Typed memos from the early '70s suggesting officers were pressured to give Bush special treatment and "sugarcoat" increasingly negative evaluations were a central part of the CBS report.

Other Guard officials disputed Burkett's account, and the Bush aide involved, Joe Allbaugh, called it "absolute garbage."

Burkett may have a motive to make trouble for the powers that be. In 1998, he grew gravely ill on a Guard mission to Panama, causing him to be hospitalized, and he suffered two nervous breakdowns. He unsuccessfully sued for medical expenses.

Still, in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, "didn't make it to the shredder," reports Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the Sept. 20 issue of Newsweek.

Fellow officers say Burkett wasn't a crank but rather a stickler for proper procedure – a classic whistle-blower type.

Burkett was impressive enough to cause CBS producer Mary Mapes to fly to Texas to interview him.

"There are only a couple of guys I would trust to be as perfectly honest and upfront as Bill," said Dennis Adams, a former Guard colleague. The White House, through Communications Director Dan Bartlett, called Burkett a "discredited source."

Newsweek also reports that a hard-core group within the John Kerry campaign is setting up a new "oppo" squad aimed at countering what they perceive as Republican-backed smears against Kerry. Tentatively called Sealords II – Kerry's Mekong Delta mission in Vietnam was known as Sealords – the group has a $1 million budget and will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, where, one of its members says, the mission will be "message, debate prep, attack, attack."

(PRNewswire)

Editor's note: