Cleland merely serves as evidence of connection of the Kerry Kamp to this fraud. He's the one who spoke with Burkett about "what he had" and referred him to the campaign. I have every reason to believe Burkett's posting that when he spoke with Cleland, Cleland said to attack.
Other than that, I agree with you. At this point it appears that Cleland played a significant but peripheral role.
The Kerry campaign told Rather to contact Burkett who, the Kerryites said, could provide proof. The CBS statement today uses carefully chosen Clinton-like language that does not exclude the possibility that the Kerry campaign did steer Dan to Burkett.