QandO

September 18, 2004

Burkett and the Kerry Campaign
Posted by McQ

Bill Burkett, the retired National Guard officer who's been cited as the probable source for the CBS memos, appears to have been an Democrat operative looking for a way to discredit Bush according to a Washington Post story today:

The former Texas National Guard officer suspected of providing CBS News with possibly forged records on President Bush's military service called on Democratic activists to wage "war" against Republican "dirty tricks" in a series of Internet postings in which he also used phrases similar to several employed in the disputed documents.

Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, who earlier said he overheard Bush aides conspiring with the commander of the Texas National Guard to "sanitize" the president's military records, has refused to comment on reports that he could be CBS's confidential source. In e-mails yesterday to The Washington Post, he said he would speak out "at the appropriate time" but "that time is not now."

His first attempt to push the "stanitizing" story back in the late '90s was stuffed when all those he accused of doing it or knowing about it categorically denied Burkett's allegations. So it appears he had quite an axe to grind.

Per WaPo, he plans on speaking out, but only at the appropriate time. You have to wonder what could be more appropriate a time than now?

In e-mail messages to a Yahoo discussion group for Texas Democrats, Burkett laid out a rationale for using what he termed "down and dirty" tactics against Bush. He said that he had passed his ideas to the Democratic National Committee but that the DNC seemed "afraid to do what I suggest."

In another message, dated Sept. 4, Burkett hinted he might have had advance knowledge of some details in an explosive segment that aired Sept. 8 on CBS's "60 Minutes." In addition to airing footage of an interview with former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes saying he helped Bush get into the Guard, the network broadcast documents purporting to show that Bush had disobeyed a direct order to take a physical required to continue flying in the spring of 1972.

"I believe that Bush knows that there is more coming out than Ben Barnes," Burkett wrote. "No proof, just gut instinct."

Gut instinct indeed.

So we have an axe-grinder with tenuous link to the DNC who has "advanced knowledge" of something big on CBS? Sounds more and more like Burkett's the source, doesn't it?

For his part, Burkett said in an Aug. 25 posting to a different Web site, Online Journal, that he and other researchers had "reassembled" files showing that Bush did not fulfill his oath to obey his superior officers. It was not clear from the context of the message, however, whether he was referring to records that have dribbled out of the White House and the Pentagon in response to Freedom of Information Act requests or to previously unpublished documents.

"Reassembled" is newspeak for "forged". A word on the FOI for Bush's records. Memo's to File would not be in Bush's record. They'd be in a private record. If Killian had indeed done such documents, they wouldn't be in his official file. The reason one does a Memo to File is to privately record what may be a problem so that if the problem ever comes to fruition and they try to pin the blame on you, you have a MTF to show you took certain actions and covered your butt. If nothing ever came of the problem, you'd most likely get rid of the MTF. But regardless, it would be a private, unofficial file.

So we know that Burkett contacted the DNC. But is there a connection in all of this to the Kerry campaign.

Well, yes.

In an Aug. 21 posting, Burkett referred to a conversation with former senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.) about the need to counteract Republican tactics: "I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. He said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with. But none of them have called me back."

Cleland confirmed that he had a two- or three-minute conversation by cell phone with a Texan named Burkett in mid-August while he was on a car ride. He remembers Burkett saying that he had "valuable" information about Bush, and asking what he should with it. "I told him to contact the [Kerry] campaign," Cleland said. "You get this information tens of times a day, and you don't know if it is legit or not."

Which leaves the question: What did the Kerry campaign do with the information Burkett had, if anything?

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