[UPDATED] On Bush' Vietnam Record.

[UDPATE] I suppose my friend MRO has just cause to ridicule me after this whole affair has imploded: "CBS Announces Independent Inquiry on Flawed Report" (NYT, 2004.09.22).

NOW would be a great time for Kerry to hit back hard...

[UPDATE]
"Authenticity backed on Bush documents"
By Francie Latour and Michael Rezendes
The Boston Globe   |   September 11, 2004

...But specialists interviewed by the Globe and some other news organizations say the specialized characters used in the documents, and the type format, were common to electric typewriters in wide use in the early 1970s, when Bush was a first lieutenant.
   Philip D. Bouffard, a forensic document examiner in Ohio who has analyzed typewritten samples for 30 years, had expressed suspicions about the documents in an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, one in a wave of similar media reports. But Bouffard told the Globe yesterday that after further study, he now believes the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time.....

The breaking article:
"New Questions On Bush Guard Duty"
60 Minutes   |   Sept. 8, 2004

Did then-Lt. Bush fulfill all of his military obligations? And just how did he land that spot in the National Guard in the first place? Correspondent Dan Rather has new information on the president’s military service – and the first-ever interview with the man who says he pulled strings to get young George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard.

"Records Say Bush Balked at Order"
By Michael Dobbs and Thomas B. Edsall
   |  September 9, 2004

President Bush failed to carry out a direct order from his superior in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1972 to undertake a medical examination that was necessary for him to remain a qualified pilot, according to documents made public yesterday....
   White House officials have said there was no reason for Bush to take the annual physical required of fighter pilots because there were no suitable planes for him to fly in Alabama, where he applied for "substitute training" to replace his required service with the Texas National Guard. But the new documents suggest that Bush's transfer to non-flight duties in Alabama was the subject of arguments between his National Guard superiors....

"Bush fell short on duty at Guard"
By the Globe Spotlight Team
The Boston Globe   |   September 8, 2004

...But Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation, a Globe reexamination of the records shows: Twice during his Guard service -- first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School -- Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty.
   He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show. The 1973 document has been overlooked in news media accounts. The 1968 document has received scant notice.

Documents Suggest Special Treatment for Bush in Guard
By Katharine Q. Seelye and Ralph Blumenthal
   |   September 9, 2001