Guardsmen stand by 'proud' Bush

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LAS VEGAS -- President Bush, who is being hammered by renewed questions over his service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, received an enthusiastic response to his address yesterday to the National Guard Association.

Speaking at the NGA's 126th annual convention, Mr. Bush said he is "proud" to be the 19th former guardsman to become president.

Prompting one of many standing ovations from the crowd, Mr. Bush saluted Guard and Reserve troops for their service in Afghanistan and Iraq -- a deployment many in the room had experienced.

"I am proud to be their commander in chief, and I respect and honor all of those who serve in the United States Armed Forces -- active, Guard and Reserve," Mr. Bush said.

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry have launched "Operation Fortunate Son," attempting to paint Mr. Bush as a man who used his family's influence to leapfrog over others to obtain a spot in the National Guard to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

The Democrats also accuse Mr. Bush of shirking his duty in the Guard by failing to get a required physical to fly and not showing up for drills when he transferred to an Alabama unit in 1972.

The White House has maintained that Mr. Bush did not take his physical because after three years of flying F-102 fighter jets in Texas, he was moving to a nonflying post in Alabama. Mr. Bush was honorably discharged from the Guard in 1973, a fact that the administration and the president's campaign says closes the controversy.

"'Fortunate Son' was the name of a book written in the 2000 campaign by an ex-convict who was widely discredited," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday. "And I think it just shows the Democrats and the Kerry campaign are determined to throw the kitchen sink at us because they can't win when the discussion is focused on the issues and the future.

"They are resorting to recycled attacks that have come up every time the president runs for election," he said.

Meanwhile, NBC News and CBS News demanded yesterday that the Democratic National Committee remove network footage from the DNC's latest ad attacking Mr. Bush's Guard service.