Posted on 09/14/2004 3:50:57 PM PDT by ambrose
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE SEP 14, 2004 17:48:35 ET XXXXX
TEXAS GUARD SECRETARY SURFACES: SAYS CBS DOCS 'FORGERIES', BUT STANDS BY ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BUSH
The DRUDGE REPORT has found Lt. Col. Jerry Killian's former secretary who claims that the Texas Air National Guard documents offered by CBS in its 60 MINUTES II report filed by Dan Rather last week are indeed 'forgeries'.
"I did not type these particular memos. I typed memos like these," Knox told the DRUDGE REPORT from her home in Houston.
"I typed memos that had this information in them, but I did not type these memos. There are terms in these memos that are not Guard terms but that are Army terms. They use the word 'Billets'. I think they were using that to refer to the slot. That would be a non-flying slot the way we would use it. And the style... they are sloppy looking."
But Marion Carr Knox stands by the accusations contained in the allegedly fraudulent documents that Bush skirted a medical and flight exam without suffering institutional repercussions.
"The information in these memos is correct -- like Killian's dealing with the problems."
"It was General Staudt, not then Lt. Colonel Hodges [who succeeded Staudt], that was putting on the pressure to whitewash Bush. For instance he didnt take his flight examination or his physical. And the pilots had to take them by their birthdays. Once in a while there would be a reason why a pilot would miss these things because some of them were commercial pilots. But they had to make arrangements to take their exams."
Knox speculated as to how she thought the forgeries were created saying, "My guess is that someone in the outfit got hold of the real ones and discussed it with a former Army person."
Knox worked for the Guard from 1957 until she retired in 1979, and she was Lt. Col. Killian's secretary during the time President Bush served in Texas.
Contacted by the DRUDGE REPORT, Lt. Col. Killian's son Gary, who also served in the unit during the same period, responded: "I know Marion Carr. I remember her as a sweet lady who reminded me then of a dear aunt."
"But if Staudt had put pressure on my dad, there would have been a blow-up -- instantly. It was one of the reasons they got along so well. They had a mutual respect for one another."
"As has been pointed out by so many others, then Col Staudt had been out of the unit for 18 months. And I stand by my previous comments regarding my dad's admiration for Lt. Bush and his regard for him as an officer and pilot -- which was exemplary."
Knox told the DRUDGE REPORT that she did not vote for Bush in 2000 because he is 'unqualified' for the job, and does not intend to vote for him in 2004, either.
"Bush was not the only person of privilege who had a spot in the Guard. Senator [Lloyd] Bensen's nephew was in headquarters. There was a big jewelery store, Gordons. Their son was in the Guard. The owner of Batelstein's, a posh department store in the area, his son was in. The other kids couldn't get in like that. Hugh Roy Cullen's grandson was also in. He was a big oil man."
Knox, however, did have some kind words about then Lt. Bush.
"[Bush] was always pleasant and gentlemanly to me," she said. "I never noticed him not being respectful. I thought he was a nice young man and that he must have had very nice parents to produce a son as nice as he seemed to be."
Knox has been following the story since last week when the 60 MINUTES II broadcast aired, and on Friday she contacted the HOUSTON CHRONICLE wanting to tell her side of the story. Since then the DALLAS MORNING NEWS has also contacted her.
"What really hecked me off was when it was somebody on TV, associated with the White House, who said that all of this information was lies. And I got excited at the time because I knew that I had typed documents with this information because a person like Bush stood out from the others -- because of his association with his father."
Asked about reports that Lt. Col. Killian's wife and son saying he didn't type, Knox stated, "He didn't need to. He had me."
Knox explains that the August 18, 1973 date typed on one of the "forged" documents proves that they were faked. Group Commander Staudt, who allegedly had been putting pressure on Killian, retired in 1972.
To the best of her recollection, Knox explains that Staudt must have put pressure on Killian in 1972 -- the year he retired.
"If my father was going to type a CYA memo, which he didn't," Gary Killian responded. "He would have typed it himself because he wouldn't have wanted anyone to see it. But it's academic because Colonel Staudt had been out of the unit for 18 months -- as is well documented."
Contacted at his office in Bartlett, Texas, former Major Dean Roome, who served with Lt. Bush, responded to the latest information.
"If the memos are fraudulent, then why were they generated? Roome asked.
"Marion Carr Knox is validating what the rest of us are saying. She says once in a while a pilot would miss a physical because some of them were commercial pilots. I was also a commercial pilot with Continental Airlines. The clinic did not just open up for us to take a personal physical. The Flight Surgeons had to be there along with a full complement of medical personnel. We took our physical during the Uniformed Training Assembly (UTA) just like everyone else."
"The 'former Army person' she references is the person we believe may have created the fraudulent documents in an effort to injure President Bush. He has his own agenda and I doubt that he has any 'real ones' [documents].
Ms. Knox states emphatically that she is not acting for political motives, and has no formal relationship with any political party. She says she just wants to set the record straight.
Developing...
Is she turning on her co-colaborator?
And what exactly does she remember, ie., "like these". What's "like".
The more they talk about this, the more oxygen is sucked out of Kerry's campaign. Kerry has to give some reason to vote for him and dummyed up docs that purport to reflect what some Lt. Col. thought about President Bush 35 years ago (but never wrote down) ain't gonna cut it. This might have had some impact if the race was close and they released this info on the Thursday or Friday before November 2nd. But they couldn't wait given Kerry's freefall over the past 3 weeks. So what this really is a sign of is that the Rats think the election is close to being over unless they can effect some immediate turn around in Kerry's numbers.
Oh pulleze. Sounds to me like a set up. She admits their forgeries (because, frankly, FR already PROVED that) but says the CONTENT is correct. Uh Huh. Sure it is.
Hasn't the libbie left been saying "it's what's IN the memos that is important" all along? This woman is a ringer.
...sorry, that would be they are/they're forgeries.
Hate it when that happens.
Actually her comments "like these" are almost identical to another fellow's statement, whose name I forget right now.
Yup... I think she believes she's giving herself more credibility by saying she remembers W as a nice person.
Here appears to be an archive where the original forgeries might have surfaced:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/3671
Bingo. She's the "background info" source.
Too bad they didn't get her to type them out on an old IBM Selectric.
I think the most humorous part of the forgeries is the person or persons who constructed them thought headlining one "CYA" was something Jerry Killian would do in a "personal" memo. That is laughable beyond belief.
Neither can I. Of course, I'd have been three at the time.
What the heck does this mean, anyway? And, if someone got hold of the real ones, why not use those instead of forging new ones?
The whole claim about persons of privilege just fits too neatly into the 'rat talking points -- their ad campaign and all. "Operation Fortunate Son" is what I think it's called. Her wording is just too current with the 'rat talking points to be credible.
Bush had as much right to enter the National Guard as anyone else. People from all walks of like did it. This lady is a old hag and a liar. The 'rats MUST concede the forgery issue.
"...Robert Strong was an administrative officer for the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam years. He knew Jerry Killian, the man credited with writing the documents. And paper work, like these documents, was Strong's specialty. He is standing by his judgment that the documents are real.
"They are compatible with the way business was done at that time," Strong said. "They are compatible with the man I remember Jerry Killian being. I don't see anything in the documents that's discordant with what were the times, the situation or the people involved." .."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/11/politics/main642787.shtml
Yep, yep and yep. I think it would be fun to find some other memos Knox typed 30 years ago and switch the words around and see if she remembers these as well. My bet is that she wouldn't. If she really had all this bombshell info about Bush, she'd have given it to the Dems loooong ago.
In 1972-73 I typed college term papers, where I had to labor over verbiage meticulously. I can't even remember what ONE of them was about -- okay, one of them was about Hamlet. I believe I said he was confused.
This is nothing compared to what Kitty kelly is saying on Chris matthews right now. She is quoting sources opinions only, and not facts. The TANG source saying Bush did drugs did not even meet him per Kelly.
I just finished law school. I looked at mock trial brief that I wrote 18 months ago, and I honestly couldn't remember writing a single word of it. If it wasn't on my own hard drive, I never would have known it was mine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.