Document Experts Say CBS Ignored Memo 'Red Flags'

Washington Post ^ | September 15, 2004 | Howard Kurtz

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Two document experts retained by CBS News for the disputed "60 Minutes" story on President Bush's National Guard record said yesterday they had warned the program that the memos involved had significant problems but that their concerns were not heeded.

"What I was finding was a lot of red flags," Emily Will told The Washington Post last night. She said she listed five concerns in an e-mail three days before last Wednesday's broadcast and that in a call to a producer the day before the program, "I repeated all my objections as strongly as I could." Will said she told the producer: "If you air the program on Wednesday, on Thursday you're going to have hundreds of document examiners raising the same questions."

In a separate telephone interview, Linda James said that she told CBS the documents "had problems" and that she had questioned "whether they were produced on a computer."

Asked whether CBS took her concerns seriously, James said: "Evidently not."

The concerns of both women were first reported by ABC News correspondent Brian Ross. A third document consultant, Marcel Matley, told The Post on Monday that although he vouched for the signature of Bush's former squadron commander, the late Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, there was "no way" he could authenticate Killian's purported memos because they were copies.

CBS continued to strongly defend the authenticity of the memos, which it used as evidence that Bush received favorable treatment while he was in the Texas Air National Guard.

[beyond the sea]

"What I was finding was a lot of red flags," Emily Will told The Washington Post last night.

Now it's way past time for Blather's WHITE FLAG!

[vox humana]

You gotta love it when the MSM start eating their own. This saga has now assumed a life of it's own. How long can CBS maintain the fiction that their documents are real?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CBS won't reveal memos' source - Stand may cause distrust, news chief acknowledges

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1216465/posts

CBS News President Andrew Heyward said yesterday that his network will not reveal the source of disputed documents used to report that President Bush
received favored treatment in the Texas Air National Guard, even though that decision may mean many Americans would distrust a 60 Minutes report on the
subject. "I'm confident the story was appropriately vetted before it went on the air. It is the nature of this kind of investigative reporting that sometimes sources
remain confidential," Heyward said in a telephone interview. "We're going to hang tough, even if that leaves some questions unanswered."

The charged political atmosphere surrounding the story has made it more difficult to identify sources publicly, he said.

"This is a political hot potato," Heyward said. "There's a kind of harassment, an attempt to intimidate, that I think gives people pause."...........

[NYCVirago]

CBS began to doubt Will because she started expanding her role and doing Google searches about Bush's whereabouts at the time, said an executive who insisted on anonymity because the network did not want to go beyond the official statements. But Will said she was merely doing research into whether superscript existed in 1972.

Even if she was doing google searches about Bush, so what. Why wouldn't CBS want their "facts" to be double-checked?

[beyond the sea]

Stossel predicted tonight on Scarborough that he believes CBS people may recant the Documents on "60 Minutes II" Wednesday night. We'll see.

But I want the source. It seems to me that you need not protect your source if the source gave you fraudulent papers!!! What do you say?

[tobyhill]

Distraction Alert;

WP is trying to create the impression about the use of these forged documents by 60 minutes but has fallen short in their investigation about how these forged documents came into Rather's hand? My investigation shows that Dan Rather's daughter, Robin, played a crucial roll in getting them to her dad but doesn't show she actually made them. My question about Robin's roll is did she know these docs were forged, make promises to someone for these docs, use her own dad?

[beyond the sea]

How long can CBS maintain the fiction that their documents are real?

I didn't know the documents were fake before I knew they were fake.

(here in my pJ's.)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I say a crime has been committed. And with CBS's own experts telling them to back off, they perpetuated a fraud.

Isn't altering military records a crime?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

An expert on Brit's show last night said the forgeries could have been made within the last 9-10 years.

They may have been done to smear G.W. Bush's run for governor of TX.

[beyond the sea]

For sure. I really feel there is blood in the water. The Washington Post getting into the fray the way they have is indicative, perhaps, that Rather is going to have to go. I think he'll be made to quit after the first of the year. But Rep. Christopher Cox has asked for hearings, so we'll see.

I am proud of FR's action in all of this!

[tobyhill]

The CBS President has stated that they will not reveal their sources regardless of the consequences. If these fakes just came from an ordinary joe, CBS would have no problem hanging them out to dry for making them look bad but since they're sticking to their guns then it must mean it's someone within the DNC and/or CBS.

[Southack]

boom

The AWB Has Expired - Gun Owners Have Won Again For All Americans!

[EGPWS]

boom

LoL's!

Rathers denials and the whole issue which CBS has generated is going to make for a wonderful show of fireworks!

[Swordmaker]

TIMBER!!!!

Concept: Darkwolf377, Artwork: Swordmaker

[GailA]

Until the originals are produced and subjected to microscopic testing, lab testing for rag content, ink components and paper size measured the experts are only looking at superficial evidence. Ink jet and laser printers float the ink on top of the paper, so that should be easy to prove or disprove with a microscope. A typewriter embeds the ink when the key is struck on the paper leaving a slight indentation on the paper. Both the rag content and the ink composition have changed in 30 years I would suspect. And I would suspect that printer ink is different that the ink used in typerwriter ribbons. Paper size sure has. 8.5 x 10.5 then to 8.5x 11 today.

Definitive proof can not be had until lab tests are done.

Why has no one brought out the fact that these types of test should be run and would be run in a court of law. But it all hinges on obtaining the originals. See if you can get some forensic crime experts to chime in.

No prosecutor worth his salt would accept such flimsy evidence in a forgery case as CBS and Dan Rather have presented. It's like asking the defense to accept a photo of a gun that was used in a murder, and saying that is my evidence and I just KNOW it's real.

[listenhillary]

Re:Dan's unimpeachable source
Dan Rather's daughter, Robin

Dan was right in one respect. We can't impeach his daughter Robin can we?

[tobyhill]

It's not we can't impeach her, it's just going to be hard if he doesn't diffenatively state that she was the one that actually "handed" the docs to him. She may have got the CBS janitor to actually deliver them.