Bush Releases More Military Files

Seeking to end continuing questions about the president's military service, the White House released dental records intended to support President Bush's account of his Air National Guard service in Alabama.

Some Democrats have accused the president of neglecting his duties when he transferred in 1972 from the Texas Air National Guard to an Alabama unit so he could work on a Senate campaign there.

The White House late Wednesday released a copy of a dental evaluation Mr. Bush had at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery on Jan. 6, 1973, which Mr. Bush's spokesman said documented that the president had served in Alabama as required.

But January 1973 is a period already covered by military records the White House released earlier this week. Pay records released on Tuesday indicate the president served January 4-6 and 8-10 of 1973.

The periods where there is no record of service for Mr. Bush are May, June, July, August, September and December of 1972 and February and March of 1973.

In September of 1972, Mr. Bush was suspended from flying because he had not completed his annual medical exam. In May of 1973, Mr. Bush's officer effectiveness report, obtained outside the White House, says he was "not observed" at the Texas National Guard, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante.

The White House obtained the dental record, along with other medical records it did not release, from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The records released late Wednesday were accompanied by a statement from Dr. Richard J. Tubb, the president's current physician, who stated that he read Mr. Bush's records, which covered a period from 1968 to 1973, and concurred with the doctors' assertion that Mr. Bush was "fit" for service.

The White House hardened its defense of Mr. Bush's National Guard service, saying documents released Tuesday and Wednesday had proven that Mr. Bush fulfilled his military obligation.

McClellan said requests for additional records show that some people "are more interested in trolling for trash for political gain" with the presidential election nine months away.

Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, rejected that Thursday, telling NBC show that "fair questions" remain unanswered, such as whether Mr. Bush reported for duty in Alabama.

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic front-runner, has refused to comment, but has also declined to urge fellow Democrats to drop what their questioning.

Several members of the Alabama Guard unit said in interviews they don't remember ever seeing Mr. Bush at their Montgomery base. Nor does the dentist specifically recall treating Mr. Bush.

But all of them told The Associated Press that doesn't mean he wasn't there, serving alongside hundreds of others in the Guard unit.

The AP contacted more than a dozen former members of the unit on Wednesday, and none could recall ever running into Mr. Bush. However, all were quick to point out that it was a large unit with up to 800 members and Mr. Bush was not a celebrity then.

"I don't remember seeing him. That does not mean he was not there," said Wayne Rambo, who was a first lieutenant with the 187th Supply Squadron at the time.

Retired Maj. Norman Rahn, 74, who was with the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in 1972-73, said he doubts anyone would remember an out-of-state pilot who spent a total of six to 10 days on base in a three-month period 32 years ago.

"He was not a member of our unit," Rahn told the AP on Wednesday. "We didn't own him."

Dr. John Andrew Harris of Montgomery, Alabama, who performed Mr. Bush's dental exam on Jan. 6, 1973, said Thursday his signature appears on the record released by the White House.

Harris said the dental chart appears to be from the kind of checkups typically performed on unit members on weekend drill duty. The record indicates Mr. Bush was at the dental clinic on a Saturday.

"It's just an annual exam. He was missing his wisdom teeth and tooth No. 3. He had had some cap work," said Harris, referring to the chart.

Harris, now chief of dental services for the VA Medical Center in Montgomery, said he doesn't remember Mr. Bush, who would have been one of as many as 60 unit members seen over two days.

"He was just another pilot," he said. "They had to be seen on an annual basis."

In addition to the year in Alabama, other aspects of the president's service have also been scrutinized. He got a place in the Guard, whose members rarely went to Vietnam, despite a long waiting list; rose quickly to officer rank; entered flight school despite getting the lowest-qualifying test score; and left the Guard early to attend Harvard Business School.