Posted on 09/11/2004 12:41:10 PM PDT by Rome2000
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Previous: Bush, First Lady Observe 9/11 Anniversary 11 Sep. 05:50:13 Next: Bush's Sept. 11 Proclamation 11 Sep. 00:24:39 Printable text version | Mail this to a friend Today: September 11, 2004 at 2:43:18 PDT
CBS Stands by Memos on Bush Guard Service
WASHINGTON (AP) -
CBS News acknowledges memos it received about President Bush's service in the Air National Guard are difficult to definitively authenticate, but says they came from "solid sources." Some forensic experts were quoted by news organizations, including The Associated Press, saying the memos appeared to have been computer-generated with characteristics that weren't available three decades ago. On Friday's "CBS Evening News," anchor Dan Rather said that "no definitive evidence" has emerged to prove the documents are forgeries. "If any definitive evidence comes up, we will report it," Rather said. The show broadcast excerpts of interviews with Marcel Matley, a San Francisco document expert, who said he believed the memos were genuine. CBS can state "with absolute certainty" that the disputed memos could have been produced on typewriters available in the early 1970s when the memos are purported to have been written, the network said. Rather said the typeface and style of the memos were available on typewriters since well before the 1970s. But CBS News said in a statement: "The documents are backed up not only by independent handwriting and forensic document experts but sources familiar with their content." Matley was the only expert cited, and he focused on signatures on the memos. Matley and Rather acknowledged the memos were difficult to definitively authenticate because CBS has only photocopies, not the originals. Matley did not return a telephone message left at his office immediately after Friday's report.
At question are memos that carry the signature of the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who was the commander of Bush's Texas Air National Guard fighter squadron. They say Killian was under pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's record, and Bush refused a direct order to take a required medical examination and discussed how he could skip drills. Casting further doubt on the memos, The Dallas Morning News said in a report for its Saturday editions that the officer named in a memo as exerting pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's record had left the Texas Air National Guard 1 1/2 years before the memo was dated. The newspaper said it obtained an order showing that Walter B. Staudt, former commander of the Texas Guard, retired on March 1, 1972. The memo was dated Aug. 18, 1973. A telephone call to Staudt's home Friday night was not answered. "60 Minutes" relied on the documents as part of a Wednesday segment - reported by Rather - on Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973. Former colleagues of Killian disagreed Friday on the authenticity of the documents. One, who appeared in the TV newsmagazine segment, said Friday he did not see anything in the memos that made him think they were forgeries. Robert Strong noted he's not a forensic expert and isn't vouching for the documents. "I didn't see anything that was inconsistent with how we did business," Strong said in an interview. "It looked like the sort of thing that Jerry Killian would have done or said. He was a very professional guy." Both Wednesday and Friday, Strong was the only associate of Killian quoted by CBS as supporting the memo's contents. Retired Col. Maurice Udell, the unit's instructor pilot who helped train Bush, said Friday he thought the documents were fake.
"I completely am disgusted with this (report) I saw on '60 Minutes,'" Udell said. "That's not true. I was there. I knew Jerry Killian. I went to Vietnam with Jerry Killian in 1968." Killian's son also questioned some of the documents, saying his father would never write a memo like the "sugar coat" one. Several of the document examiners said one clue that the documents may be forgeries was the presence of superscripts - in this case, a raised, smaller "th" in two references to Guard units. Rather said typewriters were available in the early 1970s which were capable of printing superscripts. CBS pointed to other Texas Air National Guard documents released by the White House that include an example of a raised "th" superscript. That superscript, however, is in a different typeface than the one used for the CBS memos. Document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines of Paradise Valley, Ariz., who examined the documents for the AP, said she was "virtually certain" they were generated by computer. Lines said that meant she could testify in court that, beyond a reasonable doubt, her opinion was that the memos were written on a computer. CBS has not revealed its source or sources for the documents or the names of experts besides Matley it said examined the memos before Wednesday's report. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday the White House, which distributed the memos after obtaining them from CBS News, was not trying to verify their authenticity. "We don't know if the documents are fabricated or authentic," McClellan told reporters traveling with the president to West Virginia.
McClellan suggested the memos surfaced as part of "an orchestrated effort by Democrats and the Kerry campaign to tear down the president." --- Associated Press Correspondent Kelley Shannon contributed to this report from Austin, Texas.
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Thats right, Dan...keep digging...
God Bless America!
Let’s face the facts, folks. Dan Rather is following the lead of the man he worships most—William Jefferson Clinton. Rather is going to stick to his story unless and until some court decision determines he lied, at which time most of the kerfuffle will have diminished and he then may humbly apologize while noting his lies really did not harm anyone. It worked for Clinton—why not Rather?
Do you recall Rather’s response to O’Reilly’s direct question a few months ago whether Rather thought Clinton was an honest man? Rather carefully responded he believed Clinton was an honest man.
I do not believe our letters of inquiry or outrage to CBS or any of the other MSM endeavors will have any effect upon the stonewalling attitude of CBS or Rather. Instead, would it not be more appropriate to boycott totally ALL CBS TV programs, beginning with the Sunday news discussions and the NFL season-opening games? Further to emphasize the impact, why not tune specifically to Fox News (where available)—even in the off hours when we are not actually viewing the screen? If this action were strong enough to affect the viewership ratings of CBS, perhaps they would lose sufficient revenues from cancelled political ads to bring executive attention to the public’s displeasure with Mr. Rather and his despicable lack of integrity.
It would be a requiem for CBS if anyone still watched...
Well, just cuz AP says its so, that doesnt help our case cuz AP has only a sliver more credibility that CBS....Booooooooooo
Well, who are you going to believe... Dan Rather or your own eyes?
Tough choice !!
Really. That's a slur. I type in a peignoir and maribou trimmed heels.
I also have a document from an impeachable source that states Dan Rather wears one too.
"CBS News acknowledges memos it received about President Bush's service in the Air National Guard are difficult to definitively authenticate, but says they came from "solid sources."
No wonder Rather likes Kerry.
Kerry -"I know what I'm going to do about Iraq, but I'm not telling you. Just trust me."
Rather -"We know you don't trust the memos, but WE are telling you they came from solid sources. We aren't telling you the sources, but they are good. Just trust us."
What happened to the fact that capt. Staudt had left the service a year before the date on the documents where he is said to have been involved. ??? no mention of that today on Fox, the only station carrying any news -- although they had reported it yesterday...???
That nutty CBS media editor called us "people sitting around in front of their computers in their pajamas".
I consider that a badge of honor. Does anyone have the skills to make a "pajama brigade" patch?
The HG Wells Deluxe Time Machine, pictured above, has been around since at least 1960. The Military has been rumored to have several of these stored in Area 51. Thus Col. Killian must have used one of these to go forward to around the year 2001 and pick up a laptop computer with Windows XP and Word and an HP Laser printer and return back to 1972 to complete these memos.
So obviously the documents must be authentic.
As a matter of fact, Dan Rather reported this morning that he thought he saw someone fitting Killian's description in Comp USA a few weeks ago buying a lap top.
When Rather asked him why he was wearing a 1970's style TexANG uniform the man fitting Killian's description reportedly said, "What's the frequency?"
Rather indicated that if this man were truly Killian coming from the past, then he obviously told Bush about the WTC attacks when he returned to 1972, so Bush was clearly aware of the attacks before they occurred.
Rather was later seen being escorted into an ambulance which was last seen going up the driveway at the Bellview hospital.
Good point.
Remember that if not for DNA evidence that Klintoon couldn't sabotage or quash he would never have been impeached and the Monica scandal would have been sucessfully debunked as rumors by partisans.
One small difference.
"News" organizations have to maintain a semblance of integrity.
Raines was forced out at the NYT in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, and Rather will either be removed or CBS reputation mortally wounded.
It was, you didn't get the memo.
My heels are sparkly red.
The memos are categorically, demonstrably fraudulent. But -- we are told -- that's ok, since the perpetrators are "solid sources".
CBS is playing the public for fools, and for that, the company must die.
http://www.boycottcbs.com
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