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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It would work perfectly and also explain the "Kenneth whats the frequency" incident.
People from the past. Area 51. Time Travel. Proportional fonts on a military issue typewriter in 1972. Its all related.
Has Art Bell chimed in on this?
In this matter, I can't help but think "what goes around, comes around". It was CBS and Walter Cronkite, and their constant harping on how badly we were 'losing', when we weren't losing at ALL, that helped turn the average American against the war effort. CBS also helped turn people against the returning Vets by their incessant claims of war crimes committed by our soldiers.
I think CBS deserves all the derision that they're going to get, and I'm THRILLED that Walter Crankcase is still alive to see his position totally repudiated!!!
Do you by any chance have a live cam set up?
---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.---
Oh dear! Why do you think she would mention court? :^)
The point is, as they say, the story - it is not credible if the supporting documents are false and not substantiated by facts or witnesses.
Why don't they demonstrate how their copies (don't) meet the criteria set forth in document examination requirements, and cannot substantiate the veracity of the original documents - no less what happened to the original documents. Are they afraid the original documents will prove their allegations totally FRAUDULENT? IF not where are the orginals?
Certainly the CBS network can obtain the "rules" for authenticating documents from a reputable large PD - NYPD, LAPD etc, or the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, or the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Brunswick, Ga. The CBS network needs to demonstrate that they even met the basics for proving their contentions correct.
Some Freepers have pointed out that this brouhaha takes away from the "Swift Boat" contentions. Today, on 911, I doubt that attention would focus on the Swifties, indeed, they will have their day again. Remember the quote about yesterday's news.
Instead of fixating on the news that is turning stale, let's move on. Let US demand EQUAL TIME from the CBS network and have them cover Kerry's visit with the Viet Cong in Paris while he was a reserve Naval Officer... or explain why his discharge from service was delayed (possible Treason charges?)... or cover his Senate voting record so the "people" can know him as we do. Sort of demand a balance of the situation instead of CBS being a partisan news media creating the news.
CBS will loose this one because they are going forward on only one foot - the left foot.
The interesting factor here is FoxNews cleaning the networks cronk for viewers during the convention(s). There is an immediate payback to ABC, George Stephanopoulos and, now, even AP for their dissing of CBS News. The rats are deserting the sinking ship.
Matley says he only examined one of the documents, despite Rather's characterization. The associate who verified the "context" says he was misled by CBS into believing the documents were handwritten, and only said that he agreed that if Killian wrote it, it would have been what he believed.
Here's a question I've yet to see answered....
So CBS claims they forged documents were received from a reliable source.
We know that they did not get them from;
1) Killian's family/estate
2) TANG
3) Any other branch of the NG/military
4) Any of Killian's coworkers at TANG, at least that have been asked about it.
So how else would someone come across such files. Yes I know they did not and printed them up in MS Word, but just to examine CBS's case, I can't think of any other source they could remotely claim as reliable...
Say goodnight Dan Rather... you left yourself one hell-of-a legacy.
God Bless America!
It reminds me of Geraldo Reviero's search for some item in a vault. can't remember specifically, but he really looked stupid and loss whatever credibility he had.
Solid sources...robin rather.
The above is a lie. the proof is here Even IBM composer experts cannot retype the CBS memos accurately.
The Titanic comparison nails it. CBS-DNC, instead of taking the iceberg head on and admiting it, they skim the iceberg and pretend the ship's not sinking.
A Bagdad Bob moment.
Outstanding, you summed it all up concerning Ratfur and CBS.
There are no forgeries from Saddam and no American troops there, Saddam tells the truth... besides, Dan Rather would agree.
An electric or selectric or manual would each produce differing depths of key stroks on the paper.
A computer generated doc will have the ink applied to the surface not imbeded in the paper that a striking key produces.
And what does the Regulation sited in the one memo refer to? The Belmont Club says it's not orders for a physical.
Every minute they keep up this scam only increases the necessity that they must not survive intact.
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