Okay, I'm tired of talking about this. But it needs clarification one more time.
When I was doing research on George W. Bush's close encounter with the Texas Air National Guard, I kept getting directed to a former guard officer named Bill Burkett. According to numerous people in the Texas Guard, Burkett had a story that needed to be told and also he was credible. I called him and he related the now infamous tale of witnessing a Guard employee scrubbing the president's service record files to hide his poor performance and possible grounding as a pilot. Burkett also claimed to have overhead a speakerphone conversation with the commander of the Texas Guard and Joe Allbaugh, Bush's gubernatorial chief of staff, as they discussed "cleaning up Bush's files."
I began looking into Bush's Guard history in 1994 after I asked him a question about it as a panelist during a live televised gubernatorial debate he had with Ann Richards. The question of how he got into the Guard seemed relevant to me because it spoke to questions of privilege. A lot of young men in my generation were trying to sign up for the Guard to avoid combat in Vietnam and we were consistently told of waiting lists 2-5 years in length. Bush, however, seemingly walked up and got a coveted slot as a pilot. Taxpayers spent almost a million dollars training him to fly jets even though there were hundreds of pilots home from Southeast Asia who would have jumped at the chance to fill the slot and keep their certificates current.
I received 161 pages of FOIA documents on Bush's service from a third party. None of them offered much detail regarding his service. Sources kept referring me to Burkett. His story needed witnesses. He gave me the name of a colleague he said was with him at the time he witnessed the scrubbing at Camp Mabry in Austin and I contacted him via email. The man (his name has been widely-reported by me and others and I see no reason to further complicate his life here) did not directly confirm Burkett's details of the scrubbing but said the Texas officer was "an honorable and honest man" and that when he spoke he "told the truth." This individual was at that time a civilian employee of the U.S. military in Europe. He later changed his story, and there are any number of obvious causes for that decision.
During the course of several conversations with Bill Burkett, on the telephone and in person, the retired Guardsmen seemed credible and not likely to make up a fanciful story. I checked with several people about his reputation, and even the commander of the Texas Guard, Gen. Danny James, spoke glowingly of Burkett. However, Burkett clearly despised the president and leaders of the Texas National Guard because of a dispute over his health care benefits. Burkett said he had fallen ill when assigned to Panama to help the U.S. Army close down a fort and had been denied health care when he was no longer able to work. Guard and Army officials disputed his story.
The central piece missing from the Bush Guard file was a document that might show he had been grounded for drug or alcohol abuse. The records make clear he stopped flying but there is no evidence as to why. If he had been grounded for disciplinary reasons, there would have been an investigatory board to hear evidence and file a report. That either never happened or the document has been removed from the file.
The other reporter as intensely interested in Bush and his Guard time as I have been was Mary Mapes, Dan Rather's producer. For a number of years, Mary had been trying to get former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes to talk about how he helped Bush get his coveted pilot's spot in the Guard. Barnes demurred until Bush's reelection campaign and by then his confession sounded like political expediency. Mary understood, however, as did Bill Burkett and any other investigator looking at Bush and the Guard that anything Barnes might say was going to be considered largely political without supporting documentation. Mary called me and asked me what I thought of Burkett as a source and I told her I thought he was credible and I was inclined to believe what he told me but I wanted documentation.
Eventually, Burkett told me what sounded like a fanciful story of an unnamed man delivering an envelope to him while he was at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This envelope supposedly included incriminating documents related to the president's Guard record. Whether these are the same documents he provided Mary Mapes, I cannot say. I do know that Burkett and several of his confidantes were as determined as I was to get at the truth about the president's service in the Texas Air National Guard. I don't know whether they were willing to go so far as to create false documents that they were confident existed at one time but no longer did, but I doubt that. Nonetheless, Burkett provided Mary Mapes with incriminating memos that were supposedly written by the president's commander during his days in the Guard.
One of the characteristics of the memos, which were immediately jumped on by right wing bloggers, was the appearance of superscript. This is the lower case abbreviation that often follows numerical designations like 5th or 3rd. According to the critics of the memos, superscript did not exist on IBM typewriters at the time the memos were supposedly written. Several researchers reported otherwise, however, that at least one model, the IBM Executive II was moving into the marketplace and had superscript available by using the "shift" key.
As the controversy over the Guard increased during the 2004 campaign, the White House began a series of Friday night document dumps, claiming they had discovered new material related to the president's Guard service. Although I was originally told there were only 161 pages, the final number was more than 300. The last document dump occurred about a week after Dan Rather's apologia on his former network's newscast. This was a single page memo promoting 2nd Lt. George W. Bush to 1st Lt. and it used superscript. The media took no notice that this piece of evidence completely contradicted the most powerful criticism of the Rathergate memos.
If Dan Rather and Mary Mapes made a mistake, it was to take Bill Burkett at his word. He told them his source for the memos they had in their possession was in the Texas National Guard. Although from the outside it looks as if Mapes was unable to confirm that claim, the memos became the central evidence to Rather's on-air report that Bush had gotten into a bit of trouble while serving. When forensic experts said the memos looked fake, Rather went back and confronted Burkett on camera and the former Guardsman acknowledged that he had not told the truth about the source of the memos because he was trying to protect someone. From that point forward, Mapes' tenure as an award-winning producer was fated to end and Rather, in spite of his long and successful career, was placed in an untenable situation. CBS was under huge economic and political pressure for being perceived as a "liberal" institution and there seemed little doubt management had been given an opportunity to move Rather out of the way, bring in a new face, and curry favor with the White House.
Unfortunately, for those of us interested in the truth, the Bush-Guard story has taken on the cultural manifestations of the Kennedy assassination. The facts, even if spoken now by those directly involved, will be disputed. Political disinformation entered the process along with too much zeal to break the big story. Rather and Mapes, however, seem unfairly condemned to me. The report by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh's investigative committee seemed cursory and inconclusive. I was among a number of people directly involved who were never contacted, which leads to the inevitable suggestion other pieces of evidence were ignored to fit a preferred conclusion.
Ultimately, though, we have to rely on perception of this matter because we'll never get the facts from the Bush administration. They do, however, exist. Every document relevant to the Bush time in the Guard should be included on a microfiche filed at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Any historian, journalist, or amateur researcher could have access to the truth if the president simply signed a release allowing those pages to be printed and distributed. It's what John McCain did in 2000 when Karl Rove started circulating rumors that the senator suffered from mental problems after being held for years as a prisoner of war. Why won't the president offer a similar release of his records? The answer, of course, is too obvious to bother stating.
And it is not hard to believe, after six years of lying and spying and withholding evidence from Congress, that the Bush team is taking the same approach to hiding the truth about the young Lt. George W. Bush.
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doesn't anyone realize that this burkett guy could have been a repuglican plant? just what "they" wanted to sink dan rather and scare the bejezzuz out of other news people
That's an interesting conspiracy theory.
Since George Bush is the President, we know that he did not fly any planes. He is too stupid for most tasks and flying planes would have been too much for him. He would have been like Cory Lidle
What of the records of the state of Texas, like police records of other crimes, did they also disappear?
Just asking.
Bush's missing time is easy to explain: He was on a secret mission for the C.I.A. in Cambodia and was captured and sent to China for Realignment. He does'nt remember of course! Now does it start to make sense? CHINA!
Bush is anything but honorable and truthful. I could never have imagined the day that my country would be ruled by such an un-American administration. When Bush bankrupted corporations, it was realized that he had the charm to be the diversion, while the machine behind him churned out its Project for a New American Century. That is exactly what is happening, and the GOP who follow him are either just as evil or extremely stupid. Either one should qualify each of his backers to be forced into unemployment at election time, unless Bush continues to degrade that process as well as he's degraded the rest of this country in his thirst for power.
If Mr. Rathers case goes to court, possibly the sealed documents could be subpoenaed. I think more likely not to be presented other than to the judge for relevance.
Sounds like everyone was set up. Heaven knows no one, least of all the President, wants any truth about anything getting out. But, if you wait, like sewage from a broken pipe, the truth will leak out eventually.
That means there is documentation to prove this right? Oh, wait it got lost too. I hope Dan exposes the facts now that CBS isn't holding him back.
Finally, Dan Rather's is doing what I'd hoped he would sooner.. (sooner then when Bush stole the election).Good for Dan Rather!!.Now maybe the American people will see that there is a reason why Bush's ratings/Poll numbers are so low. Bush is an incompetent person, and a liar, not fit to run anything, never mind be allowed to put unqualified people in public offices so important like FEMA and look where that got New Orleans. How much damage does Bush get to do? When is the rest of the media going to come out and DO SOMETHING to redeem itself?? Freedom of the Press used to be a precious right, now like Habeas Corpus we lost it under Bush's lies. When are the people going to stand up and scream in the streets and stop this. I for one hope that Dan Rather's wins and that it happens quickly so that the American people can FINALLY know Bush lied and now our young die for this lie.. Rather's doesn't need this hassle or the money but his integrity was harmed and now he's doing what ALL of the media should do to reddem itself in the public eye. Stand up and do your job, tell the truth and at least be honest with the people, report the truth instead of play political games and be 'fearful of this administrations rath... Who cares if we "upset the white house"! Any one who still fails to see they were dead wrong to elect Bush shouldn't be allowed to vote any more.Go Dan!!
ljlu writes "Good for Dan Rather!!.Now maybe the American people will see that there is a reason why Bush's ratings/Poll numbers are so low. Bush is an incompetent person..."
Do you really think the American people are stupid enough to need Dan Rather to tell them Dubya is incompetent and a screw up?
I wish more people would trust Dan Rather. He is trying to let people know that our airwaves have been bought by large corporations.Corporate manipulation of our news organizations boggles the mind. The Tiffiny network(CBS)as it was known, was trying to get rid of Dan for the 20 years I worked there. I would testify for Dan in a NY minute. I'm glad Larry King had him on.
Most of us already know that the networks are owned by corporations. Networks frequently remind or inform its viewers of their ownership. Most viewers don't understand or know the ramifications of corporate ownership.
Your claim about trying to get rid of Dan Rather for 20 years is groundless. CBS could have refused to renew his contract or could have fired him for his shenanigans. After Moonves became the head of CBS, CBS said enough is enough. Rather dug his own grave.
Dad w5boys.
2000? Yes, we recognize this, as it was confirmed via NYT fora, years ago. Nevertheless, Americans attempt to do something about the coup.
All the evidence, even if it largely circumstantial, tells us Little George was indeed AWOL in a time of war, derelict in his duty to his country, and hiding something health-related regarding his combat-readiness (or lack thereof).
The scandal was only the one piece of evidence. That's definitely important, but the people involved should have tried harder to prevent the one unreliable piece of evidence from distracting from the real story.
Yes, the people who witness events close up and personal, who do not follow the government narrative are always marginalized....shut up.
My cousin by marriage was Herschel Jacks, the DPS trooper driving the car with Vice President Johnson as passenger. He gave testimony to the FBI what he witnessed which did not cover the single shooter theory and was never called before the Warren Commission. He stopped talking about it immediately after the event. This stuff never changes, Big Brother will never allow the light of day to penetrate their story.
I am one of those agreeing that Bush leaving office is a BIG maybe.
Carl Rove's returning to Texas, Gonzalez' finally resigning, a lot of other rats seemingly leaving the ship - don't be too sure that that's what it is.
It could be what is called regrouping, doing the ground work for another bloodless coup d'etat in 2008. Like dreaming up another terrorist attack that is foiled shortly before the elections. The possibilities are many and these guys are pros - don't anyone ever forget that. Remember the election theft of 2000, the failure to prevent 9/11/01, the smut of the Swift boaters?
Speakerphone?
That's an awfully long story just to confirm what everyone (with any objectivity and common sense) already knows: Dan Rather and his producer were did a woefully inadequate job of verifying the documents. They didn't do their jobs because they were blinded by political motives themselves.
End of story: George W. Bush serves all of his required time in the Texas ANG.
What I can't figure out is:
What are they going to stuff that expensive Bush,Jr. library at SMU with? There are;
No records of anything.
No emails of anything.
Nothing is being released.
Too, too, Top Secret on everything else.
That just leaves -
"The Pet Goat".
The Liar in Chief should be IMPEACHED IMMEDIATELY for his CRIMES against the US. These include crimes against the Constitution he swore to uphold, as well as tainting our department of Justice for his personal/political purposes. He is clearly guilty of war crimes and raping our treasury. The Bush family history is filled with crimes against this country. They were CONVICTED of DEALING with the ENEMY after WWII (look it up). W's wife Laura KILLED A MAN after running a stop sign in Texas (not even a ticket, let alone manslaughter charges). Neil stole & misappropriated billions in the S&L scandal (no charges or repayment) Now W has tried to turn our country into his little fiefdom - who cares if 75% of our country hates his policies, it's HIS country not ours. I plead for political courage: BEGIN IMPEACHMENT TODAY! God Damn this administration, God Bless America! Peace
Speaking of Impeachment, who authorized Nancy P. the "first female" who was supposed to "Clean House".. to "Take impeachment off the table".. who says it is? Maybe Rather's suit will expose some lies and move people to rethink their opinion? One can hope.I say impeach Bush now before we are in a war with Iran also. This administration is already trying to do this. I also saw the same info you write about (above). It's a shame the rest of the country either can not see, or doesn't want to admit its wrong. I used to be a republican, and I'm ashamed to say that now because of what Bush did to our whole country. I never elected him, and I don't know anyone who did. The first time I heard Bush speak, I ran out and changed parties the next day. (honestly)
Maybe Rather can bring out some truth now and those who refuse to see finally will when a court drags out the truth. I just hope Bush and his killers don't do away with Dan first, and call it a sudden illness, or accident.. God forbid. I love Dan. With him went the last of honest News and reporting integrity. Except of course here :-)
Mr. Moore
Quick question for you you state a couple of times that you beleive Mr. Burkett. Yet the person Mr. Burkett claimed could verify his recollections did not.
So my quesiton is how do you put some much trust in this man?
Bush would like too write his legacy..., but historians will note him without a doubt a incompetent leader, who lead the USA too one of the worst international blunders ever in our history, as well as he will be blamed for fiasco and failure in middle east Iraq war, and without a doubt he has bankrupted this country, while in office, he squandered a huge surplus left by Clinton administration, over saw the collapse of our economy, housing bubble is merely tip of ice berg coming too the US economy, no coincidence the republicans were in power when the great depression occured, kind've like Deja Vu all over again but this might make that great depression look like a picnic, compared too what is awaiting us, our ancestors of that era were a much hardier breed, and pulled thru it via a democratic president, the ever dispised left wing saved our bacon then and will have too in future since republicans are like a parasite, live on its host for its own life blood....
The doc's were not forged, that is the common misconception. Even the White House never disputed the documents authenticity nor did the tribunal of attorneys hired by CBS news to discredit Mapes and Rather. While it is true that the documents, because they were photo copies could not be proved with 100% certainty to be authentic, they were never proved to be forgeries.
They were never allowed to air the follow-up report that compared the documents, the meshing report, by CBS news. Bottom line is CBS News caved to pressure from hire ups in the company fearful of retribution from the White House, not to mention the fear that they had wasted millions of dollars spent on lobbyist to persuade the repulican administration to allow them to continue to gobble up even more news organizations.
Does anyone really think there is not a story regarding Bush's service in the National Guard? That our 'War' president did not complete his obligation to complete his guard service? That he was not missing(AWOL) for at least a year? Or how this privlaged young man got into the National Guard at a time when thousands of other would be Vietnam avoiders could not?
Wake up people -- this is just more of the same.
I wonder of Rather gets to bring Rove to the stand on this one? THAT would be interesting.
Is it any wonder that CBS Evening News lacks credibility? I only wish Dan Rather's suit against them will empty their accounts!
To Dotmafia & to the Canadian (and btw I love Canada, one of my kids lives in Canada) who commented awhile back... Look. Guys. Could you please PLEASE get it through your heads that we "stupid Americans" are NOT fooled by this idiot (not all of us anyway..not even MOST of us), we did NOT elect him twice, we did not even elect him ONCE. Our election system is RIGGED, ok? There is such a gigantic, humongous truckload of evidence testifying to this screamingly obvious fact that is is simply beyond astonishing how anyone can NOT know that by now! Except for people like bill o'reilly & sean hannity & the like, who seem to have blinders permanently welded to their heads.
It makes me a little crazy to hear things like "How can you Americans ALLOW this? Why don't you DEMAND change..DEMAND accountability!" Well, here's a news flash for you, my friends: "We the People" have no power. We are in no position to allow or not allow ANYTHING. And we can DEMAND all we want, till we're blue in the face...and then we can wave as bush & cheney glide by in their limo.
What, specifically, would you have us do? VOTE? (insert maniacal laughter here) Seriously. I would really like to know.
I have been to more protests, written more letters & emails to editors, senators & congressmen than I can count. I & many many others have been screaming for impeachment for years.
I dunno, should we storm the White House with torches & pitchforks?? Not that this sounds like a bad idea at this point, believe me...though handcuffs & a paddy wagon would be better, but it is CONGRESS who needs the prodding, not US! We GET IT. THEY, evidently, still DO NOT, or they would have impeached, convicted, indicted & jailed this bunch long ago.
So kudos, Dan Rather.
Thank you, I was beginning to assume I was some conspiracy freak. ( kidding) Ever since I read the story in "The Nation" about Diebolds contributions to Bush's election and their guarantee he would win, and the election fraud, I felt vindicated. Then I saw the HBO documentary re: the elections and how they filmed people actually throwing away votes and then took them out of the garbage, and showed the viewers. They also showed exactly HOW to change votes with the Diebold machines and even so some states still bought them to use. What about all of those counties where more votes for Bush came in then there were registered voters living there?..Did only our family see this? NOTHING happened the next day. There wasn't a word on the News, no one screamed in the streets. No one cared? We were taken, quite literally by our "new Corp. Owners" that we now have controlling votes and we the people.
I love hearing the lefties come out with the rigged elections.
Let's remember history folks.
In 2000 lefties screamed fooul abotu the butterfly ballots that the Democrat controlled county choose to use for the election.
After that fiasco the lefties decided that electronic ballots were what had to be done.
In 2004, the dem candidate loses again and now it is the eletronic ballot that is the problem. Now we must have paper ballots.
Face it huffsters want the Ballot to list the Dem nominee and no one else.
Great article, Mr. Moore! I never doubted that Bush suffered from laziness and cowardice. This craven man beats his chest with his fists while sending our men and women to their deaths thinking he can prove his manhood. The fact that there are so few records of his tenure in the Nat. Guard proves this to me. the fact that he was in the guard at all proves his life of priviledge. Here is a quote from the Reagan diaries:
Quote of the Day: Ronald Reagan on Dubya
'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida . The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'
From the just published REAGAN DIARIES. The entry is dated May 17, 1986.
Sorry, that is not an actual quote from Reagan's diary; although there is an internet hoax floating around claiming it to be. It's a joke written by Kinsley.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice.. ... "uh, won't get fooled again".
The real cover-up concerns the abrupt end to this story as soon as CBS was maneuvered into airing the phony document.
Phony or no, it answered nothing as to the original query into Bush's questionable service - yet from then on, it was a dead issue, as if the phoniness of the document had served as a successful rebuttal.
Folks, our nation's editors aren't that stupid and I hope not that cowardly. They backed off for other reasons.
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Posted September 20, 2007 | 02:40 PM (EST)