SwiftVets.com

[ASPB]

[integritycounts]

CBS News denies
Bush docs forged
Experts suspect damning '70s memos created with modern word processor

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Posted: September 9, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern

By Art Moore

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40376
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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Amid questions raised on Internet weblogs about the authenticity of National Guard documents potentially damaging to President Bush, CBS News told WorldNetDaily it stands by its claims.

Spokeswoman Kelli Edwards said she was aware of the charge that the documents, purportedly produced in 1972 and 1973, appear to have been forged with a modern word processor.

"As is standard practice at CBS News, each of the documents broadcast on '60 Minutes' was thoroughly investigated by independent experts, and we are convinced of their authenticity," said Edwards.

Edwards refused to comment further, referring back to her statement as the final word.

Later, however, she sent an e-mail to WND, adding, "CBS verified the authenticity of the documents by talking to individuals who had seen the documents at the time they were written. These individuals were close associates of [Bush commander] Colonel Jerry Killian and confirm that the documents reflect his opinions at the time the documents were written."

A White House spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

CBS News has a copy of a memo here in pdf format.

Among the assertions "60 Minutes II" derived from the documents were that Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, Col. Killian, was pressed to embellish a performance evaluation and that Bush did not follow an order to report for a physical.


The White House distributed copies of the memos, apparently dampening speculation they are fraudulent. But the copies are from faxes sent by CBS News yesterday.

The Drudge Report gave the forgery allegation wide play with a link to a story by CNSNews.com.

National Review's "Kerry Spot" weblog cited Bruce Webster, an expert witness in U.S. District Court cases on computer document forensics, who wrote the memo posted online by CBS News "has all sorts of problems ... . The typefaces weren't available on typewriters in 1973."

A reader of the weblog Powerline said the document appears to use superscript 'th,' but there "are no keys on any typewriter in common use in 1973 which could produce a tiny "th." The forger got careless after creating the August 1, 1972 document and slipped up big-time."

A number of Web contributors said they could create an exact representation of the document using Microsoft Word.

The author of the weblog Little Green Footballs wrote: "I opened Microsoft Word, set the font to Microsoft's Times New Roman, tabbed over to the default tab stop to enter the date '18 August 1973,' then typed the rest of the document purportedly from the personal records of the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian. And my Microsoft Word version, typed in 2004, is an exact match for the documents trumpeted by CBS News as 'authentic.'"

'Previously unseen'

"60 Minutes II" reported last night it had "previously unseen documents" from Killian's personal office file.

In a memo dated May 1972, Killian writes that Lt. Bush called him to talk about "how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November."

The docment says Lt. Bush told his commander "he is working on a campaign in Alabama ... and may not have time to take his physical." Killian adds that he thinks Bush has gone over his head, and is "talking to someone upstairs."

One of the Killian memos is an official order to Bush to report for a physical, which never was carried out.

CBS says, in an Aug. 1, 1972 memo, Killian wrote, "On this date I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical examination ... as ordered."

A memo from Aug. 18, 1973, according to CBS, has Killian saying Col. Buck Staudt, head of the Texas Air National Guard, is putting on pressure to "sugar coat" the evaluation of Lt. Bush.

The memo continues, with Killian saying, "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job."

CBS News said Staudt, a Bush family supporter, would not agree to an interview request. Killian died in 1984.

Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett responded to CBS's request for comment about Killian's statements in the memos.

"For anybody to try to interpret or presume they know what somebody who is now dead was thinking in any of these memos, I think is very difficult to do," he said.

Bartlett added that Bush's superiors granted permission to train in Alabama in a non-flying status and that "many of the documents you have here affirm just that."

[Nomorelies]

Good question. However, I don't expect MSM to pick up this story. I think that if Ben Ginsberg follows it he may be in a better position to make hay out of it. The RNC will know how to treat it (if at all) however I think that there is going to be big-time-egg on somebody's face and if it suits the RNC's purpose they will use it. This is a gift and this group gave it to them. They will get their ducks in a row and come out firing with both barrels.

Drudge has it. We must, however, get it moved off the radio and internet and into the newspapers if possible. You can get that the Boston Globe will not back track and admit it made a mistake. The Washington Post may cover it and it may get into the Wall Street Journal. I want to see whagt Major Garrett does with it.
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[coolhand]

I did read the entire thread. As any attorney knows, you can find a legitimate expert to testify to anything. Do you think the sumbags who would go to these lengths wont try to dig up experts of their own. The reality is that big media are an agent for Kerry and they will defend this tooth and nail until its blatantly obvious to all that this was a fraud. Saturday is 9/11 anniversary. I would be happy if 9/11 and Ivan blew the guard thing of the cycle.

[ASPB]

[vickie]

If you look at the "(F", the "ty" and the "LT" the letters interlock. In typing tems this is called kerning. Kerning is more sophisticated than proportional. In kerning, the letters are adjusted to the neighboring letters, for instance the tail of the "y" in duty goes under the preceding "t".
I am looking at the May 4 memo. In 1973 there only major US news papers were using kerning. It is in modern MS Word.
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Vote early. Vote often. The Democrate way...

[kmmpatriot]

[SeaBee_sis]

[You GottaBeKidding]

vickie,

Kerning is not the default in Word. I typed my document without kerning and it matches. Furthermore, whoever typed these probably isn't sophisticated enough to know how to turn kerning on.

[Nomorelies]

Sean Hannity on the radio show had a caller and talked about the details of the forgeries and read the headline off of Drudge. We are inching closer.
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[dmackto]

[Nomorelies]

We have to get common language into our emails and posts. Talking points if you will. We need to find a description such as:

Bad forgeries
Lame forgeries
Obvous forgeries
Outrageous forgeries that even an amateur can spot.
It doesn't take an expert to find out these documents are forged.

Should we agree on a buzz word to describe them?
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[arymann]

Brit Hume will report on Fox News -- next up. Mentioned that documents might be fake!

[Cazador]

Hi!

Wow, what a day.

I posted this am and then fired off a quick note to Drudge and told him that the docs look like they are from MS Word. Forged!

Off to meetings and get the car fixed and come back to -- An MSM meltdown.

CBS is totally off the wall for talking about their experts. Any moron can see the MS Word docs line up with their "originals".

One more nail in their coffin.

Anyone remember the GM laywer that totally reamed NBC's DateLine with Stone Phillips a number of years ago? On live TV? Masterful was the word. This would be a good opportunity for some young attorney to make a name for themselves:-)

Okay, back to my emails.

Cazador

[mr_mechanical]

BRIT HUME ALL OVER IT!!!!