Burkett's central complaint with the panel's report is its failure to note that in giving the Killian memos to Mapes and Texas-based freelance reporter Mike Smith, who helped her track down the story, Burkett was making, in his words, a "contingent" agreement with them, one that put the onus on them to authenticate the memos before using them.

"As I openly stated, backgrounded in excruciating detail to Mapes, Rather and CBS, the documents had to be able to be 'free standing' before I would release them. I had to be satisfied that CBS had the capability and intent to fully authenticate the documents," Burkett wrote in his letter. "CBS, through its employees, had to make a critical decision as to whether they were willing to take that risk. There were no expressed or implied warranties about the documents. Yet I believed them to be authentic."

As the independent panel chronicled in detail, attempts by CBS staffers to authenticate the memos were a failure: "Neither Mapes nor [associate producer Yvonne] Miller had any prior experience in document or handwriting analysis or the mechanics of document authentication." Trying to track down experts over the busy Labor Day weekend, Mapes seemed to cling to analyses that substantiated the documents' authenticity, while dismissing those that raised serious questions. Only after the controversy began to engulf CBS did it become clear how many unanswered questions about the Killian memos remained at the time the Guard story aired.

Burkett insists he's not to blame for CBS's shoddy gumshoe work, adding that when CBS concluded he had changed his story about the memos' chain of possession, it opted to pin the blame for the entire debacle on him. "The official statement of CBS News on September 20 and the lead story on the 'CBS Evening News' made a most public attempt to transfer the blame for the failure of CBS to me. The blame is not transferable, and your panel had a responsibility to point that fact out," wrote Burkett.

The memos' chain of possession, and how Burkett obtained them, remain key. The panel's report indicates that reporter Smith and producer Mapes recall slightly different versions of how Burkett said he got the documents. Smith told the panel that Burkett said he had received them anonymously in the mail. Mapes said "that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett stated that he received the documents after he was interviewed on a national television show in February 2004 concerning President Bush's TexANG service, but did not say how he received them or from whom."

According to Burkett, as soon as he handed over the memos, Mapes began needling him for information about his source, focusing on George Conn, a former Texas Air National Guard colleague of Burkett's. She "began playing an old media trick of baiting questions to get me to deny their origin. I simply did not play," Burkett wrote. "Mary Mapes did specifically ask me if George Conn was the source. My failure was to not answer that question emphatically -- NO -- though the question was a continued entrapment trick that she used after receiving the documents. Instead, when Mary Mapes specifically asked me if the documents came from George Conn, I did not definitively answer the question, believing it was not germane to any subject since we had reached an agreement that the documents would be authenticated and become 'stand alone' material." Mapes told the panel that Burkett did say the documents had come from Conn. USA Today, which also received copies of the Killian memos from Burkett last September, reported on Sept. 21 that Burkett initially told its reporters that the documents had come from Conn.

In a conference call with senior CBS executives on Sept. 16, as the controversy continued to swell, Burkett revealed that he had received the memos after getting a call from a woman who identified herself as Lucy Ramirez. Burkett said she told him she had documents pertaining to Bush's National Guard service and, after seeing Burkett on television in February discussing the topic, decided to give them to him, arranging to provide them while visiting the Houston livestock show.

According to Burkett, CBS seized on that revelation: "From this meeting in which I disclosed the source, an entrapment began by all or part of these individuals to get my comments on tape and attempt to shift the blame for CBS' failings to someone else -- me," he wrote.

In a taped two-hour interview with CBS that aired Sept. 20 alongside CBS's official apology, Rather brought up the apparent change in Burkett's story:

Rather: "But you did mislead us."

Burkett: "Yes, I misled."

Rather: "You, you lied, you..."

Burkett: "Yes, I did."

Rather: "You lied to us."

Additionally, Rather asked, "Have you forged anything?"

Burkett: "No sir."

Rather: "Have you faked anything?

Burkett: "No sir."

In his letter, Burkett also takes issue with the timing of the segment on "60 Minutes Wednesday," which aired just six days after Burkett first handed over the memos. Initially, the story was pegged to run during the last week of September, but for competitive purposes CBS moved it up to Sept. 8. At his first meeting with Mapes and Smith, on Sept. 2, Burkett says he voiced concern about whether the story could be properly reported and fact-checked by Sept. 29, let alone by Sept. 8. "In fact, CBS took aggressive steps to accelerate the airing (prematurely, I believe) of the documents for whatever reason and under whoever's decision. Without all other considerations, CBS accepted full risk and responsibility," wrote Burkett. "Therefore, CBS erred."

It's an error CBS is still paying for.

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