[Petronski]

First, Colonel Hackworth concluded that the documents were “genuine.” He reached this conclusion by relating his own experience at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War when he was running the “Army input system for . . . basic training.” Colonel Hackworth said that, while in that post, he received and refused requests by members of Congress and generals to assign certain men to particular units and wrote “cover my own butt” memoranda in many cases to document his refusals. Colonel Hackworth then concluded that Lieutenant Colonel Killian was “in the same kind of pickle that I found myself in” and proceeded to discuss what Lieutenant Colonel Killian was thinking at the time he wrote the memoranda. Rather asked Colonel Hackworth whether there was any doubt in his mind that the documents were real, and Colonel Hackworth replied, “Having been down that road before I would say that these are genuine documents.”

Second, Colonel Hackworth concluded that, by not taking his physical, then-Lieutenant Bush was “insubordinate” and would have been treated more harshly had he been “an unconnected Lieutenant.”

Third, Colonel Hackworth stated repeatedly throughout his interview that then-Lieutenant Bush was “AWOL” and that a person would have to reach that conclusion when reviewing the documents “unless you’re the village idiot.” Colonel Hackworth appeared to be referring to the fact that he had seen no evidence that President Bush was “present for duty” once he left for Alabama in 1972, although he did not articulate clearly how he reached his conclusion. Finally, Colonel Hackworth concluded that “the bottom line here is – is the abuse of power.” He said that “[I]t’s how people up at the top can . . . lean on the little people.”

Rather thought Colonel Hackworth was a “strong and valuable expert witness.” Mapes also believed that Colonel Hackworth was important for the Segment and included excerpts of his interview in early drafts of the September 8 Segment script. These excerpts were ultimately cut from the final script by Heyward and West.

[onyx]

I am FURIOUS.
I think I've read that portion 12 times now and
I cannot seem to stop rereading it!

[SkyPilot]

It looks like Col Hackworth fried his own reputation as well for defending CBS.

[maryz]

Hackworth is a strong front-runner in the "I wish I could buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth" category. I went to his website once (when he was supposed to be breaking some story) -- never have I seen a more shameless display of self-promotion. It was actually embarrassing to look at.

[Timeout]

I like this part:

Page 97: Discussions about When to Contact the White House.

Discussion is between Mary Mapes, Kathy Sciere, Dotty Lynch and Janet Leissner. One or more of the 3 say Mapes said this about her source:

Asked whether Democrats had been involved in handing over the documents, Mapes said "Texas Republicans of a different chromosone" were her source.

I predict this will become the HIGHLIGHT QUOTE of this report!

LOL!

What's the chromosone, Kenneth?!