The Downing Street Memo :: What is it? — I give up, the bloggers are the future of reporting. This story, one and one-half months after it broke in Europe would never be covered if it were not for a few bloggers who picked it up and pounded it home: The Downingstreetmemo site among them. It’s a disgrace how low we’ve sunk regarding this sort of pathetic non-coverage. I was watching a TV news show last night and they had some Bush apologist on (a seriously old fart) saying it was obvious that this was the Dan Rather situation all over again. They guy almost dropped dead on the spot and he coughed and spit on his own words. This, by today’s standards is balanced reporting — pointless and ludicrous. What the fart failed to note is that these memos were published by the London Times which is owned by right-wing Bush supporter Rupert Murdoch — also owner of FOX.
That said I question some of the language of the memo regarding secrecy. Seems a bit freaky. Still, this was relased on May 1 and NOW it’s getting minor attention in the USA while we, the public, are fed stories about movie box office receipts and who wore what at the most recent awards shows.
The Downing Street “Memo” is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister’s meeting on July 23, 2002 — a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.
The contents of the memo are shocking. The minutes detail how our government did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations; how intelligence was “fixed” to sell the case for war to the American public; and how the Bush Administration’s public assurances of “war as a last resort” were at odds with their privately stated intentions.
When asked, British officials “did not dispute the document’s authenticity.” and a senior American official has described it as “absolutely accurate.” Yet the Bush administration continues to simultaneously sidestep the issue while attempting to cast doubt on the memo’s authenticity.
related link:
The secret Downing Street memo – Sunday Times – Times Online, MAY 1
I came up with the phrase “sclerotic old fart” for these kinds of situations—feel free to pass it around. (And yes, it’s nuts how the administration has gotten so arrogant. So much for “Christian values.”)
The whole thing of intelligence being fixed is ridiculous. Do you really think a transcribing secretary would use that word to summarize the issue? The British are using the word a little differently. Namely, the decision for war has been made, and the case is being built around WMD, and not human rights, which was Blair’s preference. So the intelligence was being fixed, situated, around that argument. Granted, Bush was saying that peace was possible. That doesn’t mean there would be no military planning, or that they expected peace to be the result. When Colin Powell can present to the UN satellite pictures of inspections teams coming from one side and trucks loading up and leaving from the other side, then peace isn’t going to happen. However, perhaps a full and honest inspection would have avoided war, but the President didn’t think that likely.
Go back and study early American history, maybe even pre-Declaration of Independence. How, exactly, did the colonists get their information. Of course, Ben Franklin published a paper and lots of documents, but you will find that broadsides and other non-establishment communication sources were prevalent.
The last hundred years have been the exception, not the current state of the net. That’s just old hat for America, except that it’s now a lot easier to spread the news.
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I can just see the spittle flying from your mouth! I had more respect for you than you are giving others. No more. When you resort to name calling, you have lost all relavence in the discussion.
So Andy, you think this memo is bogus and that this war is a great idea?? Why don’t you get over there and help! Go on! Get going man!
No doubt it was an ill-conceived move surrounded by BS but quite frankly, if the “conservative” parents of the military people think that this is a cause worth sacrificing their children for then so be it. Bush is only harming his support base as this “conflict” rages on and on so there is no reason for me to complain about the ineptness of this President and his “god-inspired” decisions to enter into war. Certainly, anyone who voted for Bush has no right to complain. Until the service men and/or their parents complain about their sacrifices then why should anyone else be concerned with the reasons why it all started? We still have plenty of people to ship over there to fight for this government…in fact we have a little over half this population to send there if needed! 🙂
Ajax,
I didn’t say taht it was bogus. I mentioned how people resort to name calling instead of having a discussion. And on going over there. It wasn’t my turn but I was in Kurgistan for Enduring Freedom in ’03 and in Bahrain for Iraqi Freedom in ’04. I retire with 22 years of service at the end of September. What have you done?
I just read the whole memo. Some other people mentioned said that Bush had not made up his mind on when to attack or even whether to attack. No wonder this isn’t a big story. We have a foreign secretary and defense secretary at odds with each other as to what Bush was thinking, and the memo concedes that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, which would make the whole issue of fixing moot.