http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26843-2004Feb9.htmlDefense Dept. Seeks Bush's Guard File
By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A07
The Defense Department has requested that President Bush's payroll records from his service in the National Guard be sent to Washington from a DOD archive in Colorado, to ascertain whether they can be released to news organizations and public interest groups that have formally requested them in recent days, according to DOD officials.
Bush, in an interview shown Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he would release all his records, including pay stubs, to put to rest political suggestions that he may not have fulfilled his duty near the end of his Guard service, from May 1972 to May 1973. The president also suggested there might not be anything in the records that has not already been in the public domain.
"I mean, people have been looking for these files for a long period of time, trust me, and starting in the 1994 campaign for
governor," Bush said. "And I can assure you in the year 2000 people were looking for those files as well."
Asked in the interview whether he would authorize release of his Guard records, the president said, "Yes, absolutely."
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Don't be too surprised if DOD "ascertains" that the records are private and cannot be released to the public.