White House Releases ’73 Bush Dental Exam

The White House late Wednesday released a copy of a dental evaluation President Bush had in the National Guard in Alabama during the Vietnam War to rebut suggestions from Democrats who have questioned whether the president ever showed up for duty there.

A copy of the dental examination done on Jan. 6, 1973, documents the president serving at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement. Bush completed most of his National Guard training in Texas, but in 1972 was allowed to leave and perform his duties in Alabama so he could work on a Senate political campaign.

The White House obtained the dental record, along with other medical records it did not release, from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo., McClellan said. The record was accompanied by a statement from Dr. Richard J. Tubb, the president’s current physician, who stated that he read Bush’s records, which covered a period from 1968 to 1973, and concurred with the doctors’ assertion that Bush was “fit” for service.

“The records reflect no disqualifying medical information,” Tubb said.

The White House hardened its defense of President Bush’s National Guard service Wednesday, saying his critics are “trolling for trash.” Yet, several members of an Alabama unit Bush was assigned to said they couldn’t recall ever seeing him.

The Associated Press contacted more than a dozen people who were members of the Montgomery-based 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in 1972. All were quick to point out that the unit had as many as 800 members and Bush was not yet famous.

Bush, who spent most of his service in Texas, received permission to perform his duties in Alabama while working on a family friend’s political campaign.

“I don’t remember seeing him. That does not mean he was not here,” said Wayne Rambo, who was a first lieutenant with the 187th. “I don’t want to cast any aspersions or to say he was or was not there.”

Bush’s spokesman, Scott McClellan, said the renewed requests for additional records show that some people “are more interested in trolling for trash for political gain” with the presidential election nine months away. “This is nothing but gutter politics.”

In a new development Wednesday, a retired Texas National Guard officer said he overheard a conversation in 1997 between then-Gov. Bush’s chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, and then-Adjutant Gen. Daniel James of the Texas Air National Guard in which he contends those two men spoke about getting rid of any military records that would “embarrass the governor.”

Former Lt. Col. Bill Burkett told the AP that he saw documents from Bush’s file discarded in a trash can a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. Burkett described them as performance and pay documents. He said the documents bore the header: “Bush, George W. 1lt.” – meaning first lieutenant.

James and Allbaugh deny the allegation.

“The alleged discussion never happened,” said James, who appointed by the president in 2002 to lead the Air National Guard. “I have never been involved in, nor would I condone any discussion or any action to falsify any record in any circumstance for anyone.”

Allbaugh, now a Washington lobbyist, told The Dallas Morning News that Burkett’s assertions were “hogwash.”

Bush said in a television interview last weekend that he would be willing to open his entire military file and would “absolutely” be willing to authorize the release of anything that would put the matter to rest.

McClellan said 13 pages of military pay records released Tuesday showed that Bush fulfilled his military requirements. McClellan stopped short of saying the White House would never release more information to document Bush’s record, especially for the several months Bush served in Alabama.

“If there is new information that comes to our attention we will let you know – if it’s relevant to this issue,” McClellan said.

Democrats say they want to see paperwork that would shed light on why Bush missed an annual physical exam in May 1972. The White House says he did not need to get one because he was not flying at the time. The Democratic National Committee wants to see Bush’s complete Guard personnel file.

“I don’t know the status of where it is,” McClellan said. “It’s my understanding the Department of Defense asked that those records be sent here and we expect that we will receive some information as well.”

McClellan did not say whether any of it would be released. “We’d have to see if there is any new information in that,” the spokesman said.

Democrats are delving into Bush’s service, especially since Vietnam veteran John Kerry has become the Democrats’ president front-runner. The party chairman, Terry McAuliffe, helped resurrect long-running questions about Bush’s National Guard record when he charged that the president had been “AWOL,” or absent without leave, during his time in Alabama.

Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Air Force Base in Texas in May 1968. He spent most of his service time based near Houston.

In May 1972, records show Bush requested and got permission to perform his duties in Alabama while he worked as political director on the Senate campaign of Winton “Red” Blount, a Bush family friend.

Democrats are focusing on a one-year period, from May 1972 to May 1973, in which Bush was assigned in Alabama and then was back in Texas.

Payroll records released by the White House show Bush was paid for 25 days during that one-year period. There are gaps in service that Democrats have questioned.

The records, for example, show Bush was not paid for any service during a more than five-month period in 1972, from April 17 to Oct. 27. He was paid for two days in late October 1972, four days in mid-November 1972 and no days in December 1972. He was paid for additional days in 1973.

McClellan says Bush recalls serving in the Guard both in Texas and Alabama. The pay records do not say where he served on the days he was paid, or what he did.

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Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, N.C., Kelley Shannon in Austin, Texas, and Kendal Weaver in Montgomery, Ala., and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this report.