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.
I'm surprised that the Houston Chronicle did this.
You just have got to love the smell of despiratio in the air. I wonder when CBS is going to give over, and give over Dan Rather!
Have you read The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, or are you quoting Humphrey Bogart who played Captain Queeg in the movie.
Last night I was listening to Andrew Wilkow on WABC radio. He was talking about how they could have been a little more original with the numbers on the P.O. Box (3-4-5-6-7). Has anyone checked, or do you know if there is there a way to check if this P.O. Box existed back then.
Hahahahaha. Well, the DNC and Kerry campaign reportedly had the documents for weeks.
Anatomy of a Forgery
By The Prowler, The American Spectator
September 10, 2004More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian.
The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign.
"More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer. "I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity."
Also Ronin owes FreeRepublic $100 because he bet me and another FReeper $50 each that Dan would resign by now.
This story also appeared in today's Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel. Front page, above the fold.
The chain looks to be: Author -> DNC:Kerry Campaign -> CBS -> WH -> WH copies CBS memos and distributes to all press
The two "extra" memos have been there as part of the KIllian forged memos, from the start. The reason the public thinks they are "new" is that CBS never referred to them.
Smells like victor ...........
y
Too early WOTD girl!!
LOL!!!!
Would not all the personal effects of a deceased person have been given to the family?
ROFLOL
It is too early. Darn it, I really need to double check what I am typing, but I haven't even had COFFEE yet.
It was a tit for tat, but not merely meant as a distraction. It was and is meant to draw blood. Even a hoax can draw blood, as you noted.
That the DNC was ready with comments the instant the story broke, "Bush has to answer the charges," is evidence of coordination between the DNC and the media. I wonder about the timestamp on DNC Talking Points memos covering the airing of the CBS report.
If the rest of the media does not pressure CBS to provide adequate professional opinion on the credibility of the memo's... they will be off the hook.
Rather will try to stonewall any further discussion on the topic and the public will forget about it.
The MSM is avoiding this case just like the Swift Vets for Truth and the Sandy Berger theft.
I damn them for the socialist swine they are!
Daughter of well-known "news personality" turns to left-wing ideology to avenge her father's absence in her life.
Father of alienated daughter turns to left-wing ideology to win her back.
Honesty and integrity in MSM take major hits.....again!
Heck, the military issues written orders for haircuts, making the bed and shining shoes, too. Sheesh, get with it ;-).
The forgery is meant to "fill a gap," wherein the DNC has been asserting that Bush disobeyed an order to get a physical. So, the forgery fills a gap in the "Bush went AWOL" meme.
Similarly, the "favors" memos to file are meant to provide evidence for another DNC lie, that BUsh was "favored" by higher ups due to pressure from powerful friends.
Neither. Apparently CBS faxed copies of 6 memos to the White House, and then WH put them on a pdf file, all of them together, and sent the pdf file to all the news media.
And then stiffled a huge laugh and waited.
Is that right? USA Today has had six memos in pdf all along? I'm really curious why their "text" reference in the original article only includes the text of the 4 memos. Why did they leave out the text of the other 2? Wierd.
Has anyone been able to explain why the USAT docs do not include the redactions and underlines we see on the CBS docs?
Interesting the Texas papers (even RAT-promoting ones are not about to drink this kool-aid. Guess they know they still need to some sell some papers after Nov. in thoses very cities near where the "memos" were supposidly drafted and where Killian's family and the Texas Air Natl. guard officers still reside.
Leaves it to the NY Times and Boston Globe to peddle the lies on this farce.
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