CONTENTS>

9. AN EMBARRASSED UNCLE

1. BUSH’S COLLEGE YEARS. While at Yale, George W. Bush followed his father’s footsteps and joined the neo-spartan Skull and Bones Society which dated back to 1932. With Masonic overtones and rituals similar to those of the Illuminati, Skull and Bones was a secret symbols similar to that of the Freemasonry.

The secretive Order of Skull and Bones existed only at Yale where 15 juniors were chosen each year by the seniors to be initiated into the following year's group. Each initiate was given $15,000 and a grandfather clock. Russell went on to become a general and a state legislator in Connecticut. Alphonso Taft was appointed United States Attorney General, Secretary of War, ambassador to Austria, and ambassador to Russia. His son, William Howard Taft was the only man to be both President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

At first, the society held its meetings in hired halls. Then in 1856, the tomb was constructed, where to this day the "Bonesmen" hold their "strange, occultist" initiation rites and meet each Thursday and Sunday. That same year, a group calling itself "The Order of File and Claw" broke into the Skull and Bones' holy of holies. In the tomb, they found black velvet on the walls. There was a sanctum furnished in red velvet with a pentagram on the wall. In the hall were pictures of the founders of Bones at Yale, and of members of the Society in Germany, when the chapter was established. In another room, there was an old engraving representing an open burial vault, in which was four human skulls.

After Bush became president, The Observer (July 17, 2000) reported on a ritual carried out by the Skull and Bones Society at Yale. On April 24, 2002, -- for the first time ever – outsiders witnessed the rituals of the Skull and Bones Society. Using high-tech night-vision video equipment, the team witnessed:

A robed Bonesman posed as George W. Bush saying in a Texas drawl: “I’m gonna ream you like I reamed Al Gore” and “I’m gonna kill you like I killed Al Gore.”

Privileged Skull and Bones members mocked the assault on Abner Louima by crying out repeatedly, “Take that plunger out of my ass!”

Skull and Bones members hurled obscene sexual insults (“lick my bumhole”) at initiates as they were forced to kneel and kiss a skull at the feet of the initiators.

Other members acted out the tableau of a throat-cutting ritual murder.

Further revelations turned up by the Observer Bones Investigation Unit included:

The words to the secret Skull and Bones “death mantra.”

Copies of the Skull and Bones tax returns, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, raised questions about the legitimacy of the secret society’s claim to charitable tax-exempt deduction status–particularly relevant considering recent criticism of the Bush tax plan for favoring the privileged few. (The Observer, July 17, 2000)

Most of the speculative lore about the Skull and Bones ritual was centered on its death fixation. Beyond the obvious skull-and-crossbones insignia, the most persistent story was that initiates spent their senior year in the basement crypt of the Bones Tomb taking turns lying in a coffin and, in two long, intense, psycho-drama autobiographical sessions in said coffins. They recounted their personal and sexual history to the other 14 members. Initiates had to “die to the barbarian world” and be reborn in the company of the elect of “The Order.”

According to The Observer (July 17, 2000), one conversation went, “And (again): "Take that plunger out of my ass, Uncle Toby!” Then there was silence. After awhile, one of the Patriarchs complained, “We ought to get better blood than this fuckin’ syrup, man.”

There were cries of “Lick my bumhole, neophyte! Lick my ass, neophyte! Do you like my bum, neophyte?” This “bumhole” tribute was followed by more cries of “Get the femur!” And the last part of the death mantra was “Death equals death.”

Then the Skull and Bones member playing “Bush” said, “I’m the President of the motha-fuckin’ U.S.A.”

Later, the society performed a ritual that included three presidents, some Supreme Court justices, a dozen Senators, and several secretaries of state. A Satanic-looking figure appeared and members of the neo-spartan organization shouted, “Hurry, neophyte! "Run, neophyte! Find the femur, neophyte! Lick my bumhole! (and) Remove the plunger!”

The “devil” went into a tent and emerged with what looked like femurs and a thigh bone. Someone held a butcher knife alongside a woman with blood. The member approached a skull a few feet away from the knife-wielder-and-victim. He knelt and kissed the skull, at which point the member simulated cutting the throat of the woman in what appeared to be a sign of male superiority.

Bush went into the Texas Air National Guard after Yale. He was released with six months remaining in his six-year obligation in order to enter Harvard business school. Yoshihiro Tsurumi was a visiting associate professor of international business at Harvard Business School between 1972 and 1976. He said Bush was among 85 students he taught one year in a required first-year course, “Environment Analysis for Management.” (Harvard Business School Newsletter, July 16, 2004)

According to Tsurumi, Bush declared that “people are poor because they are lazy.” He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. Bush also opposed the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission, viewing them as unnecessary hindrances to “free market competition.” To Bush, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was “socialism.” (Yoshi Tsurumi, professor of International Business, Glocom Platform, March 1, 2004)

Tsurumi said Bush scored in the bottom 10 percent of students in the class. He recalled Bush’s statements and behavior were “always very shallow.” For example, Tsurumi, said, “Whenever Bush just bumped into me, he had some flippant statement to make.” Tsurumi also said Bush displayed a sense of arrogance about his prominent family, including his father. “He made it sure we understood how well he was connected. He wasn’t bashful about how he was being pushed upward by Dad’s connections.” (Harvard Business School Newsletter, July 16, 2004)

Tsurumi also said that Bush boasted that his father’s political string-pulling had gotten him to the top of the waiting list for the Texas National Guard instead of serving in Vietnam. When other students were frantically scrambling for summer jobs, Tsurumi said, Bush explained that he was planning instead for a visit to his father in Beijing, where the senior Bush was serving at the time as the special United States envoy to China. (Harvard Business School Newsletter, July 16, 2004)

2. THE DRAFT-DODGER: AVOIDING THE VIETNAM WAR.

Receiving preferential treatment. While still at Yale, Bush reported to Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts four months before graduation in 1968. He took the Air Force Officers Qualification Test and scored a weak 25 percent for pilot aptitude on the screening test. After graduating in the spring, he packed his suitcases and returned to Texas where his parents handed him an education trust fund check for $17,000.

At the same time, the United States was at a crucial juncture in the Vietnam War. The Pentagon was escalating the war, as the Viet Cong were infiltrating into South Vietnam’s principle cities during the Tet holidays. During 1968 the North Vietnamese also attacked Khe Sanh, a strategic American base located below the DMZ next to the Laos border. In 1968, over 100,000 men across the nation were on a waiting list to join the only branch of the military which did not send soldiers off to war -- the National Guard.

Even though the Air National Guard was not used in Vietnam, Bush said that he would have gone to Vietnam had his unit been called up. There was no indication that any rules were broken in order to provide a slot for Bush. And a Bush spokesperson denied that he was treated differently from other recruits. Bush said, “I knew I was going into the military and would have liked to come out with a skill. Your options either were to avoid the draft or sign up, and I signed up.” Bush campaign spokesman David Beckwith said that Bush’s special commission and treatment in the Guard were “routine.” Our information is there was absolutely no special deal.” He also said that transfers were available to Air National Guard members and that the press releases were only an attempt by state military officials to obtain free publicity for the Air National Guard.

Bush was able to avoid the Vietnam War by entering the Texas Air National Guard at the age of 21 while most inductees were shipped over to Southeast Asia. Bush learned that there were pilot openings in the Texas Air National Guard during Christmas vacation of his senior year at Yale. Two weeks before he was to graduate from Yale, Bush stepped into the offices of the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Field outside Houston and announced that he wanted to sign up for pilot training. It was May 27, 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War. Bush was 12 days away from losing his student deferment from the draft at a time when Americans were dying in combat at the rate of 350 a week.

Bush’s Harvard Business School Professor Yoshihiro Tsumuri said Bush would boast about his family connections and his ability to get out of Vietnam.

Tsurumi said, “I used to chat up a number of students when we were walking back to class. Here was Bush, wearing a Texas Guard bomber jacket, and the draft was the No. 1 topic in those days.

Tsurumi: “George, what did you do with the draft?”

Bush: “Well, I got into the Texas Air National Guard.”

Tsurumi: “Lucky you. I understand there is a long waiting list for it. How’d you get in?”

Tsurumi said Bush did not appear ashamed or embarrassed. Bush thought he was entitled to all kinds of privileges and special deals. He was not the only one trying to twist all their connections to avoid Vietnam.

Tsurumi told Bush that someone who avoided a draft while supporting a war in which others were dying was a hypocrite. “He realized he was caught, showed his famous smirk and huffed off.” (www.salon.com, September 16, 2004)

Bush scored only 25 percent on a “pilot aptitude” test, the lowest acceptable grade. But his father was then a congressman from Houston, and the commanders of the Texas Guard clearly had an appreciation of politics. Bush never placed his name on a waiting list. He did not have to wait. Because of his privileged class status, Molly Ivins (Shrub) wrote that Bush was assigned one of the last two slots in the state. Bush was sworn into the 147th unit on the very day that he applied.

The Los Angeles Times reported on July 4, 1999 that Bush was able to become an officer without special training. In addition, Bush had no aviation experience. After examining over 200 pages of documents and interviewing dozens of National Guardsmen, Los Angeles Times reporters concluded that Bush received favorable treatment and uncommon attention. The Texas Air National Guard had 1,000 slots for pilots, air and ground crew members, supervisors, technicians, and support staff. Sergeant Donald Barnhart said that he kept a waiting list of 500 applicants’ names.

Bush also received support from Sid Adger, a Houston businessman with close ties to then-Congressman George H. Bush, to pull strings to get him into a local unit. Also, Ben Barnes, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, was a close Bush family friend who used connections to find a way for the young Bush to evade the Vietnam War.

A friend of the Bushes called Barnes and asked for him to find a slot for Bush in the Air National Guard. Barnes in turn called General James Rose of the Air National Guard and recommended Bush for a pilot position. Barnes aide was Nick Kralj who, along with Robert Spellings, ran an underground railroad to quietly moved the sons of prominent Texans into the National Guard. (Charles Lewis, (The Buying of the President 2000))

Colin Powell, who later became Bush’s secretary of state, wrote in his memoir “I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed ... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.”

Bush first met with the unit's commander in his Houston office and made his application -- all before his graduation in June from Yale. His records listed no ROTC experience or engineering or aviation experience, which were considered desirable. But the other applicants on the waiting list all had aviation experience of some sort. In his application, Bush cited work experience as summer jobs and part-time employment as a messenger, a ranch hand, an oil field "roustabout," a sporting goods salesman, and a bookkeeper. Nevertheless, Bush was able to become an officer without special training. He was sent to basic training and awarded a special commission, so he instantaneously became a second lieutenant.

Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes acknowledged that periodically distinguished residents of the state would contact his office requesting assistance in obtaining slots for their sons in the National Guard. Barnes denied that he ever received a call from the senior Bush or anyone else in the family, but he did acknowledge that Sidney Adger, an influential Houston oilman and long time friend of the Bushes, interceded on behalf of the young Bush. According to Barnes, Adger asked him to find a slot in the Air National Guard for Bush..

Another connection that the Bush family had was with Commander Walter "Buck" Staudt. He first met the senior Bush when he was a United States congressman and a member of the Houston Chamber of Commerce aviation committee. Staudt told the Washington Post that the young Bush was accepted immediately into the Air National Guard because there were "five or six openings for pilots." But later Staudt admitted to the Houston Chronicle that Bush's wealthy background helped him qualify for one of the slots.

Staudt classified young Bush as prime officer material. Staudt wrote, "Applicant is a quiet, intelligent young man who has the interest, motivation and knowledge necessary to become a commissioned officer in today's Air Force and Air National Guard flying programs." In a separate report, Staudt added, "Bush meets all the requirements established for this appointment program."

Staudt recommended Bush for a direct appointment which allowed him to become a second lieutenant right out of basic training without having to go through 23 weeks of training in the rigorous officer candidate school. The process also cleared the way for a slot in pilot training school. In July 1968, an examining board approved the direct appointment, finding that Bush's physical and moral characteristics were all "satisfactory." Staudt was a member of that board. But Staudt declined to estimate how many men received such special appointments. Two years later, the Texas Air National Guard's special commission process was discontinued in the 1970s after the war ended.

Air Force veteran Charles C. Shoemake, who later joined the Texas Air National Guard, said that direct appointments were rare and hard to get and that they required extensive credentials. He said, "I went from master sergeant to first lieutenant based on my three years in college and 15 years as a noncommissioned officer. Then I got considered for a direct appointment. I didn't know whether I was going to get into pilot training."

After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Bush was promoted to second lieutenant in a few months, one of the most rapid rank ascensions in military history. A three-person examining board, one which Staudt was a member, approved the appointment in July. Staudt arranged for a ceremony in his office -- highly unusual -- and the Bush family was invited. Bush's father pinned the bars on his son, and the Bushes along with Staudt posed for pictures.

In November 1968, Bush spent a year for pilot's training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. He was assigned to a F-102, an interceptor aircraft that was being phased out of the regular Air Force since it was not needed in Vietnam. The Texas Guard had acquired the aircraft for maneuver exercises over the Gulf of Mexico.

GOING AWOL In 1972, Bush hoped to move to Alabama to work on the senatorial campaign of former Postmaster General Winton Blount in 1972. Subsequently, he applied in May to have his duty station switched from Texas to Alabama. On September 5, he was transferred to the 187th Tactical Recon Group, an active unit in Montgomery. (Molly Ivins, Shrub)

However, Bush’s military records showed no evidence he did the duty, and the unit commander said he never showed up. Yet Bush maintained that he attended all Air National Guard meetings at Maxwell Air Force Base. He claimed that he could not recall exactly what his duties were. (Boston Globe, May 23, 2000)

But Bush himself told Mickey Herskowitz, a ghost writer for both George W. Bush and George Herbert Bush, that he did not attend any Alabama National Guard drills at all, because he was “excused.” (Bush Wanted To Invade Iraq If Elected in 2000, Russ Baker, October 27, 2004)

Bush first became concerned about his alleged AWOL status in 1998, when he was running for a second term as governor, about allegations that he was given preferential treatment to land a slot in the Air National Guard. So he retained an attorney, Harriet Miers who was paid $19,000 to investigate the issue. She and her aides concluded that Barnes had helped Bush land a slot in the Air National Guard in 1968 after being lobbied by Adger. Miers spoke with Barnes who acknowledged that he had never talked to Bush’s father about asking for the favor. Adger was already deceased, and since that time Barnes passed away. Bush knew that he was off the hook.

Bush left his Texas Air National Guard assignment and moved to Alabama in 1972, even though the Air Force denied his request for a transfer. Bush did not even ask for an official transfer until nine days after he moved to Alabama in May 1972. The Air Force quickly rejected Bush’s request, saying the fighter pilot was “ineligible” to move to the Alabama unit. Nevertheless, Bush stayed in Alabama until his Texas commanders finally gave him written authorization five months later to train there. (South Mississippi Sun-Herald, February 11, 2004)

Bush was profiled in Air National Guard press releases where he was portrayed as getting “high” on flying. But at one point, Bush was suspended from flying after failing to “accomplish” the annual physical required of pilots. But in 1999, the Bush campaign erroneously claimed that he never took the physical in Montgomery because his personal physician was in Houston. In fact, only Air Force flight surgeons can give annual flight physicals to pilots. Bush could have taken the exam at Maxwell Air Force Base. (Atlanta Constitution, November 1, 2000)

Failing to be evaluated. From November 1972 to April 30, 1973, Bush was in Houston, but apparently not with his Air Force unit at Ellington Air Force Base. Two days later, on May 2 the two lieutenant colonels -- in charge of Bush’s unit in Houston -- could not rate him for the prior 12 months, saying he had not been at the unit in that period. Under Air National Guard rules at the time, National Guardsmen who missed duty could be reported to their Selective Service Board and inducted into the Army as draftees. (Boston Globe, May 23, 2000)

The two officers wrote, “Lieutenant Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report.” (Britain’s Sunday Times, June 17, 2000)

Colonel Bobby Hodges was Bush’s commanding officer in Houston. Hodges said that he never saw Bush at the Texas base since he left Montgomery. Hodges said, “If I had been there on the day(s) he came out, I would have seen him.” (Washington Post, November 3, 2000)

Wayne Rambo, a first lieutenant with the 187th Supply Squadron at Dannelly Air National Guard Base at the time, said, “I don’t remember seeing him.” Speaking anonymously, a former Texas Guard official was told by a participant that commanders and Bush advisers were particularly worried about his records of arrests before he joined the National Guard in 1968. (USA Today, February 12, 2004)

With still eight months to fulfill in the military, Bush hoped to get into Harvard Business School. He needed early release from the Air National Guard duty in Texas. He got it easily. Bush White House spokesman Bartlett later said early departures were quite common and, in Bush's case, appropriate because his unit had phased out the F-102s. Bush was transferred to a reserve unit in Boston for the rest of his time. (Washington Post, November 3, 2000)

The 2000 presidential campaign. During the 2000 presidential campaign, the issue over the “missing” months of Air National Guard duty resurfaced. The Boston Globe dug into the matter and found that there was no record that Bush ever served in the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and Bush was unable to locate pilots who would have remembered him. Kenneth Lott, who signed the orders ordering Bush to report to the base in Montgomery, said, “I don’t recall ever seeing the guy (Bush).”

While campaigning for the presidency in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on June 16, 2000, Bush was asked at a news conference about his 1972 Alabama service. Bush claimed that he specifically recalled being on the Montgomery base. He said, “I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed weekends.” He added, “I can’t remember what I did, but I wasn’t flying because they didn’t have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligation.” (New York Times, June 24, 2000)

Expanding on Bush’s remarks, campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer quoted Bush as saying he did “paper shuffling” in Montgomery. “He thinks it was desk work.” Scrambling to substantiate Bush’s claim that he actually reported for duty in Alabama, campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett reviewed hundreds of pages of the National Guard’s payroll records at its repository in Denver and finally announced that he could not find military documents which corroborated Bush’s contention. Bartlett claimed that “the official records were either lost or misplaced or not filled out correctly or not deposited.” Bartlett tried to locate military personnel who may have served with Bush in late 1972 in the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in the Alabama capital. (New York Times, June 24, 2000)

Bartlett said that Bush remembered meeting Lieutenant Colonel William Turnipseed and performing drills in Montgomery sporadically during the campaign and more frequently after the election in November and December. Bartlett said, “Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Alabama at the end of the campaign.” (New York Times, June 24, 2000)

But Turnipseed stated that Bush never reported for duty, although he was required to do so. His orders, dated September 15, 1972, said, “Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training.” Turnipseed added, “To my knowledge, he never showed up.” (Britain’s Sunday Times, June 17, 2000)

In addition, the Associated Press reviewed nearly 200 pages of Bush’s military records released by the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. They contained no evidence that Bush reported for duty in Alabama. And Roberto Trinidad, freedom of information officer for the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, said, “His (Bush’s) payroll records are not here.” (New York Times, June 24, 2000)

Bush’s campaign moved quickly to dispel suspicions that he never showed up for three months of duty. Bush’s campaign produced an old girl friend, Emily Marks, who stood by his story. She asserted that in 1972 Bush had told her that he had to return to Montgomery to fulfill his reserve requirements. Bartlett said, “This corroborates what the governor has been saying. The American people have seen the facts, and they understand that Governor Bush was a good pilot and served admirably.” (Newsweek, July 17, 2000)

The Bush campaign also pointed to a torn piece of paper in his Guard records, a statement of points Bush apparently earned in 1972-73, although most of the dates and Bush’s name except for the “W” had been torn off. According to the torn Air Reserve Forces sheet, Bush continued to compile service credits after returning to Houston, winding up his fifth year with 56 points, six above the minimum needed for retention. However, Bush’s annual effectiveness report, signed by two superiors, says “Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of the report,” May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973. (Newsweek, July 17, 2000)

Colonel Bill Burkett. Before Bush announced his candidacy for president in 2000, top-ranking Texas Air National Guard officers and Bush advisers discussed ways to limit the release of potentially embarrassing details from Bush’s military records. In 1998, Bill Burkett, a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Air National Guard, sent a letter to a Democratic state senator. Burkett complained that Dan Bartlett, then a senior aide to Governor Bush and President Bush’s White House communications director, and Major General Daniel James III, head of the Texas Air National Guard, reviewed the file to “make sure nothing will embarrass the governor during his re-election campaign.” (New York Times, February 12, 2004)

Burkett said that Dan Bartlett, a Bush adviser, “scrubbed” the file. Burkett maintained that “as the State Plans Officer for the Texas National Guard, I was on full-time duty at Camp Mabry when (Bush aide) Dan Bartlett (not related) was cleansing the George W. Bush file prior to G.W.’s presidential announcement. For most soldiers at Camp Mabry, this was a generally known event. The archives were closely scrutinized to make sure that the Bush autobiography plans and the record did not directly contradict each other. In essence, it was the script of the autobiography which Dan Bartlett and his small team used to scrub a file to be released. (Sunday London Times, November 5, 2000)

Burkett added, “This effort was further involved by General Daniel James and Chief of Staff William W. Goodwin at Camp Mabry. I knew one person who worked within the records scrub who commented to me, while at the smoke area, that the Bush files really showed some problems with his ‘blue-blood service record.” Bill Burkett maintained that Bush’s record could be verified through the Freedom of Information Act and that the review of military personnel files is very basic. (Sunday London Times, November 5, 2000)

Four years later -- in 2004 -- Burkett said he overheard conversations in which James discussed “cleansing” the file of damaging information. Two forms in Bush’s publicly released military files -- his enlistment application and a background check -- contained blacked-out entries in response to questions about arrests or convictions. As president, Bush elevated James to be director of the Air National Guard for the entire country. (USA Today, February 12, 2004)

Perhaps Bush’s military files contained embarrassing or incriminating documents. Later, Bush acknowledged in biographies published in 1999 that he was arrested twice before he enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard: once for stealing a wreath and another time for rowdiness at a Yale-Princeton football game. (USA Today, February 12, 2004)

Soon after Burkett heard James discuss purging Bush’s files, a series of meetings of top commanders took place at Texas National Guard headquarters at Camp Mabry. Bush’s records were carried between the base archives and the headquarters building, according to Burkett and the second Air National Guard official, who was there. The meetings were confirmed in a 2002 interview by USA Today with William Leon, who was the Texas Air National Guard’s freedom-of-information officer in the 1990s. (USA Today, February 12, 2004)

Bob Mintz. Despite allegations that Bush failed to fulfill his military service in Alabama, he never supplied eyewitnesses to corroborate he showed up at the Alabama National Guard. Two members of the Alabama National Guard unit, with which Bush allegedly served, had been told to expect him and were on the lookout for him. Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop were certain that Bush never reported for duty. (Memphis Flyer, February 13, 2004)

Mintz stated in February 2004, “I remember that I heard someone was coming to drill with us from Texas. And it was implied that it was somebody with political influence. I was a young bachelor then. I was looking for somebody to prowl around with.” Mintz added that 187th flying squadron -- that to which Bush was reassigned -- numbered only “25 to 30 pilots” and that any new pilot would have been immediately recognized. (Memphis Flyer, February 13, 2004)

Bill Calhoun. Between 600 and 700 military personnel served at the Alabama base when Bush allegedly had been ordered to report. But only one person came forward with recollections of serving with Bush. John B. “Bill” Calhoun said he saw Bush at Dannelly Air National Guard Base eight to 10 times from May to October 1972. (Washington Post, February 14 and 15, 2004)

But there were discrepancies in Calhoun’s story. He claimed that Bush showed up more often than was indicated in Bush’s pay records. Calhoun said that Bush showed up for duty several times from May to October 1972. But the payment and retirement records the White House handed out three days earlier showed that Bush received no pay or attendance credits from April until the end of October 1972. Therefore, Calhoun’s account was not in sync with the documents that, according to the White House, settled the matter. Moreover, the paper trail indicated that Bush was not supposed to report to this Montgomery base until October 1972. (Washington Post, February 14 and 15, 2004)

The White House files indicated Bush performed no other duty from May to December 1972.

How could Calhoun have seen Bush eight to ten times from May to October at Dannelly, if the record stated that Bush was not told to report to Dannelly until September?

How could Calhoun have seen Bush eight to ten times from May to October at Dannelly if Bush did not receive any payment or attendance credits in that May-to-October period other than for two days at the end of October?

The Tim Russert interview in 2004. After Bush’s popularity dropped to an all-time low, he decided to appear on Tim Russert’s Meet the Press in February 2004. During a February 8 interview, Russert asked President Bush if he would allow “anything to show that he served in the Air National Guard during the summer and fall of 1972.

Russert asked, “Would you (Bush) authorize the release of everything to settle this?”

Bush answered, “Yes, absolutely. … We did so in 2000, by the way.” That was not true. Bush never authorized the release of all relevant documents in 2000. (Meet the Press, February 8, 2004)

A July 19, 2000 response by the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colorado, to a Freedom of Information Act request, clearly indicated that “portions of the information” related to Bush’s service in the National Guard were withheld. The letter further indicated that such information could be disclosed to “the person about who the information is concerned” -- in this case Bush. But Bush failed to authorize the release the documents in 2000.

The Bush administration still refused to release all documents, as the president had promised. On February 10, 2004, the White House released some pay documents, many of which were blurred and unreadable. Press Secretary Scott McClellan claimed the documents indicated Bush was paid during his time in the National Guard.

The White House failed to release these same documents in 2000. This was of special concern since Dan Bartlett, who later became the White House Communications Director under Bush, traveled to the Personnel Center in Denver and reviewed Bush's file on June 24, 2000. (www.salon.com, February 11, 2004)

Furthermore, Bartlett said on February 10, 2004 that Bush’s complete personnel file was forwarded to the White House from the Denver archive. But the White House never promised, as Bush’s statement to Russert would require, to actually release the full contents of that file. Instead, the White House said only that it would “review” the documents. When asked yesterday if any other relevant documents existed, White House Press Secretary McClellan dodged the question, answering, “This is what we know that is available.” (Washington Post, February 10, 2004)

McClellan insisted incorrectly that Bush’s pay stubs, which he produced, were actually pay documents. There was no dollar amount anywhere on them. They were labeled “ARF (Air Reserve Forces) Statement of Points Earned. ARF did not pay Guardsmen. That was the job of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). ARF simply tracked their points towards retirement. The “untorn” document was a retirement document, not a pay document.

Apparently, Bush received retirement points during this service year, the 5th of his 6 years. But there was no proof that he actually reported for duty and performed a useful service to defend his country. Perhaps Bush went AWOL. Perhaps he received the credits as a gift from a friendly superior officer who wanted to make sure he got an Honorable Discharge.

The White House claimed that Bush actively served between May 27, 1972 and May 26, 1973. But the “pay” records released on February 10, 2004 showed that Bush was not “paid” on the dates claimed by the White House in the 4th Quarter: October 28-29 or November 11-14. Therefore, Bush was never paid for service during his time in Alabama.

The records indicated that between May 1972 and May 1973, Bush served 14 days -- two days in October, four days in November, six days in January, and two days in April. McClellan offered no indication of why there was a gap in Bush’s service from April to October of 1972.

Appearing desperate to prove that Bush was not AWOL, the White House claimed it had just located another document proving that Bush had served in Alabama. On February 11, the administration released a document that indicated Bush was at a military base in Dannelly, Alabama on January 6, 1973. The one-page record of a dental exam occurred on a day that Bush was paid. (Washington Post, February 12, 2004)

However, the dental record did not account for the six month AWOL gap in the Bush military from April 16, 1972 through October 27, 1972. Neither did the dental record prove Bush was paid for service in the Alabama guards on January 6,1973. However, Bush was to have completed work in a political campaign that ended in November of 1972. Therefore, he had no reason to be in Alabama two months later in January of 1973.

In addition to the mystery of the one-year of missing military service, Bush refused to show up for a physical exam and was suspended from flight status in August 1972. His failure to report should have prompted an investigation by his commander, a written acknowledgement by Bush, and perhaps a written report to senior Air Force officials. (Boston Globe, February 12, 2004)

It was highly unusual for a pilot to evade a physical. That raised as significant question as to why Bush refused. Did Bush know that he would have failed the physical as a result of narcotics?

On February 11, the Boston Globe interviewed Brigadier General David L. McGinnis, a former top aide to the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs. McGinnis said he “thought it possible that Bush’s superiors considered him a liability. So they decided ‘to get him off the books, make his father happy, and hope no one would notice.’ ” (Boston Globe, February 12, 2004)

The White House releases Bush’s files. Finally, on February 13, five days after his Meet the Press interview, Bush released more military records. He claimed that was everything. But five months later, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) acknowledged that in 1996 and 1997 it had inadvertently destroyed military records of dozens of Air National Guard enlistees, including those of Bush. Furthermore, there were no paper records to back up the information contained on the microfilm. The records were destroyed, the Pentagon claimed, when staff members tried to unroll 2,000-foot rolls of the film. (www.indpendent.co.uk, July 10, 2004)

The documents released in February contained hundreds of pages, detailing Bush’s service in the National Guard in Texas as well as some things regarding his duty in Alabama. But the files contained numerous gaps in his five and one-half years. Yet, they failed to prove that Bush reported to duty in Alabama. They did indicate that Bush reported to an Air Force base in Massachusetts for a medical examination on February 21, 1972 and that he was deemed “not qualified” because of problems with his teeth. Bush also visited a dentist in New Haven, Connecticut on March 7. The dentist pulled one tooth from the future president and put a filling in another. A month later, Bush’s file was updated to show him as “medically qualified.” (New York Times, February 14, 2004)

Bush’s evaluation date of May 2 was listed in the files. His evaluation read, “Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of report. A civilian occupation made it necessary for him to move to Montgomery, Alabama.” In June, the evaluation was returned to the Texas National Guard with request for form 77a so “this officer can be rated in the position he held.”

On September 5, Bush’s files said an “application for discharge" effective Oct. 1, seven months before his six years were up. The discharge was granted.

On November 12, Form 77a was sent by the Texas Guard’s personnel office and said, “Not rated for the period 1 May 1972 through 30 Apr 73. Report for this period not available for administrative reasons.”

One week after admitting it had lost some of Bush’s records, the Pentagon discovered new payroll records from his stint with the Alabama National Guard. The records confirmed that there was a three-month gap, failing to show that Bush drilled with the Alabama unit during July, August and September of 1972. (Washington Post, July 24, 2004)

Failing to take a physical exam. In April 1972, the Pentagon implemented a drug-abuse testing program that required officers on “extended active duty,” including reservists such as Bush, to undergo at least one random drug test every year. The annual medical exam that year included a routine analysis of urine, a close examination of the nasal cavities and specific questions about drugs.

Bush claimed he was unable to take the medical because he was in Alabama while his doctor was in Houston. During the 2000 campaign, one of his campaign officials said Bush was aware that he would be suspended for missing his medical as soon as he left Houston, because the Air Force was unable to process his new status before the August deadline for the test.

According to an Air National Guard document, dated September 29, 1972, Bush was suspended from flying because of his “failure to accomplish (his) annual medical examination.” When the Bush administration released that document in 2004, it had blotted out two names. (www.salon. com, April 20, 2004)

However, film-maker Michael Moore gained access to the same document four years earlier during the 2004 campaign. Those two names were not blotted out. They were George W. Bush and James Bath. (Michael Moore, “Fahrenheit 9/11”)

3. A GIRL FRIEND’S ABORTION. In the winter of 1971, Bush was dating Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner) who later married an FBI agent. Bush got her pregnant and arranged an illegal abortion. It was two years before the Roe v. Wade decision. An unnamed source said that Robert Carl Chandler and a Bush supporter made arrangements for the abortion at Twelve Oaks Hospital (later renamed the Bayou City Medical Center) in Houston. The source of the story overheard the telephone call by Chandler to arrange the abortion, and she visited Lowman at the hospital after the abortion.

Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt appeared on a talk show in San Francisco in October 2000 and was very specific about the proof that he claims he has that Bush "was involved" in an early 1970s abortion. Appearing on Bernie Ward's KGO-AM 810 talk show on October 24, Flynt said that the abortion took place in Houston in 1970 during the elder Bush's campaign for a seat in Washington. At that time, the younger Bush was working in the campaign. Flynt claimed that he had affidavits from four witnesses, contradicting an earlier report from the BBC that Flynt was basing his story on the word of one person. In fact, Flynt said the BBC was considering going with his story, along with the London Times. Flynt also described the consternation at CNN when he broke the story and discussed the ability of the Bush spin machine to smother information.

Five days before, on October 19, Del Walters of ABC-TV interviewed Flynt. It was aired the following day on "Crossfire" with Flynt claiming that he had information on Bush's sexual life. The "Crossfire" conversation went:

In the CNN interview, Flynt said: When I said that we had the proof, I am referring to knowing who the girl was, knowing who the doctor was that performed the abortion, evidence from girlfriends of hers at the time, who knew about the romance and the subsequent abortion. The young lady does not want to go public, and without her willingness, we don't feel that we're on solid enough legal ground to go with the story, because should she say it never happened, then we've got a potential libel suit. But we know we have enough evidence that we believe completely. One of the things that interested us was that this abortion took place before Roe v. Wade in 1970, which made it a crime at the time. I'd just like the national media to ask him if abortion is okay for him and his family, but not for the rest of America. We're not looking at it as a big issue, we're looking at it as a situation of people not being told the truth. I think the American people have a right to know everything there is to know about someone running for President."

During the heat of the 2000 presidential election, the Bush team responded: “Mr. Flynt is not a credible source on any issue and we’re not aware of these allegations.” According to Drudge Report (October 20, 2000), Bush responded to Flynt’s charge that he was “involved in” an abortion in the 1970s by having a “senior Bush source” say, “CNN’s standards have hit a new low, if that is even possible! It appears the liberal media is becoming desperate as Election Day nears.” Neither Bush nor any campaign spokesman reportedly disagreed with the Flynt charges. The conversation went:

4. THE DRUNK DRIVING ARREST – AND AVOIDING JURY DUTY. Only five days before Election Day in November 2000, the Bush campaign was hit by a bomb shell when it was disclosed that the governor had been arrested for drunk driving in 1974 while visiting his parents' summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Erin Fehlau, a reporter for WPXT, said on ABC's "Nightline" that she had been tipped off to the story by a police officer in a Maine courthouse She said that the officer had overheard a lawyer talking about Bush's arrest. Fehlau then tracked down a copy of the accident report, as well as the original arresting officer, Calvin Bridges. He told the Associated Press that he recalled driving home from work after midnight that September night and spotting a car slipping briefly onto the shoulder before getting back on the road. Bridges said that Bush failed a road sobriety test and a second test in the police station, registering a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol level, the legal limit at the time. Asked about Bush's demeanor, Bridges replied, "The man was, and I say this without being facetious, a picture of integrity. He gave no resistance. He was very cooperative." Bridges said that Bush spent about 90 minutes in custody.

Erin Fehlau, a reporter for WPXT, said on ABC's "Nightline" that she had been tipped off to the story by a police officer in a Maine courthouse She said that the officer had overheard a lawyer talking about Bush's arrest. Then Tom Connolly, the 1998 Democratic candidate for governor in Maine, came forward and claimed that he was the source behind the story, but he refused to divulge the person who put him onto the story. Fehlau confronted Connolly who later returned from his office with a copy of the documents that the Biddeford court clerk had found only a few hours earlier. Connolly told her that he had heard all about it from an unidentified source who fit Childs's description. Childs was a Democratic lawyer and part-time probate judge. Both Childs and Connolly were part of the interconnected world of Maine party politics, and Republicans obviously tried to tie them to the Gore campaign. Gore's press secretary Christopher Lehane from Kennebunk was the only one who had connections with Childs and Connolly. Lehane's sister worked in a prominent Portland law firm in which former governor Tom Curtis was a senior partner. Newsweek (November 13, 2000) reported that Curtis had backed Childs for his probate judgeship. But Lehane, his sister, and the law firm all vehemently denied any involvement.

Fehlau then tracked down a copy of the accident report, as well as the original arresting officer. Calvin Bridges, the arresting officer, told the Associated Press that he recalled driving home from work after midnight that September night and spotting a car slipping briefly onto the shoulder before getting back on the road. Bridges said that Bush failed a road sobriety test and a second test in the police station, registering a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol level, the legal limit at the time. Asked about Bush's demeanor, Bridges replied, "The man was, and I say this without being facetious, a picture of integrity. He gave no resistance. He was very cooperative." Bridges said that Bush spent about 90 minutes in custody.

According to Howard Fineman, Mark Hosenball, and Michael Isikoff of Newsweek(November 13, 2000), in late October a mysterious figure walked into the office in Biddeford, near Kennebunkport. He asked to see any records they might have on Bush, but the search provided no information. Then on November 2 another person, whom the clerk declined to identify, called with a case number. Within minutes the clerk found the records. She made several copies. That afternoon two or three individuals, identifying themselves as reporters, called for copies. Early that morning a man who identified himself as Bill Childs called the Maine secretary of State's office, seeking companion records. Within hours reporters were on the line, also asking for them. By midday officials had found several documents which were soon being faxed to the reporters, including the one from Fox in Portland. Childs, who declined to be interviewed, was heard bragging that afternoon in the courthouse in Portland about his knowledge of the matter. Paul DeGrinney, a local GOP lawyer, said that "he (Childs) started telling anyone who would listen."

The Bush camp worked to defuse the eleventh-hour controversy by turning the issue against Gore. Communications director Hughes immediately questioned the timing of the release of the information, hinting that the Gore camp may have been responsible. In an attempt to shore up the damage, Bush immediately told a Michigan audience, "I've made mistakes in my life. But I'm proud to tell you, I've learned from those mistakes." Bush said that he failed to come forth earlier because he wanted to shield his two daughters. In an interview with a television station in Pennsylvania, Cheney labeled the matter "old news" and praised his running mate for being "very forthright." Cheney refused comment about his own drunken driving arrests which took place in 1962 and 1963. Gore, meanwhile, distanced himself, saying, "All I know is this: Our campaign had absolutely nothing to do with it, and I'm talking about the issues."

Then the incident took a new turn when reports surfaced that Bush was caught in several lies. In a November 1998 interview with the Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne Slater, Bush was asked if he had any other arrests. He replied, "After 1968? No." Slater recalled that Bush seemed ready to change his response when his spokeswoman Hughes stopped the conversation. Immediately after Bush's drunken driving story broke, it was Hughes again who initially questioned the story's timing. She also claimed that Bush had been totally open about his past and had not spoken of this bust because he was not asked.

In a 1999 interview with CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan of CBS station WBZ in Boston, Bush denied there was any so-called smoking gun. And Bush lied on "Meet the Press" (November 21, 1999). Tim Russert asked, "If someone came to you and said, ‘Governor, I'm sorry, I'm going to go public with some information,' what do you do?" Bush replied, "If someone was willing to go public with information that was damaging, you'd have heard about it by now. My background has been scrutinized by all kinds of reporters. Tim, we can talk about this all morning."

AVOIDING JURY DUTY AS GOVERNOR. As Bush's credibility and forthrightness were challenged, another story broke. At the time Bush was bounced from the jury pool, it was widely believed that he was looking to avoid questions about his hard-drinking past that would surely have come up during jury selection. When Bush was assigned to a drunk driving case, his attorney, Al Gonzales, asked to meet with the counsels in Judge Crain's chambers. Gonzales asked the attorneys not to object when he would ask the court to excuse Bush from jury duty because of the possibility that he might be called on to pardon the accused. P. David Wahlberg, the defense attorney did not object. Neither did John Lastovica, the deputy city attorney who went forward and presented the information to lead prosecutor Ken Oden for approval.

Four years later, Oden said in an interview to Salon (November 2000) that Lastovica did not to object to Gonzales' argument. Oden asserted that he wanted to make sure that there was no chance that Wahlberg could use Bush's removal from the jury as a basis for any possible appeal. Oden said he instructed Lastovica "to make sure the defense attorney can't complain about this later. And the cleanest thing would be for him to make the motion to excuse the governor." Oden added, "With that agreed-upon script, the lawyers came out of Crain's chambers and Wahlberg made the motion."

Oden believed that he was purposely misled by Bush and Gonzales in an effort to avoid jury service. Oden told Salon that Bush "used his position as governor" to avoid having to answer potentially embarrassing questions about his past. Oden charged that Bush's failure to answer some of the questions on his jury questionnaire, coupled with his lawyer's efforts to get Bush excused because he might someday be called on to pardon the offender, was part of an effort to deceive prosecutors and others. Oden added, "It's logical to see that there may have been motives at work that none of us knew about. But at the time, we were just trying to be courteous to the governor."

Oden also criticized Bush for failing to fully answer a questionnaire given to prospective jurors. It asked: "Have you ever been an accused, or a complainant, or a witness in a criminal case?" Given Bush's arrest in Maine, he should have checked the space next to "accused." Instead, it was left blank. A couple of other questions were also ignored, though most of the queries were answered.

Wahlberg confirmed Oden's version of the events. He told Salon that Gonzales' argument that Bush could not serve because he might be called upon to pardon him was "laughable." But Wahlberg said that he made the motion to excuse Bush because "it was a foregone conclusion" the governor would be excused, and it was also in the best interest of his client. Wahlberg's client was later convicted and sentenced to probation.

At the time of Bush's dismissal, the Houston Chronicle (October 9, 1998) reported that it was "a development that allowed him to avoid potentially embarrassing questions about whether he had ever climbed behind the wheel after drinking." After being struck from jury service, Bush was asked if he had ever been arrested for driving while intoxicated. He answered, "I do not have a perfect record as a youth.”

5. CHARGES OF COCAINE USE. While campaigning for the presidency in 2000, Bush was quick to answer some questions about his personal life. He was candid when he denied having extramarital affairs since his 1977 marriage. Rumors floated that Bush had smoked pot and snorted cocaine during his partying days in the 1970s. He acknowledged that he had been arrested for a college prank at Yale where he stole a Christmas wreath. And he had another run- in with law enforcement authorities while at Yale after he and other students tried to tear down the goal posts after a football game with Princeton. Bush acknowledged having a drinking problem until he made the decision to quit in 1986 at the age of 40. But he never admitted to having any arrests -- until a story broke only five days before Election Day.

Bush refused to answer the question about his prior use of cocaine. In the past, every GOP candidate had said that he never experimented with cocaine -- except George W. Bush. The Republican Party has always positioned themselves as having the moral high ground and saying that character counts. In the spring of 1999, a Newsweek reporter asked him, "If you're asked specifically about marijuana or cocaine, what's the answer?" Bush replied, "I will say what I did as a youth is irrelevant to this campaign. What is relevant is, have you grown up, and I have."

The question of illegal drug abuse continued to be raised in the summer of 1999. Initially, Bush refused to comment. When the media continued to question him, he finally responded to a Dallas Morning News (August 18, 1999), saying that it was relevant and that he would respond. Bush answered by saying that he could pass the current White House directive which disqualifies its employees if they used illegal drugs in the past seven years. The day after Bush made this statement, the headlines of the Dallas Morning News read: "Bush Says That He Hasn't Used Drugs in the Last Seven Years."

But the issue of the use of illegal drugs did not stop there. On the next day, Bush upped the ante three more years when he said that he could have passed a background check on illegal drug use when his father was president, and that was when there was a 15 year limit on drug questions. This meant that Bush denied using illegal drugs since 1974 when he was 28. Next, a reporter asked Bush to clear the record since he was an adult at age 18. He refused to answer. Bush only attributed problems which he encountered in his early adult life to "youthful discretion." The Texas law was among the harshest in the nation in the 1960s and 1970s when some people claimed that Bush engaged in illicit drugs . The sentence for the first offense of marijuana was two years to life.

According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are 7,400 people in its prisons on marijuana charges, and 3,100 of them are there for possession alone. Another 5,700 are in county jails for possession of marijuana. That adds up to 8,800 people for doing time for exactly what Bush may have done. According to the State Department of Public Safety, 28,158 were arrested in 1998 for possession of cocaine.

6. FAILING IN THE OIL INDUSTRY. After graduating from Harvard Business School, George W. Bush drove to Midland, Texas where he failed in a bid for the House of Representatives. He followed in the path of his father who as a college graduate ran for Congress but also lost. But the elder George had run such a strong race that he retained his political credibility, while young George emerged simply as a loser. In short, Bush's career was not a precise copy of his father's but rather a poor-quality carbon.

The young Bush ran for the Republican nomination in Texas' 19th Congressional District. He was locked in a fierce battle with Jim Reese, mayor of Odessa. Days before the June 3 primary runoff, Bush was interviewed by Sylvia Teague of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Reese had attacked Bush for being a liberal Rockefeller Republicans. In response, Bush listed conservative positions that Reese held -- opposing the Equal Rights Amendment, opposing federally funded abortions, and refusing to support homosexuality. Opposing Reese's conservative agenda, as reported in The Nation(July 3, 2000) Bush supported the pro-choice movement and opposed a constitutional amendment banning abortion. He stated that abortion was a matter best left to a woman and her doctor. But the Bush presidential campaign insisted that Teague misreported Bush's comments. Spokesman Dan Bartlett said that Bush always opposed abortion. Bush went on to beat Reese in the runoff, but he lost the general election.

Bush ran as a moderate, labeling himself as pro-entrepreneur and pro-life. The young Bush also campaigned on an anti-Jimmy Carter and anti-women's rights theme. But Reese referred to him as a liberal East Coast Rockefeller Republican. Bush opposed him on term limits for members of Congress, calling him simplistic and ineffective. When Bush lost, he looked around to his wealthy friends to help him jump into the business world.

ARBUSTO ENERGY INCORPORATED AND BUSH EXPLORATION.

Three years later, Bush again followed in his father's footsteps by investing in the oil industry. His father had made millions of dollars, while the son lost millions. For investors, he tapped relatives and his father's friends.

Bush spent $17,000 from his education trust fund to start Arbusto Energy Incorporated, a small oil company in Midland. He named it "Arbusto," a Spanish word for "bush," although Cassell's Spanish dictionary gives "shrub" as the only translation. Although he lost more than $2 million in investors' money, he left Midland with $840,000 in his pocket.

The young Bush worked to expand his industry by soliciting speculators who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these people were recruited by Bush's uncle, Jonathan Bush, a New York City stockbroker and the brother of former President Bush. Bush went to family friends to invest in the new company. More than 50 investors eventually raised nearly $5 million for Arbusto's oil and gas drilling endeavors. Prudential-Bache Securities CEO George Ball invested $100,000. Celanese Corporation CEO John Macomber, CEO of Celanese Corporation. Macomber, a friend of Uncle Jonathan Bush, tossed in $79,500. William Draper III invested $172,550. Subsequently, both were given political appointments to the Export-Import Bank during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Lewis Lehrman, a multimillionaire from New York and founder of Rite-Aide Parmacies, gave $47,500. Lehrman narrowly lost the 1982 governor's race to New York's Russell Reynolds Jr., a leading corporate headhunter from Greenwich, Connecticut, invested $23,250. FitzGerald Bemiss, a childhood friend of President George H. Bush and godfather to George W.'s brother Marvin, invested $80,000. Other Bush family members kicked in $180,000. Bush's grandmother gave him $25,000.

Bush's partner was James Bath, a Houston aircraft broker, invested another $50,000. Bath also acted as an investment adviser to Saudi Arabian oil sheikhs who were linked to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) which later had ties to the CIA in Central America during the Contra war in the 1980s. Bill White, one of Bath's business partners, claimed that he was a front man for CIA business operations. And White himself maintained close ties to the Bush family. He claimed that Bath developed a network of off-shore companies to camouflage the movement of money and aircraft between Texas and the Middle East.

Arbusto Energy drilled almost 100 wells, and half of them hit oil. Arbusto Energy drilled almost 100 wells, and half of them hit oil -- about average for Permian Basin exploration in the 1980s. But the best return Bush's investors got was tax deductions. As much as much as 91 percent of the capital invested was written off. Bush increased the his investments from $565,000 in 1979 to $1.7 million in 1981. By 1982, with little more than tax deductions, Arbusto Energy teetered on the verge of bankruptcy.

Bush successfully called on another family friend to bail him out. He sold 10 percent of his stock to Philip Uzielli, who invested $50,000. Later he served in Reagan's office of the chief of staff. This was no bargain for Uzielli, since the company's book value was $382,376. Hoping to gain more business, Bush renamed his firm Bush Exploration. By 1983, 50 investors pumped in over $4.7 million into the new firm.

George Ohrstrom and his wife invested $100,000 in Arbusto Energy. Ohrstrom was a close friend of James Baker III who was a classmate of George H. Bush in college. Baker eventually ran Bush's presidential campaign in 1988 and later became secretary of state. Philip Uzielli tossed in $50,000. In 1982 Uzielli purchased 10 percent of stock in Arbusto Energy for $1 million. Russell Reynolds, a classmate of Uncle Jonathan Bush at Yale, invested $23,250 in Arbusto Energy.

By April 1984, Arbusto Energy had drilled 95 holes. Forty-seven yielded oil, three yielded natural gas, and 45 came up with nothing. Investments in the company were $4.7 million from limited partners, and $1.5 million was distributed back to them. While the company teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, Reynolds invested another $150,000 in a futile effort to keep Arbusto Energy solvent.

Finally, he decided to sell public shares in his 1982 oil drilling fund rather than rely solely on private investments. The offering failed dismally, and Bush netted only $1.14 million of the $6 million he had sought to raise.

A Bush Exploration company prospectus indicated that many partners must have lost money. It showed that limited partners contributed $4.67 million to various Bush funds through 1984 but received distributions of only $1.55 million. Through federal tax laws intended to encourage energy production, they also received $3.9 million in tax write-offs. In the mean time, Bush brought in an annual salary of $75,000 salary and owned 80 percent of the company which contributed $102,000 to the various drilling funds and took distributions of $362,000.

SPECTRUM 7 ENERGY EXPLORATION. Bush was only rescued from bankruptcy when his company was bailed out by a wealthy friend. In 1984, he called on William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds III, a Yale classmate. DeWitt owned Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation which was a drilling firm that maintained 180 wells in Texas and an office in Midland. DeWitt had a B.A. from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. His father had owned the Cincinnati Reds.

Bush was named CEO and was given an annual salary of $75,000. He also received 1.6 million shares of Spectrum 7 for the 4,000 outstanding shares of Bush Exploration. However, two years later, the world oil market plummeted, and hundreds of oil companies filed for bankruptcy. Spectrum 7 posted losses of $400,000 just six months before Bush left. It carried a debt of $3 million. Instead of laying off his exploration staff and reducing overhead, Bush continued with his venture, hoping that the price of oil would rise again. When that was not the case, Bush once again looked for another wealthy friend to save his venture. He founded Harken Energy Corporation in 1986.

HARKEN ENERGY CORPORATION. Harken Energy Corporation was a much larger oil company based near Dallas. In 1983, it absorbed Spectrum 7’s $3 million worth of debt and purchased its 180 well process. Bush received $600,000 worth of Harken Energy stock in return for his 14.9 percent stake in Spectrum 7. As a consultant, Bush was paid $80,000. In 1989 it was increased to $120,000 annually, and he was allowed to buy Harken Energy stock at 40 percent below face value as a member of the company’s board of directors. Bush received 212,152 shares of Harken Energy stock worth $530,380 and was given stock worth about $500,000 and a $120,000 consulting fee. Harken Energy’s partners received a total of $2 million in the company’s stock. Within three years Bush owned 345,426 shares, or 1.1 percent of the company’s common stock.

In the six months before Spectrum 7 was acquired by Harken Energy, it had lost $400,000. In the buyout deal, Bush and his partners were given more than $2 million worth of Harken stock for the 180-well operation. Made a director and hired as a “consultant” to Harken Energy. Bush received another $600,000 of Harken Energy stock, and was paid between $42,000 and $120,000 a year since 1986.

Bush’s value to Harken Energy soon became apparent when the company needed an infusion of cash in the spring of 1987. Junior and other Harken Energy officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., a large investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas. Stephens was a member of President George Herbert Bush’s exclusive “Team 100” -- a group of 249 wealthy individuals who contributed at least $100,000 each to his presidential campaign committee. Stephens made a $100,000 contribution to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 and gave another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990.

In 1987, Stephens made arrangements with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to provide $25 million to Harken Energy in return for a stock interest in that company. As part of the deal, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a Saudi real estate billionaire, joined Harken Energy’s board as a major investor.

Stephens also had ties to Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI), notorious for laundering money during the Contra war. He helped BCCI in 1978 by arranging the sale of National Bank of Georgia. During the next decade, the Union Bank assisted BCCI in avoiding taxes by moving cash from its bank in Noriega’s Panama to other locations throughout the world. For example 325 tons of Philippine gold was hidden in other world banks.

Stephens Incorporated placed the Harken Energy stock offering with the Nugan Hand Bank and the London subsidiary of Union Bank, the later of which later was part of a scandal that resulted in the downfall of the Australian Labor government in 1976.

In 1987, Stephens cut a deal with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to provide $25 million to Harken Energy in return for a stock interest in Harken Energy. As part of the Stephens-brokered deal, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a Saudi real estate financier, joined Harken Energy’s board as a major investor. In fact, Stephens, UBS, and Bakhsh each had ties to Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), known for ties to drug trafficking during the Contra war in Central America.

In the 1970s, Stephens was behind the purchase of First American Bankshares in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, BCCI acquired First America Bankshare’s predecessor, Financial General Bankshares. At the time of the Harken Energy investment, UBS was a joint-venture partner with BCCI in a bank in Geneva, Switzerland. Bakhsh had been an investment partner in Saudi Arabia with Gaith Pharoan, identified by the Federal Reserve Board as a “front man” for BCCI.

DRILLING IN BAHRAIN. Stephens played a key role prior to the 1991 Gulf War. His firm contacted Mobil Oil’s Middle East operations, when Bahrain broke off 1989 talks with ARAMCO for a gas and oil exploration contract. He recommended that Harken Energy be given the contract to drill for oil. In addition, Charles Hostler, ambassador to Bahrain, had contributed $100,000 to the Republican Party.

Harken Energy would have been the first American oil company to be contracted by Bahrain. However, Harken Energy lacked funds to drill off the coast of Bahrain. So Bush hired the billionaire Bass family of Fort Worth. They had close ties to the Republican Party, contributing over $200,000 to the RNC in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Robert Bass was a member of President Bush’s Team 100 and, along with his family members, contributed $226,000 to President Bush’s campaign beginning in 1988. The Bass brothers agreed to provide $25 million for seismic data and drilling of the first three exploratory wells in Bahrain in exchange for 50 percent of Harken Energy’s profits.

But Bass Enterprises Production Company found itself in a quandary. First, a number of people connected to BCCI also had links to Harken Energy. Second, political instability threatened American corporations in the Middle East, particularly as a result of the 10-year Iran-Iraq war. Third, growing tensions were mounting between the United States and Iraq. Fourth, the fact that Harken Energy was not producing oil at the time further complicated the company’s economic problems. Nonetheless, the contract was signed. Fifth, Harken Energy was on the verge of collapsing.

Four months later, the State Department warned that Saddam Hussein might invade Kuwait. Bush’s Bahraini contract was jeopardized even before its first well was scheduled to be drilled in early 1991. The contract fell through. (Covert Action Quarterly, Winter 1998 edition; Stephen Pizzo, Bush Family Values; Stephen Pizzo, Bush Family Values)

INVESTIGATED BY THE SEC. Bush quickly reacted to the negative news. One month later -- on June 22, 1990 -- he unloaded 212,140 shares of Harken Energy stock, a majority of his portfolio. The transaction came a week before the end of the quarter when Harken Energy announced a loss of $23.2 million. Bush cashed in for $4.12 a share, selling his 212,140 shares -- two-thirds of his total holdings -- for $848,560. A week later, the stock plummeted to $2.37 a share. He was able to pay off a $500,000 bank loan which he had used to buy his share of the Texas Rangers in 1989. Bush made an astonishing 200 percent profit. Eight days later the company finished the second quarter with a spectacular loss of $23.2 million -- more than eight times the loss it showed for the second quarter of 1989.

Over the following six months, Harken Energy’s stock lost 60 percent. Bush may have violated Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations which required insider stock deals to be reported promptly. He did not file the stock sale with the SEC until the first week of March 1991. Later that year, the SEC investigated Bush’s transaction for the possibility of insider trading. Bush maintained that he had filed the missing disclosure form. He waited eight months before notifying the SEC of the sale of Harken Energy, missing the filing deadline for reporting insider trades. He claimed that the SEC fully investigated his stock transaction in October 1994, and he boasted that he was exonerated. However, the SEC never determined who purchased Bush’s stock. Robert Jordan, Bush’s legal counsel, defended him by arguing that he had not known about the impending loss when he sold his stock and that he had thought he was selling on the news that the Bahrain contract would bolster stock prices.

Over the following six months, Harken Energy’s stock lost 60 percent. Bush may have violated Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations which required insider stock deals to be reported promptly. He did not file the stock sale with the SEC until eight months after he had sold the stock.

The SEC launched a probe of Bush’s sale of his Harken Energy stock the day after the Wall Street Journal (April 4, 1991) reported that he had been eight months late in filing the required insider-trading form with the regulators. This investigation was separate from the earlier division of corporation finance probe that resulted in Harken Energy’s recasting its 1989 balance sheet.

Bush maintained that he had filed the missing disclosure form. He waited eight months before notifying the SEC of the sale of Harken Energy, missing the filing deadline for reporting insider trades. He claimed that the SEC fully investigated his stock transaction in October 1994, and he boasted that he was exonerated. However, the SEC never determined who purchased Bush’s stock. Robert Jordan, Bush’s legal counsel, defended him by arguing that he had not known about the impending loss when he sold his stock and that he had thought he was selling on the news that the Bahrain contract would bolster stock prices.

While discovering public documents dating back to the late 1980s, The Public i (June 30, 2002) discovered that Harken Energy effectively concealed its dismal financial status before Bush dumped his stock in 1990. A year before, the company sold a retail subsidiary through a seller-financed loan but recorded the transaction in its 1989 balance sheet as a cash sale.

The SEC records suggested that Bush -- as one of Harken Energy’s director and a member of its audit committee -- may have been unaware of the company’s questionable accounting methods. Nevertheless, SEC accountants hinted of fraud when they discovered Harken Energy had recorded the 1989 sale as a capital gain.

In 2002, The Public i (June 30, 2002) could not determine how much Bush made on the stock sale. But in 2001 in a financial disclosure, Bush said he realized a capital gain, or profit, of as much as $1 million on the sale. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan refused to explain more, except his investment had been in a blind trust.

The Public I launched an investigation of Bush’s windfall in Harken Energy stock. The investigative journal could not determine how much Bush made on the stock sale. But in 2001 in a financial disclosure, Bush said he realized a capital gain, or profit, of as much as $1 million on the sale. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan refused to explain more, except his investment had been in a blind trust.

Months later, the SEC directed Harken Energy to reevaluate its 1989 annual report and to publicly disclose the extent of its losses that year. According to The Public i, it was unclear how a timely acknowledgement of the true losses would have affected the value of the stock when Bush sold. At that time, Harken Energy reported for the first time in a quarterly report that it was losing a lot of money, and the stock dropped to $2.37 a share. By the end of the year, it was trading at about $1.

Six weeks before Harken Energy publicly announced in January 1991 that it was revising its 1989 losses upward, the SEC asked the company to explain whether the sale of Aloha to Advance was contemplated at the time IMR purchased Aloha from Harken Energy.

In its public filings to the SEC, The Public I learned that Harken Energy gave conflicting accounts of who sold Aloha, who bought it, and even when the sale occurred. In its 1989 annual report, for example, it declared that it sold Aloha to IMR on June 30. The report said that IMR then sold Aloha to Advance on January 1, 1990, but in another portion of the report, it said IMR sold on March 30.

Additionally, in its 1990 report, Harken Energy declared that it was its subsidiary E-Z Serve Holding Company that sold Aloha to IMR. Adding to the confusion, E-Z Serve, which shortly after the transaction was spun off as a separate publicly traded company, claimed in its 1991 annual report that it had sold Aloha to Advance Petroleum -- not IMR -- in 1989.

Advance Petroleum agreed to pay off the $10 million note by the following year, which it did, instead of in March 1993 as stipulated in the original contract. It also relieved Harken Energy from picking up the cost of fixing leaking underground tanks to meet environmental standards.

According to The Public I, “Advance (Petroleum) got the $3 million of Aloha stock for $1. Harken Energy also forgave $5 million in loans it had made to Aloha and about $1 million in interest payments. The renegotiated contract reduced Harken Energy’s bottom line, and the SEC clearly believed the write-off might have helped depress the stock. “

Harken Energy was notorious during that period for filing confusing reports. In 1991, Harken Energy founder Phil Kendrick told Time magazine that the company’s annual reports ‘get me totally befuddled.’ Quoted in the same article, Faulkner had this advice to those trying to figure out the company’s financial statements: ‘Good luck. They’re a mess.’ ”

According to The Public I probe, Harken Energy masked its 1989 losses when in mid-year it sold 80 percent of a subsidiary, Aloha Petroleum, to a partnership of Harken Energy insiders called International Marketing & Resources for $12 million, $11 million of which was through a note held by Harken Energy. By January 1, 1990, IMR, in turn, sold its stake in Aloha to a privately held company called Advance Petroleum Marketing, and the Harken Energy loan was effectively transferred to Advance, though guaranteed by IMR.

The Public I reported that the SEC enforcement investigators focused on whether Bush dumped his stock, because he knew that the company’s second-quarter report would show a $23.2 million loss and depress the stock. Part of that loss was $7.2 million that Harken Energy wrote off “because it was being pressed by a nervous bank and renegotiated the Aloha sale to generate quick cash.”

The SEC probe was limited to whether Bush had inside knowledge of the dismal financial report that was about to be dealt to Harken Energy. It was “unclear whether Bush knew that Harken Energy, after five straight years of profits, began to bleed profusely in 1989, its first year of being traded on the New York Stock Exchange, though in its annual report for that year it had declared a net loss of only $3,300,000.

The SEC investigation was conducted by the agency’s accounting staff, which did not believe there was intent to defraud and therefore did not refer the matter to the SEC’s enforcement division. Instead, the agency directed the company to publicly correct its reports, according to a retired SEC official familiar with aspects of the case.

In its investigation, The Public I reported that most of Bush’s profits in the stock sale were used to off a bank loan he had taken out in 1989 to buy a partnership interest in the Texas Rangers for $600,000. Bush received nearly $16 million for his stake when the team was sold two years ago.

In the fall of 1990, Bush announced a six-month leave of absence as a consultant and member of the Harken Energy board. He said that he was returning to Washington D.C. to help his father in his 1992 reelection bid. But Bush remained on Harken Energy’s payroll, being appointed to a “fairness committee” to study the possible economic restructuring of the company.

Harken Energy was awarded the contract for which they had lobbied. This touched off wide speculation that President Bush and Saudi oil sheiks with ties to BCCI may have helped broker the deal. Six months after the contract was signed, Talt Othman, the president of Harken Energy, was placed on the White House select list of 15 Arab-Americans who met periodically with President Bush and NSA adviser Brent Scowcroft to discuss policies in the Middle East. Since August 1990, Othman attended three White House meetings with President Bush to discuss Middle East policy.

According to the SEC, Bush was also allowed to borrow $180,375 from Archon Minerals at very low interest rates. In 1989 and 1990, according to the company’s SEC filing, Harken Energy’s board “forgave” $341,000 in loans to its executives. In addition, Bush took advantage of the company’s executive stock purchase plan, which allowed him to buy Harken Energy stock at 40 percent below market value. (Bush Family Values, Stephen Pizzo, September/October 1992)

BUSH CHANGES HIS STORY. Bush failed to file a disclosure with the SEC in a timely manner. In 1991, he claimed he had filed the missing disclosure form, notifying the SEC of the sale of $848,560 shares of Harken Energy, missing the filing deadline. The SEC never received the forms until 34 weeks later.

Eleven years later – on July 4, 2002 -- Bush changed his story. This time, he acknowledged that he had not filed the disclosure, claiming it was a result of a “mix-up” by Harken Energy’s lawyers. Bush said there was a “clerical mistake” by his lawyers for failing to disclose an stock sale in a timely manner. (New York Times, July 11, 2002)

THE TEXAS RANGERS. Bush looked to his friends once again for financial support in 1988 when he made a bid to purchase the Texas Rangers from Eddie Chiles. William DeWitt, Jr., who had been Bush's financial partner in Spectrum 7, searched for donors to purchase the team. However, Peter Ueberroth, commissioner of major league baseball and an ardent contributor to the RNC, refused to approve the transaction unless Bush acquired more financial backing.

Ueberroth and American League president Bobby Brown took the initiative and contacted Richard Rainwater. The Texas multi-millionaire contributed to George H. Bush's presidential campaign and had stayed overnight at the White House. Until 1986 Rainwater had been the chief money manager for the Bass brothers who financed Harken Energy's drilling contract off the coast of Bahrain.

Rainwater agreed to form a partnership with Bush and DeWitt and included several smaller partners. Rusty Rose, a Dallas business associate of Rainwater's, was known as the "Mortician" because he had taken dying companies and made huge profits. Roland Betts was one of Bush's classmates at Yale and had made $3.6 million by financing movies in New York. And Fred Malek was a Washington lobbyist who had been the senior George's campaign manager. In April 1989 they purchased the Texas Rangers for $86 million. Bush needed $606,000, so he went to a Midland bank where he once served on the board of directors. So he was able to secure for himself ownership of 1.8 percent of the Texas Rangers. Then Bush's partners granted him an additional 10 percent share of the Texas Rangers once they recouped their investments along with 2 percent interest. So his ownership increased to 11.8 percent. They also voted him a salary of $200,000 for his full time work as a managing general partner.

A year later, Bush and his co-owners threatened to move the Rangers out of Arlington unless the city built a new stadium for $1.3 million. That meant a sales one-half cent tax hike which Bush totally supported. The city spent $150,000 on an advertising campaign to persuade voters to pass the $135 million bond measure. In January 1991, the voters passed the measure by a 2-to-1 margin.

The Rangers contributed only $30 million to the $190 million stadium, and management was allowed to keep the ensuing revenue. In return Bush and his partners paid $5 million in annual rent and maintenance fees to the city. Ultimately, the Rangers received approximately $200 million in public subsidies from the sales tax increase and state tax exemptions. The contract read that after 12 years, the Rangers' owners would be given full rights to the property. Thus, the Rangers will have paid a total of $60 million in rent before Arlington turns the $191 million ball park over to them in 2002.

However, Bush and his associates were not totally satisfied with that arrangement. They conspired to increase the value of the ballpark by purchasing the land next to the stadium. Mike Reilly, one of the owners of the Rangers, was also a realtor who attempted to purchase the surrounding parcels for a price well below market value. When the Curtis Mathes family refused to sell the 12.7 acres, the city created the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority (ASFDA) which was given the right of eminent domain to force the sale.

Appraisers for ASFDA valued the Mathes land at $3.16 a square foot for a total of $1,515,000. The family countered with $5.31 a square foot which totaled $2,800,000. Then Six Themes theme park jumped in as a potential buyer. To assure that Six Themes could not purchase the Mathes property, the ASFDA condemned the land and seized the property under the eminent domain clause. Eventually, a jury ruled that $817,220 was substantially low and awarded the family $7.2 million. When confronted with the details of the land grab, Bush testified that he was unaware of the details. However, Tom Schieffer, president of the Rangers, testified that he kept Bush abreast of the purchase of the parcels.

In 1994, Bush withdrew from the daily management of the Rangers franchise after being elected governor. Many of his business partners contributed to his gubernatorial campaign. For example, Rainwater gave $100,000 to Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign. Bush ended up selling his $600,000 investment in the Rangers and went home with a profit of $15 million.

Friends of Bush also dominated the board of directors of the University of Texas' Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) which invested $1.7 billion of state money. UTIMCO's chairman, Tom Hicks, purchased the Texas Rangers from Bush. He and his brother gave $146,000 to the Bush campaign. In return, $252 million of the invested money went to funds run by Hicks' business associates or friends. Hicks even insisted that UTIMCO increase by $10 million an investment with a fund that he had an indirect financial interest in, but UTIMCO staff prevented this funding after they discovered the conflict.

8. EMBARRASSED BY HIS DAUGHTERS. It was quite ironic that Bush got back what his mother had suffered over his earlier carefree years. In the spring of 2001, Jenna Bush, one of Bush's 19-year old twin daughters, was caught in possession of alcohol twice within two weeks. In her first case, she apparently used false identification to try to purchase alcohol at an Austin restaurant. A judge ordered her to attend six hours of alcohol-awareness classes and to perform eight hours of community service. In her second case, Jenna pleaded no contest on May 16 to possessing alcohol after police ticketed her April 27 for drinking beer in Cheers' Shot Bar, on Austin's nightclub strip.

According to Texas law, a second citation for underage drinking could enhance the consequences already applied under the first. The more serious possible charge is the one involving false identification. Austin police said that Barbara Bush, a student at Yale University, did not proffer false identification. Jenna also made headlines in February when she dispatched her Secret Service agents to the Tarrant County, Texas jail, in the morning to pick up a male friend who had been busted for teen drinking during a fraternity party at Texas Christian University. Jenna pleaded no contest to a charge of possession of alcohol by a minor. She was ordered to perform eight hours of community service and attend a six-hour alcohol awareness course. (New York Times, May 31, 2001)

Bush's teenage daughters, cited for misdemeanor alcohol offenses, fell under the state's "zero-tolerance" law on underage drinking signed by their father in 1997 when he was governor of Texas. The Texas legislature adopted tougher penalties for underage drinking during its 1997 session in a bill that was signed into law by Bush in June of that year. Among its various provisions, the law allowed authorities to suspend the driver's licenses of minors caught driving with even the slightest trace of alcohol in their blood. Minors convicted of an alcohol-related offense that did not involve driving, like the Bush twins, could lose their license for 30 days for a first offense and 60 days for a second offense. Minors convicted of a third offense could lose their license for 180 days, be fined up to $2,000, and jailed for up to 180 days, under a "three strikes and you're out" policy.

Jenna presented an identification card that belonged to somebody else as proof of her age, prompting the restaurant manager to call police. Witnesses told police that Barbara, a student at Yale University and a friend, Jesse Day-Wickham, had already been served with margaritas. The friend was also cited for possession of alcohol by a minor. (Reuters, June 1, 2001)

A year later, Bush’s daughters made headlines again. In June 2002, the Washington Post (June 29, 2002) reported that 20-year old Jenna and Barbara partied at Stetson’s saloon in Washington D.C. Several people said the twins drank Budweiser beers and smoked cigarettes with a group of friends into the early morning hours.

According to some sources, one of the twins “got down on the floor to help an inebriated young man perform a party trick in which he seemed to rotate his wrist 360 degrees. In the general haze, it wasn’t clear if the helper was Jenna or Barbara.”

The party performer admitted, “I was pretty drunk. My friend and I were at the bar, and he told me there were the Bush daughters at the table. I went up to them and asked them, ‘What’s your name?’ And they laughed and said something like, ‘Slayton.’ So then I started performing some of my magic tricks. And I have this one trick where it’s like I’m double-jointed and I move my hand around in the joint. When I asked for help, one of the girls -- I think it was the light-haired one -- volunteered. She got down on her knees next to me and helped twist my hand. I think the trick really shocked her.”

9. AN EMBARRASSED UNCLE. It was quite ironic that Bush got back what his mother had suffered over his earlier carefree years. In the spring of 2001, Jenna Bush, one of Bush's 19-year old twin daughters, was caught in possession of alcohol twice within two weeks. In her first case, she apparently used false identification to try to purchase alcohol at an Austin restaurant. A judge ordered her to attend six hours of alcohol-awareness classes and to perform eight hours of community service. In her second case, Jenna pleaded no contest on May 16 to possessing alcohol after police ticketed her April 27 for drinking beer in Cheers' Shot Bar, on Austin's nightclub strip.

According to Texas law, a second citation for underage drinking could enhance the consequences already applied under the first. The more serious possible charge is the one involving false identification. Austin police said that Barbara Bush, a student at Yale University, did not proffer false identification. Jenna also made headlines in February when she dispatched her Secret Service agents to the Tarrant County, Texas jail, in the morning to pick up a male friend who had been busted for teen drinking during a fraternity party at Texas Christian University. Jenna pleaded no contest to a charge of possession of alcohol by a minor. She was ordered to perform eight hours of community service and attend a six-hour alcohol awareness course. (New York Times, May 31, 2001)

Bush's teenage daughters, cited for misdemeanor alcohol offenses, fell under the state's "zero-tolerance" law on underage drinking signed by their father in 1997 when he was governor of Texas. The Texas legislature adopted tougher penalties for underage drinking during its 1997 session in a bill that was signed into law by Bush in June of that year. Among its various provisions, the law allowed authorities to suspend the driver's licenses of minors caught driving with even the slightest trace of alcohol in their blood. Minors convicted of an alcohol-related offense that did not involve driving, like the Bush twins, could lose their license for 30 days for a first offense and 60 days for a second offense. Minors convicted of a third offense could lose their license for 180 days, be fined up to $2,000, and jailed for up to 180 days, under a "three strikes and you're out" policy.

Jenna presented an identification card that belonged to somebody else as proof of her age, prompting the restaurant manager to call police. Witnesses told police that Barbara, a student at Yale University and a friend, Jesse Day-Wickham, had already been served with margaritas. The friend was also cited for possession of alcohol by a minor. (Reuters, June 1, 2001)

A year later, Bush’s daughters made headlines again. In June 2002, the Washington Post (June 29, 2002) reported that 20-year old Jenna and Barbara partied at Stetson’s saloon in Washington D.C. Several people said the twins drank Budweiser beers and smoked cigarettes with a group of friends into the early morning hours.

According to some sources, one of the twins “got down on the floor to help an inebriated young man perform a party trick in which he seemed to rotate his wrist 360 degrees. In the general haze, it wasn’t clear if the helper was Jenna or Barbara.”

The party performer admitted, “I was pretty drunk. My friend and I were at the bar, and he told me there were the Bush daughters at the table. I went up to them and asked them, ‘What’s your name?’ And they laughed and said something like, ‘Slayton.’ So then I started performing some of my magic tricks. And I have this one trick where it’s like I’m double-jointed and I move my hand around in the joint. When I asked for help, one of the girls -- I think it was the light-haired one -- volunteered. She got down on her knees next to me and helped twist my hand. I think the trick really shocked her.”

To compound the Bush family’s problems, John Ellis Bush, the youngest son of Jeb Bush, was arrested in September 2005 and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. The 21-year-old nephew of George W. Bush was arrested by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission on Austin’s Sixth Street bar district. (New York Times, September 16, 2005)