Tang Typewriter V: What CBS Knows
Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 01:45:00 PM PDT
Update [2004-9-22 14:32:26 by Hunter]:: Next post in this series is
here.
Our last entry on this subject was so long and complicated that the central points of it were hard to follow. In addition, many are arguing that it doesn't matter what happened in 1972; that we already knew Bush didn't serve during the gap in question; that his family pulled strings to keep him out of Vietnam. Those people are right, to a degree. But that's not what this story is about; it never was.
The story of these memos isn't what happened in 1972. It's what happened in 2000, as George W. Bush was rising to power. It's about crimes, and coverups, and payoffs.
It's about the memos we haven't seen.
Dan Rather and CBS are sticking to their story; they would not do so unless they felt their sources were, indeed, unimpeachable. Furthermore, they would not do it merely to tack on a small piece of evidence to what has already been proven -- that Bush did not complete his service to the Guard, or at least not without considerable fudging of the rules by higher-ups.
The documentation gaps in Bush's record have been admirably proven, most completely by Paul Lukasiak. [Ed - Also note the compehensive report of retired colonel Gerald Lechliter, who asserts that Bush's records as released by the White House also contain evidence of fraudulent pay records and apparent failure of his superiors to take "required regulatory actions when Bushed [sic] missed required training and failed to take his flight physical."]
USA Today and others confirmed that meetings took place, after a call from Bush's chief of staff, to "decide what to release."
Burkett says that the state Guard commander, Maj. Gen. Daniel James III, discussed "cleansing" Bush's military files of embarrassing or incriminating documents in the summer of 1997. At the time, Burkett was a lieutenant colonel and a chief adviser to James. He says he was just outside James' open office door when his boss discussed the records on a speakerphone with Joe Allbaugh, who was then Gov. Bush's chief of staff.
In Burkett's account, Allbaugh told James that Bush's press secretary, Karen Hughes, was preparing a biography and needed information on Bush's military service.
In an interview, Burkett said he recalled Allbaugh's words: "We certainly don't want anything that is embarrassing in there." Burkett said he immediately told two other officers about the conversation and noted it in a daily journal he kept. The two officers, George Conn and Dennis Adams, confirmed to USA TODAY in 2002 that Burkett told them of the conversation within days.
Soon afterward, there was a series of meetings of top commanders at Texas Guard headquarters at Camp Mabry. Bush's records were carried between the base archives and the headquarters building, according to Burkett and the second Guard official, who was there.
The meetings were confirmed in a 2002 interview by USA TODAY with William Leon, who was the state Guard's freedom-of-information officer in the 1990s. He was involved in discussions about what to release. Leon declined to comment on the substance of the meetings except to say, "We were making sure we released it properly and made sure we did it in a timely manner."
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Allbaugh, James and the White House denied Burkett's story. As president, Bush has since elevated James to be director of the Air National Guard for the entire country.
Question: What are the odds that the Major General of the Texas Air National Guard responsible for "releasing" Bush's records just happened to be the person in the country most qualified to be promoted to run the Air National Guard of the entire nation once George W. Bush came into office?
Is that not precisely what we have learned to expect, from this political family? Disloyalty is punished with ferocity; loyalty or services rendered is lavishly rewarded. We have at this count lost count of the "protesters" bussed to Florida in 2000 who have been rewarded with posts in the Bush administration or other branches of the government.
The gaps in Bush records are not difficult to explain, when confronted with multiple sources confirming the actual meetings to decide, in 1997, what those "gaps" were going to be.
As a result of the release of these new memos, then, we are faced with even more powerful questions. Kossack debcoop said it best in her comments to the last thread.
She typed documents with this information but just not these docs, she says. She says that the pressure on Killian to whitewash Bush was put on by Staudt but it was 1972. And the whitewash had to do with the flight physical.
SO WHERE ARE THE ORIGINALS SHE TYPED?
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Seletions from;
DRUDGE REPORT TUE SEP 14, 2004 17:48:35 ET
...
"I did not type these particular memos. I typed memos like these," Knox told the DRUDGE REPORT from her home in Houston.
"I typed memos that had this information in them, but I did not type these memos. ...
But Marion Carr Knox stands by the accusations contained in the allegedly fraudulent documents* that Bush skirted a medical and flight exam without suffering institutional repercussions.
"The information in these memos is correct -- like Killian's dealing with the problems." ...
"It was General Staudt, not then Lt. Colonel Hodges [who succeeded Staudt], that was putting on the pressure to whitewash Bush. For instance he didnt take his flight examination or his physical. And the pilots had to take them by their birthdays........
Knox speculated as to how she thought the forgeries were created saying, "My guess is that someone in the outfit got hold of the real ones and discussed it with a former Army person."
So we have now, through Knox and several other sources, verification that documents relating to the time in question were created at the time, by Killian.
And they are now missing. All of them. Not just Killian's personal 'CYA' notes, which would presumably not be in Bush's own files, but any documentation about the period in question.
Think about that. Knox and others confirmed what was in the records. And it isn't there now. Nothing from that period is in those files now. Not Killian's personal notes, certainly, but nothing else either, official or otherwise.
That's what CBS is getting at, and why they are so confident in this story. And USA Today, and the Boston Globe, from the looks of things. That's why this story isn't about to die, why CBS is sticking to its guns, and why CBS, in their national broadcasts, has very pointedly and publicly been directly asking the White House to answer a certain set of questions.
This isn't about 1972. This is about a federal crime in 1997, as George W. Bush prepared to run for president. This is about how George W. Bush became president, four years ago, and what his closest associates did to get him there.
Where are the documents for that period, Mr. President?
Mr. James?
Update [2004-9-15 20:49:53 by Hunter]: CBS Interviewed Knox on 60 Minutes tonight. Short version: Dan Rather is mounting a direct counterattack. Knox again says that she did not type those memos, but did type memos "like" the ones reported. Goes into detail about Bush's behavior at the time. The overall picture is very damaging to Bush, as she confirms that he indeed defied (multiple?) orders to take a physical, and "didn't feel he needed to follow the rules" (paraphrase?). Transcript will be posted when available.
Some in Congress talking about investigations of CBS. Might want to check with the White House on that one, guys. Do they really want people like Knox, etc, publicly testifying in the next few weeks as to what George Bush was doing at the time in question, and why CBS believes/believed the memos to be absolutely credible?
Whether they do or don't, one thing is clear. Dan Rather isn't backing down. He has compared this story, in passing, to Watergate. He feels his reputation has been assaulted, and he is on the warpath.
Update [2004-9-15 23:42:14 by Hunter]: Washington Post is reporting the memos were faxed from a Kinko's in Abilene, TX, 21 miles from Burkett's house.
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