ABC News: Son of Late Officer Questions Bush Memos

ABC News ^ | 9-9-2004 | AP

[Thanatos]

DALLAS Sept. 9, 2004 — The authenticity of newly unearthed memos stating that George W. Bush failed to meet standards of the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War was questioned Thursday by the son of the late officer who reportedly wrote the memos. "I am upset because I think it is a mixture of truth and fiction here," said Gary Killian, son of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who died in 1984.

Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father and retired as a captain in 1991, said one of the memos, signed by his father, appeared legitimate. But he doubted his father would have written another, unsigned memo which said there was pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's performance review.

"It just wouldn't happen," he said. "The only thing that can happen when you keep secret files like that are bad things. ... No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that."

News reports have said the memos, first obtained by CBS's "60 Minutes II," were found in Jerry Killian's personal records. Gary Killian said his father wasn't in the habit of bringing his work home with him, and that the documents didn't come from the family.

CBS stood by its reporting. "As a standard practice at CBS, each of the documents broadcast on "60 Minutes" was thoroughly investigated by independent experts and we are convinced of their authenticity," CBS News said in a statement.

The White House distributed the four memos from 1972 and 1973 after obtaining them from CBS News. The White House did not question their accuracy.

[arbee4bush]

*snicker*

The house of cards are falling down...and blowing in the wind..........

[ScottFromSpokane]

Another problem with internal evidence:

http://www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerry200409091911.asp

[kcinnh]

Man these guys will stop at nothing. Do you think Kerry has promised "Dan Ratter" a post in his administration? These new democrats are bad news.

[thucydides]

It is not enough for CBS to state that they stand by their story and fail to respond to the specific concerns raised. So long as they fail to indicate their source of the documents, and explain the technical discrepancies, one has to provisionally assume the worst.

[Diogenesis]

Developing Brief Partial Summary of the Forgery Elements of the CBS/Rather Faked letter
Insightful Comments Made by FReepers
=================================================

1-- proportional spacing not generally available
2 -- superscripts not generally available
3 - "th" single element not generally available
4 - Smart quotes. Curved apostrophes and quotation marks were not available
5-The blurriness of the copy indicates it was recopied dozens of times, tactic of forgers
6--Signature block. Typical authentic military signature block has name, then rank, then on the next line the person's position. This just has rank beneath the name.
7--Margins. These look like a computer's unjustified default, not the way a person typing would have done it.
8 -- Date usually with three letters, or in form as 110471.
9 - words run over consistent with word processor
10 - may be a Times Roman or similar font not generally available then (per Haas Atlas)
11 - signature looks faked
12 - no errors and whiteout
13 - no letterhead
14 - exact match for Microsoft Word Processor
15 - Paper size problem, Air Force and Guard did not use 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper until the 1980s.
16 - Overlap analysis is an exact match
17 - absence of hyphens to split words between lines, c/w 1970's typewriter.
18 - 5000 Longmont #8 in Houston Tx. does not exist
19 - Box 34567 is suspicious, at best
20 - it would have been nearly impossible to center a letterhead with proportional spacing without a computer.
21 - Bush's grade would "normally" be abbreviated "1Lt" not "1st Lt"
22 - Subject matter bizarre
23 - Air Force did not use street addresses for their offices, rather HQ AFLC/CC, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433.

[mlbford2]

ABC is trying to distance themselves for what they now realize is inevitable. ABC is now excited because CBS market share is now up for grabs. Jennings is piss'n himself he's so excited.

[aft_lizard]

that article deserves its own thread.

[highlander_UW]

Well, isn't that interesting, curiouser and curiouser methinks.

[dagar]

Is this the "eating their own" part we all hoped would happen?

[Thanatos]

you should post that as a seperate article.. it's a good'un

[Thanatos]

too bad this is not happening in mid to late october

[aft_lizard]

Need to add another part of it from powerlineblog via Kerryspot.com

Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ]
[ kerry spot home | archives | email ]

ONE MORE ARGUMENT

As much as the Kerry Spot has tried to keep up with this, PowerLine has been on top of this story all day long. That site just presented what ought to be the straw that breaks the camel's back:

In the August 18, 1973 memo "discovered" by 60 Minutes, Jerry Killian purportedly writes:
Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush. I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job.
But wait! Reader Amar Sarwal points out that General Staudt, who thought very highly of Lt. Bush, retired in 1972.


Okay, CBS. The ball's in your court. Explain all this. Make all of this make sense. Don't completely ignore all of this, like you just did on the CBS Evening News.

If CBS ignores this, and gives no counterargument, no defense, then the general public will have no choice but to conclude that the network ran with a hoax - and now refuses to retra

[chesty_puller]

The White House distributed the four memos from 1972 and 1973 after obtaining them from CBS News. The White House did not question their accuracy.

Yes they did, inside. This is Rove at his best. Release 'em, they're fake and it will be found out. Man that guy has this game down to an art!

[conshack]

Sorry folks but the verbage in the unsigned memo was not written by a senior military officer.
1. Lingo not used by military
2. Not signed or initialed
3. Not in any format that any military person would use

It's a phoney and will be discovered as such.

[talleyman]

Verrrry Interesting!

[RobbyS]

Do you think Kerry has promised "Dan Ratter" a post in his administration? He's a true believer. I imagine that it has been rough on him to see how the Democratic Party in Texas has fallen apart.

[umgud]

News reports have said the memos, first obtained by CBS's "60 Minutes II," were found in Jerry Killian's personal records. Gary Killian said his father wasn't in the habit of bringing his work home with him, and that the documents didn't come from the family.

So where did they come from? I think CBS owes an answer here.