Suspected CBS source urged "dirty" tactics

By Michael Dobbs
The Washington Post

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Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, who earlier claimed to have overheard Bush aides conspiring with the commander of the Texas National Guard to "sanitize" the president's military records, has refused to comment on reports that he could be CBS' confidential source. In e-mails yesterday, he said he would speak out "at the appropriate time."

In e-mails to a discussion group for Texas Democrats in recent months, Burkett laid out a rationale for using "down and dirty" tactics against Bush. Burkett said he had passed on his ideas to the Democratic National Committee but that the DNC seemed "afraid to do what I suggest."

In another message, dated Sept. 4, Burkett hinted he might have had advance knowledge of some details contained in an explosive segment on CBS News' "60 Minutes" one week later. In addition to an interview with former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes claiming he helped Bush get into the Guard, CBS broadcast documents purportedly showing that Bush had disobeyed a direct order to take a physical required to continue flying in the spring of 1972.

"I believe that Bush knows that there is more coming out than Ben Barnes," Burkett wrote. "No proof, just gut instinct."

In an Aug. 25 posting, Burkett said he and others had "reassembled" files showing Bush did not fulfill his oath to obey his superior officers. It was unclear whether he was referring to records released in response to Freedom of Information requests or previously unpublished documents.

The Pentagon yesterday released more records on Bush's service with the Texas National Guard only two days after a Texas Guard official told The Washington Post that no new documents had been discovered. The records showed that Bush's father, then a congressman from Houston, thanked his son's commander for taking a personal "interest in a brand new Air Force trainee."

White House communications director Dan Bartlett said the documents were more proof that Bush fulfilled his military duty.

The Democratic National Committee said releasing the documents on a Friday night indicated Bush had something to hide.

CBS News has refused to divulge its source of the records purporting to show that Bush received preferential treatment when he moved to Alabama in 1972 to take part in a political campaign and was suspended from flying for failing to take a physical. But in an interview yesterday in the New York Observer, anchor Dan Rather gave some details about his source that fit with known details about Burkett.

Rather described his source as a man who claimed to have been harassed and threatened, along with his family, by unnamed political operatives. Burkett, who worked at the Austin headquarters of the Texas Guard before his retirement in 1998, has complained in recent years about receiving threatening phone calls at home, as well as a bullet with his name on it in his mailbox.
 
Another retired Guard officer interviewed by CBS News for the "60 Minutes" program, Robert Strong, said this week that Rather showed him copies of new Guard records on Bush that bore markings showing they had been faxed from a Kinko's copy shop in Abilene, Texas, 21 miles from Burkett's home.

The CBS documents include several phrases that crop up in Web logs signed by Burkett including "run interference," and references to a pilot's "billet." Former Air National Guard officers have noted that "billet" is an Army, not Air Force, expression.

In his Aug. 21 posting, Burkett referred to a conversation with former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., about the need to counteract GOP dirty tricks. "I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. He said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with. But none of them have called me back."

Cleland confirmed having a two- or three-minute conversation by cellphone with a Texan named Burkett in mid-August. "I told him to contact the campaign," Cleland said. "

Washington Post researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report; White House and DNC reaction to the release of documents yesterday was reported by The Associated Press.