9.21.2004
Poor Burkett. Whopper cum whopper.
LtCol Bill is in deep, national spotlight doodoo. This wasn't his idea of fame. Dan Rather must have poured on the heat last weekend at their Texas get-together. USAToday has a lengthy article.
Outed as the CBS source, he first told the tittering media giant a former Nat'l Guard colleague, George Conn, put the forged documents in his hands. To which Mr Conn replied, "Know absolutely nothing about the Killian memos."
"I just pushed too far," Burkett said. "I implied that George had something to do with this. I lied to you." He said he told the same story to CBS, but asserted that all his other dealings in the documents case had been honest. "I honest to God can't remember anything else I feel bad about," Burkett said.
Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents. USA TODAY has been unable to locate Ramirez.
When Burkett gave copies of the documents to USA TODAY, it was on the understanding that his identity would not be disclosed. USA TODAY honored that agreement until Burkett waived his confidentiality Monday.
"I didn't forge anything," Burkett said. "I didn't fake any documents. The only thing I've done here is to transfer documents from people I thought were real to people I thought were real. And that has been the limitation of my role. I may have been a patsy."
Go on, Mr Bill. The fellow seems to be bending under the strain. Overwrought. Fatiqued. Unsure of himself. He suffered a seizure here and there, including while on the phone recently with his attorney, a David van Os. He's exhibiting bits of abnormal pathology, too.
Burkett said Ramirez told him she had seen him the previous month in an appearance on the MSNBC program Hardball, discussing the controversy over whether Bush fulfilled all his obligations for service in the Texas Air Guard during the early 1970s. "There is something I have that I want to make sure gets out," he quoted her as saying.
He said Ramirez claimed to possess Killian's "correspondence file," which would prove Burkett's allegations that Bush had problems as a Guard fighter pilot.
Burkett said he arranged to get the documents during a trip to Houston for a livestock show in March. But instead of being met at the show by Ramirez, he was approached by a man who asked for Burkett, handed him an envelope and quickly left, Burkett recounted.
"I didn't even ask any questions," Burkett said. "Should I have? Yes. Maybe I was duped. I never really even considered that."
After he received the documents in Houston, Burkett said, he drove home, stopping on the way at a Kinko's shop in Waco to copy the six memos. In the parking lot outside, he said, he burned the ones he had been given and the envelope they were in. Ramirez was worried about leaving forensic evidence on them that might lead back to her, Burkett said, acknowledging that the story sounded fantastic. "This is going to sound like some damn sci-fi movie," he said.
An unnamed corroborating cattle-show witness aside, it sounds whacky. There are many other people in the loop, which must include DNC and Kerry campaign officials. Burkett is unsure of what to do, because these other people's necks are in a sling, and if he says what he really knows, the ropes will jerk hard.
He is reluctantly trying to fall on the sword, but he is not big enough. The blade is too large for such a small guy. Worthier targets still lurk in the bush.
LtCol Bill is in deep, national spotlight doodoo. This wasn't his idea of fame. Dan Rather must have poured on the heat last weekend at their Texas get-together. USAToday has a lengthy article.
Outed as the CBS source, he first told the tittering media giant a former Nat'l Guard colleague, George Conn, put the forged documents in his hands. To which Mr Conn replied, "Know absolutely nothing about the Killian memos."
"I just pushed too far," Burkett said. "I implied that George had something to do with this. I lied to you." He said he told the same story to CBS, but asserted that all his other dealings in the documents case had been honest. "I honest to God can't remember anything else I feel bad about," Burkett said.
Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents. USA TODAY has been unable to locate Ramirez.
When Burkett gave copies of the documents to USA TODAY, it was on the understanding that his identity would not be disclosed. USA TODAY honored that agreement until Burkett waived his confidentiality Monday.
"I didn't forge anything," Burkett said. "I didn't fake any documents. The only thing I've done here is to transfer documents from people I thought were real to people I thought were real. And that has been the limitation of my role. I may have been a patsy."
Go on, Mr Bill. The fellow seems to be bending under the strain. Overwrought. Fatiqued. Unsure of himself. He suffered a seizure here and there, including while on the phone recently with his attorney, a David van Os. He's exhibiting bits of abnormal pathology, too.
Burkett said Ramirez told him she had seen him the previous month in an appearance on the MSNBC program Hardball, discussing the controversy over whether Bush fulfilled all his obligations for service in the Texas Air Guard during the early 1970s. "There is something I have that I want to make sure gets out," he quoted her as saying.
He said Ramirez claimed to possess Killian's "correspondence file," which would prove Burkett's allegations that Bush had problems as a Guard fighter pilot.
Burkett said he arranged to get the documents during a trip to Houston for a livestock show in March. But instead of being met at the show by Ramirez, he was approached by a man who asked for Burkett, handed him an envelope and quickly left, Burkett recounted.
"I didn't even ask any questions," Burkett said. "Should I have? Yes. Maybe I was duped. I never really even considered that."
After he received the documents in Houston, Burkett said, he drove home, stopping on the way at a Kinko's shop in Waco to copy the six memos. In the parking lot outside, he said, he burned the ones he had been given and the envelope they were in. Ramirez was worried about leaving forensic evidence on them that might lead back to her, Burkett said, acknowledging that the story sounded fantastic. "This is going to sound like some damn sci-fi movie," he said.
An unnamed corroborating cattle-show witness aside, it sounds whacky. There are many other people in the loop, which must include DNC and Kerry campaign officials. Burkett is unsure of what to do, because these other people's necks are in a sling, and if he says what he really knows, the ropes will jerk hard.
He is reluctantly trying to fall on the sword, but he is not big enough. The blade is too large for such a small guy. Worthier targets still lurk in the bush.
// posted by HunterByrd @ 3:33 AM 
