(The leak that changed minds on the Iraq war)--I do think these papers

[rodeodance]

have changed some minds--a cumulative effect--of suspicion of the Bush Administation.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1650565,00.html

> June 12, 2005
>
> The leak that changed minds on the Iraq war
> Michael Smith
>
>
> Six weeks ago The Sunday Times published the leaked minutes of a July 2002 Downing Street meeting in which Tony Blair committed Britain to war in Iraq months before parliament was consulted.
>
> ..............
>
> By any standards these were fascinating revelations. Nothing, however, could have prepared us for what a worldwide impact the story would have. More than a month later it still features in the daily top 10 most popular stories on our website, with 330,000 people estimated to have logged on to read it.
>
> Though it remains unclear to what extent the leaked documents had on the general election (held four days after the story broke), anger about the war is widely seen as the key reason for the government’s severely reduced majority.
>
> What is clearer is that they are having a strong effect on public perception in America, where there has been a wave of interest in the leak. At least two websites, afterdowningstreet.org and downingstreetmemo.com, have been set up to draw public attention to the leaked minutes. The former received more than 1.6m hits on a single day last week (it averages above 1m a day) while the latter has been selling out of T-shirts bearing the legend: “Did you get the Downing Street Memo?” Last week the leaked documents stormed the mainstream US media when they were raised at a White House news conference, forcing Tony Blair and George Bush to address the issue.
>
> .........