Movement takes Bush to task

[tk2kewl]

Movement takes Bush to task

Newsday

BY INDIA AUTRY
WASHINGTON BUREAU

June 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - An online movement of bloggers and political activist groups is trying to keep the Downing Street memos in the public eye and stoking support for a congressional investigation.

The memos, sent among top British foreign intelligence officials, state that President George W. Bush was predisposed to going to war with Iraq and "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

The After Downing Street movement wants Congress to examine whether Bush's path to war is grounds for impeachment.

<snip>

One hope of the movement is that the mainstream media covers the memos so well that people no longer need alternative sources like AfterDowningStreet.org, Swanson said. The media might be reluctant to cover the memos because they are embarrassed they didn't dig up the information before the war, he said.

[Atman]

1. I thought this was a story about Bush passing out while on the "throne."

He's obviously so full of shit he hasn't had a movement in years.

[renaissanceguy]

3. You win a gold star for the day :)

:rofl:

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/673103

[BiggJawn]

40. He's so full of shit that's ALL he can do...

Everytime he opens his mouth, fart noises come out...

[Kurovski]

42. I've never used this "smilie" until now...

:rofl:

[UpInArms]

2. related: Why the Mainstream Media Is Catching On

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201827.html

The Downing Street Memo story continues to spread in American political discussion despite efforts to dismiss its significance.

The DSM story, as the top-secret British document is known on the Internet, has legs because it really represents two stories: an emerging alternative history of how the United States came to attack Iraq, and a story of how the New Media has usurped some of the Old Media's power to set the agenda.

Michael Smith, ace reporter for the Sunday Times, continues to lead the journalistic pack on the story, again demonstrating that there is more news in the British official record of war preparations. Smith reported last weekend that the British Foreign Office had concluded in early 2002 that stepped up U.S. and British attacks on Iraq in the so-called no-fly zone violated international law. Smith's story was based on a "confidential" document entitled "Iraq: Legal Background" that was attached to the original DSM, which was presented to senior British officials in July 2002.

...more...

also imbedded links for:

British bombing raids were illegal, says Foreign Office

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1660300,00.html

A SHARP increase in British and American bombing raids on Iraq in the run-up to war “to put pressure on the regime” was illegal under international law, according to leaked Foreign Office legal advice.

The advice was first provided to senior ministers in March 2002. Two months later RAF and USAF jets began “spikes of activity” designed to goad Saddam Hussein into retaliating and giving the allies a pretext for war.

The Foreign Office advice shows military action to pressurise the regime was “not consistent with” UN law, despite American claims that it was.

The decision to provoke the Iraqis emerged in leaked minutes of a meeting between Tony Blair and his most senior advisers — the so-called Downing Street memo published by The Sunday Times shortly before the general election.

...more...

Foreign and Commonwealth Office legal advice

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1654697,00.html

This is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office legal advice appended as Annex A to the Cabinet Office briefing paper on Iraq of July 21, 2002. This advice was originally written in March 2002.

The following is a transcript rather than the original document in order to protect the source.

To see Cabinet Office briefing paper: click here; To see original Downing Street memo: click here

CONFIDENTIAL

IRAQ: LEGAL BACKGROUND

(i) Use of Force: (a) Security Council Resolutions

...more...

The secret Downing Street memo

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,19809-1593637,00.html

SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY

DAVID MANNING
From: Matthew Rycroft
Date: 23 July 2002
S 195 /02

cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell

IRAQ: PRIME MINISTER'S MEETING, 23 JULY

...more...

[peacetalksforall]

4. Does it seem as though there are only spottings of reporters who

are writing about it, but the editors are not behind it? Are the editiors sending out explorer scouts, but staying safe in friendly and protected territory?

[tk2kewl]

5. E.J. Dionne, Jr. had a piece in the opinion section of Newsday yesterday

that whent after bush re downing street memo and war planning

I haven't been able to find a link to it other than this WP one which requires a login:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001177.html

[Cha]

7. Show's ya how much "yo mama"

cheney knows..

"Host Tim Russert asked whether "we would have to have several hundred thousand troops there" in Iraq "for several years in order to maintain stability." Cheney replied: "I disagree." He wouldn't say how many troops were needed, but he added that "to suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don't think is accurate. I think that's an overstatement."

Russert asked: "If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?"

Cheney would have none of it. "Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I've talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. . . . The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that."

Russert: "And you are convinced the Kurds, the Sunnis, the Shiites will come together in a democracy?"

Cheney: "They have so far." And the vice president concluded: "I think the prospects of being able to achieve this kind of success, if you will, from a political standpoint, are probably better than they would be for virtually any other country and under similar circumstances in that part of the world."

More stupid stuff from stupid cheney..

[rodeodance]

8. Dionne has been doing good work--including on Dick Gregory the

other night.

[Cha]

10. Dick Gregory? n/t

[underpants]

6. The elephant in the room

"What's that smell?....it smells like...elephant"

"Oh that? That's old news it has been here a while"

[ixion]

9. DSM: it's not just for bloggers anymore

I've seen a couple dozen editorials from regional 'hard-copy' news publications, so hopefully people realize that there needs to be an investigation and then an indictment.

[UCLA Dem]

11. Way to go DU!!

[mainer]

12. Has Dearlove spoken?

Has he said anything about the memos that he composed? It would be interesting to have him called to testify in congress...

[tk2kewl]

13. .

nudge

[Pirate Smile]

14. WP: Why the Mainstream Media Is Catching On (DSM)

Why the Mainstream Media Is Catching On
Internet Bloggers Push Downing Street Memo Onto the News Agenda

By Jefferson Morley
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; 12:20 PM

The Downing Street Memo continues to spread in American political discussion despite efforts to dismiss its significance.

The DSM story, as the top-secret British document it is known on the Internet, has legs because it really represents two stories: an emerging alternative history of how the United States came to attack Iraq and a story of how the New Media has usurped some of the Old Media's power to set the agenda.

Michael Smith, ace reporter for the Sunday Times, continues to lead the journalistic pack on the story, again demonstrating that there is more news in the British official record of war preparations. Smith reported last weekend that the British Foreign Office had concluded in early 2002 that stepped-up U.S. and British attacks on Iraq in the so-called no-fly zone violated international law. Smith's story was based on a "confidential" document entitled "Iraq: Legal Background" that was attached to the original DSM which was presented to senior British officials in July 2002.

The original memo reported that British defence secretary Geoff Hoon said that "the US had already begun 'spikes of activity' to put pressure on the regime" by attacking Iraqi installations starting in May 2002.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201827.html

[MadisonProgressive]

15. They are? Coulda fooled me!

:shrug:

[gratuitous]

17. Well, the Post is doing its best to avoid it

Notice how this is a report about the lack of reporting, rather than a report on what IS?

[salin]

16. hey slow poke wapo... MemoS... plural...there are a bunch of them

geez... get it right in the title, will ya wapo?

[ellenfl]

18. somebody in england really

does not like what shrub hath wrought . . . wait a minute, that's MOST people in england.

anyway, i wonder at the agenda of whoever is 'leaking' these memos. i also thank him/her profusely, altho' nothing will come of them until we take back the house and senate in '06.

ellen fl

[HockeyMom]

35. So why isn't BLAIR going down?

[are_we_united_yet]

19. Yeah whatever

[Spazito]

20. I liked the last two parts,,,

"The point is not that either account has a monopoly on truth, but now there is another force that can help put a story on the news agenda.

Thanks to the global reach of the Internet, the two-month-old scoop of a London daily continues to live in the American political debate and diverse areas of the media landscape."

Thanks for posting the link, it adds to my DSM file.

[Supersedeas]

29. wonder what delicate Dana Milbanks thinks of the lack of monopoly

[Spazito]

31. I think that is part of what's causing his snarky mood...

The 'unwashed' are daring to do the work he should have been doing and is not and, even more 'unacceptable', getting results. The great MSM 'elite' are being criticized and that is simply 'not done'.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

34. I like that DelicaDana. LOL

[woodsprite]

21. I don't know if it was a DU'er or not, but I saw the first LTTE in

DE's News Journal today regarding the DSM. I think perhaps it wasn't a DUer because they did call it Downing Street Memo.

[the other one]

26. It was my LTTE!

Yee HA!

What should I have called it?

[leQ]

30. my LTTE made it the same time as another (now) friend's did

and both dealing with the DSM:

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2005/06/22/opinion/doc42b8e4444a7a1024620397.txt

here's hoping MSM is catching on.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

37. Which letter is yours? They are both very good.

[ellenfl]

44. my local paper (WPB) had a ltte calling for impeachment!

did someone here send it? i was thrilled my paper ran it but they are more liberal than conservative and did not endorse shrub.

ellen fl

[Gelliebeans]

22. I thought it was a pretty

good article. I like the sound of "Bloggers Victory". It has a nice ring.

[jojo54]

23. I want to see and hear more.

This story is great and all, but we need this to be plastered across every newspaper and station from one coast to the other. Is it possible the media is just coming into it's own finally, or are they just putting out the feelers to see how Americans are going to react?

[Karenina]

38. Guerrilla Marketing...

Make A Difference… Right Now… & Pass It On

1.Print DOWNING STREET On Cardboard

2. Then Tape SIGN To Your Local… Street, Road, Highway Sign

3. Hang "DOWNING ST." Sign Under Your Mail Box

4. Downing Street - On A Stick - As A Yard Sign

ALL POLITICS is LOCAL

Help Make Every Street ”Downing Street” Until Bush Is Impeached !




Inspired by: snowho. Let’s do it People…
Found this at http://rogerart.com

[Oversea Visitor]

24. They have no choice

Eceryone watching them
Its going to blow
see they want to join blow job
they better hurry
or it be too late
HAHA :evilgrin:

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. We little people did this to you big bad WaPo

keep crying as yuo are deemed obsolete

[Liberal Dose]

27. Real reports still missing the real news regarding the DSMs

"The real news is the shady April 2002 deal to go to war, the cynical use of the U.N. to provide an excuse, and the secret, illegal air war without the backing of Congress."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-smith23jun23,0,1838831.story

[warrens]

28. This is a good sign

They've taken Milbank off the story as being too biased and given it to another reporter, who then slams Milbank, subtly, in his story. Very interesting.

[Jacobin]

32. This is hilarious

A newspaper reporting on its own cataclysmic lapses in a very matter of fact, run of the mill, ordinary way, as if its the most insignificant little item of the day.

[Village Idiot]

33. The strange thing not even the bloggers are talking about...

Is this:

If Bush lied, as the DSM suggests and the war was NOT about WMD, or Regime Change, or Saddam, or links to Al-Qaeda, or Terrorists, or Democracy....

Then WHY, precisely, did America GO TO WAR???

No truly compassionate American really wants to know the answer...

I wonder (and sincerely DOUBT) if ANYONE in the Congress or Senate will EVER ask this question?

Operation
Iraqi
Liberation

[Mandate My Ass]

36. They're still not reporting it

This guy talks all around the issue, saying that the only signficance of the DSM is that bloggers are forcing a debate on it. The intentionally deceptive Milbank screed is given as much weight as the factual and balanced account of Conyers' hearing in the London Guardian.

Screw WaPo.

[Danieljay]

39. dying on the vine...like every other revelation that comes forth..

I'm losing hope. NPR being taken over by the Repubs has about sealed it up for me.

[Dr Fate]

41. I'd like for Dean, Kerry, Hillary etc to talk about it on those TV shows.

Why wouldn't that give the story more exposure?

[bvar22]

43. Somebody's gotta do it!!!

An online movement of bloggers and political activist groups is trying to keep the Downing Street memos alive!


With a handful of exceptions, the people we PAY to represent us don't seem inclined to intefere with the Bush* War on the Iraqi People or the CorpoRape of Iraq.
Just FINE with them!
God forbid one of the RICH celebrity Dems bring up the subject!

Thank GOD for Conyers and the Reps who signed the letter!!!