Posted on 09/15/2004 3:15:44 PM PDT by ambrose
Ex-Secretary Says Papers on Bush `Not Real'
The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON - The former secretary for the Texas Air National Guard officer who supposedly wrote memos critical of President Bush's Guard service said Tuesday that the documents are fake but that they reflect documents that once existed.
Marian Carr Knox, who worked from 1957 to 1979 at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, said that she prided herself on meticulous typing and that the memos first disclosed by CBS News last week were not her work.
"These are not real," she told The Dallas Morning News after examining copies of the disputed memos for the first time. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him."
Knox, 86, who spoke with precise recollection about dates, people and events, said, "I remember very vividly when Bush was there and all the yak-yak that was going on about it."
She added that she does not support Bush as president, deeming him "unfit for office" and "selected, not elected."
Knox's account adds to a growing list of questions about the documents' authenticity. The News reported last week that a Guard officer retired a year and a half before the date on a memo stating that the officer was exerting pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's record.
CBS officials have defended their report, which aired Sept. 8. They have declined to say who provided the documents - other than to say they came from an "unimpeachable source" - or to say exactly where they came from, other than from the "personal file" of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's superior officer, who died in 1984.
On Tuesday, a CBS spokeswoman raised questions about Knox's credentials.
"As far as we can tell, this individual is not a documents expert," said CBS' Sandy Genelius. "We believe the documents, which were one part of the `60 Minutes' story, to be genuine. It is notable that she confirms the content of the documents, which was the primary focus of our story in the first place."
The White House maintains that Bush fulfilled his obligations and notes that he was honorably discharged.
The memos, if real, would show that as a stateside Guard pilot during the Vietnam War, Bush defied a direct order to obtain a flight physical, enjoyed the benefit of pressure from high officials to "sugar coat" his record, and was grounded for failing to meet military performance standards.
Knox said signs of forgery abound in the four memos.
She said the typeface on the documents did not match either of the two typewriters that she used during her time with the Guard. She identified those machines as a mechanical Olympia typewriter and the IBM Selectric that replaced it in the early 1970s.
She spoke fondly of the Olympia, which she said had a key with the "th" superscript character that has been the focus of much debate in the CBS memos.
Beyond that issue, experts have said that the Selectric and mechanical typewriters such as the Olympia could not produce the proportional spacing found in the disputed documents.
Knox said she was sure the documents were not direct transcriptions because the language and terminology did not match what Killian would have used.
For instance, she said, the use of the words "billets" and a reference to the "administrative officer" of Bush's squadron reflect Army terminology rather than that of the Air National Guard. Some news reports attribute the CBS reports to a former Army National Guard officer who has a long-standing dispute with the Guard and who has previously maintained that the president's record was sanitized.
Knox also cited stylistic differences in the form of the notes, such as the signature on the right side of the document, rather than the left, where she would have put it.
Knox said she did all of Killian's typing, including memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk.
She said that the culture of the time was that men didn't type office-related documents, and she expressed doubt that Col. Killian would have typed the memos. She said she would typically type his memos from his handwritten notes, which she would then destroy.
She said that although she did not recall typing the memos reported by CBS News, they accurately reflect the viewpoints of Killian and documents that would have been in the personal file. Also, she said she didn't know whether the CBS documents corresponded memo for memo with that file.
"The information in here was correct, but it was picked up from the real ones," she said. "I probably typed the information and somebody picked up the information some way or another."
Knox said that she didn't recall typing a Killian memo alleging that a commander, Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt, was pressuring officers to "sugar coat" Bush's record. But she said that Staudt's larger-than-life dominance of the unit would have been reflected in Killian's personal files. She added, though, that there's no way Staudt could have exerted that influence after he retired.
The memos also assert that Bush failed to take a flight physical and did not meet military standards. She said that missing the physical would have itself been a violation of standards, so there were not separate issues concerning Bush.
Photo Copyright Getty Images
My God, this really is the Clinton Broadcasting System. Sandy, she doesn't have to be a documents expert because she is an eyewitness. Normally, that's who reporters rely on in putting a story together -- except, apparently, at CBS.
Granny is gonna need some coaching to give the kind answers Rather needs/wants.
Read straight off the DNC talking points.
That will be acceptable to a congressional hearing on election fraud.
I expect she will be on Evening News in a few minutes or he will announce that she will be on 60 Minutes II tonite.
How would CBS know? Their 'document expert' is an uncredentialled new-ager who got his start writing vanity-press books on the spirituality of handwriting.
the latest from Granny.
What a collection of nonsense: the memos aren't real, but reflect stuff that was real that doesn't appear to exist, but which I remember, and would have been in the personal file and somebody picked up on those missing memos and created a forgery of them -- except those memos are missing.
Marian is a Democrat first and foremost, and a National Guard civilian employee willing to lie for the Dem cause when necessary, like most Democrats.
Sheesh. Andy Heyward's modified hang-out is only minutes old. LOL
HOW THE HELL CAN THESE MEMOS BE ABOUT REAL EVENTS WHEN STAUDT HAD RETIRED AND SHE ADMITS HE EXERTED NO INFLUENCE AFTER RETIREMENT.
tired of all these lies.
Reference statement bump.
She:.."I just wanted a free trip to NYC.."
So this secretary is now an authority on aviation physiology?
"I'm goin' to Black Rock!"
She said that although she did not recall typing the memos reported by CBS News
Well, which is it???
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