon would have abided by the FIA then this wouldn't be a problem. For the record I don't think the release of Bush's files is a Bush issue it is a Pentagon issue. Now then if someone from the Administration tried to do something to prevent this then there is a problem. I just think it is a reluctance on the behalf of the Pentagon to release records on any one person.

 

[Mercury Fred]

The only winners here are the lawyers handling these lawsuits. Everyone else is losing out, big time.

Yes, revealing documents that the American public has a right to see=losing out big time. Oh yeah, up is down, down is up, and 2+2=5.

 

[Dan]

Yes, revealing documents that the American public has a right to see=losing out big time. Oh yeah, up is down, down is up, and 2+2=5.

Did I say the public doesn't have a right to see the documents? Hmm, nope. I did not. I simply don't think it's an issue that anyone, least of all the public, should be worried about in this election. But hey, I'm sure it's easier to try and make me some idiotic anti-American dipshit than someone who would prefer to see real discussion of real issues that will actually matter in the next presidential term. To each their own.

I fail to see how adding to this gigantic distraction of an issue is not losing out big time. The media and public could be pressing the president about all kinds of other important issues, like the progress in Iraq, defecit spending, the unemployment rate, foreign relations, etc. Instead they're worried about some inconsequential events of 30-35 years ago. Whoop-de-freakin-do.

Discovering the truth behind Bush's service is not going to improve this country. Period.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Discovering the truth behind Bush's service is not going to improve this country. Period.

No.

It's the principle. This adminstration has been one of the most secretive of all time. I don't think the issue of W's service record is a key one at the moment, but I do think the Freedom of Information act is there for a reason. There's something seriously fucked up going on when the Patriot act virtually clears the government to spy on citizens yet it can't release a lousy couple of documents that it's been legally ordered to do.

 

[Dan]

No.

It's the principle. This adminstration has been one of the most secretive of all time. I don't think the issue of W's service record is a key one at the moment, but I do think the Freedom of Information act is there for a reason. There's something seriously fucked up going on when the Patriot act virtually clears the government to spy on citizens yet it can't release a lousy couple of documents that it's been legally ordered to do.

Until it's proven that the Bush administration has hindered the release of these documents, I'll have to disagree, and unless I'm mistaken, that has not been proven. Until that's done, the slow release of this information cannot be rightfully blamed on Bush.

If the issue was the poor enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act, I'd be right there with you. Or hell, of even greater importantance, if the issue was about the hypcrasy and highly questionable nature of the Patriot Act, I'd be right there with you too. However, no one interested in this is concerned with either of those. They're concerned with what Bush was doing 35 years ago and that is as far as the vast majority of these people are going to take the issue. It's not about the Pentagon's ability to deliver these papers, it's not about the Freedom of Information Act and it's not about the Patriot Act. I'd say it damned well should be though, but the truth is, it's not. It's about finding dirt on Bush that has nothing to do with the future of this country.

 

[sprsk]

should be investigating something a little bit more relevant.

 

[Willco]

should be investigating something a little bit more relevant.

LIKE MEGATON?

 

[sprsk]

LIKE MEGATON?

yes.

 

[Tritroid]

should be investigating something a little bit more relevant.

Totally agree.

I for one don't give a flying fuck about either of the candidate's back records now.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Until it's proven that the Bush administration has hindered the release of these documents, I'll have to disagree, and unless I'm mistaken, that has not been proven. Until that's done, the slow release of this information cannot be rightfully blamed on Bush.

If the issue was the poor enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act, I'd be right there with you. Or hell, of even greater importantance, if the issue was about the hypcrasy and highly questionable nature of the Patriot Act, I'd be right there with you too. However, no one interested in this is concerned with either of those. They're concerned with what Bush was doing 35 years ago and that is as far as the vast majority of these people are going to take the issue. It's not about the Pentagon's ability to deliver these papers, it's not about the Freedom of Information Act and it's not about the Patriot Act. I'd say it damned well should be though, but the truth is, it's not. It's about finding dirt on Bush that has nothing to do with the future of this country.

I really don't disagree with you for the most part. I'm just saying that in a bigger picture we need greater transparency from the government, not less. And I believe you're right that officially it's the Pentagon, not the Bush administration that's been witholding the documents. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but isn't it naive to think that the White House isn't exerting pressure on the Pentagon to hold them back?

Again, I agree that the obsession with past records on both sides is a quagmire that's preventing the discussion of real issues. However, it just seems wrong that they have not yet been released. Sorry if I misunderstood your original post.

 

[Dan]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but isn't it naive to think that the White House isn't exerting pressure on the Pentagon to hold them back?

I wouldn't say it's so much naive as practical. It's very much possible and I wouldn't be all that surprised if true, but without proof there's not much that can be done short of totally changing the ways in which the Pentagon and White House interact so as to prevent similar situations in the future. It's frustrating on many levels , but hey, this country usually (read: until the Patriot Act) operates under a pretty strict code of 'innocent until proven guilty', so those are the ropes.

 

[Makura]

I can't wait until this is all over.