Max Cleland's schedule on
August 25 in Texas needs to be fully examined. Cleland tried to deliver a letter to President Bush around 1pm in Crawford, followed immediately by a short press conference. When did he leave Texas, where did he leave from, and what did he do in the time in between?
Only days prior to Cleland's impromptu visit to Texas, he began
discussions with Bill Burkett, who is now known to be CBS's source for the forged documents.
Later the same day of Cleland's Texas trip, Burkett announced in a rant to President Bush on the progressive
onlinejournal that, "I know from your files that we have now reassembled, the fact that you did not fulfill your oath, taken when you were commissioned to 'obey the orders of the officers appointed over you'."
What time was this rant posted?
Did Cleland help him write it?
Who is the "we" Burkett is referring to concerned the documents being "reassembled"?
Crawford, Texas, where Cleland was at 1pm on August 25, is only
162 miles from Baird, Bill Burkett's home.
Did Cleland make a visit there that day?
Did someone in the Kerry campaign act as a middleman in passing along the information to CBS that Burkett had these documents?
CBS must answer the question of how they learned that Burkett now had these memos. Did the discovery of these new documents play a part in Ben Barnes decision that he was now ready to talk to 60 Minutes on air, after Mary Mapes had long been urging him to do so? Is there a connection between this sudden change of heart by Barnes just
two days before CBS hit "paydirt" with these forged documents.
Heck of a job re-tracing the footprints of the players, pardner...
Btw, do you recall if it was Rather who'd in fact said CBS had been working on this particular story for "years"?