He also said that he could not recall any conversations in which Killian had complained about Bush's performance or about the fact that Bush failed in August 1972 to take a physical exam, removing him from flight status
"I have no recollection of anything like that happening," said Hodges. "It's possible we did talk about the physical not happening, because we would have to ground him."
The retired Guard general, who favors the president's reelection, called Bush "a truly outstanding pilot." He called Killian "a good guy" who "ran a tight ship" and might have had concerns about Bush's service.
"But he was maybe a little bit too conscientious, because he wanted his pilots to do everything perfect," Hodges said. "Pilots, like everyone else, are not perfect. [Killian] was conscientious to a fault."
As another of the corroborating experts for its report, CBS and Rather presented an on-air interview with Marcel B. Matley, a San Francisco document examiner. Rather said Matley had corroborated the four Killian memos.
But in an interview with The Times, the analyst said he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo -- in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical -- to be authentic.
He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian's initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer's initials to use for comparison.
A CBS official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the network had two other document experts, who CBS did not identify, examine the documents, which were copies of the originals.
The experts studied the type font or style, spacing and other variables and deemed the memos legitimate, said the official.
The debate continued to rage across the Internet, talk radio and other forums, with a variety of experts and lay people commenting.
The chief suspicions raised about the memos centered on the raised, or super-scripted, "th" character after numbers such as 111th, and the fact that the address listed a post office box and not a street address as most military units would employ.
But CBS and outside analysts said the memo's typography fully comported with the state of the art for that era.
Howard Rile of Long Beach, former president of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, cautioned against feverish vetting of the memos without seeing the originals and other documents produced at the same time and place.
That could be difficult because CBS says it does not have the original memos.
"We shouldn't have to be be doing this over the Internet," Rile said. "This sounds like a case that could be resolved very quickly if you get the evidence and examine it; if you get the original."
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Rainey reported from Los Angeles, Jensen from New York. Times staff writer Peter Wallsten contributed to this report.
