For what it’s worth, NewsMax is running this story suggesting that the Kerry campaign referred to information contained in at least one of the forged¹ CBS documents as early as April:
The Kerry campaign made an explicit reference to information in at least one of four forged military documents broadcast 14 days ago by CBS’s “60 Minutes” – in a detailed campaign press release attacking President Bush’s National Guard service dated months before the Sept. 8 “60 Minutes” broadcast.
Appearing in Kerry campaign literature on April 27, 2004, under the headline “Key Unanswered Questions on Bush’s Record in National Guard” was the reference to “verbal orders” to recommend Bush’s suspension from flying because he missed a physical – issued by Bush’s commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian on Aug. 1, 1972.
One of the forged Killian memos broadcast by CBS is also dated Aug. 1, 1972, and chronicles Killian’s “verbal orders” to suspend Bush:
“I conveyed my verbal orders to commander, 147th [Fighter Interceptor Group] with request for orders for suspension and covening a flight review board IAW AFM 35-13.” [END OF FORGED KILLIAN MEMO EXCERPT]
The April 27 Kerry campaign press release cites Killian’s “verbal orders” for suspension as a “Fact”:
“FACT: The order suspending Bush from flight duty stated: ‘Verbal orders of the Comdr on 1 Aug 72 suspending 1STLT George W. Bush from flying status are confirmed Reason for Suspension: Failure to accomplish annual medical examination. Off will comply with para 2-10, AFM 35-13. Authority: Para 2-29m, AFM 35-13. (Aeronautical Orders, Number 87, 29 September 1972)’” [END OF KERRY RELEASE EXCERPT]
In the next paragraph, the Kerry campaign cited a provision in the Air Force Manual that served as a guideline for Killian’s decision to suspend Bush:
“AFM 35-13: … After reviewing the findings of the investigation, the local commander may convene a Flying Evaluation Board or forward through command channels a detailed report of the circumstances which resulted in the officer’s failure to accomplish a medical examination.” [END OF KERRY RELEASE EXCERPT]
The forged Aug. 1, 1972, memo alludes to the same Air Force Manual provision, with Killian saying he’s considering “covening a flight review board IAW AFM 35-13” to handle Bush’s case.
Though the information contained in the April campaign release mirrors that in forged memos broadcast by CBS in September, the similarities may be a coincidence.
In a February 2004 document dump, the White House released a batch of President Bush’s National Guard records, which included material cited in the Kerry press release.
In a February 12 story headlined “Bush’s Loss of Flying Status Should Have Spurred Probe,” the Boston Globe covered some of the same material. The Kerry release, however, cited not the Globe report as its source but “Aeronautical Orders” apparently included in the White House document dump.
The April 27 press release does show, however, that the topic of Bush’s flight suspension by Killian was very much on the Kerry campaign’s radar screen at least four months before CBS broadcast forged military records to further document the story [my emphasis].
As the story makes clear, the overlap between the Kerry site’s anti-Bush material and the forged² TANG documents could be entirely coincidental—after all, the Democrats have been after this story since 1994, so most of the “information” contained in the documents isn’t new—but it does suggest that both the forger and the Dems shared a similar interest in particulars, though there’s no way to know for certain whether the Kerry campaign’s interest was a product of familiarity with the forged documents (some rumors have them floating around for months), or, conversely, whether the forger was able to drum up interest for the forgeries among Democrats and media dupes by appealing to a pre-existing set of assertions included in the Kerry campaign literature and the body of anti-Bush lore.
One thing that is clear though, and that is that it’s hardly overstating things to note that the minutiae of Bush’s TxANG service has long been an obsession among national Democrats.
¹,² Dan Rather, speaking to Chicago Tribune: “I wouldn’t call the documents ‘forged.’ Instead, I would characterize the documents as ‘futuristic,’ in that the forensic science needed to prove conclusively that these documents are genuine won’t exist until all of the computers in the Cyberdyne Network pool their resources and engage mankind in an all out war for control of the universe.”
h/t Allah
****
update: Ace—who like me gets his talking points from a William F. Buckley figurine with magical powers—links the same story. Because that’s what WFB commanded.
Speaking of talking points – looks like Oliver Willis is all over the Roger Stone conspiracy theory, which at this point is based on……nothing. Except wishful thinking.
The forger and the April 27 Kerry release are both
quoting from this:
http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/grounded.gif
I can’t find the DU thread now, but last night or this morning I saw a rather detailed theory there, about Burkett’s “real source”, Lucy something, being traceable via Texas birth records back to a guy named Gutierrez, who was somehow connected to Stone. (This was, incidentally, the first suggestion I’d heard of Stone being involved in the whole shebang.)
Maybe the DU vibe is rubbing off on me, but I can’t help wondering if Burkett did more than merely pick a name randomly from the phone book—he or his lawyer might have taken a couple minutes to actually track down a name that would send DU types into a frothing frenzy. We’ll see.
Ah, found the thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=850630
WFB: Ace, The porcine Mr. Willis’s prehensile attachment to fatty, fried foods speaks mightily to his pertinacity. Your individuation from PW’s jape’s compels me to the ineluctable insouciance of your, now, what is this blog exactly?
Jeff, it is not surprising that
because the PDF file for one of the documents was created in February. This fact means that either CBS had the document in February and made the PDF at that time or that someone else made the PDF in February and later gave it to CBS, either through e-mail or through mailing a disk. CBS has said nothing about e-mail or disks, so the first possibility, that CBS had the document in February and made the PDF at that time, seems much more likely.
Hmmm. Interesting.
However, you should read the thread at the Little Green Footballs link that I gave above. The February creation date of the PDF may be caused by an incorrect time on the computer clock. Based on the work of the people in the thread, September 9th is another possible creation date for the PDF. Although the thread goes on for a while, it is not too technical, so you should read it before jumping to conclusions.
Minor correction:
“…it’s hardly overstating things to note that the minutiae of Bush’s TxANG service has long been an obsession among national Democrats.”
Actually, it’s Bush himself the Democrats are obsessed with, and have been since he defeated Ann Richards despite Molly Ivins getting a lip cramp from sneering so hard. The TexANG bit is just the visible part of it, something they can pretend to themselves is a rational objection.
Regards,
Ric Locke
What no one has yet explained in all this is why the late Col. Killian would give a rat’s patootie if a First John who was leaving his unit and going where there were no airplanes he could fly took a flight physical.
Killian wouldn’t care about Bush, he was leaving. Even assuming that Bush was a problem (which I don’t) he was someone else’s problem.
Facts in evidence…
The war was drawing down, all the various elements of the Air Force, active duty, reserve and ANG were getting smaller, they were overstocked with airplane drivers. Anyone wanting out was being let go, many who didn’t want out were being let go.
Killian’s, and thus Bush’s, unit was changing, going into a different role and into a different airplane, one that Bush wasn’t trained to fly.
Bush didn’t have sufficient time left in his enlistment to justify retraining into the new airplane.
Bush was going to a unit, with Killian’s blessings, that had no airplanes for him to fly.
With those facts in evidence how do we get to Killian caring if Bush took a flight physical? More likely Killian would discourage Bush from wasting the time of all the medics involved and take advantage of having a pilot around to be the SLJO, the shitty little jobs officer and have him do some of the jobs that nobody likes, inventorying the supply room, going over records, all the bazillion things the military, in it’s wisdom, requires an officer’s signature.
That’s the rotten meat you smell, nobody cared if Bush took that physical because he wasn’t going to be flying.
Any of us who went through the Ann Richards/George Bush governor race, KNOWS that ANY documents that would have hurt Bush would have been outed at that time. Democrats snarled like rabid pit bulls during that time and scrounged through all garbage they could find. That is what makes these “suddenly found” documents so laughable.
Joe is right. The focus needs to be on CBS, when they got this, what they did with it, who they contacted. A major news organization trying to bring down a sitting President during a time of war is just MAJOR imo.