Is the British Press covering the DSM forum?

[mandyky]

Tony Blair may be the first casualty. Talk about historic - one month after being re-elected getting hauled off to ICC! Uh oh!

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Not in a big way

There's a story in The Times (not surprising, since they published the last 2 memos, which were what got this going), it was about 5 stories down the running order of the 6 o'clock BBC radio news, btu I don't think I've seen it anywhere else.

The chances of him being impeached or even arrested are miniscule; if more is uncovered, he might be persuaded to resign rather than try to hang on. At the moment there isn't any pressure on him because of it. It didn't come up at all in Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, for instance.

[evermind]

2. It really hasn't been picked up since the election May 5, but

bbc has a story now:

Last Updated: Thursday, 16 June, 2005, 18:51 GMT 19:51 UK

Congressmen probe Iraq war memo

Mr Blair and Mr Bush deny the war was planned so far in advance
A group of US congressmen is holding a hearing into a leaked UK memo which suggests President Bush had decided on war with Iraq eight months in advance.

More than 100 Democrats will take part in the public forum, calling for a White House explanation of the memo.

The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says although the hearing is unofficial, it coincides with waning public support for US efforts in Iraq.

Mr Bush denies he had made up his mind at the time to attack Saddam Hussein.

Maybe this will spark something in tomorrow's papers..


(Further down, the bbc outright lies (or they're just dumb) - describing Conyers' petition as "a petition against the war"!!

Fact: George Orwell's 1984 was at least partly inspired by his experiences working in bbc news...

[sundancekid]

4. got sent what you posted from a friend in UK and I sent him back the

streaming link from cspan.org so that a group of them could listen live and pass the link on to the London School of Economics and to Oxford Debate Society mail lists

[evermind]

5. Good! I bet they'll have never heard such a lot of sense

talked by US politicians in such a long continuous stream... I know I haven't! :-)

Conyers' hearings rock! :)

[LightningFlash]

3. The ICC has an official record on Tony Blair.

He will be prosecuted. There is no more doubt.

[evermind]

6. The Times now has a story, bland, but it's there..

June 16, 2005

Congress discusses secret Downing St memos

By Jenny Booth, Times Online

Members of the US Congress were this afternoon hearing evidence about two secret Downing St memos written before the invasion of Iraq which seem to imply that President Bush systematically misled the American people.

The first of the two memos were leaked to the Sunday Times in May, but the potential scandal was ignored by the mainstream US media.

The memos were however forced onto the political agenda by bloggers, who have refused to let the scandal die down. Today their efforts were due to bear fruit, when anti-war Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will hold an informal meeting to hear evidence on the top secret minutes as part of a hearing on intelligence issues before the Iraq war.

After the hearing, Congressman John Conyers Jr was due personally to deliver a letter to President Bush asking for answer about America's path to war. The petition has been signed by over 100 members of Congress and half a million ordinary US citizens.

See also my post at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3875551&mesg_id=3875551

[mandyky]

7. Please keep us Yanks informed

Think Blair will be recalled?

[fla nocount]

8. One of the closing comments at Conyers hearing today from a Brit

Dad was that there was something similar going down in a Parliament basement.