‘Bush had special treatment to avoid Vietnam’

US President George Bush was given special treatment to avoid being sent to war in Vietnam as a young man, was suspended from the Air National Guard because he failed to meet standards and ignored an order to take a physical.

In addition, senior military officials put pressure on one of Mr Bush’s officers to “sugar coat” his military evaluations, according to an unearthed memo.

The “special treatment” came at the time Mr Bush’s father, who later rose to become CIA director and then President, was a congressman in Texas.

The latest revelations follow claims Mr Bush failed to turn up for duty when he transferred his service from Texas to Alabama where he worked as a political campaigner.

In May 1968, more than 2,000 US troops had been killed in Vietnam.

More men were being drafted into the military to fight the war, and Mr Bush, who had just graduated from Yale, was likely to be among them.

But former Texas House Speaker and state Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes said he intervened so Mr Bush could remain in the US.

He said he was approached by the late oilman Sid Adger, a friend of the Bush family.

“It’s been a long time ago, but he said basically would I help young George Bush get in the Air National Guard,” Mr Barnes told CBS.

A posting in the National Guard would mean Mr Bush could stay in the US, avoiding Vietnam.

Mr Barnes, who is now an adviser to Mr Bush’s presidential challenger John Kerry, said he contacted his friend General James Rose, the head of the Texas Air National Guard.

“I would describe it as preferential treatment While I understand why parents wanted to shield their sons from danger, I abused my position of power by helping only those who knew me or had access to me.”

CBS got documents from the personal files of the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, Mr Bush’s squadron commander in Texas.

One document, from May 1972, recorded that Lieutenant Bush was trying to avoid “coming to drill” for a six month period.

Col Killian wrote he had tried to come up with options but added he thought Mr Bush was “talking to someone upstairs”.

The White House’s communications director said Mr Bush received an honourable discharge from the National Guard.