Daily Kos :: dKos Takes On Washington Post And Wins!

dKos Takes On Washington Post And Wins!
by Apian
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Sun May 15th, 2005 at 22:38:55 CDT

BREAKING THROUGH US MEDIA BLACKOUT -- ILLEGAL IRAQ WAR

Michael Getler of the Washington Post stirred up a hornets nest when, on May 10, he refused to answer complaints from a handful of readers that the paper was not covering the story of the Downing Street evidence of Bush/Blair war crimes. Media Matters, FAIR and dKos jumped at Mr. Getler and the Washington Post, flooding his office with 1,000 emails over a three day period. On the third day, the email attack subsided to a trickle, when Walter Pincus finally covered the story.

Mr. Getler must be some kind of saint to sit at the complaints desk of the Washington Post. But while patient, he is also a sharp journalist, and has shown in the affair of the non-story story an insight and independence hard to find in the MSM today. Mr. Getler is no apologist for the editorial policies of the paper, and his criticism of his collegue Walter Pincus was apt and deserved.

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dKos Takes on the Washington Post and Wins!
Today Mr. Getler has responded to the email campaign with an excellent article on the substance of the Downing Street evidence that surfaced during the lead-up to the May 5 election in Britain. Kossacks can take their share of the victory in breaking through the MSM news blackout. It's a good beginning, and a good time to pause and find out what we did right, and where we were off target. As Congressman John Conyers said May 11, "Pat yourselves on the back, and go back to work. Don't let up until FOX covers it."

News Over There, Not Over Here
Getler's coverage of the story today, and why there has been a media blackout of the story is the closest the MSM has come so far, in reporting the truth - of the most incindiary kind. "Intelligence was fixed around the policy" of an illegal invasion of Iraq. The second most explosive piece of information came from an "unnamed former senior US official" who is quoted as saying the account of the senior British Intelligence officer's visit to Washington as "an absolutely accurate description of what transpired." These two statements could mean the beginning of the end for the Bush administration.

Why This Story Is So Critically Important
As a result of ignorance, Sen. John McCain has come out today on CNN as saying he disagrees with the "memo." Well, that's like me saying I disagree that sunrise follows sunset. Senator McCain may be suffering the effects of the media blackout that has been going on for quite a while. But that does not explain why most Americans are unaware of the story, or that the "memo" can not be disputed, having been released from Downing Street and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Where's The Outrage?
Reading Getler's piece today reveals why so few people are outraged over the evidence of a crime we have all known about for years. To begin with, the left, right, and center have minimized and confused the story by calling the Downing Street war documents "a memo." The set (so far) is actually five pieces of damning incontrovertable evidence. BBC transcript; minutes of a war council attended by attorney general, prime minister's closest aide, intelligence minister, defence minister, and staff.; Goldsmith's March 7 legal ruling on the illegality of the Iraq war; the March 17 final ruling that further UN Resolutions were not necessary and the invasion would proceed; and the Civil Defence report that is the "cooked intelligence."

Evidence In Plain Sight
The story concerning the Downing Street documents first broke with the BBC on March 20, 2005. The leaked documents were released over a three week period. First Lord Peter Goldsmith's March 7, 2003 opinion on the illegality of war in Iraq ws released on the 25th of April. Then on May 1, 2005 the Sunday Times did an intel dump -- the minutes of a July 2002 war council meeting, the Goldsmith ruling, the March 17 war declaration, and the Civil Defense report.

Tony Blair -- War Criminal
The effect of these documents on the British elections? It brought about the demise of Tony Blair. The tide was turned when families of 10 British soldiers killed in Iraq, confronted Blair face to face. They charged him with war crimes -- that their sons had died in an illegal war, and Blair was to blame for leading their country into an illegal war. That case is being brought by the bereaved families before the International Criminal Court. Tony Blair's political career is finished. Baroness Morgan, who co-authored, with Lord Falkoner the final Iraq invasion ruling on the 17th of March, has resigned from government. One Labour party minister said, "Tony Blair has become a liability."

News Over Here, Not Over There
There is no excuse for any American not knowing this story. No excuse for Sen. McCain, no excuse for the New York Times, no excuse for the Washington Post, no excuse for dKossacks either. This story comes from the BBC world news service, the evidence has been released from the British government.Any American who is unaware of this story and its import is unaware because they have blinders on. American foreign policy for the last 5 years has reflected the attitude that the rest of the world, its news reporting, its leaders and its people do not exist, do not matter. This attitude is nowhere so blatant that in Bush and Co's disregard for the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the Geneva Conventions, and international humanitarian law.

US Diplomacy of Brutality
In this case, Sen. McCain's pleading ignorance was disingenious. Ignorance, arrogance, and disrespect has been the foundation of American foreign policy for the last five years. If anyone read and understood this story it would be the end of John Bolton, for starters. Who else is implicated? John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Bybee, Haynes, Condoleezza Rice and John Bolton. And there are loads of documents not yet uncovered

The contrasts between the UK and the US are revealed dramatically in the coverage or non-coverage of this story. In Britain, a free press and a government accountable to its people, corrupt leaders shamed and forced to stand down from government. In the United States censorship of the news, a public that accepts a corrupt government and an illegal war, and representatives in government like Sen. McCain, who plead ignorance, and who explain away the Iraq war as a "massive failure of intelligence," which means, again, ignorance -- of which Sen. McCain should not be proud.

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ACTION PLAN: What we should be doing now:

Start by reading both Walter Pincus' May 12 article and Michael Getler's May 15th article.
British Intelligence Warned of Iraq War; Walter Pincus; May 12, 2005
News Over There, But Not Here; Michael Getler; May 14, 2005

Before you go off on a tear, consider this: The Washington Post is the greatest newspaper in the United States. Why do I say this? If you look into the Alberto Gonzales' torture/interrogation story and the evil imaginations at work in the Department of Justice, you will find that the Washington Post wrote 79 stories in the last year, and the New York Times only 25. The Washington Post published the Bybee legal opinion which was the most damaging document to come out of the Bush administration, so damaging, in fact, that the Office of Legal counsel disavowed it altogether, rewriting in December of 2004, and trying to make like it never happened.

Once armed with the facts, write to the New York Times, refer them to ombudsman Michael Getler's article, and demand that they cover the story at least as well. Try, if you can, to find someone at the New York Times who is as patient, responsive and as good a journalist as Michael Getler. When on a letter writing campaign, remember that no one is obliged to respond to you or to print your letter.

Caution: As Mr. Getler pointed out, mass e mailings are most unpopular. It doesn't take too much imagination to figure out why. To be effective, put on your subject line: Downing Street War Documents Illegal Iraq War. You have a better chance of your e mail being read if you send to one address at a time. If it's a good letter, and you want ti printed, send it to Letters to the Editor of your local newspaper, including your address, e mail and phone number...

Daily Kos :: dKos Takes On Washington Post And Wins!