Monday, June 06, 2005

Tim Russert on "the now-famous Downing Street memo." It's not famous from repetitive mentions in the mainstream media, so maybe Tim is reading blogs!

From the official Transcript for June 5 - Meet the Press, online at MSNBC - MSNBC.com:
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to the now-famous Downing Street memo. This was a memo, July 23, 2002, from the head of British intelligence to Prime Minister Blair; in effect, notes taken from a briefing that was given to Prime Minister Blair after the head of British intelligence came back from a trip to Washington. It says this: "[The head of British Intelligence] reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, though military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
This is July of 2002. We didn't invade until March of 2003. And the prime minister of Great Britain is being told by the head of his intelligence that he went to Washington and believes that a decision had already been made and that the administration was fixing or manipulating the intelligence to support the policy.

MR. MEHLMAN: Tim, that report has been discredited by everyone else who's looked at it since then. {blah.. blah.. blah..}

MR. RUSSERT: I don't believe that the authenticity of this report has been discredited.

MR. MEHLMAN: I believe that the findings of the report, the fact that the intelligence was somehow fixed have been totally discredited by everyone who's looked at it.

MR. RUSSERT: There--let me go back to another sentence from that report. "There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." {. . . } we now have 1,669 Americans who've died bravely in Iraq, 1,532 of those after the president said major combat operations were over. We have 12,762 Americans wounded or injured, 12,000 of those after the president said major combat was over. This memo seems to suggest that the head of British Intelligence told Prime Minister Blair that there was little discussion in Washington to plan for the aftermath of military action.

MR. MEHLMAN: I would respectfully disagree with that finding. I think that there was clearly planning that occurred, planning that occurred {blah .. blah ... blah...} I believe we're doing a very important mission in Iraq, which is defeating the terrorists, promoting democracy and you've seen throughout this spring what the effects of that democracy have been in other Arab nations
.

MR. RUSSERT: The primary rationale given for the war, however, was the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. And again I refer you to the memo of the prime minister's meeting. "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than half that of Libya, North Korea and Iran."

MR. MEHLMAN: Well, the president, I think, was responsible in saying we need to simultaneously prepare for war and also try to avoid that war. {blah etc...}

Of course a political party professional like Ken Mehlman is not going to answer with anything other than the official party line, but more important than his predictable answers is the fact that Tim Russert, who helps to define the national political dialogue in a much larger way than we bloggers do, asked the right questions yesterday, and put large chunks of the memo's unambiguous text into his questions.

Wouldn't you love to see him put the same questions to Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld or Rice or Bolton?
Just asking,
True Blue Liberal

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Got you added!

Anonymous said...

I like the dark snark, True Blue. Nicely done.

Keep up the good work. It has been added to the blogswarm aggregate for today . E mail me or drop links to new posts in comments over my way. Many voices make a wondrous sound.

DBK said...

Well Mehlman said it was discredited, so that settles it, right? I mean just like they said Hussein had WMDs. Right?

I don't know why anyone who calls himself a journalist would even give that clown more than two words of response. You dont get any news from him, you just get repetitive lying, almost like a competitive sport.

Anonymous said...

Nice Website, TrueBlue:

Russert missed that Mehlman continued to LIE about this particular LIE, too:

that "we are fighting the terrorists over there" -- [sure, now we do, along with fighting the perfecting legal defensive Iraqi Resistance]: implying they/terrorists were THERE all the time and there was that LINK with AlQaeda/9/11, and we'd better git over there FAST and "git 'em" [as if Terrorists can't and don't pop up anywhere else!!].

And Mehlman forgot to say that terrorists were "let in" [about like 9/11 was "allowed"] through the foreign borders which weren't blocked [curiously...hence NO PLANNING, Mr. Mehlman!!]; and now terrorists are having a heydey there and do join in sometimes with the LEGAL Iraqi Resistance --

really a LOVELY thing to do to the Iraqi People whom we are "liberating", yes... FILL their Land with foreign terrorists. Lovely.

the Iraqi Reistance at times carry out illegal means, suicide bombs, along with conventional rifle/ammo warfare... whatever their meagre budgets can conjure in the face of the ILLEGAL Monstrous Military Machinery of the American Invasion/
Occupation. I RATHER ADMIRE THEM, EVEN IF SOME OF THEM HOLD IDEAS ALIEN TO MINE...I ADMIRE THAT THEY ARE STANDING UP TO THE MONSTER AMERICANS, THE ILLEGAL INVADER WHO PLAYED "Pre-Emptive" on them.

So we are "fighting" terrorists THERE and NOT HERE, Bushytail said, i.e., hiccuped, hopped and hoped that THAT one would stick...and boy we'd bitter git 'em there so we don' hafta fight 'em HERE, he said!!

And it's all a ruse made reality -- in order to GIT IN to the Middle East, get a STRONG FOOTHOLD, git entrenched, through the Oily Door and then floating pretty, as the Vulgar American Embassy of Baghdad is "being built" (is that REALLY what the Iraqis want?!), being organized for the INFLUENCE to come -- INFLUENCE in the REGION...

while the Syrians, a bit intimidated at this point, have made it crystal clear that they DO NOT want American Influence in the Region!! And they spoke for the "Arab Identity" and that "George W. Bush is not going to take it away!"

(MSM doesn't do their job, so there's very little on this...and that...and this...and that!)

What's behind all this?

The Project for the New American Century -- PNAC -- the backbone of this malfeased, mis-aligned Administration's Policies and Hegemonious Imperialistic motives of TAKEOVER -- with LIES (so that "We the People" won't be TOO bent out of shape---until---)

We find something like the Downing Street Memo...and so much more is comin' out, Cowboy et al, so pack yer bags an' take a trip to Crawford...think some things thru; maybe a Christian birdie will land on your shoulder and tell you what to do---!!

(If the birdie is REALLY Christian, then he'll tell ya what to do and you won't listen one whit: you'll call that birdie the devil standin' in yer way---)

While Conyers and throng---

get it right.

GO AMERICAN PEOPLE, WAKE UP! TRUE BLUES AND DISENCHANTED REDS, COME ALONG, TAKE AN H O N E S T LOOK. IT'S A PURPLE PEOPLE PROBLEM!! NOT A PARTISAN ONE!

OUT OUT BUSH ET AL.!!

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THANK YOU FOR TRUE BLUE LIBERAL --SEEING THE WHOLE PICTURISM!!

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YouAreTheLight!
Support Kucinich's Dept. of Peace

P.S.:

Websites re PNAC: google PNAC and see their own website: WWW.NEWAMERICANCENTURY.ORG

(first thing you see is not a map of America, but of the WORLD!! And they admit their belief that "American leadership is good for the World". These Hunks in the Pentagon don't understand CULTURE...that some people don't want the 'democracy' (so-called) that they want to foist. They don't understand the thinking of other cultures as a result of THEIR centuries of how governed, how taught this and that...

It's scary--this PNAC...and what is SO scary about it is that they really BELIEVE in it so strongly that they are very public with it...and I think some of their Directors/those involved are actually DUPED, too.

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