Posted on 09/10/2004 5:47:19 PM PDT by Rome2000
Marcel Matley was used by the Democrats to vouch for the aunthenticity of the Vince Foster suicide note
Robert Stack as narrator: Our next story concerns the ontroversial suicide of a high-powered Washington attorney. It threatens to become one of the biggest political scandals of our time. It began with a somber announcement, and remains for many an unsolved mystery.
Bill Clinton: I have just met with the White House staff, ah, to basically talk with them a little bit about the death of my friend of 42 years, Vince Foster....
Robert Stack: On July 20, 1993, the country was shocked by the unexpected death of 48-year-old Vincent W. Foster, White House deputy counsel and close personal confidante of the Clintons.
Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park, across the Potomac River from Washington. He had been shot once in the head. The wound was apparently self-inflicted.
At the time of his death, Vince Foster had become a central figure in the growing Whitewater scandal. Two separate investigations, by the United States park police and by the FBI for independent counsel Robert Fiske, concluded that Foster had indeed taken his own life.
Perhaps inevitably in a case with serious political ramifications, there were serious doubts concerning Foster's suicide. Some of the most controversial reports were published in the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Chris Ruddy: Vince Foster was the highest federal official to die under suspicious circumstances since the death of President Kennedy. I don't push a non-suicide theory. I have never said Vince Foster was murdered. I have said that police are trained to treat every suicide, no matter how apparently, as a homicide, as a murder first until the facts prove otherwise. What is clear in this case is the police procedure was never followed.
Robert Stack: For Christopher Ruddy and many others, one of the keys to this case is an unsigned "suicide" note allegedly written by Vince Foster. This is a copy of the reconstructed note which, when found, had been ripped into 28 pieces. It read in part:
[Background voice reads while a typed overlay shows the following words:]
I have made mistakes from ignorance, inexperience and overwork.
I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct.
No one in the White House, to my knowledge, violated any law or standard of conduct ---
[Here the sentence was truncated. Left out was the rest of the sentence - "including any action in the travel office."]
I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport.
Robert Stack: The shredded note was found in Foster's briefcase, four days after his death. Curiously, White House council Bernard Nussbaum had earlier inspected the contents of the briefcase but didn't find the note. This led to widespread skepticism concerning the document's authenticity.
On October 25, 1995, a team of well-known handwriting experts held a press conference in Washington. They had been hired by the editor of a independent financial news letter.
Each of the experts had examined a photocopy of the alleged "suicide" note and concluded that it was a forgery.
The death of Vince Foster was suddenly cast in a whole new light. If the note was forged, was it part of a coverup by the Clinton administration or was it evidence that Vince Foster had been murdered?
Is there any substance to the claim that the "suicide" note was forged? The experts believe that the forger studied an existing document handwritten by Vince Foster, then copied his writing style letter by letter.
To examine this remarkable claim, we invited the experts to meet with us in Boston. Blowups of both the "suicide" note and several random known samples of Foster's writing were provided.
Then we asked the experts exactly what led them to their conclusions.
For purposes of the demonstration, the "suicide" note is labeled Q1, referred to as the questioned document. The known samples are labeled K1 through K12. Ronald Rice, a handwriting examiner who has worked for the state of Massachusetts, is convinced that the note was forged.
Ronald Rice [speaking as he shows the writing]: If we compare the formation of the cursive capital I, here on the questioned document, to the formation of the capital I, here on the known document authored by Mr. Foster, we can plainly see it is not the same. It's an entirely different letter formation. One, two, three strokes ---
Robert Stack: Rice went on to describe other discrepancies. For example, in the "suicide" note the letter "o" is open; by contrast, in the known samples it is closed. In addition, Rice claims that the letter "B" in the note was made with at least four strokes of the pen. In the known sample he says the letter was written with one continuous stroke. Rice says he has found numerous discrepancies which prove to him that the "suicide" note was not written by Vince Foster.
Ronald Rice: My studied examination, ah, in excess of forty hours I spent with this - ah, concluded that this was a document that, ah, was very skeptical, and it was my opinion that it was a forgery.
Robert Stack: Many handwriting analysts would say that Foster's writing was typified by "U"-shaped strokes known as swags. Reginald Alton of Oxford University in England believes the forger had a difficult time imitating Foster's graceful style.
Reginald Alton: When Foster writes "Clintons", the "in" is an elegant double swag. When the forger writes "Clintons" we find the strokes are not easy and elegant and not really on form at t'all. There were an inordinate amount of hesitation dots found in the document.
Robert Stack: "Hesitation dots" are small blobs of ink left where the pen starts or stops. Anthony Iantosca believes that the presence of so many dots indicates that the "suicide" note was deliberately and painstakingly copied, rather than written in a formal hand.
Anothony Iantosca: Take a look at the capital letter "N". You'll see four distinct hesitation dots. Starting at the top where the pen comes in contact with the paper it stops, he comes down and it stops at the bottom - he comes back up and retraces - he comes back down again you see a third hesitation dot - he stops, he comes back up and you'll see a heavy concentration of ink right here for the fourth hesitation dot.
Robert Stack: Retired homicide investigator Vincent Scalise is a certified document examiner. He points to the fact that the words beginning with the letters "th", whether the "t" is capitalized or lower case, are much more crudely written in the "suicide" note than known samples. But can the differences be explained - perhaps by stress - the stress of a man about to kill himself? These experts give no credence to the argument.
Vincent Scalice: Your handwriting would not change because you are under that type of stress - you might get a little sloppier - might get a little less clear - but your style of writing normally would not change.
Robert Stack: Is it possible that the experts are right? Could the "suicide" note of one of President Clinton's most trusted advisors have been forged? The implications are staggering - but only if these particular experts are correct. At least one other expert says they are not.
Marcel Matley: There is nothing in the questioned document that would support any finding of forgery. And the things that are brought forth - the apparent fragmentation - and those things are explained by the fact that we have a deteriorated copy and that fact that the man was under some emotional stress at the time.
Robert Stack: Marcel Matley is convinced that the other experts are wrong. Q1 on the left side represents the "suicide" note. K1 through K11 on the right side represents the known samples.
Marcel Matley: First is the word "the". We have three "the"s from the suicide note and three from the first known samples. You cannot tell the difference in these words. The only thing that, ah - that might be a difference is here, where it is deteriorated - this is from the photocopy that has been copied too often. The loop is gone and the stem is gone. The second word "to", we have four of them in the questioned document, one of which is where the tear is, so we can ignore it. But you notice these three "to"s have differences among them. We go to K9 and K10, we get three more words "to", we have the same differences.
The word "Clinton" was mentioned. First, we do have a tear at the end of the word, which we have to ignore, but otherwise the only notable difference is the final "s". But that doesn't make any difference, because in the suicide note Foster used two styles of "s". In his known sample he uses the same two styles of "s", so from comparing these words the conclusion is: the same person wrote both writings.
Robert Stack: Did Vince Foster write the "suicide" note? Were these the final thoughts of a man overwhelmed by the cold realities of politics in Washington or, as critics of the Clinton administration contend, is the note part of an elaborate coverup?
In the end there are still many, many questions to be answered. The ongoing investigation of both the Whitewater scandal and Vince Foster suicide in all likelihood will continue for some time to come. Given the explosive political nature of the case, it is quite possible we will never know the entire story behind the death of Vince Foster.
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(09-06-95)
Robert Stack: Is it possible that the experts are right? Could the "suicide" note of one of President Clinton's most trusted advisors have been forged? The implications are staggering - but only if these particular experts are correct. At least one other expert says they are not.
Marcel Matley: There is nothing in the questioned document that would support any finding of forgery. And the things that are brought forth - the apparent fragmentation - and those things are explained by the fact that we have a deteriorated copy and that fact that the man was under some emotional stress at the time.
Robert Stack: Marcel Matley is convinced that the other experts are wrong. Q1 on the left side represents the "suicide" note. K1 through K11 on the right side represents the known samples.
Marcel Matley: First is the word "the". We have three "the"s from the suicide note and three from the first known samples. You cannot tell the difference in these words. The only thing that, ah - that might be a difference is here, where it is deteriorated - this is from the photocopy that has been copied too often. The loop is gone and the stem is gone. The second word "to", we have four of them in the questioned document, one of which is where the tear is, so we can ignore it. But you notice these three "to"s have differences among them. We go to K9 and K10, we get three more words "to", we have the same differences.
Dan and his memo expert..follow the link and see the picture, http://www.fairpress.org/mbow02/outragearchive0610.htm. I need to learn how to post these things.
Then the program turned to Marcel Matley, identified as a "handwriting examiner" with no further credentials given, who offered his opinion that the "suicide" note is genuine. Matley believes that the "deteriorated copy" of the note.... that is, it's been copied over too many times.... and the "stress" Foster was presumably under account for the differences in handwriting. He then went on to show how Foster used different styles of letters in the genuine samples, such as both cursive and block letter "s", for example, and how the same multiple styles appear in the note; and from this he concluded that the same person wrote both the note and the samples known to be genuine.
One problem with Matley's statements is that it is impossible to determine to what extent the copy of the "suicide" note used by the experts has deteriorated from the original.... because the government has yet to release any official copy of the original, much less a high-resolution one. I just don't see how Matley can point out examples of "deterioration" in copies of the note without having seen the original note.
Whoaa! There Nelly !
The same Marcel Matley that told us Vince Foster suicide note was real, is telling us Dan Rather phony memos are real?
Get out of town!!!!
Rather, your going down baby!
And once again, Slickmeister's influence shines through.
I have never doubted that Vince Foster committed suicide. If I had sex with Hillary ,I probably would too. My doubts are with his being found in Ft Marcy under mysterious circumstances, I think he committed suicide in his office in the White House and was moved.
Hahahahaha, of course it's genuine... it was written AFTER he was dead, that way there is no doubt about him being dead.
Now we KNOW the Clintons and their scumbag fellow travelers are involved! Out of all the handwriting examiners in the USA, they *just* happened to pick the same one that provided cover for the Vince Foster murder.
This is going to get fun again pretty soon.
Maybe Dan did it will Bill..
Marcel Matley, the DNC's in-house handwriting expert.
Eventually, after their remains become ashes, all the other myriad of bodies will surface with the Klinton's fingerprints abounding.
You mean CBS actually uses handwriting experts. It found and hired one? After how many years. Makes you wonder how long it will take them to find one for the forged documents about Bush.
"Matley believes that the "deteriorated copy" of the note.... that is, it's been copied over too many times...."
Exactly how Rather described the purported Killian documents.
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