A retired colonel who said in 1978 that Bill Clinton had been a good attorney general and would have made a fine Army officer now says he's upset that Clinton might become president.
Col. Eugene Holmes of Fayetteville headed the University of Arkansas ROTC program in 1969, when Clinton, 23 at the time, sought to enroll in ROTC as it appeared he might otherwise be drafted.Holmes said in a statement issued Wednesday that he believed Clinton purposely deceived him "both in concealing his anti-military activities overseas and his counterfeit intentions for later military service."
"These actions cause me to question both his patriotism and his integrity," Holmes said.
The Bush camp sought to capitalize on the statement, with White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater telling reporters aboard Air Force One that it "deserves wide scrutiny." Asked if the Republicans had anything to do with the letter, he said: "Not to my knowledge. I don't think so."
When Clinton, as state attorney general, was making his first race for governor and was accused of being a draft dodger Holmes said he could not recall details of his encounter with Clinton nine years earlier. Clinton at the time was denying that he had received a draft deferment for entering ROTC, although he now acknowledges he did receive a deferment.
Holmes said in 1978 that he didn't remember the Clinton case specifically, except that he thought Clinton would have made a fine officer. Clinton's account at that time probably was true, Holmes said then.
In Wednesday's statement, Holmes said he was prompted to prepare the document by the "imminent danger to our country of a draft dodger becoming the commander in chief of the armed forces."