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Evidence Forum
This is the forum to discuss Evidence relating to the Downing Street Minutes and similar documents, testimony etc. Please limit discussion to this topic, and discuss other topics under the other forums - Congress, Activism, Media, or General.
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Here we go again. In this week's radio address Bush said, "We went to war because we were attacked ...." (June 18, 2005, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050618.html see 5th paragraph ).
Of course we were attacked, but not by Iraq. And of course we cannot expect the mainstream media journalists to pick up on the deception. So what can we do? Would a letter to the White House automatically trigger a reservation for me at Gitmo?
I did not see Robin Cook's resignation on your time line to war. As the Leader of the House of Commons and the ranking Labor Party leader, he may not have had a copy of the Downing Street memo, but he must have had knowledge of its contents. He is a man of integrity, who gave up one of the most powerful position in British government, because he so vehemently disagreed with the call to this unjustified and unlawful war.
As a parent of a US Marine, I distinctly remember Mr. Cook's resignation as a final desperate warning to the public (UK and US citizens alike).
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,916123,00.html
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Cook-Resigns-Blair-Cabinet17mar03.htm
Republicans are trying to use the fact that Michael Smith had to destroy the original copies of the memos to destroy them:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004746.php
Basically, they're trying to create another Rather-gate smokescreen.
I've been "discussing" the memos on a conservative forum, and suddenly they're all convinced that the memos are complete fakes.
We need to get out in front of this story and line up facts that verify the authenticity of the memos. Can anyone help with this?
The reporter Michael Smith was on Hardball on June 20. If I remember correctly, he stated that he actually received the memo last September. Because of the extreme need to protect the source, the attorneys, one would assume they were the Time's attorneys, determined that the best way to protect the source would be to make a photocopy of the original, then have a secretary type it up. So that's what they did. After making the photocopy, they returned the original to the source. And once it was verified that the typed version was identical to the original with the exception of the source identifiers, they shredded the photocopy. So the reporter did not act alone in this at all. But he also did not state whether he could regain access to the originals, if necessary.
If any one is interested in a story that TREMENDOUSLY lends itself to the Downing Street Minutes story, let me know and I will be happy to send you a 30minute interview of a former Pentagon official who witnessed firsthand how Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, (and the neoconservatives) knowingly and deliberately created false intelligence to support their pre-existing plans to go to war. The footage was shot about 2 years ago, yet it is completely in sync with the revelations of the Downing Street Memo, Richard Clarke's story (that the administration was looking for war rationals immediately after 9/11) and so many other facts.
The video footage is from a film I purchased, titled "Hijacking Catastrophe" and the interview is with Karen Kwiatkowski. The film was released almost 2 years ago and only appeared in a few small theatres. I was fortunate to live in the only town in the state of Washington that hosted the film, and by mere chance I stumbled across the film, then bought a copy.
I spoke with the production company and the producers gave me the okay to distribute "Fair Use" copies of the interview, at no charge. If you are interested please let me know and I will send you a CD-ROM of the video ASAP. I'll even pay the shipping costs.
This story needs to be heard...
To my knowledge Karen Kwiatkowski's story has received little to no press attention, except an article in Salon a long time ago. Following is a except from the Salon article (which I copied from the "Timeline 1" link on afterdowningstreet.org)
I STRONGLY recommend everyone watch this video, here is a quick glimpse of some of what Karen talks about in her interview:
May 2002 Karen Kwiatkowski says:
"From May 2002 until February 2003, I observed firsthand the formation of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans and watched the latter stages of the neoconservative capture of the policy-intelligence nexus in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq... I saw a narrow and deeply flawed policy favored by some executive appointees in the Pentagon used to manipulate and pressurize the traditional relationship between policymakers in the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies. I witnessed neoconservative agenda bearers within OSP usurp measured and carefully considered assessments, and through suppression and distortion of intelligence analysis promulgate what were in fact falsehoods to both Congress and the executive office of the president. (Salon)
Peace,
Brian
wheels777@msn.com
PS The production company is interested in putting the video online, but they do not have the resources to do so. Does anyone know of a website or someone who might be willing to host the interview online? If so, please contact me soon. I am awaiting a reply from the folks at this site (afterdowningstreet.org), but figure that the more sites we can get this video on the better. Thanks. Please contact me with any ideas or contacts.