Another retired Air National Guard officer came forward on Saturday to
attack the network's credibility. Bobby Hodges, a retired major-general
named on Thursday as CBS's "trump card" in verifying the documents, said he
was "misled" by CBS and believed the documents to be forgeries. He said he
was only read excerpts and never saw the documents.

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:04:09 -0400, A boater A wrote:

Another retired Air National Guard officer came forward on Saturday to
attack the network's credibility. Bobby Hodges, a retired major-general
named on Thursday as CBS's "trump card" in verifying the documents, said he
was "misled" by CBS and believed the documents to be forgeries. He said he
was only read excerpts and never saw the documents.


And add this into the mix.

Casting further doubt on the memos, The Dallas Morning News said in a report
for its Saturday editions that the officer named in a memo as exerting
pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's record had left the Texas Air National Guard
1 1/2 years before the memo was dated.

The newspaper said it obtained an order showing that Walter B. Staudt,
former commander of the Texas Guard, retired on March 1, 1972. The memo was
dated Aug. 18, 1973. A telephone call to Staudt's home Friday night was not
answered.

"60 Minutes" relied on the documents as part of a Wednesday segment —
reported by Rather — on Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard from
1968 to 1973.

Former colleagues of Killian disagreed Friday on the authenticity of the
documents.

One, who appeared in the TV newsmagazine segment, said Friday he did not see
anything in the memos that made him think they were forgeries. Robert Strong
noted he's not a forensic expert and isn't vouching for the documents.

"I didn't see anything that was inconsistent with how we did business,"
Strong said in an interview. "It looked like the sort of thing that Jerry
Killian would have done or said. He was a very professional guy."

Both Wednesday and Friday, Strong was the only associate of Killian quoted
by CBS as supporting the memo's contents.

Retired Col. Maurice Udell, the unit's instructor pilot who helped train
Bush, said Friday he thought the documents were fake.

"I completely am disgusted with this (report) I saw on '60 Minutes,'" Udell
said. "That's not true. I was there. I knew Jerry Killian. I went to Vietnam
with Jerry Killian in 1968."

Killian's son also questioned some of the documents, saying his father would
never write a memo like the "sugar coat" one.

Several of the document examiners said one clue that the documents may be
forgeries was the presence of superscripts — in this case, a raised, smaller
"th" in two references to Guard units.

Rather said typewriters were available in the early 1970s which were capable
of printing superscripts. CBS pointed to other Texas Air National Guard
documents released by the White House that include an example of a raised
"th" superscript.

That superscript, however, is in a different typeface than the one used for
the CBS memos. Document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines of Paradise Valley,
Ariz., who examined the documents for the AP, said she was "virtually
certain" they were generated by computer.

Lines said that meant she could testify in court that, beyond a reasonable
doubt, her opinion was that the memos were written on a computer.

CBS has not revealed its source or sources for the documents or the names of
experts besides Matley it said examined the memos before Wednesday's report.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday the White House, which
distributed the memos after obtaining them from CBS News, was not trying to
verify their authenticity. "We don't know if the documents are fabricated or
authentic," McClellan told reporters traveling with the president to West
Virginia.

McClellan suggested the memos surfaced as part of "an orchestrated effort by
Democrats and the Kerry campaign to tear down the president."

Is this maybe Skipper in disguise??? Another Flatlander Conservatrash OT poster.Hmmm!!! I Wonder?
"A boater" A wrote in message ...
On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:04:09 -0400, A boater A wrote:

Another retired Air National Guard officer came forward on Saturday to
attack the network's credibility. Bobby Hodges, a retired major-general
named on Thursday as CBS's "trump card" in verifying the documents, said he
was "misled" by CBS and believed the documents to be forgeries. He said he
was only read excerpts and never saw the documents.


And add this into the mix.

Casting further doubt on the memos, The Dallas Morning News said in a report
for its Saturday editions that the officer named in a memo as exerting
pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's record had left the Texas Air National Guard
1 1/2 years before the memo was dated.

The newspaper said it obtained an order showing that Walter B. Staudt,
former commander of the Texas Guard, retired on March 1, 1972. The memo was
dated Aug. 18, 1973. A telephone call to Staudt's home Friday night was not
answered.

"60 Minutes" relied on the documents as part of a Wednesday segment -
reported by Rather - on Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard from
1968 to 1973.

Former colleagues of Killian disagreed Friday on the authenticity of the
documents.

One, who appeared in the TV newsmagazine segment, said Friday he did not see
anything in the memos that made him think they were forgeries. Robert Strong
noted he's not a forensic expert and isn't vouching for the documents.

"I didn't see anything that was inconsistent with how we did business,"
Strong said in an interview. "It looked like the sort of thing that Jerry
Killian would have done or said. He was a very professional guy."

Both Wednesday and Friday, Strong was the only associate of Killian quoted
by CBS as supporting the memo's contents.

Retired Col. Maurice Udell, the unit's instructor pilot who helped train
Bush, said Friday he thought the documents were fake.

"I completely am disgusted with this (report) I saw on '60 Minutes,'" Udell
said. "That's not true. I was there. I knew Jerry Killian. I went to Vietnam
with Jerry Killian in 1968."

Killian's son also questioned some of the documents, saying his father would
never write a memo like the "sugar coat" one.

Several of the document examiners said one clue that the documents may be
forgeries was the presence of superscripts - in this case, a raised, smaller
"th" in two references to Guard units.

Rather said typewriters were available in the early 1970s which were capable
of printing superscripts. CBS pointed to other Texas Air National Guard
documents released by the White House that include an example of a raised
"th" superscript.

That superscript, however, is in a different typeface than the one used for
the CBS memos. Document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines of Paradise Valley,
Ariz., who examined the documents for the AP, said she was "virtually
certain" they were generated by computer.

Lines said that meant she could testify in court that, beyond a reasonable
doubt, her opinion was that the memos were written on a computer.

CBS has not revealed its source or sources for the documents or the names of
experts besides Matley it said examined the memos before Wednesday's report.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday the White House, which
distributed the memos after obtaining them from CBS News, was not trying to
verify their authenticity. "We don't know if the documents are fabricated or
authentic," McClellan told reporters traveling with the president to West
Virginia.

McClellan suggested the memos surfaced as part of "an orchestrated effort by
Democrats and the Kerry campaign to tear down the president."