Delusions of Adequacy

I think that sometime in the next few days, CBS will announce that the memos aired on 60 Minutes II Wednesday night were indeed not 1972 originals, but copies of something -- transcribed notes from Killian's personal files, maybe, written up in Word by CBS staffers or later cataloguers of Killian's effects (though who that might be, besides Killian's family, who insist the memos are fakes, I wouldn't venture to guess). They'll produce new copies of the memos, probably done this time on whatever kind of typewriter Killian was known to have had in his office, and market them as "the originals."

Of course, this won't explain the numerous discrepancies in the text of the memo itself, as enumerated by Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping (via the always excellent Belmont Club).

One thing I wonder about, not being a veteran nor having seen many military communications myself: In the memo ordering Bush to report for medical examination, the writer (whoever it was) uses the phrase "no later than" followed by the acronym (NLT). Why are both used? To my ear, this smacks of someone saying, "Here's some military jargon, and here's a translation for the uninitiated." And why, exactly, would the uninitiated be reading it? Could it be because the doc was meant to be read by the uninitiated?