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Dan Rather Laments That Americans Think the Media ‘Make Up Stories’ Y: Alex Griswold November 7, 2017 5:37 pm Former CBS journalist Dan Rather appeared on NBC "Today" on Tuesday where he lamented on the American people's lack of trust in the media. "There’s a recent poll that said nearly half of people think the media make up stories," host Savannah Guthrie noted. "The media itself is under fire." "What do you think the media needs to do better to enhance its own credibility?" she asked. "We need to do a better job, we need to do our job. Our...

Dani Rodrik has just returned from Turkey, shunned while defending his father-in-law, the main defendant in the military coup plot case. The Harvard professor explains his take. IN DECEMBER I traveled to Turkey with my wife and young son, as we do every year during winter break. This time, though, we had more than visiting family and friends in mind. We were on a mission to demonstrate that what many have called the trial of the century in Turkey is in fact a sham built on fabricated evidence. Nearly two hundred Turkish military officers stand accused of having plotted a...

NEW HOWARD KURTZ BOOK STIRS CONTROVERSY... DEVELOPING... WHITE HOUSE FROZE OUT COURIC FOR FIVE YEARS... PRESIDENT MISTAKENLY SHARED CLASSIFIED INFO WITH NEWS ANCHORS... DAN RATHER VOWED TO LEAK BUSH GUARD DOCS TO NEW YORK TIMES -- IF CBS SPIKED...

NIGERGATE: A FRENCH 007 ACCUSES THE CIA AND SISMI Il Giornale’s Marco Chiocci takes a look at the accusations made by the disgraced ex DGSE agent, Alain Chouet, in yesterdays Repubblica. The ex Spy master from Paris got his facts, faces and dates completely wrong. It’s interesting to see how a French socialist jumps at the opportunity to accuse the USA of deception. Unfortunately for Chouet the following article explains and exposes his and the Repubblica’s lies one by one. ARTICLE BEGINS -- A FRENCH 007 ACCUSES THE CIA AND SISMI WITHOUT ANY PROOF By GIAN MARCO CHIOCCI AND MARIO...

Nigergate: The shadow of the French inspector After yesterday’s posting, a close look at Ambassador Wilson, today’s the turn of Mr Jacques Baute. The following article raises some incredible questions and reveals some amazing facts. Mr Baute, a Frenchman, seemed to know all about the the Niger forgeries and kept very quiet about them. The result: the Bush administration was ridiculed. The day after Baute’s organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared the documents to be forgeries the French Government made a startling announcement..... The Bush administration was decieved by it’s presumed allies and the blame was placed on the...

Something to Yak About - Gillespie on Phony Docs: 'Was a Crime Committed? I Think So' Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie laid it on the line Wednesday, telling reporters he thinks criminal activity is behind the bogus documents used as the peg for a Sept. 8 CBS News report smearing the president. "Was a crime committed? I believe so," said Gillespie. "Obviously, forgery is involved. But the Texas Legal Code also says it is a third degree felony if one 'makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that...

Kerry Campaign Touted Forged Doc Info in April The Kerry campaign made an explicit reference to information in at least one of four forged military documents broadcast 14 days ago by CBS's "60 Minutes" - in a detailed campaign press release attacking President Bush's National Guard service dated months before the Sept. 8 "60 Minutes" broadcast. Appearing in Kerry campaign literature on April 27, 2004, under the headline "Key Unanswered Questions on Bush's Record in National Guard" was the reference to "verbal orders" to recommend Bush's suspension from flying because he missed a physical - issued by Bush's commander, Lt....

AUSTIN, Texas - A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush (news - web sites)'s service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign. Also Saturday, a White House official said Bush has reviewed disputed documents that purport to show he refused orders to take a physical examination in 1972 and did not recall having seen them previously. The long-running story on Bush's Texas Air National Guard service took an unusual twist when CBS broadcast a report on...

I just got an e-mail from someone calling himself "JFH" which raises an intriguing question about an acronym used in one of the Killian docs. Jeff Goldstein wrote a post yesterday about a reference in the August 18, 1973 memo to something called an "OETR". Two people familiar with military terminology e-mailed Jeff to say that the acronym the author of the memo meant to use was "OER" -- an abbreviation for "Officer Effectiveness Report". Read Jeff's post and you'll see that his contacts are quite adamant that "OER" is a commonly used term and that no one familiar...

A former National Guard commander who CBS News said had helped convince it of the authenticity of documents raising new questions about President Bush's military service said Saturday that he did not believe they were genuine. The commander, Bobby Hodges, said in a telephone interview that network producers had never shown him the documents but had only read them to him over the phone days before they were featured Wednesday in a 60 Minutes broadcast. After seeing the documents Friday, Hodges said, he concluded that they were falsified. Hodges, a former general who spoke to several news organizations this weekend,...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU SEPT 09, 2004 22:45:32 ET XXXXX Marjorie Connell — widow of the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the reported author of memos suggesting that Bush did not meet the standards for the Texas Air National Guard — questions whether the documents are real on tonight's NIGHTLINE, sources tell DRUDGE. Transcript: I WAS ANGRY, BECAUSE HERE THEY ARE GOING BACK AND PULLING RECORDS OF A MAN WHO IS DECEASED TWENTY YEARS, WHO IS NOT HERE TO EXPLAIN WHAT ANY OF THESE DOCUMENTS SAID OR SUPPOSED TO HAVE SAID, AND I JUST FOUND IT APPALLING. I WAS...

"Espionage then and today is very real and active measures, manipulation of public opinion, was very real at that time." On the CBS Evening News on July 30th, Dan Rather acted as if he had a big scoop. He said, "Newly released FBI documents obtained by CBS News reveal a widespread domestic spying and intelligence operation. Thousands of ordinary American citizens were under surveillance throughout the 1980s." Rather said these individuals appeared in FBI files because the bureau was monitoring Soviet "active measures" or influence activities directed at Americans. Rather said they included disinformation, the use of front groups and...

Records Raise Questions On Bush's Guard Service DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin had a strong reaction to newly released records about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. On Wednesday, CBS' "60 Minutes" reported that records kept by Bush's former commanding officer show Col. Jerry Killian was pressured to give Bush positive evaluations. Bush told reporters that he received no special treatment. Harkin said these records show that the president hasn't been honest. "The documentation shows that the president was not being truthful," Harkin said. "The president lied to the American people in the...

<p>Nothig more yet...</p> <p>CBS NEWS executives have launched an internal investigation into whether its premiere news program 60 MINUTES aired fabricated documents relating to Bush National Guard service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.</p> <p>"The reputation and integrity of the entire news division is at stake, if we are in error, it will be corrected," a top CBS source explained late Thursday.</p>

THE Sunday Times has tracked down a mysterious middleman who was a key figure in the notorious Niger uranium hoax before the Iraq war, writes Nicholas Rufford. Speaking to a reporter in a cafe in Brussels last week, he claimed he had been an unwitting dupe in the scam, which embarrassed both Tony Blair and George W Bush over Saddam Hussein’s phantom weapons of mass destruction. The middleman, an Italian who uses the name Giacomo, is a small-time tipster said to have worked for Italy’s armed forces and intelligence services. He says Sismi, the Italian foreign intelligence service, used him...

ROME (AP) — Italian police are trying to learn if a document-forging operation in Turin served as a logistical base for al-Qaida, authorities said Monday. The document center, an apartment in a Turin neighborhood populated by many illegal immigrants, was raided in December, said Luciano Nigro, a Turin police precinct chief, and investigation into its operations have been going on since. On Monday, La Stampa, a Turin daily, reported that police believe the place furnished documents for recruits for al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. ``I don't have proof,'' Nigro told The Associated Press, but ``we are investigating.'' Nigro said...

Italy nabs eight new al Qaida suspects By Eric J. Lyman From the International Desk Published 7/13/2002 10:34 AM ROME, July 13 (UPI) -- Italian police said Saturday they had arrested eight men suspected of providing logistical support for Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network, as local authorities tightened security in Rome, Florence and Venice amid reports of possible additional attacks. The suspects -- all but one of whom are North African Muslims -- were apprehended Thursday after a sting operation in Milan. A ninth suspect eluded police and is being sought. In a statement released Saturday, police said...

<p>A letter to the editor of The Washington Times, purported to be from a senior U.S. diplomat with scathing criticism of the Foreign Service for lack of loyalty to the Bush administration, was exposed yesterday as a forgery.</p> <p>Wesley Pruden, the editor in chief of The Times, said the newspaper learned "from the highest level at the State Department" that the letter was a hoax and the newspaper fully accepts "as true that the ambassador was not the author of this letter."</p>

<p>CHICAGO - (KRT) - Forged documents that the United States used to build its case against Iraq were likely written by someone in Niger's embassy in Rome who hoped to make quick money, a source close to the United Nations investigation said.</p> <p>The documents, about a dozen letters on Niger's governmental letterhead, suggested that the African nation had agreed to supply Iraq with uranium, used in nuclear weapons production, the source said. Some of the letters were addressed to an Iraqi official.</p>