"Doesn't matter a toss how late he was Bobert, the fact still remains, if he had been AWOL the military would have run him for "irrespective of who he was, who his father was, or who his dog's uncle was."
Not necessarilly. The military has it's elistist wing as it is not only an organization based on it's ability to kill but is a political unit as well. There are ample examples of military crimes that have not been processed and the guilty allowed to go free because rank and privilege. Mi Lai for example. But in the case of W, all evidence against him was destroyed.
The idea that somehow the military is this honest tribunal that is exempt from political deception is a farcical myth.