Row deepens over Bush’s Vietnam service records

AN argument is raging over whether documents which suggest US President George Bush lost his status as a National Guard pilot during the Vietnam War may be fake.

The CBS flagship programme 60 Minutes unveiled the memos this week. They suggested that Mr Bush fell below Air Force standards and disobeyed an order and also said senior officers tried to “sugar coat” a young Lieutenant Bush’s performance records.

But document experts said the style of type on the papers suggested they were written using computer technology that did not exist in the Vietnam era.

And relatives of the late officer who supposedly wrote the memos also doubted their authenticity.

The debate over Vietnam service has become a hot issue in the election campaign, with less than two months to go before Americans go to the polls.

Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, is a decorated Vietnam war hero who served two tours of duty and volunteered as a Swift Boat captain, suffering three injuries.

Mr Bush remained in the US and joined the Texas Air National Guard before transferring to Alabama.

How well he performed and how often he turned up for duty has been a matter of debate.

Memos purportedly written by Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, one of Mr Bush’s commanders in 1972 and 1973, also said Mr Bush disobeyed an order to take a physical test and fell below Air Force and National Guard standards.

But Lt Col Killian’s son, Gary Killian, who also served in the National Guard, said he doubted his father would have written an unsigned memo which said there was pressure to “sugar coat” Mr Bush’s performance review.

CBS is standing by its story. It said experts had examined the documents and said they were authentic.

But independent document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines said the memos appeared to have been written on a computer with Microsoft software. Ms Lines, a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, highlighted a small superscript “th” in the words “111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron”.

She said such an effect was created automatically with Microsoft Word.

Bill Flynn a top authority on document authentication, added: “These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973.”

He also noted that the memos were written using a “proportional” typeface, where letters take up space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Such technology was only available on computers or on high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.

Dan Rather, the CBS anchor who presented the story, said a retraction had “not even been discussed”.

He told reporters: “I believe the witnesses and the documents are authentic. We would not have gone to air if we did not.”