Another Bush Document?

[MDM4AU 336]

Another Bush Document?19 September 2004

A 1973 email from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian's Yahoo! email account to Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges seems to confirm the authenticity of the disputed Bush National Guard documents, according to CBS News and Dan Rather. 

New York, Sept. 19, 2004

(CBS/Pair o' D News)  CBS News has obtained an email written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, George W. Bush's Commander in the Texas Air National Guard, to Major General Bobby Hodges, Killian's immediate superior, which tends to confirm the authenticity of disputed documents that CBS News obtained from Killian's personal file earlier this month.  The email, sent on August 24, 1973, appears to have been sent from Killian's Yahoo! email address, lieutenantjerrykillian@yahoo.com, to an email address belonging to Hodges, majorgeneralbobbyhodges@yahoo.com.

In the email, Killian specifically mentions all four of the disputed documents that CBS News previously obtained from an unimpeachable source.  Said CBS News President Andrew Heyward, "Our source for the email is totally unimpeachable, impregnable, and unavailable, so don't even think about questioning it."

Dan Rather, managing editor of CBS News, stated, "This latest document confirms what we already know, and what CBS News has been reporting all along: George W. Bush received preferential treatment to get into the Texas Air National Guard, and failed to live up to the expectations of the Guard while he served."  Rather added,  "We know that some, including partisan political operatives and Karl Rove, will continue to dispute the authenticity of the Killian files.  But one look at this 1973 email should convince all but the most partisan observers.  For the record, we are also trying to confirm the authenticity of some instant messages that Killian sent to Bush in 1972 regarding his annual medical examination."

The email corroborates key parts of the story that aired on 60 Minutes II on September 8, 2004.  For example, the email mentions that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was pressuring Hodges to "sugar coat" then-Lt. Bush's rating, that Killian ordered Lt. Bush to report for his annual physical, and that Killian suspended Bush's flight status after he missed his physical.  The email also confirms that Bush received preferential treatment to get into the Guard.

Soon after this story was posted, several "bloggers" questioned the authenticity of the email, noting that Yahoo! wasn't founded until 1994, and commercial email didn't come into existence until 1989. In fact, almost every expert consulted by CBS News for this story questioned the email's authenticity.

But Dick Kratz, a technology consultant who authenticated the email for CBS News, noted that someone would have to go "out of their way" to create fake email accounts with the names of Lt. Col. Killian and Maj. Gen. Hodges.  "You would have had to create two separate email accounts, with two passwords."

CBS News also contacted Al Gore, the inventor of the internet, regarding the documents.  He issued the following statement: "While I cannot say for certain, the email in question probably verifies that I invented email well before August 24, 1973."

LINK