The Downing Street Memo Reveals Blood on the Hands of Our Complicit Corporate Me

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Sat, 11 Jun 2005 08:28:09 -0700

 

 

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The Downing Street Memo Reveals Blood on the Hands of Our Complicit

Corporate Media and the Hijacking of Our Collective Fear

 

 

By Anthony Wade

 

June 10, 2005

www.OpEdNews.com

 

On September the Eleventh, 2001, our worst fears were realized. I will

never forget that day and traveling home by subway in New York City.

Looking into the shell-shocked faces of people I never met, would

never see again, realizing how truly close we all were. We were bound

together by the experience. A collective outrage, a collective

understanding that we were in this together. Unfortunately, some took

this opportunity to capitalize on our collective fear.

 

Terrorism became the tool, the weapon wielded so effectively by this

administration for five years now. They color-coded our fear, using

the terror chart to influence elections, and to distract from

potentially damaging news. They warned us over and over again that it

could happen again. They made us go buy duct tape and brought us new

terms like " dirty bomb " . Just enough to keep everyone on edge, and

distracted, while they implemented the agenda they had all along. All

the while, deregulating media, and winning hearts and minds of the

corporations behind the mainstream media.

 

How much will be enough America? How many more lies will you tolerate

from a media that is in the pocket of this President? This is not

about party or even politics. It is about human decency in an age

lapsing dangerously into moral corrosion. This is not about

patriotism; it is about our collective civilization as we see the

decay of society based on greed and corporate dominance. It is about

the legacy we leave to our children and how history will view what we

did as a people to respond to such egregious violations of basic humanity.

 

Every day there is another story that verifies our deepest fears about

the government we now have. There are stories every day that should

make the press outraged and demand answers. Instead we see coverage of

the benign and misshapen. We should be dealing in the heart of the

issues affecting this country and this world, and instead, we get the

freak show. Tonight on " Hardball " , Chris Matthews spent the first

half-hour interviewing Russell Crowe, because let's face it, when a

movie star admits to throwing a phone at someone, that apparently

should take precedence over the true news of the day. In a segment

during the second half of the show, Matthews interviewed White House

Communications Director Nicole Devenish and played his very best

whiffle ball. In what can only be described as beyond fluff, Matthews

paid lip service to the recently exposed, " Downing Street Memo " , by

asking her to comment on the fact that the memo apparently indicates

that intelligence was " fixed " to justify the war in Iraq. Devenish

responded by blowing it off and saying the memo arose during an

election cycle in England and saying that Bush and Blair had already

refuted it. Matthews smiled and moved on without the obvious follow up

that America was screaming for.

 

For those who are unaware, because of the corporate media blackout,

the Downing Street Memo are actually minutes from a meeting that

occurred in Britain months before the Iraq War started. Richard

Dearlove ( " C " ), the head of Britain's spy agency MI6 had reported in

this meeting on his recent visit with Bush. The authenticity of the

memo is not in question, as England and a US Administration official

have verified that it is indeed wholly accurate. The parts which are

quite telling are:

 

C 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, through military action, justified by the

conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were

being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN

route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's

record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath

after military action.

 

The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun " spikes of

activity " to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken,

but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action

to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the

US Congressional elections.

 

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 that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan

for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors.

This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.

 

The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference

politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN

inspectors. Regime change and WMD were linked in the sense that it was

the regime that was producing the WMD. There were different strategies

for dealing with Libya and Iran. If the political context were right,

people would support regime change. The two key issues were whether

the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to

give the military plan the space to work.

 

Let's review the basic facts about this memo.

 

1) The memo has been verified as authentic.

 

2) The memo is from months before the invasion.

 

3) " Military action was now seen as inevitable " .

 

4) " Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified

by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and

facts were being fixed around the policy.

 

5) 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

 

6) Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability

was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran

 

There is no question that this is a smoking gun that finally proves

the facts we all suspected for some time. George Bush lied us into a

war and tens of thousands of people are now dead because of it. These

are war crimes, and certainly a basis for Articles of Impeachment. The

spin coming out on the right so far has been tepid in its reality. We

have heard so far:

 

Spin - The memo was leaked during the run up to Blair's re-election in

Britain recently.

 

Truth - Simply put, who cares? That does not detract from its

veracity, which has already been established.

 

Spin – The 911-Commission has debunked the facts contained in the memo.

 

Truth – This is patently false. The commission never addressed the

pre-war intel into the Iraq War.

 

Spin – Bush was simply acting on the intelligence everyone else,

including Clinton had.

 

Truth – Another fabrication. First of all, the intelligence was cooked

by the Office of Special Plans, headed by top Neocon, Douglas Feith.

The Clinton intelligence was from 1998, and President Clinton bombed

Iraq for four days, he did not invade the country for three years.

This comparison is juvenile and a clear attempt to muddy the issue.

 

Spin – The word " fixed " can mean different things.

 

Truth – Anyone remember the definition of the word " is " ? Word parsing

cannot save Bush from the obvious statement that he had decided to FIX

the intel and the facts, around the policy, of invasion.

 

As if this was not all bad enough, this memo came out months ago. It

has been 35 days since a demand for a Congressional investigation was

made. Have you heard about this memo? Have you seen a story on it? The

mainstream American media has virtually ignored this issue. This has

been the recent pattern under the Bush administration. The president

is caught fudging global warming facts and employing a former oil

executive to do so, and we get lead stories about Michael Jackson.

American soldiers kill an innocent man in Afghanistan by beating his

legs until they turned into pulp, and we get lead stories for a week

about the runaway bride. No explanation for billions of dollars

missing in Iraq, and we get Russell Crowe. Maybe in the third segment,

there might be one question, with no follow up, about something

substantive. If all else fails and the PR is getting to be too bad, a

top official will soon be giving an " exclusive " to Sean Hannity so

they can pimp more lies to the American people. Move along, nothing to

see here. Everyone in America knows who won, and came in second, on

American Idol, but how many of them have ever heard of the Downing

Street Memo? That is part of what has gone horribly awry in this

country. There are no " deep throats " left in America because they are

all waiting to see who America's next top model will be.

 

While the average American needs to be more responsible for holding

our elected officials responsible, it is the media that is complicit.

Our media has failed us time and again, only this time; there are

people who have lost their lives because of it. When a verified memo

arises that proves the President lied this country into a war that has

killed tens of thousands of people, the blood screams out from the

ground for justice. When the media, who are supposed to report the

truth, no longer serve that truth, the blood is then on their hands.

 

It is time to demand accountability. It is time to tell your members

of Congress (http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/) that they must

do something this time. It is time you told them that the legacy we

are leaving is no longer acceptable. It is time to call and write your

media, and demand objective coverage of this story or you will simply

no longer buy their product. Their product is now bathed in the blood

we simply should not tolerate anymore. That blood was spilled over a

lie. That lie has now been exposed.

 

Somewhere back in time we experienced a terrible moment of collective

fear in this country. That fear was legitimate and pure. This

administration took advantage of that fear. They exploited it for

their own designs and purposes. They tainted and corrupted it. That

collective fear has now been perverted and in its wake, the collective

blood of humanity, spilt for lies, is screaming out to us from the

sands of a desert where our fear was used as a weapon of mass

destruction. It is screaming out to all of us. It is time to

collectively honor it.

 

 

Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to

educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is

a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political

commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian

progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the

poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold

elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

 

Anthony Wade's Archive:

http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

 

Email Anthony: takebacktheus