GWB

AWOL

On September 8, 2004 Dan Rather
aired an item on CBS news that
highlighted the details of George
W. Bush's Air National Guard service.
A key part of this report were docum-
ents obtained from Air National Guard
sources covering the period of George W.
Bush's service.

Rather and his report were immediately
attacked by right-wing sources who
claimed the documents were forgeries.
The attackers claimed the documents
were inauthentic because they contained
proportionally spaced fonts. The claim
was that IBM did not manufacture this
type of IBM Selectric typewriter until
some years after Bush's National Guard
service.

However, this claim was a fabricated
lie that has persisted until today.
IBM first introduced electric typewriters
with proportional spacing in 1941 and
the Selectric model that could produce
proportionally spaced fonts was introd-
uced in 1966. IBM Selectric typewriters
had FSN's since their introduction and
were readily available through GSA
sources to all National Guard units
in the United States.

George W. Bush enlisted in the
Texas Air National Guard on May 27,
1968 with a commitment to serve
until May 26, 1974. During his period
of service Bush stopped mustering
with his squadron and in effect became
AWOL. These facts were all covered in
the Rather CBS report.

Very quickly, CBS disavowed the
report, and Rather left the network
under questionable circumstances.
Since that time, Dan Rather has
instituted a lawsuit against CBS
and has undertaken extensive
investigation of what transpired
between CBS and the Bush
administration.

The authenticity of the documents
produced in the Rather report were
key in the disparagement of the
entire report. Later, CBS commiss-
ioned "an independent" investigation
to look into the facts surrounding
Rather's initial report. The 234 page
study is known as Thornburgh Boccardi
Report.

The report supports the original claim
that Rather's documents are forgeries,
using the proportional font argument.
Recently, a partner in Dick Thornburgh's
law firm gave an address and acknowledge
that this claim was incorrect and in fact
they have IBM Selectric typewriters of
this vintage in their possession, capable
of producing proportionally spaced fonts.

Today, December 23, 2008, National
Public Radio's Morning Edition aired a
political piece entitled "Dan Rather Hopes
To Tell His Bush Story In Court" By David
Folkenflik. Please click on this link to hear
the entire report.

Even though it has been known for some
time that the forgery claim about Rather's
documents was incorrect, the MSN has
given scant to no coverage on the fact
that documents are genuine.

Sources:
IBM PRODUCTS & SERVICES: Alphabe-
tical Verifier and Electric Typewriter with
Proportional spacing are introduced.
SOURCE, IBM HISTORY: 1941

By 1966, IBM introduced and shipped
Selectric typewriters with a full typesetting
capability, justification and proportional
spacing. The Selectric models all had FSN's,
FEDERAL STOCK NUMBERS and were readily
available through GSA purchasing, to any
DOD/ANG user.