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Clinton cocaine use { June 17 2000 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2000/6/17/220615http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2000/6/17/220615
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Saturday June 17, 2000; 11:03 PM EDT
Bush Dodged Drug Test: London Times
Soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush was suspended during his service in the Texas Air National Guard for failing to take a physical that included a drug test, the Sunday Times of London reports.
In August 1972, the 26-year-old Bush was grounded for failing to "accomplish" an annual medical exam that would have revealed whether he had recently taken drugs, according to documents obtained by the paper.
"In April 1972 the Pentagon implemented a drug-abuse testing programme that required officers on 'extended active duty', including reservists such as Bush, to undergo at least one random drug test every year," reported the Times. "The annual medical exam that year included a routine analysis of urine, a close examination of the nasal cavities and specific questions about drugs."
New guidelines implemented in 1972 required that officers like Bush be asked, "Do you now or have you ever used or experimented with any drug, other than prescribed by a physician (to include LSD, marijuana, hashish, narcotics or other dangerous drugs as determined by the attorney-general of the United States)?"
Bush was also supposed to take a physical that included a urine drug test within a month of his July birthday. But in May 1972, he took a leave of absence from the Guard to work on the Senate campaign of Winton Blount, a friend of George Bush Sr., then a Texas congressman.
Bush Jr. applied for a transfer from Houston to Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. But, says the Times, documents show no evidence that, once in Alabama, Bush ever attended the required training.
Bush's commander for the period in question, Gen. William Turnipseed, now retired, claims the young airman never showed up for regular drills.
Two commanders quoted in Bush's military personnel file say they were unable to evaluate the GOP front-runner's performance from May 1, 1972, to April 30, 1973: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report," they wrote.
Records show Bush did eventually serve 32 days in Houston before his October 1973 discharge.
Bush campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett said the Texas governor did no flying during his stint in Alabama and therefore required no medical exam. "As he was not flying, there was no reason for him to take the flight exam," Bartlett told the Times. "And he was not aware of any changes that required a drug test."
The Texas governor has been plagued by drug questions since last summer, when he claimed to be drug free for the last 25 years. But Bush would say nothing about what substances he might have abused prior to 1974.
Still, despite a deluge of media speculation over Bush's possible past cocaine use, not a single witness has come forward to say they saw him use the drug.
On the other hand, no fewer than six witnesses have claimed in published reports that President Clinton used cocaine, including his former mistress Gennifer Flowers, who said he offered to supply her with the drug.
One-time Little Rock drug dealer Sharline Wilson gave her eyewtiness account of Clinton's coke snorting to a federal grand jury in 1990.
America's press has largely ignored the charges.
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