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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 04:52 PM
Original message
'Downing Street Memo' Has Lingering Effect
Activists Use British Documents
To Mount Media Campaign,
Put Bush on Defensive Over Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 28, 2005; Page A4

A series of three-year-old British documents seized upon by those who think the Bush administration manipulated intelligence before the war with Iraq has demonstrated unusual staying power. That is due in part to declining public support for the conflict – but it also has much to do with an Internet campaign by war critics prodding journalists to talk about them.

Documents detailing the run-up to the Iraq war have been splashed across London newspapers since they surfaced in the fall and hit a crescendo on May 1 with the publication of the so-called Downing Street memo.

After a slow start in the U.S., a half-dozen liberal activists are having some success in making the documents fodder for Capitol Hill rhetoric and White House news briefings.

Their campaign comes at a dicey point for President Bush, who has seen support for his Iraq policy erode amid the insurgent violence that has followed January elections in that country. A spate of recent bombings in Iraq has taken a heavy toll on Iraqi security forces and has produced fresh anxiety in the U.S. about how long American troops will have to remain in Iraq. Facing criticism from Democrats and some fellow Republicans, Mr. Bush will deliver a nationally televised speech from Fort Bragg, N.C., tonight in an attempt to regain the high ground in public opinion.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB111990950692870845-aL_AAmPTU7wzVmAd4_nb_3MIbhc_20060628,00.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top
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knowbody0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 04:55 PM
Response to Original message
1.  his excuse of "faulty intelligence"
has been demolished. this will be his undoing.
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 04:56 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. This was a great article by the Wall Street Journal
did you see how much coverage it got on TV. We worked hard to get this out and I think we did it...
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calimary Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. To get ANYTHING even semi-favorable from the WSJ is saying
something. And that they acknowledge the media was forced to deal with the story because of bloggers and others on the internet says something EXTREMELY significant.

I tell ya, if they (the media or our reps or any of our other "friendly adversaries") think we don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!!! It's finally occurred to them that the DSM IS INDEED a story that we care about a great deal, even though it practically took hitting them over the head with the proverbial two-by-four.
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. That blew me away.. I could not believe
it was the WSJ article talking about the Downing Minutes. Wow, the article talks about a grass roots effort to keep up the momentum...
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-29-05 05:34 AM
Response to Reply #4
17. They're still downplaying the memo
"Media outlets in Britain and the U.S. have identified "C" as a senior British intelligence official."

No, 'C' is the head of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service. Everyone who knows the smallest bit about the British intelligence community knows that. See, for instance, this report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (complaining that the government was not cooperating with them):

The following witnesses, requested by this Committee and refused by the Government, gave evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee's inquiry into Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction - Intelligence and Assessments:

* the Prime Minister;
* the Cabinet Office Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator;
* the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee;
* the Chief of Defence Intelligence;
* the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service ('C');
* the Director of GCHQ.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmfaff/440/44003.htm


Every time someone implies it was some anonymous intelligence official, they are trying to downgrade the importance of what was stated. And anyone still doing it now, when so many people have pointed out the plain fact, is doing it on purpose to muddy the waters.

The head of British intelligence, after talks in Washington, said "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy". That is vital to remember. Blair was told the Americans were making up intelligence, by his head of intelligence, and he nevertheless kept supporting Bush, and eagerly published that 'intelligence'. That's why Blair's dossier was indeed 'sexed up'. That's why Blair probably did know the 45 minute claim was wrong. Andrew Gilligan and the BBC were right, and Blair lied Britain into an illegal war.
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knowbody0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. we need to keep the momentum going
and never relax. question everything. trust no one.
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katinmn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 04:59 PM
Response to Original message
3. Take that all you naysayers!
No one can say of letter campaigns and petition drives: "It's a waste of time" or "nothing will come of it" with any credibility anymore.

A lot has come of it.
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knowbody0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:01 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. time to pump up the volumn
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calimary Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:02 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. I've got a BIG, FAT, JUICY AMEN for that.
You're absolutely correct. ABSOLUTELY correct. NO ONE can say that stuff doesn't make any difference.

It DOES. WE have seen it - witnessed it with our own eyes. Hell, WE helped make it happen.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. And especially DU, I am certain of that.
.
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hedda_foil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:07 PM
Response to Original message
9. I love this part!
"People find it hard to believe it when I tell them that for a $20 Web-hosting fee, you too can get something like this going."


-------
Considering how much the pukes spend on their "grassroots activism" campaigns, no wonder the MSM finds it hard to believe the truth about the efforts on our side.
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drm604 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
10. "Lingering Effect"
Good article for the WSJ. But notice that they try to downplay it in the headline by using the phrase "Lingering Effect", which implies a minor slowly ebbing effect rather than a gathering storm.
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:12 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. I see it as something that is holding on
when something lingers to me, it keeps staying there when it should be going. Like the DSM should be out of the spotlight of the news, but the grass roots movement keeps it lingering in the news...
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
12. kick
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lyonn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
14. Thanks dogday
For the WSJ that is so impressive. They did put their slant on it but not offensive. This could attract a different crowd to this story, right?
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Your Welcome, It is Impressive
now if more people would read it....
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frictionlessO Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 05:57 PM
Response to Original message
16. Nom'd due to RW source! Grooovy.... n/t
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deacon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-29-05 05:46 AM
Response to Original message
18. The speech he gave last nite is just more reason to get a formal
investigation underway.

There can't be anyone left that could possibly still doubt he didn't intentionally use 911 to get his war in iraq. He wanted the IRAQ war BADLY. He is guilty.
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dogday Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-29-05 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. And even more reason to keep DSM in the spotlight
we need to keep DSM in the spotlight, it cannot be forgotten...
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LightningFlash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-29-05 08:36 AM
Response to Original message
20. Half dozen, ASSHOLES??
Try more than 1,000,000......

:mad: :mad: :mad: :banghead:
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-29-05 08:37 AM
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