http://www.thenation.com/outrage/index.mhtml?bid=6

'The Deserter'
01/27/2004 @ 10:15pm [permalink]


When muckraking filmmaker Michael Moore recently called President George
W. Bush a "deserter," journalists and pundits recoiled in distaste.
Peter Jennings, to take one example of many, said Moore had leveled "a
reckless charge not supported by the facts."

Moore has countered by assembling much of the public record about George
W. Bush's absence without leave (AWOL) from the National Guard. It
includes mutually reinforcing reports by The Boston Globe, The
Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News and other mainstream media,
citing everyone from combat veterans in the Senate to the National
Guard's own documents. The bottom line: At a time when the nation was at
war in Vietnam, Bush was AWOL for at least several months from his
States-side military post.

Is that desertion? Click here for a PDF file of the US Army Research
Institute's 2002 publication, "What We Know About AWOL and Desertion: A
Review of the Professional Literature for Policy Makers and Commanders."
The second page, under the headline "What is a Deserter?", states:
"Currently, any soldier who has taken an unauthorized leave from his/her
training or duty station is considered AWOL. On the 31st day of AWOL,
this status is officially changed to Dropped From Rolls (DFR), or
desertion. This can be considered the 'administrative' definition of the
term. From a legal standpoint, individuals are considered deserters when
they have been convicted of the crime through a court martial."

So was Moore reckless in saying George W. Bush is a deserter?

I suppose it depends on what your definition of "is" is.