GUARD MEMOS ACCURATE IF NOT ORIGINALS

iVillage Member
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: 08-21-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 12:59am

Bunk!


Bush inherited a lagging economy from Clinton, all the corporate scandals occured DURING clintons' presidency, and absolutely NO foriegn policy from Clinton. Clinton is the one to blame for the debt that we were in to begin with. Then 9/11 happened. US had no alternative but to spend money to clean up the mess that we were ATTACKED WITH!!!! I take it you do NOT live in NYC or NJ.


Do you recall that Clinton inherited a huge deficit and BALANCED THE BUDGET? Do you recall that Saddam Hussein is not the one who attacked us and we are spending tons of money to go after a country that had nothing, I repeat NOTHING to do with that attack? It was

Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 1:00am

Ok, I can tell right away you're one of those people that feel that trickle down economy does not work.


Oh, and by the way, it does not work.


Donna
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 10:25am
Do you recall that Clinton presided over the largest tax increase in the history of this country?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 10:43am
She never claimed to have typed memo's that stated anything near what the CBS memo's said, or did you miss that part.

She said they reflected Killians feelings.....but there is no proof.

Killians family says that this is not the way Killian felt, and have a list of several other people that will confirm this story....friends, and people that served with Killian.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 11:30am


I saw the interview - she's a sharp old lady who worked for Killian and had absolutely no reason to lie. I'm sure his family and friends are mortified that this is coming out now but so be it.

Bush will sneak, lie, cheat and ignore the chaos in the world but if he can keep it between the lines until after he's elected he'lll be happy. Once the election is over he won't care if the wheels fall off because he'll be a 2 term president. Big Whoop, and if Americans can stop fighting long enough to see what's in the best interest of this country they'll take him off the road!




Edited 9/17/2004 11:38 am ET ET by righton2004

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 11:57am
I guess you are conveniently forgetting about the food for oil scandal...which has involved key members of the UN delegation from France, Germany and Russia. They were pocketing money from Iraq (saddam) so that saddam could get some more materials for constructing his WMD program. There is much proof about how corrupt the UN is. Take a look at the link below to see how corrupt the UN is, and why this story which has been covered up (because they don't want us to know all the facts). This clearly demonstrates why France, Germany and Russia didn't want this to come to the forefront, because they were all benefitting from this.

http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/ACFD5.pdf

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2003
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 12:35pm
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"Hinted"?! You mean you were able to infer that she "hinted" it was Killian? This is the secretary who is pro-Kerry and hates Bush.

Nope, by your own "logic" she's a partisan source and not to be believed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 12:46pm
Right, how can you balance a budget or reduce a deficit without taxes? I still don't get why taxes is such a dirty word. To me they've always just been a necessary evil; some people want services from the government, but they don't want to have to pay for them? I know conservatives want "small government", but under the current administration, the government is BIGGER than under Clinton, Bush Sr. AND Reagan! Need taxes to feed that beast! Wouldn't everything grind to a halt without our tax money? I also thought conservatives were for fiscal responsibility, which to me (notice I said 'to ME') doesn't gell with the biggest deficit in history that we have now.

My husband's example (as he explained to me) was the San Diego area. Apparently for 2 decades they voted down a local tax increase that would have funded more services like police and fire fighters. Then, was it last year? They had that HUGE devastating fire in which so many people lost their homes. Then they cried and wanted government aid after.....aid that they hadn't wanted to give up any tax dollars for. I remember seeing that on the news and thinking "how ironic." Nobody wants to pay for government social programs, then what happens when THEY need those programs?

Well, anyway, I'm sure I'll get ripped apart for this, but it's just my own personal tax rant!
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 12:48pm
Then why didn't CBS do a thorough investigation of all of the facts?

The spoke with Killians wife and son, and they were given a list of numerous other people to speak with about the memos and the time in question. CBS chose to ignore these other people. I wonder why??????

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 2:59pm
What I can't believe in all this, we know now that these documents were indeed FORGERIES, and yet people are still justifying this all with an account of a secretary that admits she didn't type any memo like this either! Have we all lost our senses? Isn't forgery illegal?

I guess it's more important to try to get out the message that Bush's service in the ANY MIGHT have been less than honorable, it doesn't matter if it is fact or not.
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