Bush's Vietnam records released

Mr Bush denies shirking his Vietnam-era duties

The White House has released President George W Bush's pay records in a bid to refute accusations that he shirked military duties during the Vietnam war.

"These documents clearly show that the president fulfilled his duties," said spokesman Scott McClellan.

Mr Bush was a member of the Texas and Alabama air national guard.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, has said Mr Bush must clear up questions over his military record.

I put in my time, proudly so President George W Bush

Doubts were raised during the 2000 presidential campaign about whether Mr Bush showed up for all his national guard obligations.

He spent much of 1972 helping with a political campaign in Alabama.

'Political war'

With doubts now resurfacing as the Democratic party goes through the process of finding a challenger to Mr Bush this November, Mr Bush has authorised the release of his guards records.

"When you serve, you are paid for that service. These documents outline the days on which he was paid.

President Bush has appeared in military uniform several times

"That means he served. And these documents also show he met his requirements," Mr McClellan told reporters.

"And it's just really a shame that people are continuing to bring this up."

The records show that Mr Bush received credit for nine days of active duty between May 1972 and May 1973.

In an NBC interview on Sunday Mr Bush said he had not volunteered to go to Vietnam, calling the war a "political war".

But he said he had backed the government and would have gone if his unit was called up.

"I put in my time, proudly so," he said.

The row over Mr Bush's record was sparked earlier this month when the Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe described Mr Bush as "Awol" - absent without leave - during the Vietnam War.

In Tuesday's Washington Post, columnist Richard Cohen, wrote of his own national guard experience:

"For two years or so, I played a perfectly legal form of hooky. To show you what a mess the guard was at the time, I even got paid for all the meetings I missed."

Mr Bush has often sought to put across the image of a strong military leader, appearing with US troops in a serviceman's jacket on several occasions following the Iraq war.

He left the national guard in 1973 with an honourable discharge to attend Harvard Business School.