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False Documentation? Questions Arise About Authenticity of Newly Found Memos on Bush's Guard Service
ABC News ^ | 9/9/04

Posted on 09/09/2004 7:45:34 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana

Bush
George W. Bush sits in an F102 fighter jet while serving in the Texas Air National Guard in this undated photo. President Bush was in the National Guard from 1968-1973.
Austin American Statesman/AP Photo

False Documentation?
Questions Arise About Authenticity of Newly Found Memos on Bush's Guard Service
ABCNEWS.com

Sept. 9, 2004— Questions are being raised about the authenticity of newly discovered documents relating to George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War.

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 — questioned whether the documents were real.

"The wording in these documents is very suspect to me," she told ABC News Radio in an exclusive phone interview from her Texas home. She added that she "just can't believe these are his words."

First reported by CBS's 60 Minutes, the memos allegedly were found in Killian's personal files. But his family members say they doubt he ever made such documents, let alone kept them.

Connell said Killian did not type, and though he did take notes, they were usually on scraps of paper. "He was a person who did not take copious notes," she said. "He carried everything in his mind."

Killian's son, Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father, also told ABC News Radio that he doubts his father wrote the documents. "It was not the nature of my father to keep private files like this, nor would it have been in his own interest to do so," he said.

"We don't know where the documents come from," he said, adding, "They didn't come from any family member."

Connell said her late husband would be "turning over in his grave to know that a document such as this would be used against a fellow guardsman," and she is "sick" and "angry" that his name is "being battled back and forth on television."

Her late husband was a fan of the young Bush, said Connell, who remarried after her husband died in 1984. "I know for a fact that this young man … was an excellent aviator, an excellent person to be in the Guard, and he was very happy to have him become a member of the 111th."

Experts Question Veracity

Questions are also being raised about the memos by document experts, who say they appear to have been written on a computer, not a typewriter. The memos are dated 1972 and 1973, when computers with word-processing software were not available.

More than half a dozen document experts contacted by ABC News said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity.

"These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973," said Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication. "The cumulative evidence that's available … indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter:"

Among the points Flynn and other experts noted:

   The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.
   The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.
   The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
   The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.
   The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; 60minutes; bush; bushmemos; camejo; cbias; cbs; cheney; danblather; danny; documentforgerygate; dubya; edwards; election; forgeries; forgery; gwb; kerry; killian; nader; napalminthemorning; seebsnews; tang
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Oh, what tangled webs they weave.....
1 posted on 09/09/2004 7:45:35 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana
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To: hispanarepublicana
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.

I've been away from FR for a while, but that's a new one for me today.....

2 posted on 09/09/2004 7:46:45 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana ("Kerry-Edwards" or "Bury Vets' Words"? or "Verry Leftwards"?)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Washington Post has picked up the story. More details


3 posted on 09/09/2004 7:46:46 PM PDT by jhouston
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To: jhouston

If the Washington Post has picked it up, go find a fat lady so she can sing.....


4 posted on 09/09/2004 7:47:43 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana ("Kerry-Edwards" or "Bury Vets' Words"? or "Verry Leftwards"?)
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To: hispanarepublicana
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.

That's new to me. Another nail in the coffin.

5 posted on 09/09/2004 7:47:49 PM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Awright Pan Blather, where's that very personal apology? And "60 Minutes" producer, director, network, We the People demand an apology.


6 posted on 09/09/2004 7:47:51 PM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: hispanarepublicana

From the article:


"These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973," said Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication. "The cumulative evidence that's available … indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter:"

Among the points Flynn and other experts noted:

The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.
The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.
The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.



7 posted on 09/09/2004 7:48:05 PM PDT by Redcoat LI ("I am the great and powerful Kerry! Look at my medals!")
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To: hispanarepublicana

Bumpity bump!


8 posted on 09/09/2004 7:48:06 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: hispanarepublicana

Great to see on MSM outlet act in their own self interest and point out CBS for the frauds they are in this instance.


9 posted on 09/09/2004 7:48:36 PM PDT by JLS
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To: hispanarepublicana

And they wonder why we don't trust them!! This is too funny.


10 posted on 09/09/2004 7:48:51 PM PDT by linear
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To: Jim Robinson

Wow.....I'm honored and humbled......
Congratulations, by the way!


11 posted on 09/09/2004 7:49:15 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana ("Kerry-Edwards" or "Bury Vets' Words"? or "Verry Leftwards"?)
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To: Jim Robinson

Dan Rather at a press conference in 1972 said to President Nixon, "The American people have a right to know if their President is a crook, well Sir."

Today we say, Dan Rather, the American people have a right to know if you are a crook, WELL SIR?


12 posted on 09/09/2004 7:49:59 PM PDT by Don Munn
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To: Jim Robinson

We're rolling downhill now.


13 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:08 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (.)
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Notice how the photo caption above even says "President Bush was..." and not the usual "Bush was......"


14 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:32 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana ("Kerry-Edwards" or "Bury Vets' Words"? or "Verry Leftwards"?)
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To: hispanarepublicana

CBS lied, typewriters died.


15 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:34 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
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To: hispanarepublicana

The great thing about these Bush National Guard Service stories is that they always put a picture up like the one above. What readers will remember is not the story itself, but the photo will be seared in their memory forever.

16 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:36 PM PDT by Azzurri
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To: hispanarepublicana
Experts(aka Freepers) question veracity...

Wonder if they would have questioned if several smart Freepers hadn't started the questioning???

17 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:37 PM PDT by GummyIII (Good judgement comes from experience and experience--well, that comes from bad judgement.)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Don't forget the wordwrap smoking gun:

...others have noted that the wordwrap of a manual typewriter is different than a word processor.

But to analyze this facet more specifically, MSWORD wraps the current word when the end of a word passes the right margin, whereas a person typing manually finishes the word he is typing when the right-margin bell rings, and then does a carriage return. The net effect of the manual typewritten style is that, if one draws a vertical line at the bell-margin, that line should go through (intersect) the last word of every line of text.

Clearly, from the 1 AUG 1972 memo, NO SUCH VERTICAL LINE CAN BE CONSTRUCTED THAT INTERSECTS THE LAST WORD OF EVERY WRAPPED LINE OF TEXT!

For example, in paragraph 3, on a typewriter, we have to assume the right-margin bell rang while typing the word "and" on the 1st line. Yet, if that was the case, then on paragraph 2, the margin bell would have rang while typing the word "orders", and the subsequent word "for" should have appeared on the next, not the same, line.


18 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:41 PM PDT by XEHRpa
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To: jhouston

CBS goes down in flames and takes the Kerry camp pain with them. This is poetic justice of the highest order.


19 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:46 PM PDT by ShandaLear (Rather lied, CBS News died.)
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To: hispanarepublicana

I love it. Please affirm that this is a real post from ABC News: I'll sleep so soundly tonight after a celebratory Jim Beam...egad: Rather caught in an unprofessional lie. 60 Minutes discredited. MSM discredited, except for ABC News trying to save itself. Terry McAwful caught in supporting a lie. Implications for JF'nK. The consequences are astonishing...


20 posted on 09/09/2004 7:50:49 PM PDT by TheGeezer
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