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W E D N E S D A Y , J U N E 0 8 , 2 0 0 5Downing Street Memo: US Media Starts To AskAbout Smoking Gunby Michael in New York on
6/08/2005 11:19:00 AMThe Bush/Blair conference finally saw the president askedabout the Downing Street Memo.It was the most attention paid by the media in the USA sofar to the "Downing Street memo," first reported on May 1by The Sunday Times of London. The memo is said by someof the president's sharpest critics, such as Democratic Rep.John Conyers of Michigan, to be strong evidence that Bushdecided to go to war and then looked for evidence tosupport his decision, wrote USA Today.The defense both offered up was strange to say the least. In short,both Bush and Blair said the memo by top British officials saying Bushhad long planned to go to war and was going to find the evidence toback that up no matter what was wrong. Why? Because it was writtenbefore they went to the UN one last time.Huh? So the memo saying Bush planned to invade Iraq long inadvance of going through the motions of asking the UN to interveneand offering up tainted, flimsy evidence as if it were incontrovertiblewas wrong because it was written before the farcical UN visit? Well,when else can you write down plans to do something in advance?After the fact? Presumably, if the memo had been written after theUN visit, Bush would say it was wrong because it didn't acknowledgeall the (insincere) steps he'd already taken.USA Today has a good breakdown of the memo and why various newsorganizations have taken so long to cover it. The good news? Thestory was kept alive by the blogs and your emails. And can anyonefrom the UK weigh in on this argument that "fixed around" (as in theevidence was fixed around Bush's desire to invade Iraq) does nothave the same illicit connotations across the pond as it does here?Maybe someone could email this query to William Safire, thelanguage maven at the NYT at safireonlanguage@nytimes.comRobin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and InternationalStudies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy forAmericans to misunderstand the reference to intelligencebeing "fixed around" Iraq policy. " 'Fixed around' in BritishEnglish means 'bolted on' rather than altered to fit thepolicy," he says to USA Today.
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6/08/2005 11:19:00 AMThe Bush/Blair conference finally saw the president askedabout the Downing Street Memo.It was the most attention paid by the media in the USA sofar to the "Downing Street memo," first reported on May 1by The Sunday Times of London. The memo is said by someof the president's sharpest critics, such as Democratic Rep.John Conyers of Michigan, to be strong evidence that Bushdecided to go to war and then looked for evidence tosupport his decision, wrote USA Today.The defense both offered up was strange to say the least. In short,both Bush and Blair said the memo by top British officials saying Bushhad long planned to go to war and was going to find the evidence toback that up no matter what was wrong. Why? Because it was writtenbefore they went to the UN one last time.Huh? So the memo saying Bush planned to invade Iraq long inadvance of going through the motions of asking the UN to interveneand offering up tainted, flimsy evidence as if it were incontrovertiblewas wrong because it was written before the farcical UN visit? Well,when else can you write down plans to do something in advance?After the fact? Presumably, if the memo had been written after theUN visit, Bush would say it was wrong because it didn't acknowledgeall the (insincere) steps he'd already taken.USA Today has a good breakdown of the memo and why various newsorganizations have taken so long to cover it. The good news? Thestory was kept alive by the blogs and your emails. And can anyonefrom the UK weigh in on this argument that "fixed around" (as in theevidence was fixed around Bush's desire to invade Iraq) does nothave the same illicit connotations across the pond as it does here?Maybe someone could email this query to William Safire, thelanguage maven at the NYT at safireonlanguage@nytimes.comRobin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and InternationalStudies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy forAmericans to misunderstand the reference to intelligencebeing "fixed around" Iraq policy. " 'Fixed around' in BritishEnglish means 'bolted on' rather than altered to fit thepolicy," he says to USA Today.
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Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Today, srkp23(pulling a double shift), ybruti, taylormattd,ItsJessMe and vcmvo2 combed through hundredsof diaries to find this powerful list. Today's...4 minutes ago
EschatonOvernight - Folk On. Newish.21 minutes ago
HuffPost PoliticsMichael Likosky: Ed Rendell: Hardest Working Manin Infrastructure - At this year's National GovernorsAssociation (NGA) meeting, Governor Ed Rendell'stenure as Chair fittingly came to a close with aplenary session on infras...23 minutes ago
Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Open Thread below...50 minutes ago
FiredoglakeLate Night: Livin’ the Dolce Vita with TheLovernator - Who's got time to govern? Certainlynot Mark Sanford.1 hour agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S
Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T V
In honor of SenatorDeMint
For the GOPers, healthcare is politics. They justNext 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Downi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/06/downing-street-memo-u...
1 of 57/23/09 12:27 AM
Visit ourAMERICAblog TV site.see all 322 videos >I collect with
vodpod
Traditional media has todebunk the birthers
One small step...
The right-wing media, thevoices of the GOP, in
REM - Orange CrushAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Downi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/06/downing-street-memo-u...
2 of 57/23/09 12:27 AM
The TreatmentObama Has a Grown-UpTalk With America(Gulp)33 minutes agoEzra KleinTab Dump4 hours agoWonk RoomSen. Byron Dorgan:The ‘Trade’ InCap-And-Trade ‘MakesNo Sense To Me’6 hours agoHealth BeatTruth Squad: WallStreet Journal HealthCare Editorial Wrong onthe Facts . . .7 hours agoDaily DoseProviders Endorse 'Payfor Value' ProposalsG AY P O L I T I C S
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Recurring monthlydonation$
Donations are nottax-deductible.L A B E L S
Select a labelL A S T 1 0 0 V I S I T O R SRecent Visitors
A B O U TA M E R I C A B L O GWhy AMERICAblog?Because a great nationdeserves the truth.What issues do youcover?US politics overall with aparticular focus on theObama Administration, theradical right, and civilrights.Who are you?John AravosisEditorWashington, DCJoe SudbayDeputy EditorWashington, DCChris RyanAssociate EditorParis, FranceRobert ArenaContributing EditorBaltimore, MarylandJacki SchechnerContributing EditorWashington, DCAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Downi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/06/downing-street-memo-u...
4 of 57/23/09 12:27 AM
© 2009 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason RosenbaumSend me your tips: americablog@starpower.netAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Downi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/06/downing-street-memo-u...
5 of 57/23/09 12:27 AM