Move On asks why press is ignoring Cheney crimes.

[Generic Other]

This was in my mailbox:

Dear Media Corps member,
If you're only watching the American media, there's a story you haven't heard a thing about, but not because it's inconsequential to Americans: International news sources have reported that Vice President Dick Cheney could come under criminal investigation for his role in a massive bribery scandal while he was head of Halliburton.

The story has been discussed in French, British, and Austrialian papers for at least three weeks. On Saturday, the Dallas Morning News became the first major U.S. newspaper to cover the story -- with a front page article, no less. Yet the other 11 of America's 12 highest-circulation daily papers haven't covered Cheney's inclusion in the investigation at all.

Please write a brief letter to the editor of one of these newspapers, and let them know that they're failing the American public by ignoring this news:

The New York Times: [e-mail]
USA Today: [e-mail]
The Houston Chronicle: [e-mail]
The San Francisco Chronicle: [e-mail]
The Los Angeles Times: [e-mail]
The Chicago Tribune: [e-mail]
The Washington Post: [e-mail]
Newsday: [e-mail]
The New York Daily News: [e-mail]
The New York Post: [e-mail]
The Wall Street Journal: [e-mail]

MORE INFO: The investigation involves allegations that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root and a French company together paid $180 million in illegal commissions to government officials during the construction of a natural gas complex in Nigeria.

This comes after Halliburton's admission in May that, under Cheney's leadership, the oil-field services company "paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment," according to the Associated Press. An investigation on the matter by the Securities and Exchange Commission continues. Halliburton has also come under fire for inflating gasoline prices in Iraq and receiving noncompetitive contracts to rebuild Iraqi oil facilities.

Initiated by French law enforcement authorities, the case would be prosecuted under an international treaty making bribery of foreign public officials a criminal offense. The treaty has been signed by the United States, France, and over 30 other countries.

For more information about this investigation, read the international news articles assembled by the Center for American Progress in its daily Progress Report:

http://tinyurl.com/35zht

This isn't about supporting or opposing Vice President Cheney. Whether or not Cheney is ever tried on criminal charges of misusing corporate assets, the American media should be keeping the public informed about significant legal investigations involving elected leaders. Journalistic principles demand the free press serve as a monitor of those in power.

ACTION: Write to one of the country's leading daily newspapers to ask why they aren't covering this investigation:

The New York Times: [e-mail]
USA Today: [e-mail]
The Houston Chronicle: [e-mail]
The San Francisco Chronicle: [e-mail]
The Los Angeles Times: [e-mail]
The Chicago Tribune: [e-mail]
The Washington Post: [e-mail]
Newsday: [e-mail]
The New York Daily News: [e-mail]
The New York Post: [e-mail]
The Wall Street Journal: [e-mail]

Writing a letter to the editor could take 20 minutes or less. Here are our standard tips for expediting the process:


Your own words, written from the heart, are always best.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Be sure to include your name and address, and especially your phone number when submitting your letter. Editors need to call you to verify authorship before they can print your letter. They won't print your phone number.
REPORT YOUR LETTERS:
After you write, please let us know what you said at:
http://moveon.org/mediacorps/cheney_dash.html?id=2250-1468288-Em1SpqcE4LWZBrYfJopxZA

Your action will be registered on your Media Corps dashboard page:
http://moveon.org/mediacorps/dshbd.html?id=2250-1468288-Em1SpqcE4LWZBrYfJopxZA

Sincerely,
--Noah T. Winer
MoveOn.org
January 12, 2004

[Generic Other]

1. Where are DU's letter writers?

:kick:

[ShimokitaJer]

2. I think you lost them when you said:

"This isn't about opposing or supporting Dick Cheney." If it ain't about dragging the criminals down, we don't want to hear it.

But I'll volunteer to write one to the Post, if no one else has volunteered for it.

[meow2u3]

3. It's quite simple--and very disturbing

Expose Cheney's crimes and you get whacked!

Kinda gives new meaning to indecent exposure....:evilgrin: