Posted on 09/14/2004 1:30:38 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - The suspected source behind the CBS News "60 Minutes 2" segment on President Bush's National Guard service has spent the past six years lobbing accusations at Bush and his aides for allegedly tampering with military records.
Retired Texas National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett has been identified by Newsweek magazine as a "principle source" for the Sept. 8 segment that purportedly showed National Guard records casting a negative light on Bush's performance with the Guard in the early 1970s.
Since the CBS report anchored by Dan Rather aired, many typographical experts have pointed to problems with the documents and the network itself has come under attack for possibly using forgeries as the foundation of its report.
Burkett has a long history with Bush, dating back to Bush's 1998 gubernatorial re-election campaign in Texas. After retiring from the Guard in January 1998 for medical reasons, Burkett accused the governor's aides of improperly inspecting Bush's records for anything embarrassing.
Similar charges surfaced in the days before the 2000 presidential election. At the time, Burkett said Bush's aides had searched military documents to resolve any conflicts between Bush's service and the account of his National Guard service in his biography.
The allegations became the subject of Burkett's 1,800 word article in March 2003, publishedby Veterans for Peace. It accused Bush of sending Burkett on a military assignment to Panama in retaliation for Burkett's refusal to alter Bush's official military personnel records. Burkett, who became ill after the trip, later said he had "overstated" his accusation.
Then, this February, after Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe broached the issue of Bush's record, Burkett reappeared with charges that he had overheard Bush's former gubernatorial chief of staff Joe Allbaugh in 1997 request that the Texas National Guard scrub Bush's files.
Newsweek's report this week noted that CBS News sent producer Mary Mapes to Texas to interview Burkett, who lives in Baird, about 25 miles from Abilene. CBS News has refused to reveal the source of the four pages of documents. Burkett didn't return a call or e-mail message from CNSNews.com on Monday.
The "60 Minutes 2" documents paint a picture of Bush as someone who was afforded special treatment during his National Guard service. One document also claims Bush refused an order by failing to report for a medical examination.
Shortly after the "60 Minutes" show ended Wednesday night, questions about the documents' modern typographical features and strange military lingo began circulating on the Internet. CNSNews.com was the first news organization to report the documents might be forgeries.
On Friday's "CBS Evening News," anchor Dan Rather downplayed questions about the documents. He maintained they were authentic, yet wouldn't reveal the source of the records.
Although Newsweek didn't confirm that Burkett supplied the documents to CBS News, the magazine speculated that Burkett "may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, 'didn't make it to the shredder.'"
If Burkett is in fact the source of the Newsweek article, it would mark his latest volley in a six-year effort to raise questions about Bush's Guard records. Burkett has actively opposed Bush since January 1998, when the former returned from a military assignment in Panama, according to his March 2003 article. While in Panama he said he contracted a deadly case of meningoencephalitis.
"I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records [of George W. Bush]," Burkett wrote.
"George W. Bush and his lieutenants were mad," he continued. "They ordered that I not be accessed to emergency medical care services, healthcare benefits I earned by my official duty; and I was withheld from medical care for 154 days before I was withdrawn from Texas responsibility by the Department of the Army, by order of the White House."
In the article, Burkett describes himself as a "pawn" in the middle of a political struggle. He refers to Bush as a man who "would do anything to be 'king' of America."
After seeking the help of state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos and state Rep. Bob Hunter, Burkett received his medical benefits in July 1998.
It was in his 1998 letter to Barrientos that Burkett raised the issue of Bush's records and also complained of ''severe retaliation'' from Gen. Daniel James III, then-head of the Texas National Guard, according to a New York Times article from February of this year. James now directs the Air National Guard.
Barrientos' spokesman, Ray Perez, told CNSNews.com the state senator was unable to locate Burkett's 1998 letter after receiving a request from the New York Times in February.
Hunter, meanwhile, recalled Burkett as "disgruntled" about the National Guard. He said he was pleased to help him get his medical benefits, but he put no stock in his charges against Bush primarily because they weren't raised until after the re-election campaign was underway.
"If he had felt so strongly about that, if he was so upset about the people who worked there, we all thought he would have certainly brought that matter up," Hunter told CNSNews.com. "That's why we could hardly believe it coming up after [Bush's] campaign started."
Regardless of his motives, Burkett has found sympathizers among liberals and Bush critics. Salon.com has mentioned him four times since February, including a lengthy question-and-answer interview. Burkett was also featured in James Moore's "Bush's War for Re-election."
While none of Burkett's allegations has ever been proven -- Allbaugh, James and other Bush aides have denied the charges -- he also suffered a setback earlier this year when a former ally in the Guard, George Conn, distanced himself from the accusations.
See Earlier Story:
More Problems Surface With '60 Minutes' Documents (Sept. 10, 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Robert B. Bluey.
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This guy sounds loony.
Sounds like he has been trying to reel in funds for his hit pieces. Revenge for his paranoia?
Well, lets help expose this Burkett guy for the fraud he is, freeper style!
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There's a sad case. That old adage...'If at first we practive to deceive...' I forget the rest, but I'm sure it's relevant. More coffee needed!
He had Kerry's example early this spring, practising JFKennedy's signature, trying to make his look like it.
Burkett's article is...um...interesting.
For one, his 'as I said' pronouncements are made ex post facto. If you aren't paying attention to the dates, it could be misconstrued.
For another, his phraseology seems really weird to me, and I can't really tell why: "They ordered that I not be accessed to emergency medical care services." "I was withheld from medical care". "The emotion and anger that we will have built will spill over into other countries and meld like an alloy with other problem areas of the Middle East, becoming a deeper seated problem".
Also, the bio at the bottom states as fact what he claims to have undergone (and later said he 'overstated').
NYT had these allegations in Feb 2004. here
You know, it occurs to me, if this _is_ Rather's unimpeachable source, then it's over for him. I think the words 'emminently peachable' are a more apt description.
DAn Rather needs to resign or be fired. Either way is okay, for trying to change the outcome of election by fraud.
Did you read the Prowler piece that said at least two people at CBS said they came from the DNC? I'm thinking Burkett may be the fall guy, but not the true culprit. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid here.
If you have a chance read what Burkett wrote. This plus the above paints a picture of a troubled and troubling person. Whether he is overtly paranoid or just angry with President Bush is the only real question. No one can say on the basis of published works but he surely has not covered himself with a mantle of forbearance and restrained judgment.
It's sounds to me like a through investigation of Ms Mapes backround, motives(and politics) would shed a lot of light on this fiasco.
All of CBS NEWS needs to be held responsible. There is no excuse for standing behind this obvious forgery and stonewalling!
"I think the CBS's source is a bigger fish than Burkett."
I agree. I think the source is Barnes, who provided the documents given to him by the DNC or Kerry Campaign.
Rather said the source was "unimpeachable", then a "solid source." I don't think even Rather could call Barnes or Burkett "unimpeachable." But then, I cannot think of a human on this Earth who is "unimpeachable," especially when they come forward with copies like these. And when there are multiple stories that these things passed through the Kerry campaign
Communists and their sympathizers always hate good moral and just people. This fool needs to be committed to a psych-ward for re-programming. Bush/Cheney 2004
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