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Helen Thomas:

It Comes Down to This: Kerry Served in Vietnam, Bush Didn't

The very mention of the Vietnam war should be a source of embarrassment to President Bush at a time when his supporters are attacking Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry -- a decorated veteran of that ill-advised conflict.

In a war where Kerry volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam, Bush skulked at home, going through acrobatics in order to avoid even serving on active duty. Bush used his pull as the son of a prominent Texas congressman to avoid the military draft by joining the Texas Air National Guard. He was jumped over hundreds of candidates on the waiting list.

Once in his safe billet, Bush compiled a National Guard record that still remains fuzzy -- and the president is obviously disinterested in clearing the fog about his performance there, despite continuing efforts by news organizations to get answers to lingering questions.

All this at a time when Bush supporters are bashing Kerry's distinguished war record. Even Bush conceded this week that Kerry "served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record."

Of course, that doesn't mean that the president would actually disavow the scurrilous attack ads that his supporters have launched against Kerry. But there has never been a shortage of gall or chutzpah in the Bush camp directed by political strategist Karl Rove.

Bush must be hurting politically to go down this dangerous road, knowing that attacking Kerry for his Vietnam service risks focusing attention on his own behavior during those years.

Bush was healthy and perfectly eligible when other young men were being drafted to go to war in Vietnam in the late 1960s. He had a family legacy to uphold. His father had been a Navy pilot in World War II whose plane was shot down in the Pacific war.

There is an unexplained gap in his the president's National Guard records in a 1972-73 period when he did not show up for duty in Alabama where he supposedly transferred to another Guard unit so he could work in the political campaign of a family friend.

Reporters have tried in vain for the last four years to piece together that chapter of his life.

Pressured under the Freedom of Information Act, the White House released hundreds of documents last February dealing with Bush's military record. But they didn't explain why he refused to take a physical examination in 1972, a step that kept him from flying.

Bush received an honorable discharge and then enrolled in Harvard Business School.

Bush's shadowy political surrogates have decided that the best defense against these questions is to take the offense against his rival for the presidency.

That brings us to the Bush supporters organized as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, sponsors of the television commercials claiming that Kerry did not merit his Vietnam medals -- the silver and bronze stars for valor and three Purple Hearts.

The ads -- which ran in political battleground states, among them Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia -- also contend Kerry lied about his performance in combat.

The group is funded by some of the president's wealthy Texas supporters. Benjamin Ginsberg, a top lawyer in Bush's campaign, acknowledged Tuesday that he had done some legal work for the anti-Kerry Swift Boat vets, showing how closely linked the Bush campaign is to the Swift Boat group. Ginsberg resigned from the Bush campaign Wednesday, saying he didn't want to become a distraction.

Kerry was slow to organize a response to the Swift Boat attacks but he finally got his act together and, better late than never, lined up other veterans to attest to his bravery.

Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark issued a statement, saying: "John Kerry understands the risk and sacrifice that American soldiers undertake every day, in a personal way that neither George Bush nor Dick Cheney ever will."

Vice President Cheney received five deferments during the Vietnam era. Asked recently why he didn't serve in the military, he delivered a memorable response: "I had other priorities."

Bush often stresses his role as "commander-in-chief" in the war on terrorism on the campaign trail and makes frequent appearances at military bases where uniformed audiences enthusiastically greet him.

The irony is that he could have had better credentials in dealing with military matters if he had learned the lessons of Vietnam first hand, just as John Kerry did.

Copyright 2004 Hearst Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.

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