I just sent a letter to Walter Pincus about "excuse" for war issue

[Nancy Waterman]

I suggest others write to either Pincus or the Wash Post and ask for them to cover the issue of the push to make what was really an illegal war justified. If we write soon enough, it won't just be an issue for the ombudsman in three weeks.

[e-mail]


Here is my letter:

Dear Walter Pincus,

Thank you for reporting on the latest memo around the Downing Street Minutes story. Your focus was more about the lack of post-war planning by the Bush administration. The London Times slant on what, I believe, is the same memo, was about the push to make an illegal war legal, a push to find justification where none really existed.

Would it be possible for you to write another aritcle focusing on the latter issue? I think it is even more damaging than the post-war mess that has been made, albeit that is pretty horrific in itself. But where one is about incompetence and blindness through ideology, the other is about malfeasance and deception. It highlights how the whole world was duped. What was passed off by the Bush administration as a way of avoiding war by using the UN and the inspections, was actually a way of creating a justification of war by manipulating the UN and inspections, as well as a way of purposefully prodding Saddam into doing something illegal, also to justify war. These issues need to made crystal clear to the American public. Please consider writing another article on it.


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000955273

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html

Thank you.

[POAS]

1. Good Idea support allies in this fight

and don't forget your Congress-person

[LeftCoast]

2. Excellent as always Nancy!

:thumbsup:

[Nancy Waterman]

4. The two articles focus on two issues (WP and London Times)

One is about incompetence - thinking the war would be a cake walk and not planning for the aftermath,

the other is far more serious and comes out in the London Times article. It is about malfeasance - an illegal and harmful abuse of power - lying to create a war that needn't have happened, manipulating the American people, the Congress, and the UN.

Both issues seem to be in the latest memo, but both need to be pointed out.

[cestpaspossible]

3. Pincus is one of the best journalists working today.

Or should I say, one of the few.

[dooner]

5. Many assume Pincus works for the CIA

Seriously. He always has the best inside story on what is going on inside the agency. I heard a recent interview with "Poppy" Bush in which he fondly recounted a cute little story that included a reporter from the WP named "Walt" being in his home. This confirmed what I already suspected.. things are pretty cozy.

I enjoy reading Walter Pincus but only because I think he is doing a particular "mouthpiece for the CIA" job, not necessarily reporting for the public interest... unless/until the CIA's goals accidently align with the public.


Of course, letter writing is still a great idea, as much for the WP as Pincus.

[Spazito]

6. Great letter!

I see the coverage of the legality of the invasion as the key issue with the lack of post-invasion planning as a sub-text of the key issue.

bush and blair had decided to invade Iraq to perpetrate regime change in March/2002 and that is illegal in international law.

Without the illegal invasion of Iraq, there would be NO post-invasion planning needed.

[Nancy Waterman]

7. I agree. The illegality of it is the biggest issue

People can get their tiny minds around that one easily enough, if they are pointed in the right direction.

I also think the trick of using the UN and the inspections to CREATE a justification as opposed to using them to AVOID war shows us how the adminsitration manipulatates intelligence and manipulates the public mind about everything.

[LunaC]

8. I wrote to him last night

Dear Mr. Pincus:

Thank you for your story regarding the Downing Street Memo and finally putting the spotlight on a very important issue. However, plans to attack Iraq originated years before the British memos came into existence.

On January 26, 1998, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, Richard Armitage, and John Bolton (among others) signed a letter to President Clinton issued by the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) urging an attack on Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power because he put "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil at hazard". All of the aforementioned signators were elevated into the Bush Administration hierarchy immediately after the 2000 Election.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm


Clearly, the PNAC-populated White House intended to attack Iraq many years before the actual event and this adds an important insight to the entire Downing Street story.


If you are interested in learning more about the PNAC, the following link will be helpful:

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/PNAC_101

Sincerely,
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Now that the barn door is open there are SO many angles for him to run with.