Kerry is getting ready to make his move according to the Washington Post

[Pirate Smile]

WP: Democrats Looking for a Road Map to Downing Street

By Terry M. Neal
Washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 14, 2005; 10:26 AM

Democrats this week are escalating their efforts to highlight the so-called "Downing Street Memo."

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a public forum for Thursday on the subject. And 104 House Democrats have signed a letter written by Conyers to President Bush asking him for a detailed response to the memo.

After struggling during his failed presidential bid last year to stake out a clear and compelling position on the nation's most pressing issue -- Iraq -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has come out swinging. A senior aide close to Kerry said this week that a Kerry is circulating a letter about the memo among Democratic senators before sending it to Bush. The aide predicted that Kerry would make the letter public in the next few days.

-snip-
There is much to fault in both the right's and the left's interpretation of the memo. First, the memo is not the smoking gun that some liberal politicos and bloggers see. No matter what Richard Dearlove said in the memo about fixing the facts, it was still merely one man's analysis of the situation. At the same time, Dearlove is a credible source who was, essentially, the British equivalent of former CIA director George Tenet. It doesn't have to be a smoking gun for it to be an important document. The document should not be ignored simply because it does not answer every question. The Downing Street Memo is a starting place, not an ending place.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061400563.html

Getting everything in order instead of just popping off makes sense to me. This is important.

[Radical Activist]

1. The last paragraph you quoted is good.

The point isn't that the DSM proves anything. The point is that it provides another piece of evidence that warrants an investigation and Congressional hearing. A special prosecutor or full Congressional hearings would reveal more damning evidence.

[ROH]

5. Richard Dearlove could be called to clarify what was said to him (n/t)

[Tsiyu]

58. kick n/t

[LightningFlash]

2. He's actually correct. It isn't the smoking gun.

This is the smoking gun, the roadmap of the entire game....

http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/muriel/path_of_war_timeline_613.htm

And we need the full resolution of inquiry to see just what "facts" were fixed and intelligence manufactured.....If John Kerry does not fully engage the issue, he will have proven his cowardice. :mad: :mad:

He should come out fully swinging and stop letting the corporate media beat him down. Howard Dean is not just more liberal, but more outspoken, valued, and correct on everything this is than Kerry.

[blm]

14. Yeah, I noted that when Dean sided with Reagan/Bush on IranContra policy

while Kerry was taking daily beatings in the press for uncovering IranContra and then BCCI.

You surely don't know either man's actual record of governance when you claim that Dean is more liberal and more valuable and more correct. Dean would be the first to tell you he governed more conservatively when he held office, and only recently has shifted left on some issues thanks to his many supporters who educated him along the way.

There isn't a person in government who has EFFECTED this nation more positively in the last 35 years than John Kerry. Kerry has investigated and exposed more government corruption than any lawmaker in modern history.

BTW...If Dean is more correct than Kerry on this issue, please post his statements regarding DSM that are "more correct" than what Kerry has said and done over the last two weeks.

[LightningFlash]

19. Really is there any need?

He's been saying it right out of the DNC letters. http://www.democrats.org/

I admit I lost faith in Kerry's willingness to do the right thing when he ignored the stolen election, counting of all the votes, etc.

[blm]

22. Kerry's record in public service proves he'd make a case if evidence was

there.

Blame the DNC and all those Dems who DIDN'T take voting machine fraud seriously enough to prepare to deal with it as soon as it happened. That means ALL Dem officials, and especially those Dems who KNEW about BBV and didn't pursue it in an activist way before the election. Their failure to make it an issue is a sore spot with me because they KNEW and chose not to pursue it, where most Dem politicians and candidates were still basically unaware of its import.

[LightningFlash]

27. I'm just simply saying it appears the same thing here. Kerry would fight.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. You still don't get it. do you? There were no votes to count....

...because electronic voting tells no tales.

"Ignored the stolen election"? How about retreating to be able to fight another day?

Yes, there's a lot of need when folks like you continue to post comments like yours.

[LittleClarkie]

37. I like the quote from Dean himself

that said that if he is considered liberal, it only shows how far the Party has drifted to the right.

[brindis_desala]

20. I've been trying to get that point across because this is so important .

The memo is very useful but not the smoking gun. The smoking gun is plainly in the record which includes the cronyism and corruption. It's right there in the open only to be pieced together.

[Ms. Clio]

33. That is an awesome link--has it been posted as a separate thread?

It really deserves to be.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

48. You're honestly calling Kerry a "coward"? You couldn't hold that man's...

...shoelaces, much less question him about his personal bravery.

Dean is outspoken, yes....but more liberal? That's extremely doubtful, IMHO.

[Blue Belle]

3. I'm going to send an email...

to my Dem Senator to urge him to sign Kerry's Letter... hell, I may even send my Repub Sentaor the same email.

[LightningFlash]

4. Just send it TO ALL senators and congress...

EVERY one of them should be outraged at this, except the ones lining their pockets with the illegal and likely tainted money. There is no reason they shouldn't be pounding the gavel and stop hiding.

http://www.usalone.com/warlies.htm , a great way to hold people to the message.

[Tsiyu]

59. kick

[Blue Belle]

13. Here is my letter...

Dear Senator Wyden,

I read in this morning’s Washington Post that John Kerry is circulating a letter about the Downing Street Memo for the Democratic Senators to sign. Senator Wyden, I urge you to sign this letter to press this issue into further investigation. As the article states:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061400563.html

“There is much to fault in both the right's and the left's interpretation of the memo. First, the memo is not the smoking gun that some liberal politicos and bloggers see. No matter what Richard Dearlove said in the memo about fixing the facts, it was still merely one man's analysis of the situation. At the same time, Dearlove is a credible source who was, essentially, the British equivalent of former CIA director George Tenet. It doesn't have to be a smoking gun for it to be an important document. The document should not be ignored simply because it does not answer every question. The Downing Street Memo is a starting place, not an ending place.”

We need to find out the facts of this memo and what it implies. If this Administration is lying about its intent on the run up to this war, the American people need to know. If they knew that Iraq had no weapons capabilities, and then cherry picked intelligence to support their WMD claim, then the House and Senate need to know that they committed out troops to a war that is based on a lie. Yes, it has been proven that there were no WMDs, but if there is proof that the Bush Administration knew of this PRIOR to their meeting with the UN, it is an impeachable offense.

Thank you,

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Broken link

Try http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061400563.html

[Pirate Smile]

8. I fixed it.

[RBHam]

7. Smoking guns...

There's a frickin' cartload of smokin' guns...

But WHO'S running the ballistic tests?

http://www.complete911timeline.org/

Here's some NEW gems found by the intrepid Paul Thompson:

"Pentagon Tells Ex-CIA Director to Tie Iraq to 9/11"
It is later reported that "Within just a few days" of 9/11, Richard Perle convene(s) the Defense Policy Board "to discuss how Washington could use the incidents as justification for attacking Iraq, and (ex-CIA director and prominent neoconservative James) Woolsey (is) tasked to go to Europe to collect evidence that Hussein was linked to al-Qaeda. He spen(ds) many weeks on that mission, emerging with the story that an unnamed informant had told Czech intelligence that he had seen the leader of the Sep. 11 skyjackers meet with an Iraqi agent in Prague in the April before the attack. Even though the report was dismissed as not credible by US, British, French, and Israeli intelligence agencies, it (becomes) the basis--endlessly repeated by Woolsey and other neocons on television talk shows and in op-ed pages of major newspapers--of a major propaganda campaign against Iraq..." (Foreign Policy In Focus, 4/8/03) Woolsey starts his propaganda campaign two days after 9/11 with an article attempting to connect Iraq to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. He claims that Iraqi intelligence helped bomber Ramzi Yousef steal the identity of a Kuwaiti student studying at a college in Wales. He argues that if his theory is correct, "then it was Iraq that went after the World Trade Center last time. Which makes it much more plausible that Iraq has done so again." (New Republic, 9/13/01) Woosley or someone else connected to US intelligence appear to have been pursuing this line of inquiry shortly before 9/11. The London Times notes shortly after 9/11, "Until two months ago the US security agencies had never asked anyone at the college to verify Ramzi Yousef's confession of his days in Wales. Why they suddenly re-opened the files on him only seven weeks before the suicide attacks in America is not clear." (London Times, 9/22/01)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x42486

[Generator]

51. Yes it's all connected

It's so interesting because when I orginally supported the Iraq war based on wmd lies-and found out it wasn't just lies but blatant stupendous lies- was what led me to look at the whole 9/11 story. (the old prosecutor's instructions-if they lie about one thing...)

Which made me realize it's a whole shitcan of lies and 9/11 is the dead center. They needed 9/11 to justify Iraq.

But there must be a fatal error in their evil neo-con brains because people like me don't like being lied to. And will not back down once betrayed and lied to.

I think we go backwards now..start with Iraq and follow it back to 9/11. Thanks for alerting me to that post!

[flordehinojos]

9. Big Deal! Bush will wipe his derriere with whatever letter Kerry sends.

A friend of mine divorced her husband whom she had once loved very much... but, after a couple of disappointments that he gave her expectations, she said, that is it... all i have inside for him are empty feelings. i don't love him anymore.

well... kerry has sort of done that to me... i had placed so much hope in him and his promises that he was going to fight with attorneys whatever irregularities on the votes ... only to see him concede without a fight... so out of empty promises (he promised to fight to the death) come my empty feelings... and out of my empty feelings for kerry, i am sorry but in all sincereity i have to say, BIG DEAL!

Now, CONYERS, on the other hand... I consider him a STAR!

[blm]

15. And you show inexplicable timing to choose a DSM thread to crap on Kerry

and put the entire blame on him when it's the duty of the DNC to deal with voting and election issues and noone was doing it enough BEFOREHAND to grab the hard evidence Kerry would have needed to make the case.

The DSM is a serious issue that needs serious people to further it.

[flordehinojos]

21. thank you for your beaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuutiful words of angry parenting for

how i feel about kerry and when and where i've decided to express it.

americans' belief system has been screwed enough with by the bush boy. kerry didn't need to do it too... and now he is taking up arms against a harmless enemy to him now? BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


p.s. if the responsibility to make sure no one did anything to our votes, or our voting machines, kerry shouldn't have campaigned saying that he had hundreds of lawyer ready to find whatever irregularities.

[blm]

26. Diminshing the impact of a Dem leader's efforts on such a crucial issue

is not usually a chosen tactic of someone concerned with democracy above all else.

[flordehinojos]

31. have my words diminished in any way your ability to believe in Kerry?

I do not think that that is what i am doing here. I am simply expressing my feelings and point of view on Kerry. And, since this is a democracy, there is room in a democracy for all sorts of colors, shades and beliefs. Now, dictatorships is another thing. And it falls to the bushes and other dictators to suppress dissent.

[blm]

32. I'm not the only person here at DU, and antiKerry posts are used by others

in the GOP and their mediawhores to further attack Kerry as someone ineffectual and unsupported. Yet an honest read of history proves that Kerry has had more positive effect on US government during his years of public service than any lawmaker of the last 35 years.

[flordehinojos]

36. yes... that i do believe Kerry has been --perhaps a silent brook of water

for democracy. He flubbed his chances to shine out when he had the spotlight--but his still wants the spotlight and that is my beef with him...and this that i am saying here is nothing that i have not written to his campaign e-mail about. He had the chance to shine. He let it slip through his fingers. He did not do anything about it. It is time for him to let others--like CONYERS--take the spotlight and for him to return to the effective work for this country that he does best...a good worker out of the spotlight.

p.s. is there a reason why you have to highlight my posts--like a teacher who puts red marks on student's paper-- like a teacher biased
against a student usually does?

I mean, we are not in elementary school here--nor are you in a confessional meting out punishment to a penitent for his sins...

so, please explain to me what is your need to highlight my posts as if they were blemishes that you want every one to notice.

[LittleClarkie]

38. Conyers would likely disagree

He can use all the help he can get. He can't do it alone.

Why crap upon positive acion, even if you don't particularly care for the messenger. You go to war with the warrior you have, not the warrior you may want or need. :evilgrin:

I swear, the man stays silent, he's called a coward. He pipes up, and he's called a glory grabber. But then that's my Johnny Velcro for you. Everything sticks.

Conyers will get NO attention without support. The mere suggestion that Kerry might say something just gave this issue a good shot of publicity. Why would that be bad. Whether you want it to be so or not, his involvement bring attention.

[flordehinojos]

39. you make a point...

[LightningFlash]

47. Conyers and the others have gotten FULL attention without his support...

If he wants to do something do it already so we hear about it. Otherwise stand out of the way and let this take its course.

[blm]

52. You've got to be kidding. Media kept quiet till Kerry berated them over it

publically. Then he said he'd be returning to DC and taking it up with the rest of the senate and joining Conyers.

Kerry's letter is a Senate companion to Conyers' letter in Congress. He's working to push others to sign on. It's not getting alot of press so you're unhappy.

You want ranting and raving and you want Kerry to go away with his too quiet dealings behind the scenes with other senators and his allies in the UK government who are likely the ones doing alot of the leaking and document sharing.

You think everything happens in a vacuum?

[Dr Fate]

50. I do agree that "letters" are not enough.

I hope Kerry and other high-profile DEMs will go on TV to raise questions about this as well.

[pacalo]

10. Goooo, Kerry!

Good to know that Kerry has something up his sleeve.

[Fight_n_back]

11. Is Terry Neal an idiot?

It is not "One mans' analysis of what happened" it is minutes from meetings.

Someone mentioned last week how calling it a memo allows just this sort of wiggle room.

[KharmaTrain]

12. This Is More Like The Pentagon Papers

The minutes aren't an official document...thus, yes, we have to keep that in mind. It's not memos in Blair's own writing or cables with Bunnypant's crayon marks on it. It's a recording of the actions taken...and when the later history of this misadventure is written, these minutes will be of far more importance to showing the premeditated nature of this invasion.

I'd be a lot more enthused if I saw a clamor for an international investigation into this regime. If these minutes are to be believed, this regime launched a war of wonton agression against another sovereign nation against several international laws and conventions. Isn't it time to start that process?

Regarding Sen. Kerry. I always love it when some right wing media hack tells me how Democrats think and how this Democrat or that one is making this move or that for 2008. Right now my calendars don't go beyond November, 2006.

[0rganism]

16. must... resist... snarky... comment....

A headline like that pretty much invites cynicism, sarcasm, ironic humor, and grumpiness.

[Pirate Smile]

23. Sorry. Thanks for your restraint. I didn't mean to start a flame war

and really don't want one.

I think everyone is worn out from those and most people are not going to change their minds so people can agree to disagree and focus on the DSM, etc.

It was just a heads up for people who have wondered what happened about JK bringing it up.

Once again, thanks for your restraint.
:)

[blm]

53. It is amazing though. A positive REAL move for DSM and some want to bitch

up a storm and attack one of the few voices working for us.

[seabeyond]

28. for some maybe n/t

[RBHam]

17. Not.......holding.....breath.

"Circulating a letter" is he???

What a BOLD move!

Christ! :eyes:

[blm]

18. That's Senate protocol and a companion version of Conyers' congressional

letter.

Try and think it through, RB...Kerry would only be doing this if he had the evidence necessary in hand. No doubt he obtained more evidence from his British allies in government there.


Remember, when he ran the prosecutors' office in Boston he wouldn't prosecute a case if his office didn't have the evidence necessary to win.

[helderheid]

24. agreed

[RBHam]

25. sorry

alright alright

i'll breathe

and hope

once

more

fuck

[Old and In the Way]

41. Quite true blm......

Who has been more wronged in this country than Kerry? (OK, Gore)....he gonna crank this up a few notches. He will get the visibility and if he finds that thread and pulls hard enough, the whole ball of string is going to start unraveling.

Go Johnny Go!

[WildEyedLiberal]

29. Good!

Personally I think it's brilliant that he's waited until after the Jackson hullabaloo has subsided. Now that MJ's taking a weeklong nap at NeverNeverland or whatever, maybe CNN can - gasp - cover some real news!

[Dawgs]

30. Some of you people can hate on Kerry all you want, but...

the media only pays attention to him, the Clintons, or Dean. Ask the typical American who Conyers is, and you will definetely get a 'who?'.

I'm not saying that Conyers isn't making great fight, or that I don't like him, but the media will most likely ignore anything he does just because he's a nobody.

If your name is Kerry, Kennedy, Clinton, Dean, or Gore the media will pay attention. Otherwise forget it.

[ginnyinWI]

34. also he is no newbie to politics

I wish people would withhold their judgement of politicians until they see what they actually do. They could also give Kerry a little credit for knowing a thing or two about what the best options are.

I'm a newbie to politics, like many here, and am not going to sit here and criticize a guy with his experience. Nothing Kerry wants more than to expose these guys. I'm sure he'll give it his best shot.

[politicasista]

35. Amen!

Go Kerry!! :kick:

[Independent_Liberal]

40. Make your move Senator Kerry!

Make your move!

[ngGale]

42. They seem to think they can beat up Conyers', but...

they know they can't beat Kerry. He's a Pit Bull with an issue and hangs on for years. IMO, this is why the media hasn't given Kerry a lot of attention. Kerry = creditability.

[blm]

43. They tried to gaslight him on IranContra & BCCI but he wouldn't back down

and forced a official investigations.

They called him crazy and a conspiracy theory nut back then, too.

[leftchick]

44. Why is it a "So called Memo"??

It is not only a Memo but the actual minutes of UK Government meetings. These idiots are being intentionally obtuse.

:banghead:

[blm]

45. Because they can''t break out of "protect Bush" mode.

They've been in it for over 6 years and they just can't delete the programming overnight.

[Dr Fate]

49. I want to see Kerry fight. I KNOW he has it in him.

I kept waiting for Kerry to REALLY go for the throat in '04...

I'd really like to see Kerry take Bush on in a big way- you would think he'd be up for it after they smeared his record & stole the election...

Don't let us down Kerry!!!!

[DemonFighterLives]

54. I'm sure waiting for his move

I hope it doesn't take forever. Fifty years from now when more of the facts leak out, it will be too late.
Now or sooner.
:freak:

[Initech]

55. That would be a great way for Kerry to get his revenge!

It wouldnt be quite as awesome as impeachment, but it's a start!

[TankLV]

56. THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

I seriously doubt it.

Same difference.

I'm tired of all the hype.

So far, all talk and no results. And so far, all the results have been a big fat ZERO!

[Tsiyu]

57. kick n/t

[deacon]

60. I've been waiting for a "move" from kerry since november 2004--let's

hope he finally delivers.

[deacon]

61. For Kerry to possible have a shot at another run in 2008 he must join

the fight now. If not that aspiration is in the toilet. This is the fight. Does he have what it takes? Well, here's his big chance. We'll see.