CBS Producer Who Obtained Questionable Guard Documents Identified

Talon News ^ | 9/13/2004 | Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent

[ConservativeMajority]

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Mary Mapes, a Dallas-based producer for CBS, has been identified by Talon News sources as the person who obtained the documents that suggest President George W. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligations 30 years ago. The documents, which have been judged to be forgeries by many news services and forensics experts, are at the center of a scandal that threatens the credibility of the network.

Late Friday, CBS spokesperson Kelli Edwards confirmed to Talon News that it was Mapes that obtained the documents but refused to comment on the questions surrounding their authenticity. Mapes did not respond to Talon News requests for comment.

During Friday's network news broadcast, anchor Dan Rather defended the four pages he claims were written by Bush's superior officer at the Texas Air Guard, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian. Rather talked with handwriting expert Marcel Matley who said that on the basis of his analysis of the signatures, he is pronouncing the documents to be authentic. Not all of the pages carry Killian's signature.

Two others were interviewed for the segment. Robert Strong, an administrative officer for the Texas Air Guard during the Vietnam era, who vouched for the documents.

Author James Moore, a Bush antagonist, said, "They are absolutely consistent with the records as I know it."

Rather dismissed his critics, saying, "Today, on the Internet and elsewhere, some people -- including many who are partisan political operatives -- concentrated not on the key questions the overall story raised but on the documents that were part of the support of the story."

But glaring omissions marred Rather piece. On Friday, Killian's son Gary told nationally syndicated talk-show host Sean Hannity that Mary Mapes had contacted him before CBS ran the story. He said that he warned her that the documents might be forgeries.

Following the broadcast, Talon News asked Edwards why Killian's son and wife weren't mentioned during the broadcast.

She said, "I'm not going to debate every aspect of the story. We stand by the piece."

Killian's widow, Marjorie Connell, told ABC Radio News, "The wording in these documents is very suspect to me. ... I just can't believe these are his words."

Connell said that her late husband would be "turning over in his grave to know that a document such as this would be used against a fellow Guardsman," and she is "sick" and "angry" that his name is "being battled back and forth on television."

Connell said that her late husband was a fan of the young Bush.

She stated, "I know for a fact that this young man ... was an excellent aviator, an excellent person to be in the Guard, and he was very happy to have him become a member of the 111th."

Rufus Martin, the personnel chief in Killian's unit at the time told CNN, "They looked to me like forgeries. ... I don't think Killian would do that, and I knew him for 17 years."

Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor, told ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. He said that CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "Well if he wrote them that's what he felt."

Hodges believes the documents are frauds.

Doubts were being openly debated on rival networks. ABC News reported that they contacted more than a half dozen document experts who said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity.

Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication, told ABC, "These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973."

He continued, "The cumulative evidence that's available ... indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter."

CNN contacted independent document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines who said the memos looked like they had been produced on a computer using Microsoft Word software. Lines is a document expert and fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She pointed to a superscript -- a smaller, raised "th" in "111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" -- as evidence indicating forgery.

After reviewing copies of the documents at her office in Paradise Valley, Arizona, Line said, "I'm virtually certain these were computer generated."

One expert counts at least 50 points that suggest the documents are forgeries.

The White House is remaining neutral on the documents' authenticity.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Friday, "We don't know whether the documents were fabricated or are authentic. The media has talked to independent experts who have raised questions about the documents."

He pointed out that CBS has not disclosed the source of the documents.

Newsweek is suggesting that Mapes received the documents from Bill Burkett, who it describes as a disgruntled former Guard officer. The magazine reports that Mapes flew to Texas to interview him.

If the documents are proven to be forgeries, the scandal would go to the highest level of CBS news. Talon News sources say that Jim Murphy, Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News, approves virtually every word that goes on the air. "60 Minutes II" Executive Producer Jeffrey Fager would also be on the endangered list, since his show originated the document story.

But more likely it would be Mapes who would take the fall along with Janet Leissner, the Washington Bureau Chief for CBS News. Leissner orchestrated the interview with White House communications director Dan Bartlett during which he was confronted with the suspect documents. Dan Rather was originally scheduled to do the interview, but White House correspondent John Roberts was substituted at the last minute for an unknown reason.

Mapes is no stranger to controversy as she also obtained the photographs of inmate abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The source of the photographs as well as the documents now in question has never been revealed.

In 1999 Mapes was threatened with imprisonment if she failed to turn over the transcript of an interview that Dan Rather conducted with the third defendant being tried for murder in the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. CBS ultimately complied with the court's demand for the information.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

[Smokin' Joe]

Squid ink, more like.

Cute, considering Kerry' s service affiliation.... :^)

[ZULU]

I agree with you about the Clintons.

I read American Evita. Hillery is totally unscrupulous, evil, highly intelligent and power-mad.

I don't think she can seriously hope to win in 2008 unless the Repubs blow it someway - as they frequently do - with all the information about the evil Ms Rodham in that book.

[Happy2BMe]

The worm has been found - ping.

[lentulusgracchus]

I don't think she can seriously hope to win in 2008 unless the Repubs blow it someway - as they frequently do - with all the information about the evil Ms Rodham in that book.

I don't think you get it.

The whole point is that evil people succeed by getting people to a) look the other way, b) look past their lesions and sores (<Molly Ivins voice>: "But he's soooooow guud on the isshas!"), or c) see their considerable shortcomings as something else.

Slick and Hitlery obviously think it's possible to overcome her high negatives -- hell, that's probably catnip to both of them. What could be better than putting their tongues down Lady Liberty's throat without permission? More better, to claw their way into office, fighting all the way, the better to enjoy it and so that they can say they hold it by right of conquest.

[MeekOneGOP]

Google Search:
Mary Mapes CBS Dallas, Texas

[talleyman]

Bump!

[Happy2BMe]

If you get a picture of dear, dear Mary Mapes, please post it and ping me.

[MeekOneGOP]

ha! This woman has brushed up with the law and courts before!:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/photogsworld/week1.html

In another note from Jasper, CBS producer Mary Mapes will not be going to jail. CBS attorneys and Jasper county prosecuters negotiated late into the night to reach a comprimise.
CBS agreed to post the transcript of the interview on its web site and provide a copy of the transcript to Jasper county officials. In return Mapes would not go to jail and the tapes would not need to be provided.

[rolling_stone]

Burkett totally unreliable, not unimpeachable..

Changed his story...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1213742/posts

[Grampa Dave]

"Author James Moore, a Bush antagonist, said, "They are absolutely consistent with the records as I know it."

Humm! James Moore is a biggie with the gay community. Here is a listing of his Bush Bashing collection of lies posing as book as the book to buy in ChicagoPride gay site.



http://shop.chicagopride.com/shop/item_cart.cfm?ASIN=0471423270&q=1&action=add

[js1138]

The have been proven forgeries.

Yes, but it's fun to drag it out while the Kerry campaign is using these sources in expensive ads.

[ZULU]

On the other hand, people so depravedly amoral are incapable of comprehending that normal people just might find their actions repugnant.

Let's prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

[lentulusgracchus]

Let's prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Good plan. And it's time for Late Lunch, so I think I'll go "prepare for the wurst" myself!

[WashingtonSource]

Fahmy Malak

You have a good memory. I had to look that up. I had forgotten the name of the Arkansas medical examiner who covered up several Arkancides for Slick Willy.

[Ichneumon]

65 reasons documents are false

That webpage stole that list verbatim without credit from this FreeRepublic thread.

[Ichneumon]

And guess what other story Fager was involved with Go head .. take a guess

This story is developing too fast to play games, if you have relevant information just post it.

[BJungNan]

What is still missing is where they came from. My guess is that it is Zach Exley. He started out with a Bush spoof site, then moved on to Moveon.org then became Kerry's director of online communications. He has the background for this sort of thing.

[MistyCA]

Yup. Someone opened their mouth early on but I know they will try to bury this. Use to happen with Clinton all the time. I would hear something right in the very beginning of an issue and then not hear it again for years! Then suddenly it would come up and people would wonder why THAT hadn't been said before! In the meantime I would sit there and be frustrated saying, "So why aren't they bringing that up!"

The media really does stink. They are all complicent in making sure the public doesn't have the right information. You have to wake up pretty darn early in the morning, don't you?

[Mo1]

It was the prison story and photos ...

IMO .. it looks like an all out attack on the President by these two


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214526/posts?page=34#34
On April 28, 60 II was first with the shocking photographs of Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners. The scoop was the result of more than two months' legwork by 60 II producer Mary Mapes, Fager says.

"We knew we were sitting on a bombshell," he says. "None of us could have predicted the kind of impact it would have on the direction of the war, or that it would become a kind of symbol."
http://www.thestate.com/mld/philly/entertainment/columnists/gail_shister/8822876.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[Smartass]

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