I'm gabberflasted.

Reassembled? As in bigger, stronger, faster?

Game over, man.

Just call Dan Rather "Mr. Gameoverman." (Not Mr. Gay Mover man; that's somebody else.)

PS Ace, I resent some new shadowy links fodder; it bounced back to me this PM..

Ace--
This is a great find by Captain Ed. I didn't have the stomach to go through all Burkett's trash on the "Online Journal." What a hoot that name is. Makes it sound all reputable and upstanding, when the people on writing on it are rabid lunatics.

Note the sentence from the article:

"I know from your files that we have now reassembled, the fact that you did not fulfill your oath, taken when you were commissioned to "obey the orders of the officers appointed over you."

Who do you supposed helped him? Hint: His name starts with an 'H.'

My link notwithstanding, I think maybe all Burkett meant to say was "we've been piecing your file together over time". Using FOIA requests, etc. Any Bush/AWOL site could make the same claim: "We've 'reassembled' his file."

Okay. Duly noted for the record.

I don't think that.

If you want me to de-link you for the catch, I'll do so-- I mean, if you're not comfortable with it.

I no longer think there's very much doubt at all what happened here. Yes, we can say it hasn't been proven in court yet and all that.

But for crying out loud, the freaking secretary said she thought an Army guy typed up her bullshit allegations, it was faxed from Burkett's Kinko's, and now we have Burkett saying "we have reassembled your files."

I think we're well fucking past the hurdle of absence of malice.

Whoa now, brother. Let's not let our de-linking fingers get itchy.

I wouldn't have linked it if I didn't think it was worth reading. And I do Burkett was almost certainly involved. I'm just saying that this particular comment might be innocent. 'S all.

Um, okay.

"I think he might be innocent too. I am not making slanderous statements."

So, we're all covered.

Man, that's some good stuff.

Burkett is obviously insane. Did you read the story about the rich punk he put on notice?

Or: "I missed Father's Day for 17 straight years while on National Guard duty. I missed the birthdays of my children and my wife. I missed our anniversary. I missed making payrolls as a boss. The water heater or the washer would always go out while I was at annual training, or the kids would have a major accident. But I was never excused to even attend to my family."

Remember the guy in Star Trek who faked his death and pretended Kirk murdered him? That's what Burkett sounds like. "One lousy mistake, and I never made Starship Captain. Not like fancy boy James Tiberius Kirk [replace with George Walker Bush]."

I agree with Ace. Too much reference to obeying orders, etc. This guy did it. Perhaps with help, but he was in on it.

I was tenative about being too forward leaning before, but look, at this point, claiming Burkett "might be innocent" is like claiming that OJ cut himself shaving.

Just a little speculation......

This Burkett no doubt has made himself quite familiar within the command structure of the current Texas Guard, and many people there know a lot about this guy. I think there has been reluctance to talk about him - because his personal train wreck of a life, because he is mentally ill, and because he engaged in some protected whistleblower activities.

I imagine now, as a national news focus, the "hands off Burkett' attitude is going away and enterprising reporters will be surprised and delighted to hear all about Burkett from other Guardsman speaking anonymously.

I read the Opinion Journal piece. Having dealt with some whistleblowers before that had some mental illness, I recognize the traits of a sick man - overwhelming sense of personal certainty and righteous indignation. The pure anal pleasure they show lavishing their case - despite the mighty struggle of being opposed at every turn in getting it all right - despite how overwhelmingly detailed, complex, how challenging the quest was -they succeeded!!!! And the "power trip".....usually whistleblowers are in a crusade against someone in authority, and they seem compelled to show how THEY WIELD power responsibly and beneficially with a personal vignette from their past, which the whistleblower then constrasts with incompetent leadership the evil authority figure they oppose. Look for the word "incompetent" in any disturbed whistleblower's rants - you'll see it many times.

Disclaimer - I think the majority of whistleblowers are consciencious people doing good works. But Burkett is part of the minority motivated by revenge, or working manically to rectify a situation because they perceive reality a bit differently than the rest of us, and are hell-bent to fight against what we would consider a normal system or individual - since they perceive such as profoundly threatening their internally created structure of order and proper behaviors.

Not to take away anything from the Captain (it's a great post), but Drudge had this up last night (kind of tucked away for some reason). Just for the record. That having been said, I read it and blogged it last night but totally missed the "we" part. That's why he's the Captain.

ABOUT BURKETT: I asked the question on another thread, but there are so many now, I can't remember which one, to go back to it. If Burkett was Army and Killian/Bush, etc. were Air Guard, how could Burkett even be in the same building in 1997 to see these so-called files and to hear these so-called conversations. I actually saw his face tonight on Hardball - who showed a January 2004 (I think) clip of his interview with Burkett. He speaks like a robot, tries to give the impression that he's a very "military" person like in a B-movie, twice repeating George Bush's rank abbreviation ONE...L...T. The host actually made fun of Burkett's insistence on some strange official-sounding word just to communicate an informal discussion in a hallway. It started with a "C...." - it was so arcane, I can't even remember it now.

So - (1) unless the Army and Air Guard are in the same building, his whole claim of 1997's 3 incidents could be proven bogus.

and (2) the way he asserted that rank abbreviation, was almost like preparing cover so that he would not be targeted as the forger, but that he knew of the existence of the forgeries. I do think they have existed for quite a while, and I think it's Heldt in collaboration with the rest of the cabal.

poker me up