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...
The flight physical at issue was in 1972, which had to be taken by July 6th.
Staudt retired in March of 72.
Why haven't they asked Ms. Knox the brand name and model typewriter she used in her office?
I vote for both.
How old is this woman? If she retired in 1979, at what, 65 yrs old, and now it's been 25 years later, she must be 90. Wonder who's paying, uh, I mean coaching her?
Then, why didn't that someone get a typewriter of that era, no, the same typewriter used in those offices, to type the memos? This would have been A) easy, B)cheap, and C) make the controversy one of he said/she said instead of a presumption of fraud.
To me, something continues to smell. 
My 86-year-old mother-in-law in the nursing home has a perfect memory! Problem is, when her grandchildren come to visit her, she doesn't know who they are.
Too many Dem talking point, to be sure. She even hits Big Oil.
I say let the woman talk. She isn't a John O'Neil. She's already contradicting herself in statements, she'll invalidate herself.
Maybe SHE'S a forgery of the real Ms. Knox.
My guess is that she was contacted before on the subject and was even the source of the original allegation, but could never corroborate her statements.
Since she has already seen the forgeries, it is a little late for her to objectively remember what happened. Perhaps she typed up a memo on Bensen's nephew. Perhaps the memo was not as critical as she remembers.
Plus, I seem to remember a See B.S. source trying another CYA where the documents were supposedly typed up from original hand written memos...which means Knox didn't type them.
I would think the physicals are annual. It would be interesting to know if Bush missed one in 72 and had to make it up later.
That would make the whole 73 affair fit with what Bush said it was. That he did not want to fly anymore, so he did not need to take the physical.
how come all this crap is coming out now? Why not four years ago?
Somethin ain't right.
But that's OK because by tomorrow she'll have forgotten it all anyway.
Look at page ten of the following to get and idea of the Al. posting
http://www.usatoday.com/news/bushdocs/6-Reassignments_Spilt_Training.pdf
Bush was going to a not flying postion... (the 187 in AL is recon..and F102 are not a recon aircraft) so why would he be required to get a flight phyical
"...someone in the outfit got hold of the real ones...." and what? Thought it would be a good idea to retype them instead of producing the originals?
My mother would strike me with a lightning bolt from heaven for disparaging the elderly but geez, this woman needs to be hustled off the stage and fast - she makes things worse for them with every sentence.
On second thought....leave her right where she is.
They did. She said she used a manual Olympia.
ping
Yep, folks, in 4 years we have evolved from "intent of the voter", to "intent of the forger"...
okay, one of them was about Hamlet.
I was typing term papers along about the same time & you're one subject ahead of me!
*sigh* Call IS Department. Try to explain neeed for new keyboard. Wipe off evidence of sprayed Coca-Cola....
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