Texan has a history of attacks on Bush

Houston Chronicle ^ | September 17, 2004 | MICHAEL HEDGES, Washington Bureau

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Possible CBS source has had his credibility questioned before

WASHINGTON - Bill Burkett, who has emerged as a possible CBS source for disputed memos about President Bush's Guard service, has a long history of making charges against Bush and the Texas National Guard.

But Burkett's allegations have changed over the years, and have been dismissed as baseless by former Guard colleagues, state legislators and others.

Even Burkett has admitted some of his allegations are false.

Burkett wrote a long indictment against Bush for a Web site in 2003 in which he said he personally was ordered to "alter personnel records of George W. Bush." In that article, Burkett said that when he refused he was sent to Panama as punishment, where he contracted a disabling disease.

But when asked about that charge by the Houston Chronicle in February, Burkett said, "That statement was not accurate, that is overstated."

Burkett, 54, of Baird, Texas, has refused to return calls since the CBS report on Bush's Guard service ran last week.

On Thursday, the Washington Post and the New York Times named Burkett as a possible source for documents CBS used that experts have called fakes. The documents were faxed from a Kinko's in Abilene, the closest commercial copier to Burkett's home in Baird.

The CBS report used documents signed by since-deceased Texas Air National Guard Lt. Col. Jerry Killian to suggest Bush disobeyed a direct order to take a flight physical in 1972.

If Burkett is the source of the CBS documents he must have recently obtained them.

In earlier interviews, he described years of fruitless searching.

One month ago, in an essay posted on a progressive Web site, Burkett theorized that Killian would have been a likely person to know more about Bush's service. But, he conceded, "I have found no documentation from LTC Killian's hand or staff that indicate that this unit was involved in any complicit way to ... cover for the failures of 1Lt. Bush ... " Burkett went on to say, "On the contrary, LTC Killian's remarks are rare."

Several people with connections to the Texas National Guard immediately suspected Burkett was the source of the CBS report last week, and saw it as part of an ongoing vendetta against Bush and the Guard.

Burkett's attorney, David Van Os, said Thursday, "My client has not authorized me to talk about this matter." Van Os issued a statement saying Burkett "no longer trusts any possible outcome of speaking to the press on any issue regarding George W. Bush."

The questions about the CBS documents' authenticity have seemingly overshadowed the larger questions about Bush's Guard service.

CBS anchor Dan Rather on Wednesday conceded there were questions about the authenticity of the documents, but challenged Bush to answer questions about his Guard service. White House spokesman Scott McClellan responded by saying, "It is always best for journalists to stick to reporting the facts and not try to dispense campaign advice."

Questions remain about the documents used by CBS. Experts have said they are fake. Killian's wife and son have said they do not reflect his feelings about Bush, and have called his signature a forgery. Texas Guard officials noted many technical discrepancies that they said cast doubt on the documents.

And Marian Knox, Killian's 86-year-old former secretary, said she never typed the documents and believes they are fake. But Knox said they did reflect concerns Killian had with Bush's Guard service.

Anti-Bush background

If Burkett does prove to be the source of the documents, CBS got them from a man with a well-established history of Bush loathing.

In an article Burkett wrote for the Internet last year he compared Bush to Hitler and Napoleon as one of "the three small men" who sought to rule through tyranny. "Three small men who wanted to conquer and vanquish," Burkett wrote. Burkett confirmed authorship of that article in the February Chronicle interview.

Some of Burkett's friends and associates say they don't know whether he is the CBS source.

Harvey Gough, a Dallas restaurant owner who, like Burkett, fought a legal battle against the Guard, said Thursday, "I can't say he did it or he didn't do it." But Gough said Bush aides such as Karl Rove or Dan Bartlett could have "cooked them up" to trap CBS with a bogus story. That has been denied by Bush officials.

James Moore, co-author of the book Bush's War for Re-Election, which quoted charges made by Burkett, said Thursday, "I know Bill has anger at Bush and the Guard, but I have a difficult time thinking he'd take that kind of risk to fabricate documents."

One person who has heard Burkett's charges against Bush and the Guard over the years is Rep. Bob Hunter, an Abilene Republican who chaired a committee overseeing the Texas Guard. Hunter agreed to let Burkett make charges of favoritism, mismanagement and abuse by the Guard at a legislative hearing in the late 1990s.

Hunter said Thursday he came away unimpressed. "He brought up matters that none of us could believe."

That Burkett's story has changed or evolved over the years is a matter of record.

During Bush's first White House run in 2000, Burkett told reporters he overheard both ends of a phone conversation between former Texas Guard commander Gen. Daniel James III and Bush's one-time Texas chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, that he said occurred in the summer of 1997. That was similar to what he told Hunter's committee, the lawmaker recalled.

But that claim changed earlier this year.

In February, Burkett said he witnessed documents from Bush's records in a garbage can at a Guard base in Austin.

"My eyes fixed on the first page," he said in an interview in February. "It had Bush, George W. Lt1. What I did next still bothers me. I browsed through the top five or six pages."

Everyone who could have supported the account, including George Conn, the friend who Burkett said took him to the office, said it wasn't true. Allbaugh, now a Washington consultant, called the story "baseless ... hogwash."

Texas Guard officials said no Texas Air Guard records had ever been stored at the facility Burkett named.

Burkett said in interviews earlier this year that his long-standing campaign against the Texas National Guard and Bush began after the Guard failed to provide medical care for him after he contracted a tropical disease in Panama in 1998.

michael.hedges@chron.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Photo with story:

Associated Press The home of Bill Burkett near Baird, Texas, is seen Thursday. Burkett, a retired National Guard officer, has been cited in reports in Newsweek and The New York Times as a source for CBS' report on President Bush's National Guard service. Burkett's lawyer, David Van Os, issued a statement saying Burkett "no longer trusts any possible outcome of speaking to the press on any issue regarding George W. Bush."

[Texasforever]

I see a shoot out in his near future.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Dan Rather will blame it all on the lack of healthcare - maybe he'll do a "news" story about it. But no one is going to believe anything Dan "reports" anymore.

[NewMediaFan]

"If Burkett does prove to be the source of the documents, CBS got them from a man with a well-established history of Bush loathing."

Kind of like Dan Blather.

BTW, great post!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***......To hear Rather tell "his" story, however, the attacks on the so-called Bush documents are an attack on him - and by extension, on CBS - as opposed to the gist of alleged facts raising one or two questions about Bush's service. Baloney.

And I'm saying this not only as a reporter, investigative newsman and editor but I'm also saying this as a consumer of news. Rather blew it - big time.

And folks I've spoken with at CBS agree and are shocked that upper management hasn't pulled Rather off this so-called story and has failed to issue a correction and an apology - if not to President George W. Bush then certainly to the viewers of CBS and those who read it's online sister web site.

The issues involved are not about Rather the man but about Rather the reporter - any reporter. And CBS - or any news outlet.

But, according to Rather, it's a vast conspiracy amongst jealous colleagues that he broke a sensational story, they didn't, and folks aren't interesting in the "news value" of the story itself even if it's based on discredited or otherwise disputed documents.

What a sad set of defenses made worse by Rather's ongoing comments that the focus should not be on him but on Bush who has failed to answer "the charges" contained in the apparently forged and fake documents.

If one of my reporters or editors had said such things I'd tell them flat out they were being dishonest and they were full of BS.

First off, when a reporter breaks what he believes is a big story then the onus is on the reporter and his news outlet to back up what he says. And equally important, before going with the story, to assemble all the pros and cons on a story and report that information in context as best as possible, including in follow up stories.

Consider that, according to press reports, Rather did not reveal in the first report CBS aired that one or more of the experts they had assembled disagreed over the validity of the documents.

Moreover, one or more of the experts were not as expert as Rather suggested, e.g. the experts were not necessarily expert on all aspects of the documents that themselves were several generations of copies thus rendering proof-positive conclusions damn near impossible.

So why wasn't this reported by Rather in the first and second stories?

Also: What basis did Rather have to proclaim, as he did again in the 9/15 60 Minutes II report that even if the documents were fakes, the gist of the contents was accurate and thus Bush did not fulfill his commitments to the National Guard? ...............***Source

[ambrose]

Is this Danny Blather's "unimpeachable" source?

[AdequateMan]

Burkett, isn't HTLV a pain? If you think so, don't screw the Panama native girls. The Navy warns you about that, and I bet the ANG and USAF do, too.

[MEG33]

Rather's credibility is gone..poof..The libs will love him but no self respecting news organization can stand behind this fraud he perpetrated and that he stands behind.

and FYI
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1218512/posts
Bush Served His Country Without Pay
PoliPundit.com ^ | September 16, 2004 | Oak Leaf

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Everyone is starting to think so. After FIVE years of putting this "story" together, how hard would it have been to discredit this source. His experts did. But Dan didn't want the truth, he wanted a hit piece on Bush to help Kerry.

Actually I surprised the Houston Chronicle did such an in depth piece. I think they're trying to get the heat off of Captain Dan, the newsman.

[Texasforever]

I think the "unimpeachable source" is his daughter. He would NEVER go this far for an insane idiot like Burkett. I still believe Burkett forged the memos but his daughter was involved in getting him together with Mapes and Rather.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you for the LINK!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

One month ago, in an essay posted on a progressive Web site, Burkett theorized....

The Chronicle would have posted Free Republic as a right wing site, why hide this site's name?

[Original Kamaaina]

Other reporting by New Media pretty much cinches Burkett as the forger or instigator of the forgery. But, say it ain't so, Dan!! You were so hungry for a scoop to sink Bush that you basically ran with the stuff tossed over your transom. Now, you blame media competitors, Repubs, and demand, yes, demand that the President answer your rude, impertinent questions.
It's pathetic. Shortly, Rather will stand before the world shorn of all dignity, despised by fellow journalists (in this day and age, not just for degrading the profession, but more for damaging the Kerry effort). Next stop: Air America.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Washington Post: Suspected CBS Source Is Well-Regarded Texan - Democrat Lives Among GOP Voters***.........In adjacent Taylor County, which includes the city of Abilene, Burkett is viewed as an intelligent activist or statesman of sorts by Democratic officials -- the crusading voice against what is wrong with the Republican Party in general and with Bush in particular.

"He's very bright; he's not a hayseed," said Royse Kerr, chairman of the Taylor County Democratic Club, which last spring invited Burkett to speak to the members about the "state of politics in America."

Burkett, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Texas National Guard, mentioned then what he had told several reporters last winter -- that he believes Bush aides ordered the destruction of portions of the president's National Guard record because they might have been politically embarrassing. But that was "tangential" to "the framing of his thesis," Kerr said. "What we heard was to demand more honesty of our politicians." .........***

[ambrose]

Kudos to the Chronicle. The Washington Post did a ridiculous piece today, basically stating little more than that Burkett is liked by his neighbors.

I think the crux of Rather's "investigation" was to convince this guy to forge documents. I am sure CBS didn't say "forge documents for us." They just listened to him spin his yarns over and over and said "well, if we had documented proof of this..."

The DNC/Kerry link is who put Burkett in touch with CBS.

I suspect that someone contacted Burkett's lawyer, who then put Burkett in touch with CBS. Since they did it through the lawyer, it will be hard to find the DNC/Kerry contact.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I just LINKED that WP stoy above. I quoted the part where they report the Dems in the area regard him as a statesman.

[counterpunch]

One unsubstantiated claim by Robert Strong suggesting the memos were faxed from a Kinkos in Abilene, TX, and suddenly everyone is buzzing about Burkett. There isn't another Kinkos in the area for 125 miles in any direction.

Other than being one of over 115,000 people in the Abilene area alone, and being consumed with a rabid, irrational, paranoid hatred for President Bush, there is no evidence to link Burkett. If having a rabid, irrational, paranoid hatred for President Bush raises one to the level of reasonable suspicion, then every last liberal Democrat in America needs to be investigated.

I don't think it's a good idea to take the unsubstantiated word of Robert Strong either, since as a corroborating source who offered his unsubstantiated word for the 60 Minutes report, Strong is already suffering from a severe credibility deficit, to put it mildly.

I think Knox and Van Os both need the kind of scrutiny being applied already to Burkett. Knox's sudden, timely appearance was a little to convenient, and her story has shifted far too much, and she has no proof to back up any of her claims either. And she is every bit the partisan Bush hater that Burkett is. So why is she not the suspect?

And isn't it odd that after 4 years of exhaustive investigation that CBS News never spoke to Killian's own secretary -- the woman who would have written the memos in question -- until a week after running the infamous 60 Minutes report?

At best, this can only say that Dan Rather has the worst investigative skills in the history of journalism. At worst, it means that CBS had talked to her and already knew the documents were forged before they ran the story, but chose to run it anyways.

It may very well also mean that she was told to come forward by either 60 Minutes or the DNC as part of a "nuclear option" once the story went terribly wrong.

They had to destroy the memo story in order to save it.

[Ilya Mourometz]

I wonder...let's say for the sake of argument that Danny Boy originally had a legit reason for thinking the docs were real and that the source was "unimpeachable". The only persons who could have met this criterion are Hodges and the pool secretary (the little old lady was apparently not Killian's personal secretary). It's unlikely Hodges was the source because he could have simply verified them on sight as legit or not. The little old lady, on the other hand, was never interviewed in the original segment and she is an admitted Bush-hater.

When Danny-boy asked her no less than four times if she had written the memos, she said no and Danny Boy was clearly surprised. This could imply that she was the source. Once the fakes were discovered, she denied it to protect herself, though she threw a few bones to back up Danny Boy, but he cannot out her now (because he made the mistake of interviewing her and outing her now would prove collusion in the forgery between him and her). Just a thought.

[nonkultur]

Here is the site they are talking about
http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=23055

Hannity mentioned it last night to the Boston Globe guy.

[Ilya Mourometz]

And isn't it odd that after 4 years of exhaustive investigation that CBS News never spoke to Killian's own secretary -- the woman who would have written the memos in question -- until a week after running the infamous 60 Minutes report?

Neat..I was writing my response at the same time you posted your note. We're on the same page--Knox is my prime suspect, little old lady or no.