Concurrently, most of you know that the Free Republic CBS Memo Forgery Project has just completed a major effort running some 20 pages. This includes:
* Conclusions and Recommendations (shown below in blue and red)
* Main CBS Memo Forgery Report (pages 1 to 10)
* Executive Summary (pages 18 to 20)
* Technical Appendix MSWord Overlay on a forged CBS Memo (pages 14 to 16)
We are now thinking that the time is close to sending it to Thornburgh and/or Broccardi. Alternately (or concurrently), we may also want to send it to the CBS News Division with request that they forward it to the newly established Commission in the interest of a full and fair review of this matter. We could also ask them for a response.
We would tell CBS, and Thornburgh and Boccardi in the cover letter that the Project Report is (1) a definitive, scholarly work primarily intended to establish that the documents in question are forgeries, and (2) recommends certain actions that the Project authors believe must be taken to restore CREDIBILITY to CBS and its news division. And, that we believe that the Commission is a first and right step in this process.
Before I raise some questions that we now need relatively prompt Freeper attentions and effort, the key section is the Conclusion and Recommendation shown below:
IT IS THE CONCLUSION OF THE PROJECT THAT:
CBS DID NOT EXERCISE REASONABLE PRUDENCE IN PUBLICATION OF THE FORGED MEMOS ON 60MINUTES
In addition to the many items detailed in the Project Report, the following were immediate red flags:
1. The superscript "th" in the 04 May and in the 18 August Memos would have been a clear forgery indicator to anyone familiar with a manual typewriter, the only equipment available in 1972.
2. The layout of the documents including proportional spacing should have caused any staff member to try to replicate the memos in Microsoft Word default settings. A simple overlay held up to the window would have revealed the forgery.
3. The use of the "0" in the 04 May and in the 01 August Memo dates and the lack of a distribution list for the these purported orders would have led anyone with past military experience, even at the private level, to know that the documents were not valid.
4. The use of a validator with no admitted typographic expertise. Moreover, that validator was instructed to validate only one Memo signature from a photocopy, despite that validator's own previously published statements that a photocopy could not be used to determine signature veracity.
IT IS THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE PROJECT THAT CBS AND 60MINUTES:
a. Issue a clear and unambiguous public apology to the American Public and to President Bush:
- on CBS News and on 60Minutes
- on the CBS web site
b. Terminate or accept the resignation(s) of those CBS person(s) asserting the authenticity of Documents on CBS News and on 60 Minutes.
c. Post on the CBS web site the source(s) of the forged memos and a chronology of the events relating to this matter specifically including contacts in electronic, telephonic, or written form with any 527, DNC, or Kerry Campaign employees, representatives, or agents. Also, immediately take steps to preserve all such notes and records.
d. Produce within 14 days a follow-up CBS 60Minutes presentation detailing the facts and circumstances relating to the acquisition and use on 60Minutes, CBS News, and the CBS web site of the forged documents.
e. As the forging and use of forged military documents, especially during a national election, is a serious and possibly criminal issue: formally notify the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Election Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission of the details concerning the acquisition and use of the Documents and fully cooperate with any subsequent investigation(s) and, if appropriate, any prosecution(s).
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All of the report is downloadable as a MSWord document here or as a pdf .
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Now for the immediate issues and action items:
1. WE NEED A ROUTE TO DICK THORNBURGH AND/OR FORMER AP EXECUTIVE LOU BOCCARDI AND/OR THROUGH THE CBS NEWS DIVISION: We do not want to send 20 or 30 copies of this report "to whom it may concern". Also, while the Investigative Group may have an address someday, they will likely be deluged with hundreds of pounds, it not tons, of mail. Likely anything we send by that route will not get much, if any, attention. We need a better route that is based on some kind of professional or personal relationship. This might be with Thornburgh or Boccardi. Alternately, it might be through one of the influential local station CBS presidents.
If you have a route or a suggested route, please Freepmail to Pharlap . You need not give your real name or E-Mail. Simply describe the suggested route and the relationship which will make it work. Pharlap will then get back to you if it appears a prime choice. At that point you will need to get in touch by separate E-Mail and/or telephone. You should probably not rule out having to make some personal contact to the "route" to assure the delivery works.
2. WE NEED TO GET THE REPORT SIGNED BY PARTICIPATING FREE REPUBLIC MEMBERS: If we send it over signed the "FR CBS Memo Forgery Project", it is not going to be very effective if no one stands behind the work. Obviously, screen names including "ihatedan" and the like are not going to work. Nor do we have the option of cutting an pasting dozens of signature jpg's or circulating a signature page from person to person.
After some thought, one option is to have a known and trusted FR member collect Freepmailed signature names and paste them into a MSWord table, so that we can alphabetize them and use Kauffman type signatures to paste into the FR CBS Memo Forgery Document's signature page. The results would then be something like:
To do this we needed a Freeper Volunteer to read the Freepmails and put the "signatures" into a MSWord table. As a "signer" you would need to supply: Mr. or Ms., First Name, Last Name, a few word description as shown. Your Freepmail would be deleted so that you would continue to be anonymous to this group. Thus, we need a Freeper Volunteer who has been around here long enough to be trusted. The volunteer would need to make up the name list so that it can be appended to the document. We will, however, not do this and send it to CBS unless we are assured of at least 30 signers. I will, so that means at least 29 others. Hopefully, well would have at least a hundred. Although, we do not intend to publish the signed document, you should assume that if it goes to CBS that the signature page may well appear somewhere.
3. WE NEED AN ADDRESS. Jim, may I assume that we can use Free Republic's mailing address as the address in the cover letter to CBS????????
Needless to say, we would appreciate inputs and volunteers regarding the above.