The Reason Behind the Forged Memos

the Manchurian Candidate ^ | 09/15/2004 | Me

[rocklobster11]

Now that we know the memos were forged, the question is who created them and why? It has been reported that these memos came

to CBS from the DNC and may have originated by a disgruntled former Army National Guard member who has an axe to grind with

President Bush. I'm sure the who will be discovered by other news sources soon. I want to focus on the why.

When I originally saw these memos, I couldn't figure out what the purpose of them was. There didn't seem to be any new facts in

them, as everyone agrees that Bush missed his annual flight examination which was scheduled for July 1972, and had his flight

status suspended on August 1. These memos just appeared to provide backup.

However, upon further analysis, it appears that these memos were meant to lay the ground work for further charges that Bush used

cocaine while in the National Guard and had to be quickly shuffled out of Texas to Alabama to cover it up. These are rumors that

have circled amongst the Bush haters, but there has been no proof, and the timeline didn't really support the conspiracy

theories. Lets look at how these memos were an attempt to forward this rumor:

What is behind each of the memos:

Fake Memo	What is says	Why was it created
May 4,1972	Orders Bush to get his annual physical within 10 days	To change the timeline for Bush getting his annual physical, which wasn't actually due until the end of July. Create the impression that Bush left in a hurried panic for Alabama to avoid drug testing
May 19, 1972	Phone call from Bush asking about getting transfered to Alabama because he wants to run a campaign. Followed by discussion of getting the physical later if he decided to keep flying	Show that Bush left town on May 15, called his commander after the fact to see if he could transfer to Alabama. Also, create a confirmation that Killian was aware and ok with the fact that Bush missed the physical. If the order from May 4 was disobeyed, you would expect some sort of official reprimand or follow-up. Since there is nothing in the record, the May 19 memo provides an answer.
August 1,1972	Bush suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failute to meet annual physical examination as ordered. Plus order of the creation of a flight review board IAW AFM35-13.	Make it look like there was something more to the suspension of flight status than just missing the physical. Create the impression that a flight review board was ordered, so that they can then ask why Bush has not released this document (ie, there must be a cover-up). It must show that Bush was suspended for using drugs
August 18, 1972	CYA Memo about being pressured to sugar-coat the Bush review. Mentions something about backdating information	Perhaps to show that there was some pressure from higher up for a coverup. However, I wonder what record would need to be "backdated" in order to fit in with the subsequent conspiracy theory that they plan to release. Perhaps we will find out, or perhaps they will abandon the next phase of the plan now that the forgeries have been uncovered

Why did 60 Minutes run this story last week? I believe it was meant to be a lead in to the Kitty Kelly book, which also makes

these unfounded claims of Bush drug use. 60 Minutes expected there to be a 4-5 day news cycle discussing how Bush had not

completed his guard duty or had been given preferential treatment. After the Kitty Kelly book came out, they could look at them

again in a new light to help spread the rumors of Bush's drug use.

[Common Tator]

Here is part of a story filed last night quoting CBS's Bob Schieffer. Schieffer spoke out West.
"People ask me, 'Do I think somebody was trying to set up Dan Rather?' I say, "No that's completely out of the question,'' said Schieffer, who addressed the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner/meeting Tuesday night. "Would somebody do this in an effort to smear George Bush? That may be so. We're in the middle of a political campaign, and this would not be the first campaign where somebody on one side slipped something to a reporter because he feels it would hurt the guy on the other side.''

The above paragraph is from a story quoting Bob Schieffer of CBS. The quotes are from an press Q&A held yesterday. Schieffer was speaking somewhere out west and made these statements in a Q&A after his speech.

How can Schieffer be absolutely certain that someone was not setting up Dan Rather unless Schieffer knows the identity of the source.

How could anyone be certain that the CBS source was not setting up Dan Rather? Could Schieffer say that about a Republican Source? I don't think so. What about a source not openly connected to either campaign in any way? Lets say the source was a National Guard file Clerk who was charged with cleaning out old files and found them. If that file clerk came to CBS with the documents could Schieffer be certain it was not a set up?

The only possible way to be certain that the source was not trying to destroy Dan Rather is if the source's only possible motivation was to hurt George W. Bush's chances to be reelected. Such a person.. a person with zero reasons to get Dan Rather could only be a trusted, high level, Kerry campaign supporter.

If Schieffer KNOWS it was not a Rather setup, then Schieffer must know the identity of the source. And if he knows the source and it was not a Kerry campaign supporter, then Schieffer just led people to believe something that is not true.

The only logical conclusion from the Schieffer quote is it was a Kerry supporter.. and CBS was fooled by that Kerry Supporter.

What level of Kerry supporter must the source be for Schieffer to KNOW it was not a set up.

It has to be someone high in the Kerry campaign. Either that or Schieffer is lying.

One final thought. Schieffer says with out zero qualification that it was not an attempt to set up Rather. If he did not know who the source is, Schieffer would say I have been told by people I know and trust that the source was not out to set up Dan Rather. No one with as much news background as Schieffer would say what he said... He KNOWS It was not a set up. I find it interesting that the reporters who questioned Schieffer did not ask him .. if he knew who the identity of the source. I would have asked him how many people at CBS knew the source's identity.. and specifically if Schieffer knew.

I know if I were working at CBS, I would have NOT want to know the name of the source. Schieffer seems to be saying he knows the source. If a number of people at CBS do know the source it is only a matter of time until it is common knowledge.

Schieffer is saying the source is a Kerry person, and that the motivation of the source was to hurt Bush.

CBS is learning that putting the toothpaste back in the tube is very hard to do.

y Dad was a great interrogator in criminal cases. Dad spent many hours over many years teaching me his techniques. Here is one of his principles I have never forgotten.

Dad used to say of witnesses.. The more they lie... The more they reveal the truth!!!

[rocklobster11]

Well, I guess I don't believe this theory

You don't believe it because you are a Republican (ie, intellectually honest, logical, fact based). The cocaine story is not meant to sway reasoned voters. It is meant to depress the base and the uninformed. Based on what I've read on other threads, I think it is absolutely provable that Bush wouldn't have been subject to a drug test during his physical in 1973, but I doubt that CBS was planning on analyzing the story from that angle.

[YaYa123]

You said, "This whole campaign, the DNC's "Operation Fortunate Son" has been run to link President Bush and Laura to a history of drug abuse and drug selling. It seems to have fallen flat on its face"

And don't forget to tie in Kitty Kelley's assault on the Bush family, maligning Laura as a dope dealer and user while at SMU.

There can be no doubt this was a concerted effort to prevent the re-election of G. W. Bush.

[River_Wrangler]

1> Bush was not due for his flight physical for more than two months.
2> Drug screens were not a part of the flight physical in the 70's.
3> Cocaine is not detectable 48 hours after ingestion in an urinalysis.

Boys and girls can you say SMOKE SCREEN ?

[Mo1]

Good catch on the Fortunate Son thing. This whole thing might have succeeded if the forgeries hadn't been uncovered. But I think there is no doubt the DNC is behind it and is going to get nailed.

Don't forget the Boston Globe story with Lawrence Korb

[JennysCool]

Dear DU Fascists:

"My advice to you is ... Start drinking heavily."

[rocklobster11]

1> Bush was not due for his flight physical for more than two months.

That was the whole purpose of the forged memos, to change the timeline from "Bush went to run a campaign in May, so he missed his physical in July" to "Bush was ordered to take a physical in May (10 days from date of order) and disappeared from the base 1 day after missing the newly ordered physical". The memos were the only way to make it look like Bush went to Alabama in a panic as a result of a direct order to get a physical on short notice.

[ClancyJ]

Or, he knew it was put together by Dan Rather's daughter.

[ClancyJ]

Or, he knew it was put together by Dan Rather's daughter.

[dinasour]

Danny boy thought this was going to sink the President

One thing for sure, no one will be judging Danny's "entire career by that 7 minutes of dead air"

[donnab]

the rumor from the beginning was that someone from the kerry-ites were saying they had those documents. but you know what ...everyone already knows that Bush wasnt an angel in his youth...hes said it. if this is the only thing that Kerry camp can come up with, they are in more trouble than we figured. if Bush was a new candidate it might count ..but we know what hes like as president ...so bring it on ...oops thats Kerrys phrase

[rocklobster11]

Don't forget the Boston Globe story with Lawrence Korb

Was that the one where it talked about Bush's missing documents, or was that done by AP?

Anyway, there was an article that stated that there should have been a flight board inquiry after Bush lost his flight status, and I noticed Kitty Kelley pushing for its release in interviews on CNN (and perhaps NBC) this morning. I don't believe there was any flight board inquiry, but the DNC wants to point to a Bush coverup of his drug use in the Guard. And that is where this story was leading until Dan Rather got caught.

[AFPhys]

What's next, the President enjoys necrophilia? Laura Bush is a Vampire? :o)

This is now the most perfect plan to attack...

What's next, the President enjoys necrophilia?

ROTFLMPO!!!
/

[plushaye]

"Good catch on the Fortunate Son thing. This whole thing might have succeeded if the forgeries hadn't been uncovered. But I think there is no doubt the DNC is behind it and is going to get nailed."

Here's the review of Hatfield's book from amazon.com. Hatfield committed suicide after his alter identity was revealed. I think he was also found to be a drug user.
I wonder if someone at DNC said let's Bush in honor of Hatfield's memory.


"Let's cut to the chase: yes, J.H. Hatfield alleges that, in 1972, George W. Bush was arrested for possession of cocaine and, with the help of his father, got the charges erased in exchange for performing community service. Other than that, however, Fortunate Son is a standard quickie biography of the Texas governor and frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential race--and useful primarily because few people outside of Texas (for that matter, few people within Texas) know much about Bush's history and political record. It's all about connections, Hatfield says: if he'd had a different father, Bush "could be just another Texan who failed in the oil business and now operates a shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico." The bombshell doesn't even come until a short afterword, tacked onto the already completed manuscript at the last minute, complete with a "Deep Throat" within Bush's inner circle. (Said informant throws in an almost too perfectly worded attack on the governor's hypocrisy in vigorously fighting the war on drugs: "I've known George for several years and he has never accepted youth and irresponsibility as legitimate excuses for illegal behavior--except when it comes to himself.")

Bush has denied the allegations, however, and it seems that Hatfield has a few dark secrets in his past. Shortly after the publication of Fortunate Son, The Dallas Morning News reported that Hatfield was a paroled felon who had attempted to hire a hit man to kill his boss. The online magazine Salon went on to add that he may have lied about his history as a freelance journalist and invented a fictitious award for a previous book. Throw in the skepticism of many journalists at the afterword's heavy reliance on anonymous sources, and Hatfield's credibility is in serious jeopardy. For his part, the author maintains that the paroled felon is a different James H. Hatfield, born the same month and year and living in the same part of the country, and if public records say otherwise, he argues: "Doesn't it sound a little bit weird to you that all of a sudden, the guy that's accusing potentially the next president of the United States of having his record expunged, all of a sudden miraculously has a record himself in the state of Texas?" It should perhaps be noted that among Hatfield's previous books is an unauthorized guide to The X-Files. "

[Common Tator]

What's next, the President enjoys necrophilia?

But nearly all potential Democratic voters think necrophilia is a little red flower often sold in Wal-mart stores... They is primarily used when your live in gets really ticked for a shootin' pool and drinkin' way too much beer.

Sometimes WalMart has necrophilias on sale fer less than $5 dollars a dozen.. The bad side is dang vase costs $7.95.. plus tax. They don't give ya no box.

[rocklobster11]

interesting that the first his on "fortunate son" on google turns up a link to the book, and "fortunate son bush" turns up alot of links to bush/cocaine conspiracy sites. Perhaps the DNC was counting on that as well.

[Chewbacco]

I agree. Either in Vietnam or with his hippie "band of bullsh-ters" there is very little doubt that Kerry has experience with drugs because it was just so ramant in the circles in which he moved

Most likely maryJ and acid.

[OldFriend]

GMTA

[_Jim]

August 18, 1973

Since we know that this documentation is forged, I wonder if the 1973 date is itself a typo.

This is what I'm now thinking ... I'm also thinking that these 'memos' were not 'dropped' all at once into CBS's lap (one big document dump), instead, someone 'trickled them out slowly' to SeeBS ...

Some were mailed - others were faxed ... resulting in different 'forms' of the memos as they arrived at SeeBS ...

See: Crumple Analysis of documents

Several LGF readers emailed to say that if you open one of the CBS News Killian memos in Photoshop and adjust the levels, crumple marks show up on the paper. So I tried it, and here?s the result:

-- insert image here --

This was probably done by the incredibly inept forger to increase the apparent ?age? of the document, and to make the text appear more ragged.

I?ll bet that if the real printed originals of these documents ever turn up (say, in a dumpster behind MoveOn.org headquarters), they?ll find the idiot?s fingerprints on them.

Also - this post:

#59

Right Brain 9/14/2004 03:19PM PST

OK I am showing my age but is anyone besides me wondering if Dan Rather is the new Donald Segretti? Segretti was Nixon's inhouse document forger, a lawyer originally, most of his work was low-brow clownish stuff like ordering hundreds of pizzas on the opponents "stationery." But Dan Rathers bizarre denials of the obvious are making me shift my opinion of him from hapless victim to willing participant.

I am also starting to feel offended by people calling these documents forgeries, because that is an insult to forgers everywhere; in the community of artists and graphic designers in NYC we could forge anything, frankly. Want a handwritten note from Thomas Jefferson ordering a Big Mac, no problem. And I promise you that the paper, ink, and calligraphy would read correctly at the FBI document lab. These memos are an insult to those of us with skill, this is tantamount to faking a Van Gogh with house paint from Home Depot. I demand an apology.

[OldFriend]

You are right. Bush was probably in Israel all along pretending to be in Alabama.