This just in from the "Truth is stranger than fiction" department: CBS
said Dan Rather has been reunited with a kid who tried to steal his car from a
Fort Worth, Texas, parking lot one-dozen years ago. This time the meeting was half
a world away, in Kuwait.
Rather, in the country to cover the run-up to a possible
war, was preparing to interview an Apache helicopter squad. When the pilots
learned of Rather's impending arrival, one told his commander that his gunner, 27-year-old Tamarsh
Thompson, had the run-in with Rather.
The commander then picked Thompson's crew for the interview, although it was
his pilot who apparently indentified Thompson to Rather.
The anchor had refused to press charges against Thompson at the time of the
incident and instead, according to CBS, talked to him about "choosing another
path," which he apparently did.
Described as a bit camera-shy, Thompson was not interviewed for the piece.
The two talked off-camera, however, with footage taken of
the meeting that CBS planned to use under a voice-over on the coincidence for a
piece in Wednesday night's newscast.
