Posted on 09/17/2004 8:58:58 PM PDT by The Bandit
Edited on 09/17/2004 9:05:20 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
BAIRD, Tex., Sept. 17 - Bill Burkett, the former Texas National Guard officer who has been caught up in the mystery of how CBS News acquired memos that seem to question President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service, unsuccessfully offered information and advice to help the Kerry campaign attack Mr. Bush, according to a posting Mr. Burkett wrote in an e-mail newsletter.
"I spent some time on the phone with the Kerry campaign seniors yesterday," Mr. Burkett wrote on Aug. 21 in an e-mail letter circulated to a list of about 600 Texas Democrats.
He complained that he had to "get through seven layers of bureaucratic kids trying to get a job after the election."
"I talked with Max Cleland," Mr. Burkett continued, referring to the former senator from Georgia who has been supporting Senator John Kerry's Democratic presidential bid.
Alluding to advertisements by a veterans group that deprecates Mr. Kerry's Vietnam service, Mr. Burkett continued, "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," Mr. Burkett wrote. "But none of them have called me back."
Mr. Burkett did not say what information he offered. Earlier this year, he gained attention for saying that in 1998 he saw aides to Gov. George W. Bush of Texas and Guard officials dispose of pieces of Mr. Bush's National Guard record that could prove politically embarrassing. Mr. Bush's aides have denied his account.
"I volunteered to come back out with more," Mr. Burkett wrote.
Mr. Burkett, who was at home on his ranch in Baird, near Abilene, on Friday, declined to comment.
Mr. Cleland said in a telephone interview that Mr. Burkett called him "a couple of weeks ago," as he was out campaigning for Mr. Kerry.
"I couldn't swear to it whether he used the term documents or information," Mr. Cleland said. "It was some kind of stuff, some kind of information he wanted to get to the campaign, or something, regarding Bush's National Guard service. I referred him up to somebody in the campaign."
Mr. Cleland said he received up to 100 calls a week from people with tips and ideas. "He sounded like he had something," Mr. Cleland said. "But of course, in this business, you go around, every friend, everyone around the corner, has some something or other."
Campaign officials said Mr. Cleland had referred Mr. Burkett to someone at the campaign who passed his message on to the research department, where the message was set aside amid the deluge of other calls.
Mr. Burkett has returned to national attention since CBS News and "60 Minutes" reported last week on four memos reportedly from the personal files of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, Mr. Bush's squadron commander, who died 20 years ago. The memos said that Colonel Killian was under pressure to "sugar coat" the record of the young Lieutenant Bush and that the officer had disobeyed a direct order to take a physical.
Forensic experts, a secretary who said she typed Lieutenant Killian's memos and members of his family have said that they doubt the authenticity of the documents. CBS News has said it is evaluating their legitimacy and has declined to identify its sources. But one person at CBS confirmed an account in Newsweek that Mr. Burkett had helped with the reports. The official was unable to say what role he played.
Mr. Burkett is an avid Democrat and a frequent contributor to the Texas Democratic e-mail list. His name also shows up occasionally as a contributor of criticism of the Bush administration on a Web site, onlinejournal.com. Asked about his contributions to that site, Mr. Burkett on Friday declined to comment. His wife, Nicki, later confirmed that the articles were indeed his.
His many online musings provide a glimpse of his thinking, including his intense desire to remove Mr. Bush from office. They include some inconclusive references to the possibility of more documents appearing about Mr. Bush's Guard service. Aside from the CBS report, the Pentagon on Friday released new documents from Mr. Bush's files.
Addressing Mr. Bush rhetorically in an article on the Web site on Aug. 25, Mr. Burkett wrote, "I know from your files that we have now reassembled, the fact that you did not fulfill your oath, taken when you were commissioned to 'obey the orders of the officers appointed over you.' " On Sept. 4, shortly before CBS News broadcast its report, Mr. Burkett told the Democratic e-mail list he had a hunch that more material might soon emerge to embarrass the president. "No proof, just gut instinct," Mr. Burkett added.
Mr. Burkett's lawyer, David Van Os, said his client had not fabricated any documents. "From my knowledge of Bill's character, I am 100 percent positively, unequivocally certain that Bill Burkett has not created or falsified any documents," Mr. Van Os said.
In another development, ABC News reported on Friday that former Col. Walter B. Staudt - who interviewed Mr. Bush for enrollment to the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and who was named in a disputed Killian memo as exerting influence on behalf of Mr. Bush - said he "never pressured anybody about George Bush." He also told ABC News that he planned to vote for Mr. Bush.
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Baird for this article, and Jim Rutenberg from New York. Nathan Levy contributed reporting from Baird.
You're right. The correct term is FORGERY.
I am also getting a bit annoyed that the Old Media does not credit New Media sources for making them aware of items that they then follow up on. Most of the items in this story has been on FR already this week, so it is already posted on the internet somewhere, or occasionally even generated here.
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This should be front page NYT, but it got buried in this article.
Does it even pass the giggle test that the Kerry campaign never called Burkett back to see what he had? We might not have all the lines connected yet, but it looks like we're beginning to see most of the dots.
Yep ... kind of makes a person go hmmmmmmmmm
He also called him "a despicable human being" and said "let him sue me."
It looks as if the rest of the MSM has written Rather off -- his credibility is gone even if he brazens it out and keep his job. Since Rather cannot be saved the New York Times and the rest will run with the story for cover against their own bias. Next times they get accused of being anti-Republican the will say: "That's ridiculous, just look at how we covered the Dan Rather story!"
What I heard on Fox was that Burkett got some sort of illness in Panama when he was on business for the Guard, in the 90s, and that he was refused compensation for his medical care, for some reason.
Then he held then-Gov. Bush responsible, and has been attacking him ever since.
Mr. Burkett continued, "I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. He said counterattack."
To me, it looks like Burkett might have made them a proposition..."you can try to ride this out (presumabily the Swiftboat ads) NOT SPENDING ANY MONEY".......or "you can counterattack" (and I will help you, BUT IT WILL COST MONEY).
Is there a possibility that the "forged memos" were bought and paid for?
He said that the memos were retrieved from something like Microfische (spelling?). Old documents 30 years old have to be stored this way. He said that when these records (from the micro database) are printed out, they take on the characteristics of the medium they are printed out on ... like Microsoft Word.
I have only heard this idea proposed once. What say you?
g
That is a great logic point that I hadn't thought of, but here is where that probaby falls down, though. The sKerry campaign hasn't "explained" anything, from Christmas in Cambodia to "I voted for it before I voted against it". The upside would be that it would be another nail in Jenjis' coffin (how many nails can you put in a coffin?).
The NYT reported the story they way they wanted it to be reported. They say that Burkett "unsuccessfully" tried to aid the Kerry campaign.
They still have not retracted the story they wrote based on the forged documents. I'm not sure who is worse, CBS or the NYT.
Ka-Boom
Max Clelland is up to his eyeballs in this story also!! So is the 86 yr. old secy.
mary Mapes said that they believed that the old lady typed the documents...the old lady said they were NOT typed by her but they were "real". Mary Mapes also said MORE would be coming out. I guess they are being Forged as we speak.
Burkett is tied in to Michael Moore or some other Moore?
Bush GAVE Max Cleland the post of VA Secretary, andthis is how Maxie repays the favor!!
Parse..Parse..Parse...Fabricate....not the same as TYPED.
Basically, a petard was a mideaval bomb that was attached directly to castles to blast openings. They were often screwed in from a hoist apparatus to get at weaker areas of the walls and gates.
The term 'hoist by one's own petard' seems to refer to a soldier getting blasted up when his own bomb went off early (e.g., Max Clelland).
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