Posted on 09/17/2004 7:24:39 PM PDT by jhouston
The former Texas National Guard officer suspected of providing CBS News with possibly forged records on President Bush's military service called on Democratic activists to wage "war" against Republican "dirty tricks" in a series of Internet postings in which he also used phrases similar to several employed in the disputed documents. Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, who earlier said he overheard Bush aides conspiring with the commander of the Texas National Guard to "sanitize" the president's military records, has refused to comment on reports that he could be CBS's confidential source. In e-mails yesterday to The Washington Post, he said he would speak out "at the appropriate time" but "that time is not now."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Is this the same Max Cleland who blew himself up with a grenade?
Via Cleland, Mr. Grenade Man. The Great Unraveling continues.
There's a bombshell at the end of the article.
Burkett ties in the Kerry campaign via postings he made on the internet.
Cleland admits talking to a guy named Burkett when he was in Texas in mid August. Must have been when Rassmann and Cleland were trying to storm the ranch in Crawford.
"In an Aug. 21 posting, Burkett referred to a conversation with former senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.) about the need to counteract Republican tactics:
"I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money.
He said counterattack.
SO I GAVE THEM THE INFORMATION TO DO IT WITH.
But none of them have called me back."
None other. Maybe he met Burkett when he was in Texas to deliver that whiny letter to the Crawford Ranch.
Mary Mapes has been digging for dirt on this story for years is what's being reported. Its been her pet project/obsession.
I'm pretty sure you have it correct. However, we don't know what else they may have or think they have on this subject. The "big shock" is that CBS has had one of their super star teams digging for dirt for 4+ years on President Bush.
One might expect they would at least ask sKerry to sign the 180.
I'll bet Michael Dobbs is going to get the Pulitzer this year.
Time to check Mary Beth Cahill's fax machine.
Funny, I couldn't find any reference of the standard PR letter from the commander to Bush's father. I guess that wouldn't fit with what Dobbs was trying to insinuate. The correspondence was initiated by the commander -- standard letter that parents got while their sons were in pilot training.
USAFA sent PR releases to your hometown paper and the tradition continued in UPT as well.
Dobbs is either ignorant of the PR of the military or is relying on the general public's ignorance of SOP for the military.
"...he and other researchers...." Who else helped him?
Good article with some new information about Burkett using some of the same language found in the forged documents on his earlier posts on the web.
That pig won't fly. There is no direct connection between Kerry and the memos, just connections between the memos and old line democrats. Replacing the candidate won't have any affedt. It's the DNC that's screwed. Terry McAwful is in the thick of it because he was ready from the starting gun to push a series of ads based on the CBS memos.
By the way, how did he know they were fake before CBS did?
The WaPo also failed to mention that Burkett's claim of seeing Bush's Guard records vetted and dumped in the trash in Austin was a total fabrication - turns out that the location he claims did not ever serve as storage for TX Air Guard records - likewise Burkett's other "eye-whitness" denies the story.
When Burkett contacted Kerry's campaign, he probably did it through an acquaintance -- I'll bet Ben Barnes is that contact.
Burkett is the perp. He IS the future convicted forger/felon. I am just guessing but I think how he could have gotten to CBS is through Michael Moore. That would be a possible scenario cause if I am correct Burkett was a source for Michael Moore's film. Since Burkett can't get the DNC to pay attention to him he calls Michael Moore who he knows through the film. Moore who will believe anything about Bush, then calls Rather's office. They would certainly be willing to talk to a fellow Bush hater. Hence Rather's stonewalling. To admit the evidence is forgery means he must reveal his source for the documents which would include Michael Moore. This would discredit Moore and his film and hurt Kerry's campaign.
Just a little speculation. There has to be something Rather is hiding about his source. That's the next big angle in this story.
I last saw him about 25 years ago at an all nite dinner in a small East Texas town.
I stumbled in about 2 a.m. At the time he was a Houston Chronicle reporter. He waved me over to a back booth where he was huddled with a recently ousted J.P. who was spilling his guts about law enforcement involvement with marijuana growing and trafficking.
Maybe Glenn Smith did riffle the Guard files and does have some old documents. He might have passed the info to Burkett.
Ed Rollins said earlier in the hour on MSNBC that the docs were with the DNC and that they were actually discussing using the docs in a tv ad. It appears that the coordinated effort of "Operation Fortunate Son" by Terry McAuliffe (using the 60 minutes info) incorporates Ben Barnes, Burkett, and Dan Rather. With Max Cleland in the mix, that directly implicates the DNC and Kerry. Sounds like incestuous political relationships abound!
/snip
Woo hoo!! The DNC had advanced knowledge of the risky forgery scheme. And Kerry's campaign also had advanced knowledge of the Democrat Watergate class dirty tricks. And as all this is going down, they say nothing other than encouraging Rather to blather on with his fraudulent activities. Looks like a criminal conspiracy to bring down a sitting president. Can you say coup attempt?
The DNC and Senator Kerry are in it up to their eyeballs. The only question left is, what did Senator Kerry know and when did he know it?
Who's gonna pardon Kerry?
You know the Dems are involved when they hired a lawyer to make sure that Burkett doesn't talk. If Burkett was a lone gunman so to speak, it would be in their interest for him to take the heat as some kind of John Hinckley with a grudge for the Bushes. Burkett better keep his mouth shut and do what he is told or there could dire consequences. Terry Lenzer and his crew was once sent to Gynnifer Flowers apartment to intimidate her through her roommate. The boys asked her roommate if Gynnifer was the kind of a person who might commit suicide, which was a clever implied threat. Gynnifer had tapes as a insurance policy. Marcia Lewis told Monica to keep the dress because she worried tha Monica might end up like Mary Mahoney. I do not know whether Burkett was wise enough to have an insurance policy like these two did. But Burkett is in over his head. But when you have had two nervous breakdowns, there are a lot of scenarios which could insure that you would never name your conspirators. If Burkett had acted alone, it would be in the Democrats interest to use him as the scapegoat, when they circled the wagons they did so to cover themselves.
More from Burkett in 2003:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/what_do_you_say_032203.htm
"I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records [of George W. Bush]. George W. Bush and his lieutenants were mad."
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