GUARD MEMOS ACCURATE IF NOT ORIGINALS

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Registered: 08-21-2004
GUARD MEMOS ACCURATE IF NOT ORIGINALS
57
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 7:43am

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24633-2004Sep15_2.html<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />


 


Rather Concedes Papers Are Suspect


CBS Anchor Urges Media to Focus On Bush Service


By Howard Kurtz


<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 16, 2004; Page A01


CBS anchor Dan Rather acknowledged for the first time yesterday that there are serious questions about the authenticity of the documents he used to question President Bush's National Guard record last week on "60 Minutes."


"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather said in an interview last night. "Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.' "


Rather spoke after interviewing the secretary to Bush's former squadron commander, who told him that the memos attributed to her late boss are fake -- but that they reflect the commander's belief that Bush was receiving preferential treatment to escape some of his Guard commitments.


The former secretary, Marian Carr Knox, is the latest person to raise questions about the "60 Minutes" story, which Rather and top CBS officials still defend while vowing to investigate mounting questions about whether the 30-year-old documents used in the story were part of a hoax. Their shift in tone yesterday came as GOP critics as well as some media commentators demanded that the story be retracted and suggested that Rather should step down.


"This is not about me," Rather said before anchoring last night's newscast. "I recognize that those who didn't want the information out and tried to discredit the story are trying to make it about me, and I accept that."


For Rather, 72, it is an all-too-familiar role. In his CBS career, he has survived an impertinent exchange with President Richard M. Nixon during Watergate, a clandestine trek through the mountains of Afghanistan, an on-air confrontation with George H.W. Bush over Iran-contra and a much-debated sitdown with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.


Now, on the final leg of a career launched by a Texas hurricane, Rather is trying to weather his biggest storm. And some of his closest friends and associates are concerned.


"I think this is very, very serious," said Bob Schieffer, CBS's chief Washington correspondent. "When Dan tells me these documents are not forgeries, I believe him. But somehow we've got to find a way to show people these documents are not forgeries." Some friends of Rather, whose contract runs until the end of 2006, are discussing whether he might be forced to make an early exit from CBS.


In her interview with Rather yesterday, Knox repeated her contention that the documents used by "60 Minutes" were bogus. Knox, 86, worked for Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian while he supervised Bush's unit in the early 1970s.


"I know that I didn't type them," Knox said of the Killian memos. "However, the information in there is correct," she said, adding that Killian and the other officers would "snicker about what was getting away with."


Rather said he was "relieved and pleased" by Knox's comments that the disputed memos reflected Killian's view of the favorable treatment that Bush received in the military unit. But he said, "I take very seriously her belief that the documents are not authentic." If Knox is right, Rather said, the public "won't hear about it from a spokesman. They'll learn it from me."


But he also delivered a message to "our journalistic competitors," including The Washington Post and rival networks: "Instead of asking President Bush and his staff questions about what is true and not true about the president's military service, they ask me questions: 'How do you know this and that about the documents?' "


CBS News President Andrew Heyward defended the work that went into the Guard story. "I feel that we did a tremendous amount of reporting before the story went on the air or we wouldn't have put it on the air," Heyward said last night. "But we want to get to the bottom of these unresolved issues," including questions about the memos' typography, signatures and format. "There's such a ferocious debate about these documents."


Heyward said the account by Knox is "significant, which is why we're putting it on our prime-time program," "60 Minutes."



Donna

Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President. -- Theodore Roosevelt.

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 3:36pm
In the freedom of information act, since these memo's are supposedly official documents, they would appear in the persons official personnel file.

If the originals do come out, then Bush has a lot of explaining to do, if they are not within Bush's personnel file, then CBS has a lot of explaining to do.

That is my point. Official memo's do not just appear out of nowhere.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:03pm
The lady said they were falsely constructed documents but the content is correct. The content is what we are concerned about, the rammifications of what was in them. You can't get around that.
Donna

Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President. -- Theodore Roosevelt.

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:08pm
The lady said she was the one who would have typed them. She was the secretary who would have done so. I tend to believe her rather than any member of his family who was not there at all. This woman knew Bush while he was there and said he was very gentlemanly but also considered himself above the rules.
Donna

Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President. -- Theodore Roosevelt.

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:15pm

So his son and wife know what happened more than the lady who was there typing the original memos? She knew Bush and the attitude of the guys while Killian's wife and son were not there at all.


I get my info from books that were written by men who were part of the administration and admins previous, many of who are Republicans. Fox is very biased, why would I want to listen to just one news source?

Donna

Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President. -- Theodore Roosevelt.

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:16pm


What she said is that in her opinion, they accurately reflect Killian's "feelings" towards Bush. She certainly did not say they are factually correct-and whether Killian liked Bush or not is not really the issue here (although his wife and son claim that he liked and admired Bush). The biggest issue is whether Bush defied a direct order or was suspended due to other reasons besides not taking his physical, which he has admitted. There is no evidence as of yet to support either of those claims aside from these likely fraudulent documents. Her opinion of Killian's feelings are evidence of nothing.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:19pm

Bush has proven to be a very strong leader for the US in these times.


I don't even understand how you could come up with this conclusion. Are you keeping your eyes and ears firmly closed? This guy lied to us all about his reasons for going to war and changes the reasons as he goes along. We are in debt up to our great grandchildren, in a war we can't get out of for many years, reducing our strength and ability to respond to any other crisis that may come up in other areas of the world (North Korea for instance who actually DOES have WMD). This has been the most bungled presidency of my lifetime and I have been around a long time.

Donna

Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President. -- Theodore Roosevelt.

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 4:23pm
< The lady said she was the one who would have typed them. She was the secretary who would have done so. I tend to believe her rather than any member of his family who was not there at all. This woman knew Bush while he was there and said he was very gentlemanly but also considered himself above the rules.>

It appears to me you will tend to believe whatever you choose to believe-I'm not disputing that she would have typed such memos, if they existed, what Killian's son is disputing is that his father would have confided his personal opinion of Bush to her as she claims. Unless and until such documents are produced, it is hardly fair to use her statements that she remembers typing similar memos to legitimize these. We cannot assume these documents ever existed, or if they did that her memory serves her exactly correctly in every detail, unless they are actually produced. I'm not saying this woman is lying, I'm just saying her statements can hardly be called proof that these documents are factually accurate, and her bias against Bush is something she does not even try to hide. Perceptions of things that happened thirty years ago could very easily be colored by her current view of Bush, IMO.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 6:16pm
When you work with someone all day, day after day, it's impossible to completely hide your feelings from each other about staff members. They would not have suspected Bush was going to be pres, so they wouldn't have had any reason to be extra cautious about hisding their feelings. I know people I have worked with for a long time can indicate their opinion to me with a brief roll of the eyes or lifted eyebrow. Why would his son think he knows how his father acted at work?


< Killian's son is disputing is that his father would have confided his personal opinion of Bush to her as she claims. >

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 6:21pm
I agree with almost nothing you said - attacking Suddam did nothing to make our world better, if anything we are in more danger now than ever before. GWB has made our lives more dangerous not safer. He is listening to his own personal messages from God, just like the radical extremists in the Muslim world. If you think this is a formula for a better world - enjoy the fantasy while you can.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 7:00pm


LOL! But apparently possible to completely deceive your family about your feelings! Why on earth would Killian tell his wife that he admired and respected Bush when exactly the opposite was true? Unfortunately, or fortunately for whoever wrote these memos, the man is dead so we can't ask him about his opinion of Bush. Once again, though, the issue is really not about Killian's feelings, and that is the only part about these memos this woman is claiming is "accurate". If she wants to say that Killian did issue an order to Bush to take his physical (and according to the memos to take it a full two months before he was even required to take it, for some reason), or that Bush was actually suspended for failure to meet guard standards, or that Killian actually complained to her, a typist, that he was being pressured by higher ups to sugar coat Bush's records (does anyone really think that's possible?), than tell me that she is claiming the memos are factually accurate. She has said nothing of the sort, has backed up none of the "facts" contained in these memos, she has only commented on her view of Killian's feelings toward Bush.