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Burkett Blames CBS, the White House and Bloggers - Believes Memos Authentic

Through an interview with the Star-Telegram article and an email to CNN, Burkett broke a brief period of silence to criticize CBS, the White House and Bloggers. It seems the White House coordinated the blogger attack:

"The coordinated attacks against the documents, then against me, which CBS did nothing to deflect or defend, and then against Dan Rather and CBS producer Mary Mapes have not been against the validity of the documents, but rather as an attack against anything being considered at all," he said.

Either he is out of touch with reality or there is a VRWC that he just blew the lid off.

In a somewhat bizarre twist, Burkett claims that he believes the memos are authentic. Has he read nothing? Is this a publicity stunt? How on earth can he still believe the documents are authentic and publicly denounce CBS for not following his warnings to "independently verify the reports."

He also acknowledged that he spoke to the Kerry campaign but claims, despite public emails to the contrary, that he was not working with it. However, by claiming that CBS came to him, Burkett implies his intention was not to work with the press. For what purpose did he acquire the documents? Circumstantial evidence certainly points to the Kerry Campaign ... plenty has been written on this elsewhere.

Drudge is claiming that the Kerry campaign pressured Burkett for the documents. Of course this is exactly what conservatives want to hear and, if it turns out to be an electronic forgery or a fable, it could easily make Republicans and their lackey bloggers look bad.

Update:

The Star article has been revised to read Burkett said CBS tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents." Apparently, Burkett's original statements were either wrong or incorrectly reported and the article has been retracted [more]. Here is the retraction:

"This article has been corrected from the version published in the newspaper and online Friday morning to reflect that Bill Burkett was referring to conversations with CBS when he said, "They tried to convince me as to why I should give them the documents." The earlier version incorrectly reported that he had discussed the documents with Joe Lockhart of the Kerry campaign."

Why is it so tough for journalists to get it right after talking to Burkett?

Original Post on this Topic: the story has now been picked up by Newsmax and the Mercury News [hat tip: Rathergate]. During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett said he suggested a "couple of concepts on what I thought (Kerry) had to do" to beat Bush. In return, he said, Lockhart tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents."

Note that previously Lockart said said that the documents never came up in his conversation with Burkett.

INDC comments, "If the Dems couldn't get their hands on the documents, then they have no responsibility for awareness that they were forgeries; but what Burkett may not realize is the fact that Cleland and Lockhart already went on the record with a denial about any knowledge of or conversation about the documents." See also this NY Post article in which Lockhart admits he may have been tipped off about the memos by CBS Producer Mary Mapes.

CONTROVERSIAL TEXAS RANCHER SAYS LOCKHART WANTED DOCUMENTS // The source of a disputed CBSNEWS report claimed Thursday that Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents." Texas Army National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett tells the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM that he has suffered four seizures since being identified as CBS' source and dogged by the media... Developing... from Drudge

Portions from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

The man at the center of a controversy over a CBS report on President Bush's military service denied Thursday that he was working in conjunction with the presidential campaign for Democrat John Kerry.

Bill Burkett, a former commander in the Texas Air National Guard and a critic of Bush's past service in the Guard, told the Star-Telegram in an interview that he still believes that memos he gave to CBS are authentic.

But he said that he had warned the television network to independently verify the reports before it aired them.

[snip]

Burkett denied his actions were done at the behest of the Kerry campaign, although he acknowledged -- as has Kerry's campaign -- that he spoke with a staff worker about Bush.

Burkett said he thinks that CBS and anchor Dan Rather have tried to make him the "fall guy" in the dispute. He said Rather interviewed him for 3 ½ hours last week but used only portions of the tape that made Burkett look bad.

He also said that "CBS duped me" by identifying him as the source of the documents.

"Dan Rather ruined me in front of 70 million people," Burkett said.

[etc]

Interesting snips from CNN:

"The documents have not been conclusively proven false," Burkett said. "Neither have they been proven authentic. That jury is still out."

Burkett has been under intense media scrutiny since he was revealed as the source of the documents.

On Thursday, he replied via email to a series of questions from CNN.

Burkett said he expected CBS to use its "massive and superlative abilities" to authenticate the documents prior to broadcast.

He also accused "incompetent" CBS staff of revealing his name to other news organizations, despite an agreement to protect his identity as the source of the material.

Burkett also accused the White House of using the blog community to launch a "kill the messenger campaign" against him after the documents were made public.

[snip]

After the broadcast, at a time when Rather and CBS News were publicly standing behind the story and insisting that the documents were genuine, Burkett said he was informed "that senior executives -- 'the suits' -- were getting nervous, and the extensive pressure began to mount on me to reveal my source."

"Concurrently, I was outed by the incompetent actions of the CBS staff, and my identify was confirmed according to other press reports by planned CBS leaks," he said.

Burkett did not elaborate on who at CBS was involved in revealing his identity, or what their "incompetent actions" were.

[snip]

Burkett also said "the central part of my agreement with CBS was that they use their massive and superlative abilities to authenticate and verify the documents prior to broadcast in order that I and my source not have to be identified."

"CBS came to me, I did not go to them," he said. "It was in no interest of mine to be involved with this. Certainly as a source, I demanded confidentiality both for myself and my source."

Newsmax:

Former National Guard commander Bill Burkett has become the first player in the CBS forged document scandal to implicate John Kerry's presidential campaign, telling the Fort Worth Star Telegram that top Kerry aide Joe Lockhart pressed him to turn over damaging evidence on George Bush.

During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett told the Telegram that he suggested a "couple of concepts on what I thought (Kerry) had to do" to beat Bush.

In return, he said, Lockhart tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents."

Posted by tim at September 23, 2004 10:11 PM

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