September 12, 2004
Sunday

Letter to the Editor: 

Last Wednesday's "60 Minutes" program featured supposed 1970s memos from Bush's deceased National Guard superior officer, Gary Killian, criticizing the President for disobeying an order to get a flight physical and for shirking other Guard responsibilities.  This program and attempt to disparage the president looks to be completely contrived, unfair and bogus.  The following are only some of the obvious clues:

• The memos certainly appear to have been prepared using a modern word-processing program, most likely Microsoft Word.  The alignment of the type, proportional typefaces, the use of superscript, the use of an apostrophe which was not on typewriters in the 1970s and the type font all indicate computer preparation.  Even if Gary Killian had typed memos like the ones shown, he would have used a manual typewriter as that was what the National Guard used in the early 1970s. 
• The documents are not on a standard letterhead. Instead, they feature a typewritten and centered address with a post office box rather than an actual street address of the squadron. The address is P.O. Box 34567, which coincidentally includes five consecutive numbers.
• Dates in the letters -- "04 May 1972" and "14 May, 1972" -- are inconsistent and do not follow military form. The military prefers the following example, according to ex-officers: 4 May 72. It doesn't include a zero preceding the date or a comma following the month.
• The lines "MEMORANDUM FOR:" and "SUBJECT:" that begin the May 4, 1972, document, weren't officially used in the 1970s. According to one retired military officer, the correct format then was most likely "REPLY TO ATTN OF:" then "SUBJECT:" and finally "TO:" preceding the text of the message.
• Bush's name was listed in the memo as "1st Lt. George W. Bush." But other military documents, including those posted on Sen. John Kerry's website use a different format. Bush's name would have likely appeared as "1LT Bush, GW" or "1LT G Bush."
• There shouldn't be disparities in the May 4, 1972, letter such as, "111 F.I.S." and "111th F.I.S.," according to ex-military officers. Also, the acronym "F.I.S.," which stands for Fighter Intercept Squadron, shouldn't have included periods.
• The signature block with Killian's name lists his rank as "Lt. Colonel," when in reality most military commanders abbreviated that title as "LTC" or "Lt. Col.," according to retired officers. The signature block also includes the word "Commander" when "Commanding" was the preferred reference.
• Another major inconsistency is that military pilots must take physicals by the end of their birth month, July in the case of George Bush and the CBS memos supposedly order a physical in May.
• CBS ignored and did not include in the program comments from Killian's son and widow who have strongly expressed their doubts that CBS' documents are legit.  Neither would CBS include the observations of Bush's roommate while in the National Guard, Dean Roome, saying, according to the widow, that all of these individuals were too "pro Bush" to be included in the program.  Mrs. Killian has even stated that her husband did not know how to type and everyone in the family states that Gary Killian did not prepare or keep documents like the ones CBS displayed.  Neither did Killian harbor the feelings about George Bush that are claimed in the disputed memos.
• Turns out one officer, Col. W Staudt mentioned in the fake memos, supposedly the one talking about, pushing Killian to  "sugarcoat" the Bush records, had retired a years and a half BEFORE the date on the supposed memos.
• CBS hangs its hat on, points to,  verifying the story by having run it by Killian's commander, Maj. General Hodges who is now obviously very old.  Hodges supposedly said something like, "Sounds right to me" when contacted by CBS.   Now it is revealed that the CBS producer called the long retired Major General and told him that CBS had a handwritten memo and he said something like. "well if you have it in writing I guess it is OK.".  CBS hoodwinked the old guy!

I wonder what the reaction would be if I concocted a phony memo from a deceased officer from John Kerry's U.S. Navy days stating that Kerry was being ordered to stop killing and eating Vietnamese children?  If I sent this ridiculous, obviously fake ( I hope fake!) memo to FOX News.  Would they trumpet it on the air, feature it in an expose on Senator Kerry?  NO!  You know why"?  FOX News is "Fair and Balanced" while CBS is unfair, unbalanced and is trying to cheat the American people out of a fair election for President!
 
Mark Neckameyer
Irvine, CA - USA

 

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