Burkett's defender, the anti-Bush author James Moore said in a recent interview:
...
When the White House says they aren't answering questions, they aren't answering questions. And if you can't get to documents with independent sources, it's very hard to write these stories. I know of one national publication right now that has at least one source that has damning information about George W. Bush and the National Guard, and they can't write the story because they cannot get a second document or a second source on it.
The interview is here:
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=16829
Burkett gave Moore the background. Moore generated the forgeries and fed them to CBS and USA Today (he speaks admiringly of USAT's Dave Muniz).
And Barnes became the "second source" CBS needed.
Meanwhile, the Kerry HQ people knew all about it and prepared the "fortunate son" ads, to coincide with Kitty Kelley's new book.
That's this freeper's theory and he's sticking to it.
I take my hat off to you, Hobson. Magnificent research. My humble effort simply adds the USA Today connection -- and the distinct possibility that the "second source" CBS wanted was Barnes.
When that piece fell into place, the self-destruction of Kerry and Rather gathered its own inevitable momentum.