More to this news than merely memos...

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

I don't believe for one second that those documents are forgeries, but it would not matter if they were faked, either. There is a lot more to everything that has come out in the last three days than the Killian documents.

Can anyone claim that Barnes on 60 Minutes was a computer-generated graphical forgery of a living, breathing human being? Of course not.

Barnes sat across from Dan Rather and explained that, he is sorry, but, yes, he did pull strings to keep young George out of the Vietnam War. Back then, Barnes was a powerful man who became Lt. Gov. of the State of Texas.

Matt Kelley of the AP news reported something two days ago that is really even more important.

According to the daily reports filed by GWB's unit in Texas, their last F-102 interceptor jets were on "runway alert" status starting Oct 6, 1972. This was right in the middle of the Winton "Red" Blount for Senate campaign that Bush was helping manage. Bush couldn't fly just then because he was in Alabama and also because, before he left Texas, he skipped out on his flight physical. Bush has said that he let flying go because his unit no longer needed F-102 pilots. Keeping F-102s on strip alert means round-the-clock shifts of pilots and backup pilots.

Bush could have really helped his unit out by letting the Blount campaign know that his unit had been ordered to duty and he ought to take his physical and hightail it back to his home state of Texas. It seems he didn't feel that sense of duty. Maybe he was so out of touch with his unit that he simply didn't know what was going on.

One of Killian's personal entries does mention the need to rotate a pilot into the spot Bush left when he dropped his obligations. This also supports the troubling idea that Bush's unit really did need him. What Killian wrote is consistent with and supports all the rest of our evidence, but the reason we needn't worry that they might be forgeries is this:

Even if these documents were faked and planted by someone, the corroborating evidence from the official record, the word of people who knew GWB at the time and who are still alive and talking today, the records pertaining specifically to F-102 assignments in general, and the records pertaining to GWB's unit on a daily basis should be plenty on their own. With these writings by Killian, we have cross-checked evidence from people living and dead. Without these writings by Killian, our evidence will not be set back.

"Our evidence will not be set back." I didn't plan for that phrase to come off with such a ring to it, but it sounds like my sound bite to me. :)

[MichaelHarris]

1. it truely doesn't matter if they are real or not

millions world-wide have seen this story, from his governorship in Texas, to the 2000 election, and up til the present. Think about it, during all that time not one person has stepped up and said, "Hey I saw him". Thats the most damning evidence there is, forget the documents, the press should be saying, "where is george's band of brothers?"

oops, on edit, welcome to DU

[ET Awful]

2. Well one person stepped up and said they saw him, but . . .

they said they saw him during a time when says he wasn't there, so it's a bit tough to believe their story :).

[MichaelHarris]

3. yeah

that guy also see's dead people

[AnnInLa]

4. The part I find most troubling is

that another rich kid had enough influence to have a poor kid go to Nam in his place, who probably got killed. I wonder just which man bu$h's cowardice murdered?

Kerry said, "Send Me!"

God, what a contrast in bravery, integrity, character.