Whose Fingerprints Are On This?

Talk about no chain of custody! Rather seems to have said zero about who gave them these documents and how they allegedly got their hands on them. There also seems to have been no examination of any originals. But even whatever copy CBS was given should have been examined as an "original" piece of evidence.

Whose fingerprints were on it? Who has been handling it recently, if not 30 years ago? If these really are copies of originals, when were the copies made?

If they were made two months ago, did someone have the originals then? Then where are the originals? If the copies were made 30 years ago, why and by who and who has had them since?

This is very bizarre. If Rush Limbaugh's report today (based on his sources and the American Spectator article) is correct, the "fingerprints" on these documents - literally and figuratively - may be of Kerry campaign operatives.

Not much likelihood that Colonel Killian's home records from thirty years ago were entrusted to James Carville, now is there?

There are 3 different types of documents among the 4 new memos. One is an order in the form of a memo. If genuine, a copy would have been filed in Bush's local file. A second is a MFR with a letterhead and signature. Presumably the original of this would have gone in the orderly room (or whatever they call it in he AF) filing cabinet. Anyway, these would have either been routinely destroyed when no longer needed or sent to a centralized storage facility IAW policy. They wouldn't have been sitting around in somebody's desk or personal files.

The other two are unsigned memos. If genuine, they are the kind of thing that an officer WOULD keep in his desk or personal files until no longer needed. A commander might accumlulate thousands of such pieces of paper over the years if he kept them all. Personally, I routinely destroy unofficial, personal and sensitive material when I no longer need it. I can imagine that some officers MIGHT keep such things, but only 2 of them? And where have they been all these years if they haven't been with the family? If these are Killian's personal files, they're not the kind of paper that you just leave in the office for the next guy. You destroy them or take them with you.

So, we're supposed to believe that some source - other than the government or the family - has maintained these 4 and only these 4 documents for over 30 years that just happen to touch on the current controversey. What else does the source have and why does he have it? Does he have files on all the members of the squadron, or just on Bush. Why does he have both official and personal files?

And why does he have photocopies of the personal memos instead of originals? I can understand why there would be a copy of the orders memo (and I'll even grant photocopy instead of carbon paper), and I can understand that there MIGHT be a copy instead of the original MFR - but, if the personal memos came from Killian's personal files, why aren't they originals? The purported "CYA" memo, especially, is not the kind of memo that you want lots of copies floating around the unit.

[The "CYA" memo, by the way, is the punchline and other memos are the setup.]

Just for kicks, I'd like to see other official memos from the squadron with the same letterhead.

And if someone could produce a typewriter extant in 1972 that can create the text as written, so much the better.

But these last two items don't clinch authenticity, without knowing where these memos have been - not just in the last 6 months but for the last 30 years.

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