Posted on 09/09/2004 7:45:34 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana
George W. Bush sits in an F102 fighter jet while serving in the Texas Air National Guard in this undated photo. President Bush was in the National Guard from 1968-1973. Austin American Statesman/AP Photo |
False Documentation?
Questions Arise About Authenticity of Newly Found Memos on Bush's Guard Service
ABCNEWS.com
Sept. 9, 2004 Questions are being raised about the authenticity of newly discovered documents relating to George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. |
Marjorie Connell widow of the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the reported author of memos suggesting that Bush did not meet the standards for the Texas Air National Guard questioned whether the documents were real. "The wording in these documents is very suspect to me," she told ABC News Radio in an exclusive phone interview from her Texas home. She added that she "just can't believe these are his words." First reported by CBS's 60 Minutes, the memos allegedly were found in Killian's personal files. But his family members say they doubt he ever made such documents, let alone kept them. Connell said Killian did not type, and though he did take notes, they were usually on scraps of paper. "He was a person who did not take copious notes," she said. "He carried everything in his mind." Killian's son, Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father, also told ABC News Radio that he doubts his father wrote the documents. "It was not the nature of my father to keep private files like this, nor would it have been in his own interest to do so," he said. "We don't know where the documents come from," he said, adding, "They didn't come from any family member." Connell said her late husband would be "turning over in his grave to know that a document such as this would be used against a fellow guardsman," and she is "sick" and "angry" that his name is "being battled back and forth on television." Her late husband was a fan of the young Bush, said Connell, who remarried after her husband died in 1984. "I know for a fact that this young man was an excellent aviator, an excellent person to be in the Guard, and he was very happy to have him become a member of the 111th." Experts Question Veracity Questions are also being raised about the memos by document experts, who say they appear to have been written on a computer, not a typewriter. The memos are dated 1972 and 1973, when computers with word-processing software were not available. More than half a dozen document experts contacted by ABC News said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity. "These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973," said Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication. "The cumulative evidence that's available indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter:" Among the points Flynn and other experts noted: The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard. |
Great analysis, Chris.
The Post/ABC axis is bad, but the CBS/NYT is worse.
This is a great day.
fyi
We're rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.
With no chance for the flag or the Liberty Bell...
~~Merle Haggard
Now, Who gave Dan the documents?
Anyone seen Bob Shrum lately?
Dan will go down in history as a putz after this is all done.
He was quoted earlier this year as saying he would do everything he could to take down Bush.
This criminal hacking will be Rather's legacy.
So, Dan, are CBS reporters, producers, researchers and experts just crappy or did you assume everyone would take your word on this?
No way!
Indeed. I might even make an exception to my "no Nightline" rule and watch it tonight.
Comments by Killian's widow.
I always associated Dan Rather with what comes out of the OTHER end of a chicken.
LA LA LA LA LA LA
FONT SEARCH KERRY'S MILITARY RECORDS!
It's a "real post", baby! (And, Mr. HR has already hit the Jameson's and is snoring in his recliner with the cat looking at him oddly).
Harkin's the scoundrel who went with Kerry down to Nicaragua to kiss Daniel Ortega's butt.
I'm kind of in shock. You must know that us "old" Freepers are use to talking about stuff like this for years on end and never seeing it in the mainstream press.
I'm having trouble grasping the reality of it hitting so fast.......LOL.
Look at the last signature block. NO ONE in the AF puts a period after Lt and they left off TX ANG as part of the signature block
I'm so proud of freepers I could burst.
Kudos to all of you who participated in the research which broke this story.
Memo to Old Media: When are you going to pressure Kerry to sign a Form #180 and release ALL of his military records?
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