Friday, September 17, 2004
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Pre-emptive Paranoia
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Pre-emptive Paranoia
Documents revealed by CBS "60-Minutes" last week about President Bush's military service have been shown to be flawed. Abbreviations in the documents are wrong. Group should be "GP" rather than "GRP," there should be no period after "Lt," and Mr. Bush's Social Security number should have been used rather than his old service number. It looks like someone who had access to the originals may have typed up a newer version. CBS may have been set up in order to discredit the stories going around Bush's failure to fulfill his military obligations.
Maureen Dowd says the Democrats are suffering from pre-emptive paranoia. Some Democrats are afraid that Bush aide Karl Rove is up to his usual dirty tricks. "Those who suspect Mr. Rove note that when he was Bill Clements's campaign strategist in a 1986 governor's race in Texas, he was accused of bugging his own office to distract from a debate, according to James Moore and Wayne Slater, authors of "Bush's Brain.'' They said it turned the election because after that, the Democrat could not get any attention."
Now the Republicans in Congress want an investigation of the "60 Minute" memos.
However, 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, who was secretary to Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, says he wrote a "cover-your-back file,'' a "personal journal'' to keep a record about the politically connected Bush in his charge. She said the contents of that mirrored the CBS documents, but she said those documents were not on the right forms and contained Army terms rather than Air National Guard argot. Mr. Bush had disobeyed a direct order from Colonel Killian to take a physical and Killian wanted it documented. "It looks like someone may have read the originals and put that (the CBS documents) together.''
Karl Rove or someone else in the Administration would have had access to the originals and may have put the doctored documents into circulation to discredit the media and the stories about Bush's failure to meet his obligations.
Documents revealed by CBS "60-Minutes" last week about President Bush's military service have been shown to be flawed. Abbreviations in the documents are wrong. Group should be "GP" rather than "GRP," there should be no period after "Lt," and Mr. Bush's Social Security number should have been used rather than his old service number. It looks like someone who had access to the originals may have typed up a newer version. CBS may have been set up in order to discredit the stories going around Bush's failure to fulfill his military obligations.
Maureen Dowd says the Democrats are suffering from pre-emptive paranoia. Some Democrats are afraid that Bush aide Karl Rove is up to his usual dirty tricks. "Those who suspect Mr. Rove note that when he was Bill Clements's campaign strategist in a 1986 governor's race in Texas, he was accused of bugging his own office to distract from a debate, according to James Moore and Wayne Slater, authors of "Bush's Brain.'' They said it turned the election because after that, the Democrat could not get any attention."
Now the Republicans in Congress want an investigation of the "60 Minute" memos.
However, 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, who was secretary to Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, says he wrote a "cover-your-back file,'' a "personal journal'' to keep a record about the politically connected Bush in his charge. She said the contents of that mirrored the CBS documents, but she said those documents were not on the right forms and contained Army terms rather than Air National Guard argot. Mr. Bush had disobeyed a direct order from Colonel Killian to take a physical and Killian wanted it documented. "It looks like someone may have read the originals and put that (the CBS documents) together.''
Karl Rove or someone else in the Administration would have had access to the originals and may have put the doctored documents into circulation to discredit the media and the stories about Bush's failure to meet his obligations.
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