Posted on 09/12/2004 1:26:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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, was the latest person to challenge the authenticity of the documents, which CBS reported it had obtained from the personal files of Bush's former squadron commander at the Texas Air National Guard, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who is dead.
The memos indicated that Bush had failed to take a physical "as ordered" and that Killian was being pressured to "sugarcoat" Bush's performance rating because Bush, whose father was then a Texas congressman, was "talking to somebody upstairs."
But they have been the subject of a raging debate, with some forensic document specialists saying they appear to be the work of a modern word processor and others saying they could indeed have been produced by certain types of Vietnam-era typewriters. Some of Killian's family members have stepped forward to question their legitimacy.
CBS News backs its report
CBS News has stood by its reporting, saying it obtained the documents through a reliable source and that a host of experts and former Guard officials, including Hodges, helped convince them of the documents' authenticity. It broadcast an interview Friday night with one of those experts, a handwriting specialist named Marcel Matley, who said the signatures on the documents were consistent with those of Killian on records that the White House had given reporters.
Hodges, 74, who was group commander of Bush's Air National Guard Squadron in the 147th Fighter Group at Ellington Field in Houston in the early 1970s, said that when someone from CBS called him Monday night and read him documents, "I thought they were handwritten notes."
Papers not authenticated
The Arlington resident said he had not authenticated the documents for CBS News but that he had confirmed that they reflected issues that he and Killian had discussed — namely Bush's failure to appear for a physical that, military records released previously by the White House show, led to a suspension from flying.
A CBS News spokeswoman, Sandy Genelius, indicated that Hodges had changed his account from Monday night.
"We believed General Hodges the first time we spoke to him," Genelius said.
"We believe the documents to be genuine, we stand by our story, and we will continue to report."
A spokeswoman for the CBS anchor Dan Rather, Kim Akhtar, said CBS had asked Hodges to appear on camera and he had declined. As a result, Akhtar said, CBS simply read him the documents, and he responded by saying "he was familiar with the contents of the documents and that it sounded just like Killian." He made it clear, she added, that he was a supporter of Bush.
'Inconsistencies' noticed
Hodges said he had not spoken with anyone from the Bush administration or campaign about his views and that he was basing his belief that the records were fakes on "inconsistencies" that he noticed in them and, in part, on disavowals by Killian's wife and son.
Dan Rather, last man standing.
Exactly.
What IS the chain of custody, Dan?
He's trying to make it about everything except WHO gave him the documents.
And look at this: magically now there are SIX documents:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-09bushdocs.pdf
I sometimes wonder if the DUmmies were right and this was a plant just to embarass Rather. Like some FReeper wanted to see how far this would go. It's either the case that Rather was duped by a clever hoaxer who wanted to show up Rather or an idiotic hoaxer who wanted to show up Bush.
yeah, and this part is what realllly makes me wanna know how he got the story. Maybe, from his unimpeachable daughter?
It's tough business keeping Democrat dirt buried at the same time you're pulling dirty tricks on their opponents. The man is just plain worn out.
I was following that thread last night just b4 I went to bed. I immediately wondered if it might be a troll...something didn't seem right. The person who posted the thread had just signed up yesterday. He didn't provide a link at first, then he did. I downloaded the files, but still was suspicious. So I went directly to USA Today and tried to download them from there...couldn't do it. I tried for an hour and could not get them to download from USAT.
This morning I was able to get the pdf files at USA Today with SIX memos featured. BUT...the USAT original article includes links for the "text" of the memos in addition to the pdfs. I clicked on the "text" and found transcriptions for only the original FOUR memos. So, we're to believe that USAT has 6 memos, but only referenced the text for 4?
I believe the two new memos may be hoaxes. Could be that a troll is trying to get us off on a wild goose chase to discredit the legitimate investigations we've already done. Did they hack into USAT? Is that why I couldn't download the pdf files for over an hour last night?
(Notably, neither of the two "new" memos has a signature...and there are other anomalies.) Here's a link to the original thread:here.
I'm convinced the whole purpose of this hoax is to distract the electorate off of Kerry's Viet Nam misdeeds. The desperate and angry Dem's will stoop to anything at this point. Dan Rather as one last contribution to the cause, will retire after this intentional hoax is revealed. The Dems know as long as the story stays on the frontpage, a few precious votes will be swayed over to Kerry's side.
We need to get back to Kerry's fraudulent early buggout, Silver Star Citation Forgeries, aiding the enemy and planning the assasination of US Senators.
re: "The memos indicated that Bush had failed to take a physical as ordered'"
Why would someone need to 'order' a pilot to take a physical? The regs are pretty clear, no medical, no flying. Isn't that a bit like 'ordering' someone to who drives a truck for you to get a driver's license? One reason that comes to mind is that someone wanted to make the case that George Bush refused a direct order. Looks worse on a fake memo than 'Lt. Bush was removed from flying status pending his annual physical.' Just a random thought.
re: "The memos indicated that Bush had failed to take a physical as ordered'"
Why would someone need to 'order' a pilot to take a physical? The regs are pretty clear, no medical, no flying. Isn't that a bit like 'ordering' someone to who drives a truck for you to get a driver's license? One reason that comes to mind is that someone wanted to make the case that George Bush refused a direct order. Looks worse on a fake memo than 'Lt. Bush was removed from flying status pending his annual physical.' Just a random thought.
There are about 25 things wrong with the memo, but this isn't one of them-- the PO Box is 100% legit. Numerous threads on this point from a couple of days ago. (On the other hand, it was still almost unheard of to USE a PO Box in a military document rather than the physical address.)
Don't you know who he is? He's Dan Rather. He don't need no steeenking checks and balances.
They have an agenda and the truth is in the way.
It's all Bush's fault for eating all the damn strawberrys.
I think the fag needs to go home to his boy toy Fidel.
But the whole purpose of the Viet Nam discussion is for the Kerry campaign to avoid talking about his miserable Senate record.
Look, people like us on FR are quite interested in this story not because it will have any major effect on the election but because it confirms the suspected relationship between the press and the socialists. We would all love to see the MSM get it handed to them and for this particular "journalist" to get bounced. However, the general voting public is not paying that much attention to this story.
The Kerry Vietnam campaign centerpiece is also a distraction. He chose to run on his military record knowing that there could be problems. Why would he do this? The only plausible explanation in my opinion is that he did not want to have to defend his Senate record. As long as he talks about events from 40 years ago which can be difficult to accurately recreate, he doesn't have to talk about his political career. His record is so bad that he'd rather defend himself against all this other BS.
Either way, however, his chances for election have always been marginal.
He wouldn't have. Bush was within his allowed time for a physical - he had until his birthday to comply - plus I don't believe he was where he would have been flying - they didn't have his plane.
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