Posted on 09/10/2004 6:51:55 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Additional questions were circulating Friday about the contents of four purported military documents regarding President Bush's National Guard service that served as the basis for a Bush-bashing segment on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" Wednesday night.
Doubts about the authenticity of the documents spread across the Internet and cable news shows Thursday when several forensic document experts, typographers and retired military officers offered their analysis. Friday's newspapers also carried stories questioning the documents' authenticity.
Even the widow and son of the alleged author of the memos, the late Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, questioned whether the documents were real. Killian's widow, Marjorie, called the records "a farce," according to The Washington Post, and his son, Gary, who retired from the Texas Air National Guard in 1991, told The Associated Press one unsigned document looked fake.
A memo dated May 4, 1972, claims that Bush refused to follow an order to undertake a medical examination. Another unsigned memo from May 19, 1972, suggests that Bush was "talking to someone upstairs" to get out of his duty with the Texas Air National Guard.
"It just wouldn't happen," Gary Killian told the AP. "The only thing that can happen when you keep secret files like that are bad things. ... No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that."
"I don't think there were any documents," added Killian's widow, Marjorie Connell, in a Washington Post article. "He was not a paper person."
Questions about the documents, which were the basis of Wednesday's "60 Minutes" program, prompted a swift reaction from the network.
"As a standard practice at CBS, each of the documents broadcast on '60 Minutes' was thoroughly investigated by independent experts and we are convinced of their authenticity," the network said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
In a subsequent interview with WorldNetDaily, CBS spokeswoman Kelli Edwards said, "CBS verified the authenticity of the documents by talking to individuals who had seen the documents at the time they were written. These individuals were close associates of Colonel Jerry Killian and confirm that the documents reflect his opinions at the time the documents were written."
The documents were released Wednesday night by the White House, which didn't question their accuracy but characterized them as "dirty politics," after obtaining them from CBS News. The network has refused to reveal the source of the documents.
Typography questions
Initial questions about the 32-year-old documents arose when two Internet blogs - Power Line and Little Green Footballs - noted some of the computer-like characteristics of the documents. Typographers who spoke to CNSNews.com confirmed some of the discrepancies.
According to Allan Haley, director of words and letters at Agfa Monotype in Wilmington, Mass., the documents couldn't have been produced on a typewriter because they contain the superscript "th" in "111th F.I.S." and apostrophes in words like "I'm" and "he's."
Those characters are native to current word processing programs. Microsoft Word, for instance, automatically changes the "th" after numbers to a superscript. Most typewriters, except perhaps the most high-end models, couldn't process such a character in 1972, typographers told CNSNews.com.
"The 'I'm' is set with an apostrophe," Haley added. "There were no apostrophes on typewriters. There were foot and inch marks that had to do double duty."
Another characteristic not typically found on typewriters in 1972 was a proportional typeface. Although some typewriter models included this feature, they were not widespread. Each of the documents is set in proportional type, meaning the letter "m" occupies a larger space than "i."
Strange military lingo
Former military officers and others with knowledge of military correspondence contacted CNSNews.com Thursday to present their own critique. Among the problems they cited:
* The documents are not on a standard letterhead. Instead, they feature a typewritten and centered address with a post office box rather than an actual street address of the squadron. The address is P.O. Box 34567, which coincidentally includes five consecutive numbers.
* Dates in the letters - "04 May 1972" and "14 May, 1972" - are inconsistent and do not follow military form. The military prefers the following example, according to ex-officers: 4 May 72. It doesn't include a zero preceding the date or a comma following the month.
* The lines "MEMORANDUM FOR:" and "SUBJECT:" that begin the May 4, 1972, document, weren't officially used in the 1970s. According to one retired military officer, the correct format then was most likely "REPLY TO ATTN OF:" then "SUBJECT:" and finally "TO:" preceding the text of the message.
* Bush's name was listed in the memo as "1st Lt. George W. Bush." But other military documents, including those posted on Sen. John Kerry's website use a different format. Bush's name would have likely appeared as "1LT Bush, GW" or "1LT G Bush."
* There shouldn't be disparities in the May 4, 1972, letter such as, "111 F.I.S." and "111th F.I.S.," according to ex-military officers. Also, the acronym "F.I.S.," which stands for Fighter Intercept Squadron, shouldn't have included periods.
* The signature block with Killian's name lists his rank as "Lt. Colonel," when in reality most military commanders abbreviated that title as "LTC" or "Lt. Col.," according to retired officers. The signature block also includes the word "Commander" when "Commanding" was the preferred reference.
Source of the letter
Despite the attempts of news organizations to obtain the source of the "60 Minutes" documents, CBS News has refused to budge. The Washington Post reported Thursday and Friday that the network wouldn't disclose where the documents came from.
Gary Killian told the AP the documents didn't come from his family, even though an article on the CBS News website said they were retrieved from Jerry Killian's "personal file."
One anti-Bush group distanced itself from the controversy Thursday amid suspicion that it was a possible source of the purported memos.
The group Texans for Truth, which has received support and assistance from MoveOn.org, was formed in late August and has created a television ad critical of Bush. A spokesman for MoveOn.org said the left-wing group hadn't supplied CBS News with the documents.
In an article published Thursday by The Weekly Standard, author Stephen F. Hayes wrote that CBS News could clear up the controversy if it provided the name of the expert who authenticated the documents, offered outside experts the opportunity to review original copies of the documents and disclosed the source of the documents.
But, as the magazine reported, CBS News spokeswoman Edwards was "overwhelmed with phone calls" Thursday. She said the network wouldn't provide any further information beyond its statement.
See Earlier Story:
'60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake (Sept. 9, 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Robert B. Bluey.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
"Embrace the Meltdown"
LOLOLOL!
Funny you should ask.
DU provided a very nice debunking of their debunking in easy to read format, which I promptly copied and pasted over here to save us all time. Aren't they grand?
1-- proportional spacing not generally available
2 -- superscripts not generally available
3 - small "th" single element not generally available
4 - Smart quotes. Curved apostrophes and quotation marks were not available
5-The blurriness of the copy indicates it was recopied dozens of times, tactic of forgers
6--Signature block. Typical authentic military signature block has name, then rank, then on the next line the person's position. This just has rank beneath the name.
7--Margins. These look like a computer's unjustified default, not the way a person typing would have done it.
8 -- Date usually with three letters, or in form as 110471.
9 - words run over consistent with word processor
10 - may be a Times Roman or similar font not generally available then (per Haas Atlas)
11 - signature looks faked
12 - no errors and whiteout
13 - no letterhead
14 - exact match for Microsoft Word Processor
15 - Paper size problem, Air Force and Guard did not use 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper until the 1980s.
16 - Overlap analysis is an exact match
17 - absence of hyphens to split words between lines, c/w 1970's typewriter.
18 - 5000 Longmont #8 in Houston Tx. does not exist
19 - Box 34567 is suspicious, at best. The current use of the po box 34567 is Ashland Chemical Company, A Division of Ashland Oil, Incorporated P. O. Box 34567 Houston
20 - it would have been nearly impossible to center a letterhead with proportional spacing without a computer.
21 - Bush's grade would "normally" be abbreviated "1Lt" not "1st Lt"
22 - Subject matter bizarre
23 - Air Force did not use street addresses for their offices, rather HQ AFLC/CC, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433.
24 - kerning was not available
25 - In the August 18, 1973 memo, Jerry Killian purportedly writes: "Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush. I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job." but General Staudt, who thought very highly of Lt. Bush, retired in 1972.
26 - Language not generally used by military
27 - Not signed or initialed
28 - Not in any format that a military person would use, e.g. orders not given by Memo.
The American Spectator.
Article on their site this morning.
Big Time.
Fox News running this as breaking news, and now they have the Kerry Documentary producer running up against those breaks (he's the guy doing Stolen Valor).
Nice linking.
A magnificent attorney.
He may also know of other attorneys re: your lawsuit.
I am not saying I am 100% going to do it, but I think if we get enough Freeper lawyers together, we can make a formiddable team!
The fat lady can't sing 'til she gets done laughin'. Might be a couple of days yet. LOL
May I suggest two corrections to your copy of the forgery.
1. In your paragraph 1, instead of using the number 1 in First Lt, use the letter l. This will result in the same spacing as the forgery.
2. In paragraph 2, insert a space between 147 and th.
Correct naming would be 147th (no space) but the forger appears to be trying to correct for MS Word's automatic superscript of st and th following the number 1 and 147 respectively. Note his paragraph three use of the space after 9921 and 147 to avoid superscript.
And what did you use to accomplish the overlay?
Oh, that's just great. The Kerry campaign gave them to CBS. Perfect.
Thanks very much for the link XHP!!
I'm not a lawyer nor do play one on TV, but if you knowingly put out falsehoods, even on a public figure,
isn't that libel? Some celebs have won lawsuits against
tabloids.
I think that if they forged what was at its origin an official document obtained through a FOIL request, and then subsequently forged and passed it off as an original, there is some serious charges to be made.
In the end, I just ask for one thing -
A GOP avalanche on election day. Forget about a landslide, I want to see a massive avalanche.
I'll see about updating the images.
Used PaintShopPro 7 to do the overlay.
MEMORANDUM FOR 1st Lt. George W. Bush, 5000 Longmont #8, Houston, Texas 77027
SUBJECT: Annual Physical Examination (Flight)
1. You are hereby ordered to report to commander, 111 F.I.S., Ellington AFB, not later that (NLT) 14 May, 1972 to conduct annual physical examination (flight) IAW AFM 35-13.
2. Report to 111th F.I.S. administration officer for schedule of appointmnet and additional instructions. Examination will be conducted in duty status.
J. Killian
JERRY B. KILLIAN
Lt. Colonel
Commander
This is what the original Faked memo as done by an IDIOT RAT probably looked like in #2 pencil
Hey CBS and all of you Old Media nutcases:
YOU're all FRAUDcasters.
/
"The only thing that can happen when you keep secret files like that are bad things. ... No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that."
Admiral Kimmel invented the "Pearl Harbor file" in 1941 - it did not serve him well. Everybody I ever served with learned from his example.
Here at last it the overlay of one of the memos with a duplicate created on MS Word. I knew I'd seen it somewhere, and I believe on more than one thread...
Thanks, ct... I suspect you know by now that the first line is actually written lst (LST), not 1st (first), by the forger, and that accounts for some of the discrepancy on that line.
/
Thanks for the update! I see, to get over the automatic Word superscript.
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