SF Editorial on "Bush and 'the memo'" calls for "intensive investigation

[omega minimo]

"Congress must fully investigate the actions in Washington that led the highest officials in Great Britain to be convinced that the Bush administration was hell-bent on war and working to concoct a rationalization for it."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/10/EDGMMD62O01.DTL


EDITORIAL
Bush and 'the memo'
Friday, June 10, 2005

PRESIDENT BUSH apparently thinks he can dismiss the damning "Downing Street memo" with a few glib words.

If he is right, it is a sad commentary on the state of American democracy and values.

<snip>

Bush was finally asked about the memo directly this week, during a media availability with Blair. Bush tried to discredit the memo because of the timing of its disclosure -- just days before Blair's re-election. But it is important to note that no one has challenged the authenticity of the memo nor the accuracy of its account of the meeting.

<snip>

Americans deserve to have a more intensive investigation and expansive explanation to the extremely serious allegation that their government "fixed" intelligence to justify a pre-emptive war. The White House wants to dismiss it as "old news" and the Republicans who control both houses of Congress assume they can shrug off the demands of a bloc of Democrats -- led by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. -- for hearings on the Downing Street memo.

There should be no statute of limitations -- or shortness of public attention span -- on an issue that cuts to the core of this government's integrity and credibility. Congress must fully investigate the actions in Washington that led the highest officials in Great Britain to be convinced that the Bush administration was hell-bent on war and working to concoct a rationalization for it.

:kick:

[Nikki Stone 1]

1. Good good

I hope it keeps moving

[omega minimo]

2. Understated AND kickass as "intelligence and facts were being fixed"

"But it is important to note that no one has challenged the authenticity of the memo nor the accuracy of its account of the meeting."

"... the Bush administration was hell-bent on war and working to concoct a rationalization for it."

:bounce:


edited to fix intelligence :evilgrin:

[laugle]

3. Good thread---recommended

[Erika]

4. The report is authentic and no one denies this

Bush simply does not have the trust of the American people.

[omega minimo]

5. Understated and

:sarcasm:
"a media availability" rather than "press conference" ?

[omega minimo]

6. From virtual MSM blackout to

"The minutes of the meeting indicated that Blair and his top-level intelligence and foreign-policy aides were given clear signals that military action was "inevitable." "

Encouraging and rather startling to see this printed AT ALL. Any other newspaper editors or columnists calling for investigation? (Did Watergate ghosts last week give any of them something to think about regarding the craft and profession of journalism?)

The low key tone of the editorial matches the cool, dry calm of the Downing Street Minutes. Someone on Jim Lehrer NH last week commented that "only the British" could say something so outrageous ("intelligence... being fixed") and get away with it.

So maybe dry and sly will win the day. That and 750,000 signatures on Conyers' letter.

:applause:

When will *'s intelligence be fixed?

[omega minimo]

27. Email contacts for SF Chronicle Pub., Editors, Staff-- HERE

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/info/e-mail/

Bronstein, Philip
Exec. Vice President & Editor
[e-mail]

Rosenthal, Robert
Managing Editor
[e-mail]

Sandalow, Marc
Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief, Reporter, The President, Politics and the Administration
[e-mail]

Brewer, Jim
Politics and Government Editor, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Coverage
[e-mail]

Diaz, John
Editorial Page Editor
[e-mail]

Wolgelenter, Mike
DC News Editor
[e-mail]

Epstein, Ed
Washington, D.C. Bureau Reporter, War on Terrorism, Walker Lindh Case, Middle East Foreign Policy, Transportation
[e-mail]

Pollack, Andrew
Washington, D.C. Editor, News
[e-mail]

Rogers, Dick
Administration Readers' Representative
[e-mail]

Ross, Andrew S.
Executive Foreign and National Editor
[e-mail]

Sams, Reid
Executive News Editor
[e-mail]

Sulkis, Brian
State Editor
[e-mail]

Sullivan, John
OpEd Open Forum Editor
[e-mail]

Wildermuth, John
Political reporter, California politics, governor's campaign, money in politics
[e-mail]

[Califooyah Operative]

7. good, maby they've been getting emails and phone calls from somebody...nt

[chknltl]

8. Wonder how T. Blair is feeling about now...

Came to washington, left pretty much empty handed, wouldn't it be nice if he became our Deep Throat and leaked some stuff to the world press.... just a thought....no one would have to know :party:

[kissmygrits]

9. Blair has been "had"

Got used(screwed) by GWB and he deserved it. Would be nice if he did leak some things, but bet he is to embarassed for being a fool and fooled to do it. SUCKAA!

[Pystoff]

10. Just one...

Just one person please just one from the meeting speak out. Someone tell the people what happened and out these scumbags.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi Pystoff!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Pystoff]

22. Thanks

:hi:

[omega minimo]

11. WAR IS PEACE

More Newspeak from the Scoffer-In-Chief:

WAR:
Bush also scoffed at the suggestion that the decision to go to war had been made by July 2002, nearly a year before U.S. bombs began raining on Baghdad. :evilfrown:

PEACE:
"There's nothing farther from the truth," Bush told reporters. "My conversation with the prime minister was, how can we do this peacefully?" :evilgrin:

CORE OF INTEGRITY:
There should be no statute of limitations -- or shortness of public attention span -- on an issue that cuts to the core of this government's integrity and credibility. :patriot:

[senseandsensibility]

12. No * doesn't think he can dismiss the memo

in a few glib words. It's even worse than that. He knows, and so does the "media", that he will be allowed to dismiss the memo with a few incoherant words.x( Actually, he could probably babble and drool like a six month old, and still not be pushed by our brave pool of "reporters."

[omega minimo]

15. Right-- so will all those sigs on Conyers' letter do it? eom

:kick:

[maryallen]

13. Thank you, San Francisco ...

The last bastion of sanity in this failing democracy ...

[clydefrand]

14. Why doesn't the San Francisco Chronicle investigate this

story? I realize the person who wrote the editorial is probably not the one to investigate, but it does seem to me that some investigative reporter somewhere should be looking into this matter.

Where's William Pitt?

[omega minimo]

17. That's why the Deep Throat/Watergate nostalgia timing is interesting

Some of these still-proud papers will be hedging their bets-- not wanting to go down in history as TOTALLY burying the Story Of The Moment/Year/Decade/and Beyond.................

:smoke:

[clydefrand]

18. Well, I certainly hope somebody, somewhere is doing some

digging. It would do my heart good to have Dan Rather with the story of the decade...century! What vindication that would be for him! Can we enlist his help? Do you think he might be delving into this already?

[DanCa]

19. The chimp and Glib words

*Eyes Blink * Just when did the chimp learn to speak english and when did he learn to do it glibly :) -Sarcasam

[ClintonTyree]

20. This will disappear down the memory hole....

just as every other bush "scandal". The media will cover it for a while, but the White House will stonewall and refuse to offer a detailed explanation. Soon, it will just "go away".
There is NO oversight of the White House. Both Houses of Congress, the Federal Judiciary and to a great extent, the media, all belong to the White House. Where will an investigation come from? It's been demonstrated that the Slugs wont even LISTEN to the Democrats anymore. So who's going to start the investigation? :shrug: I hope we're not relying on the Press. As soon as the next dying White woman story comes along, all will be forgotten.
This SHOULD bring this administration down. It SHOULD. But it WONT because there is absolutely NO OVERSIGHT of this administration. They can lie, cheat and steal with impunity. The Slugs wouldn't go after bush if he murdered a Nun in broad daylight on national TV. They are not going to do anything that might jeopardize their icy grip on power.
I wish I could be as optimistic as the rest of you, but I've seen this administration wiggle out from beneath everything that's been thrown at them so far. I see absolutely no reason to believe that this one will be any different.
Please, someone encourage me!

[omega minimo]

23. Speaking of "icy grip on power"

If you take off your domination-tinted goggles.......

"As soon as the next dying White woman story comes along"

"bush if he murdered a Nun in broad daylight on national TV"

"Dean will fuck your shit up"

....the encouraging signs are:

This editorial was writtern
This editorial was printed
The signatures to Conyers' letter continue to pour in
There are a few Congress members willing to stand for the American people and for the American system of government
The blinders are coming off-- the American people aren't buying ALL the Bushit anymore
Outside the fishbowl of the USA, the DSM is a live story

Certainly some old school as well as some younger journalists were embarrassed/inspired by the reflections on Watergate and the Pentagon Papers a week ago.

I get your point, but your comments are very aggressive. Maybe aggression is not the answer, but the slow steady growth of a grass roots will be. What are you waiting for? (Remember, Hell froze over on January 20, 2005)

:evilgrin:

[ClintonTyree]

39. "Domination tinted goggles"....

I don't quite know what you mean by that. My "aggressive" comments aren't all that. Remember Terry Schiavo? And bush COULD murder a Nun and get away with it. Maybe you're a little too passive. They were meant to get a point across. Apparently they worked.
For the last 4+ years EVERY bush scandal was going to be the one that took him down. Everyone here starts getting all gaga and forgets that the media, and to a great part Americans themselves, just don't care. What is important to us, means nothing to them. I just can't get excited anymore about another "bush scandal that is going to take him down". They were ALL going to take him down, remember? So, you think I'm a pessimist. I believe I'm a realist. We'll have to wait and see who's correct.

[omega minimo]

40. Prose colored glasses

You had a good point in #20 and here again. However, when someone is following your train of thought and comes across "as soon as the next dying White woman story comes along" the track splits.

"They were meant to get a point across" and they do, bot ONLY to the people who:
--already know what you're talking about
--also use "dead White woman" and "dead nun" imagery to illustrate their point
--aren't repelled by the words and lose interest in what you have to say

Maybe that's okay with you. Maybe you would rather just hear from each other and think different sensibilities are '"too passive."

I would rather participate with the broader DU community and learn from people I may not agree with, without the divisiveness of sexist language. It limits the discussion and limits the possible solution-building.

I understand that "fuck your shit up" gets a rise out of some folks and they like it that way. The (aggressive) macho indignation may feel good and get people going. But please don't litter the board with dying White women and nuns being murdered in broad daylight on TV.

[johnaries]

33. Here ya go, this should encourage you!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1845768

[rodeodance]

37. and contact c-span to broadcast the hearing (link below)

from your post above:


.....Please contact CSPAN producers to insure this is not only taped, but broadcast LIVE. Send email to [e-mail]

[emald]

21. slowly gathering steam...

*'s ship is about to sail. Ever since this memo came voices said it would grow. Low and behold it looks like it's growing. I hope, pray, beg and dance for *'s ass to be in jail. Heaven knows his head will never be anywhere of any significance again.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. The other shoe just dropped

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1541405&mesg_id=1541405

[omega minimo]

25. BRILLIANT

Thanks fer the link, DYEW.

[liberal N proud]

26. People like us on DU are making this happen

By keeping the pressure on the media they are starting to wake up and smell the roses and they aren't very pretty.

Keep up the work everyone, we can't let up now!

[omega minimo]

28. Democracy works if we do

Funny how the Scots and Brits have been injecting truth serum into the ailing political body of The Colonies

[omega minimo]

29. Looks like Chronicle web site has the good stuff

Interesting. Found this in Articles & Editorials. SFGate.com is the SF Chronicle web site. Check out this piece-- not only pouncing on the Cooney Global Warming editorializing, but check the snarkitude!

So they think only certain folks read the actual paper and don't wanna know about Cooney; can't handle some pointed, salient and by-the-way TRUE comments about more White House shennanigans? No wonder so many sheeple are out of the loop.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x130907

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts
Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports. Is there any hope at all?
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist; Friday, June 10, 2005

Like anyone is the slightest bit shocked.
Like anyone is the slightest bit appalled anymore by the breathtaking litany of utter BS oozing forth from the White House these days, this time about how one of BushCo's top oil-lovin' henchmen has been hacking away at countless scientific reports for over two years, editing them at will, all to downplay the effects of emissions on global warming.

His name is Philip Cooney, and he has zero scientific training whatsoever and was formerly the "climate-team leader" (read: top flying monkey) and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the oil industry. He is now chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the group that helps devise and set the nation's environmental agenda; Cooney's cuts and edits of scientific emissions and global warming reports often made it into final White House policy.

Isn't that just the cutest thing? Aren't you just, like, yawning with ennui at the bitter repetition of it all? At how savagely and biliously common these stories have become?
Or how about that other story about how Bush's decision not to sign the Kyoto Treaty, the landmark environmental policy signed by 122 other nations to reduce greenhouse emissions, was influenced not at all by sound science or serious concern for the planet, but by pressure put on him by his pals at ExxonMobil and other major oil corporations? Did you read that one?

Link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2...

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. Let's keep the pressure on the Mainstream Media!

:bounce:


Just a reminder of some very, very important links:

To sign Congressman Conyers’ letter

http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com


To put and keep pressure on the Mainstream Media:

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/takeaction.html#awaken


http://www.afterdowningstreet.org


LISTEN TO THE RANDI RHODES SHOW-to keep up daily with what’s going on with--THE DOWNING STREET MEMO:

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com


Peace
O8)

Here is my standard letter to the Media:


Dear Sir/Madam:

As you know, on May 1 of this year a document now commonly referred to as “|The Downing Street Memo” was released into the British Press. This document raises serious question about how the administration was handling intelligence related to Iraq and appears to suggest that the Bush Administration had already decided on war when publicly it was claiming that no such decision had been made.

This document suggest that the Bush administration was determined to “fix intelligence” around a predetermined policy.

It is most disturbing that there has been a virtual media blackout regarding “The Downing Street Memo”. Even more disturbing is the absence in the America media of any credible discussion or coverage regarding strong, credible and independent evidence that the Bush Administration intentionally mislead the U.S. Congress, the media and the American people.

I do hope you will accept the responsibility to address this issue and provide serious investigative journalism into this matter.

Furthermore, on Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other House members will hold a hearing to consider testimony concerning the Downing Street minutes and questions of possible fixing of prewar intelligence. I do hope you will be giving full coverage to these events.

Sincerely,

[omega minimo]

31. Important links, strong letter-- Thanks and welcome to DU

:yourock:

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[omega minimo]

38. "Peace loving" people

Don't call people "pricks"

"Pundits and idiots" maybe

Stick your prick somewhere else

:puke:

[fujiyama]

35. Congress will do nothing

The only people that can do anything is the media to get the word out - That means the colleagues of the writers of this editorial.

[omega minimo]

36. Become the media

:bounce: