Here is a copy:
[hmm! is that a proportional font or not?]
Posted on 09/09/2004 4:42:30 PM PDT by dep
DOCUMENTS CITED Wednesday by 60 Minutes in a widely-publicized expose of George W. Bush's National Guard Service are very likely forgeries, according to several experts on document authenticity and typography. The documents--four memos from Killian to himself or his files written in 1972 and 1973--appear to indicate that Bush refused or ignored orders to have a physical exam required to continue flying. CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported the segment and sourced the documents this way: "60 Minutes has obtained a number of documents we are told were taken from Col. Killian's personal file," he said. The 60 Minutes story served as the basis for follow-up news reports for dozens of news organizations across the country. The memos were almost immediately questioned in the blog world, with blog Power Line leading the charge.
And according to several forensic document experts contacted by THE WEEKLY STANDARD say the Killian memos appear to be forgeries. Although it is nearly impossible to establish with certainty the authenticity of documents without a careful examination of the originals, several irregularities in the Killian memos suggest that CBS may have been the victim of a hoax.
"These sure look like forgeries," says William Flynn, a forensic document expert widely considered the nation's top analyst of computer-generated documents. Flynn looked at copies of the documents posted on the CBS News website (here, here, here, and here). Flynn says, "I would say it looks very likely that these documents could not
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have existed" in the early 1970s, when they were allegedly written.
Several other experts agree. "They look mighty suspicious," says a veteran forensic document expert who asked not to be quoted by name. Richard Polt, a Xavier University philosophy professor who operates a website dedicated to typewriters, says that while he is not an expert on typesetting, the documents "look like typical word-processed documents."
There are several reasons these experts are skeptical of the authenticity of the Killian memos. First the typographic spacing is proportional, as is routine with professional typesetting and computer typography, not monospace, as was common in typewriters in the 1970s. (In proportional type, thin letters like "i" and "l" are spaced closer together than thick letters like "W" and "M". In monospace, all the letter widths are the same.)
Second, the font appears to be identical to the Times New Roman font that is the default typeface in Microsoft Word and other modern word processing programs. According to Flynn, the font is not listed in the Haas Atlas--the definitive encyclopedia of typewriter type fonts.
Third, the apostrophes are curlicues of the sort produced by word processors on personal computers, not the straight vertical hashmarks typical of typewriters. Finally, in some references to Bush's unit--the 111thFighter Interceptor Squadron--the "th" is a superscript in a smaller size than the other type. Again, this is typical (and often done automatically) in modern word processing programs. Although several experts allow that such a rendering might have been theoretically possible in the early 1970s, it would have been highly unlikely. Superscripts produced on typewriters--the numbers preceding footnotes in term papers, for example--were almost always in the same size as the regular type.
So can we say with absolute certainty that the documents were forged? Not yet. Xavier University's Polt, in an email, offers two possible scenarios. "Either these are later transcriptions of earlier documents (which may have been handwritten or typed on a typewriter), or they are crude and amazingly foolish forgeries. I'm a Kerry supporter myself, but I won't let that cloud my objective judgment: I'm 99% sure that these documents were not produced in the early 1970s."
Says Flynn: "This looks pretty much like a hoax at this point in time."
CBS, in a statement Thursday afternoon, said it stands by the story. The network claims that its own document expert concluded the memos were authentic. There are several things CBS could do to clear up any confusion:
(1) Provide the name of the expert who authenticated the documents for Sixty Minutes.
(2) Provide the original documents to outside experts--William Flynn, Gerald Reynolds, and Peter Tytell seem to be the consensus top three in the United States--for further analysis.
(3) Provide more information on the source of the documents.
(A spokeswoman for CBS, Kelly Edwards, said she was overwhelmed with phone calls and did not respond to specific requests for comment.)
Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard.
Thank you Dan Rather for providing this levity at you expense.
Isn't this cool? It's on the front page of tomorrow's Washington Post! Great work!
Others have noted that the wordwrap of a manual typewriter works differently than a word processor.
To analyze this facet more specifically, MSWORD wraps the current word when the end of a word passes the right margin, whereas a person typing manually finishes the word he is typing when the right-margin bell rings, and then does a carriage return. The net effect of the manual typewritten style is that, if one draws a vertical line at the bell-margin, that line should go through (intersect) the last word of every line of text.
Clearly, from the 1 AUG 1972 memo, NO SUCH VERTICAL LINE CAN BE CONSTRUCTED THAT INTERSECTS THE LAST WORD OF EVERY WRAPPED LINE OF TEXT!
For example, in paragraph 3, on a typewriter, we have to assume the right-margin bell rang while typing the word "and" on the 1st line. Yet, if that was the case, then on paragraph 2, the margin bell would have rang while typing the word "orders", and the subsequent word "for" should have appeared on the next, not the same, line.
On another thread, bolobaby noted that "I believe the documents are forgeries, but this is not definitive proof by any stretch of the imagination."
To this, I added that it may not seem definitive, until you see that the actual memo wordwrap exactly coincides with what MSWORD produces. What are the odds that a manual typist, over the span of 4 memos, would exactly choose to squeeze in the EXACT SAME words, so as to "accidentally" coincide with what MSWORD would produce. I would say, with metaphysical certitude that the odds are nil.
With all due respect, this event showcases a phenomonon of "new media" power that could only have occured through a vehicle with the community force multiplying tools of FR.
TankerKC's initial post , casting suspicion on the documents displayed on 60 minutes, occurred approximately 30 seconds after the documents appeared on that show. THINK OF THAT! The fraud was well on its way to being debunked by 1 a.m. this morning. Littlegreenfootballs responded to some Freepers e-mail, or took a gander upon this forum, sometime around 4 am.
No single blog can rally a rapid response over a huge number of vital issues like FR can. This forum is, to use a trite old 90s term, synergy at its most powerful.
Places like FR (in other words FR because it is inimitable) and the blogosphere can work in concert. We're the town square arguing, vetting and digesting, they're the disseminating REPORTERS of valuable insights, leads and other interesting stuff we shake loose.
People are still finding stuff. I'm amazed at what's being discovered and pointed out.
And no hyphens at the end of any of these typed lines? I don't believe it for one minute.
Hey!
Good point!
CBS is BEING PORTRAYED AS THE VICTIM ... (by the rest of the press!)
BTTT
Here is a copy:
[hmm! is that a proportional font or not?]
Thanks. And your right about the hyphens too. I remember a lot of those in the days of manual typewriting.
Not yet! ;)
Similar thing happened election night 2000. I see you weren't around then. The networks had called Florida for Gore, and FreeRepublic was pretty bummed out. Without Florida, it was going to be very difficult for Bush to put together the needed electoral votes. Then some freepers started looking at some of the county data from Florida and came to a conclusion that the call for Gore was a little premature (talk about your understatements). Again, I was skeptical. The networks had a lot of experience and a lot of resources tied up in calling elections. One guy pounding on his keyboard at his home was no match for that. But then some others looked at the raw data posted by AP and a few other sources. Well it became clear around here that Florida was going to have to be pulled off the board long before the networks actually did so. This is truly an incredible place. The collective talents and experience of freepers can dissect a news story almost as it is breaking. And they are usually more insightful than anything you can find in the MSM.
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