There's nothing in those headers that indicates that the message did not come from Boylan. It may well be possible for a determined fraudster to spoof those Received: headers, but arguably just as informative is the actual content of the emails. What, for example, is this bizarre reference to identity theft in Vermont, and what would that have to do with a faked email to Glenn Greenwald? This is a guy who posted an angry email to Glenn Greenwald and now regrets it: he's simultaneously denying he sent it and engaging in a little social hacking to try and explain where the message came from.

Occam's Razor: Boylan probably sent that message, and is now lying about it.

is that the server "rich.salon.com" has been hacked, and that someone is thus able to spoof the headers. If this is the case, then the Col. Boylan you're talking to now is the same hacker that wrote the original e-mail. I would recommend notifying the Army Signal Corps about the suspect communications. If this is fraud, Col. Boylan would probably be interested in a defamation and fraud suit against its perpetrator.

If rich.salon.com has not been compromised (and you can tell this by sending e-mail to Col. Boylan from a completely different location, like Gmail) then the IP address of the external mail server (214.13.200.111, 02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil) is indeed a military IP address, registered to the Naval Ocean Systems Center and located in Wichita, KS, according to ip-address.com. "iraq.centcom.mil" is also registered at NOSC. Whether it's actually CENTCOM is hard to say, that would require the Army's (or Navy's) assistance to figure out.

One more point about private IPs and NAT:

The managaing organization, in this case, DOD, could, if so moved, identify the computer assigned the private IP number in the 10. range in question. It would be sitting behind the mail server in questions.

But there is yet another caveat.

Administrators may be using fixed IP assignments, i.e. an IP number, even private in this case, is permanently assigned to a computer.

Or, and this is more likely, the net admins are using DHCP, and IP numbers are assigned dynamically and may vary each time the computer boots and logs onto the network and receives an IP number for their current session from the DHCP server.

Again, it is clear someone from within DOD netspace sent the email through a DOD server. Whether it was the officer in question can only be answered by him (truth is required, of course), or evidence could be construed if there are earlier authenticated emails, and header information can be compared and provide evidence.

Glenn should email Boylan and ask for a totally unambiguous acknowledgement or denial of the original post. (There may, of course, have been developments not yet posted; as of this writing I have seen updates I-IV.) Absent an acknowledgement from Boylan, however, I think Glenn needs to treat what he has received as at least an apparent denial, despite the wiggle room, and change the title and lead of his blog entry accordingly. If Boylan later says, "Yes, I wrote it, and that wasn't a denial", he will look very foolish. Meanwhile, if it was a spoof, Glenn's reputation and standing will take a hit if he leaves it posted with the statement, only indirectly hedged, that it is from Boylan. One way or the other, all will very likely come out in the wash, and soon. But the honorable and cautious thing to do, pending further information, is to treat the original post as disavowed by Boylan -- and proceed full blast with the spoof investigation.

I think we know all we need to know about who sent this from Glenn's 3rd and 4th update posts. By all accounts Boylan should be pipin' hot about someone supposedly sending emails under his name and email account, yet he's playing it off like it's none of Glenn's business and Glenn shouldn't even be asking about this in the most petulant tone.

By no means does this sound like a man who would be pissed off at someone hacking into his email and stealing his identity. Rather, it looks painfully obvious that Boylan got himself busted cold. The simple confrontation that Glenn has done via email exchanges says all we need to know about the source.

Okay, let's see.... We have two Internet colonel Boylans. Both think Glenn is an insignificant putz. One sent him an e-mail saying so, then the other sent him an e-mail saying that he agreed, but that he didn't send the first message.

Could it be that the (real?) colonel has been outsourced, and nobody at Centcom bothered to tell him? It would be just like a modern major general -- or lieutenant general, for that matter -- to have his little joke on the colonel, and on Glenn, doncha think?

seems consistent with the email quoted in full that he's now denying. It almost doesn't matter if that message is proven or not -- his reply alone is openly hostile and insulting to an author and blogger with a national following. It's not at all the level of respect I'm accustomed to hearing from those in the military -- particularly one in such a responsible position. Bravo, Col. Boylan -- heckuva job.

I read the Update:

I thought of Gilgamesh, maybe for comfort, and maybe some peaceful sanity...or whatever, for some wise worth, okay.

There is a garden scene, there are endless harvests: dates, grapes, and baskets of greens. Harvest time. O, my, O me, it is so holy, and so human...read Gilgamesh. It can't hurt ya's.

...take pleasure in your strength, said Ishullanu: and this: let us take pleasure in our strength. It's written: 'Reach out your hand and touch my vulva!' O, there are some wild natural words 'um used back then..."damn agrarians"...

O, and a poor o' Boylan is 'turned into a croaked frog' ...ah.

It's written there in the old Mesopotamian historical record. It really is 'sacred' Sumerian.

Poor neocons and loyal bushy tails.

O, History instructs, and has always.

IT is wise to heed wise instruction.