British memo's trip from under the radar to front pages in U.S.

[rodeodance]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002339066_downing17.html

Friday, June 17, 2005, 12:23 A.M. Pacific

British memo's trip from under the radar to front pages in U.S.

By Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — For many liberals frustrated with the media's coverage of President Bush, it has become a rallying cry: What about the Downing Street Memo?

Their anger, amplified by left-wing advocacy groups, columnists, bloggers and some Democrats in Congress, gradually has forced the mainstream media to take a second look at the July 2002 document. In recounting a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his aides, the memo said intelligence on Iraq "was being fixed" by the Bush administration and that war was inevitable.

Since the existence of the memo, written by a British foreign-policy adviser, was reported May 1 by London's Sunday Times, U.S. journalists have offered various explanations for why they were slow to respond.

They said that the memo was old, that the U.S. mobilization for war was widely reported at the time, that there was an initial distrust of a British press report. Some maintained the memo didn't prove anything.

But.........

[MeDeMax]

1. awesome...thnx for the link...n/t

[bpilgrim]

14. are they now gonna spin this as a lefty smear campaign?

the OFFICIAL STORY doesn't acknowledged that they lied, yet.

that is what this DSM is all about, not American citizens who are so PISSED at the media that we ain't taking it anymore... that's later ;->

peace

[merwin]

2. Hell yeah, that's a pretty good story!

[dave502d]

3. Nice story,thank you.n/t

[ellenfl]

4. i keep hearing the talking heads say

'it depends on what the meaning of 'fixed' (as in 'fixed around the policy) is'.

does anyone else hear 'it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is'?

i want to laugh every time i hear one of them question the meaning of 'fixed'. don't they know that bc didn't get away with that one?

ellen fl

[rodeodance]

8. they will try anything to discredit the minutes--like people do not know

the meaning of 'fixed'--it is insulting.

[Skittles]

11. these explanations are very weak

it's like they are very much trying not to say WE WERE WHORING FOR BUSH

[MeDeMax]

5. Russert says...

"But this was new information to me." Asked about the slow response by NBC and other news outlets, he said, "One thing I've learned is when you see something from the British press, you have to vet it."

what crock, these are the same monkeys that covered the Terri Schiavo story wall to wall for 2 weeks as though it was news.

And they have to vet stories from the british press ? BBC anyone ?

[Jacobin]

6. "vet" is code for 'suppress"

Anytime you see something from a British paper (non-corporate America owned) you need to not report it, ignore it, dispute it, spin it, make it go away, if you want that big fat Christmas Bonus!!

[UpInArms]

7. at least Knight Ridder believes it to be important

John Walcott, Washington bureau chief of Knight Ridder Newspapers, co-authored a substantial story about the memo May 6. The article was published by The Seattle Times, but some Knight Ridder newspapers, such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, did not run it.

"We thought it was newsworthy that the British government interpreted their meetings with members of the administration this way and took from it that an attack on Iraq was virtually inevitable," Walcott said. The question remains "whether the information provided to the American public at the time was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

NPR is becoming less and less valid as a news reporting agency - they misreported the death of that 4 year old at Disney World - saying that he "didn't meet the minimum requirements for the ride" - hubby heard it with his own ears. Here was their response after calling them on their bad reporting:

Thank you for responding to our news story regarding the death of a four-year-old boy following a ride at Disney World. The story which we read was one which we received from the Associated Press Wire Service. We have contacted them to express your concern.

We make a good faith effort to check with several sources prior to broadcasting any locally generated stories. Associated Press and National Public Radio, in fact all good news sources, do likewise. Unfortunately, the sources for this story didn't supply AP with accurate information.

Thank you for calling our attention to this concern. We acquire our news stories from National Public Radio, from Associated Press and from our own interviews. We work diligently to be accurate and timely. We work very hard to be the news source you can count upon for balanced, accurate information.

[meppie-meppie not]

15. these guys must be repukian's because they sure pass the buck like

repukian's. Not our fault, na ah, no way, no how. It was all the other guy o'yonder's, it was. :argh:

[mountainvue]

9. Both Lou Dobbs and Aaron Brown

covered it on their shows this evening. And they didn't cover it in a dismissive way. Scott McLellan's clip made him look absurd. I don't think this is going away anytime soon.

[insane_cratic_gal]

10. Drama Queen McClellan

anytime he dismisses something as absurd, usually means "oh shit, what did they find now."

Gannon, DSM, Calling Bush Admin a Nazi regime (cough)"reprehensible" is the word I think he used. Koran, Nothing ever happened there either. Only isolated stories of abuse in Abu.

I feel like anytime he shows up, you better start digging harder because something stinks.

[cthrumatrix]

13. IF the media covered this like the MJ trial -- shrub would be impeached

[UpInArms]

12. a couple related links:

The "Downing Street memo" sufficient evidence to impeach Bush

http://www.profindpages.com/news/2005/06/18/MN987.htm

excerpt:

You would think that there was more than enough evidence now to impeach President Bush, but it seems that an American President acting like a terrorist is far less serious than a former President (Bill Clinton) getting up to a little "hanky panky" in the White House?

Unfortunately, simply getting rid of George Bush will not solve the problem as he is only a puppet for the real people who have control, and if he was impeached (and removed from office), Dick Cheney would take his place!

The best solution (although still not perfect), is to have another election and this time make sure that the voting is carried out honestly. However, even if the Democrats were to win, would this really make a difference? Wouldn't the people with the real power still control things as they do now?

The whole system in the United States needs to be looked at much more closely and to introduce some rules that make it difficult for a situation like this to happen again.

...more...

and

Leaked files show Bush rushed war

http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq18e_20050618.htm

excerpt:

It's well documented that Bush began looking at military options for overthrowing Hussein's regime as early as November 2001, with formal military planning beginning early in 2002.

Knight Ridder Newspapers, for example, reported on Feb. 13, 2002, that the president had decided in principle on overthrowing the Iraqi leader and ordered "a combination of military, diplomatic and covert steps" to achieve that goal.

Six days later, then-Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., visited U.S. Central Command headquarters and, Graham said in a memoir, was told by Gen. Tommy Franks that despite ongoing operations in Afghanistan, "military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq." Franks denied making the comment.

Richard Haass, the State Department's director of policy planning, told an interviewer that in an early July 2002 chat with then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, he questioned putting Iraq at the center of the U.S. war against terrorism. He said Rice advised him "essentially, that that decision's been made, don't waste your breath."

...more at link...

[0007]

16. Howard Kurtz is a joke!

[Judi Lynn]

17. A real risk-taker, isn't he? He's so righteous he'd do anything to see

truth triumphs, no matter what the cost to him personally. Yeah, right.

One of the oiliest "journalists" we've ever been unlucky enough to see. What a prince.

http://www.crooksandliars.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2005/02/09/Kurtz.jpg