No reason to even make a comment. You think what you want . . .

Ralph Blumenthal writes in the New York Times today about a surprising disclosure regarding military records that journalists were hoping could settle the controversy over President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard.

The Pentagon says they've been inadvertently destroyed.

A letter from the Pentagon "said the payroll records of 'numerous service members,' including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.

"The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question. . . .

"The loss was announced by the Defense Department's Office of Freedom of Information and Security Review in letters to The New York Times and other news organizations that for nearly half a year have sought Mr. Bush's complete service file under the open-records law."