Classic Bait And Switch Enacted As Downing Street Memos Called Possible Hoax

DOWNING STREET DELUSIONS....The wingnuts are getting desperate. Captain's Quarters, in a nostalgic attempt to recreate the glories of Rathergate, suggests that the Downing Street Memos aren't real. Why? Because Michael Smith, the reporter who got hold of them, had them retyped to protect his source and then returned the originals. Jonah Goldberg feverishly calls CQ's revelations a "must read."

Now, unlike the Killian memos that were at the center of Rathergate, there are quite a few principals in this case who either wrote or received these memos and therefore have absolute knowledge of whether or not they're genuine. The first memo, for example, was written by Matthew Rycroft and distributed at the time to David Manning, Geoff Hoon, Jack Straw, Peter Goldsmith, Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, Richard Dearlove, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, and Alastair Campbell. So far, not a single one of these people has claimed they're fake.

In fact, just the opposite. Here's Tony Blair himself on May 1, the day the first memo was published:

In a Sunday morning television interview, Mr. Blair did not deny that the meeting took place in July 2002, but he recalled that "subsequent to that meeting, we went the United Nations route, " seeking a resolution in November 2002, calling on the Iraqi government to disarm.

Here's Knight Ridder on May 5:

A former senior U.S. official called it "an absolutely accurate description of what transpired" during the senior British intelligence officer's visit to Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Here's the Washington Post on June 12:

Excerpts were made available to The Washington Post, and the material was confirmed as authentic by British sources who sought anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter.

Give it up, guys. They're real.


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/arc..._06/006537.php

Howdy XTC,

Even if they are real..what does it matter ? The full extent of what happened at Pearl Harbor,was not revealed until the end of the war,but 'intelligence and foreign policy',were fixed around the situation,in order to git Americans to declare war.

Stabilizing the middle-east and democratizing it,is good for all countries who rely on arab oil,also,saddam was an avowed enemy of the US and Israel,and he had the money from oil,to fund any wmd program,that he chose...or terrorist organization.

Have a good one...

and we now know that our government had complete prior knowledge in pearl harbor, and did everything possible to allow the attack to happen...

just like the LBJ tapes that were released that showed nothing happened at gulf of tonkin, they just needed an excuse for another protracted war.

they're taking control of the oil, not to let more out so prices go down, but to hoard it, tell us there's not enough, and jack the prices up, which is what's happening.

this is a very fascist war.

WWII to me was a just war. The Iraqi war is not. Dowing Street clearly states that, Bush want against advisors that we're telling him that Saddam did not have WMDs. That was one of Bush's strong points for going to war, yet he lied to the American public. Men and Women are dieing under false pretenses. Iraq was not a threat to anyone but Iraq.

no, remember, after saying it was all about WMD's which we all saw night after night...the march to war as bush calls it...the catapulting propaganda that he says he likes to use...

after saying it was all about WMD, they said they never said it was about that...you need to learn to double think as well as torog, XTC. don't have a memory, just listen to what the rulers say today, not yesterday or a week ago or 10 years ago or 30 years ago.

exactly, iraq was nothing but a threat to iraq, and it was up to the iraqis in the first place to oust the dictator WE gave them, saddam, the big hero in the 80's just like bin laden...oops, i can't remember that.

goldstein hates our freedom.

Howdy pisshead,

You claim that Iraq was never a threat to anyone but Iraq..but that would be wrong..have you forgotten the invasion of Kuwait ? How about the scuds landing in Israel ? Have you also forgotten all of saddam's vows to destroy America ? His vows to destroy Israel ?

Are you going to say next-that the terrorists are only a danger to themselves ?

Btw,saddam came to power,by his own hand,we only asisted him,because we thought that Iran,was the bigger threat.

Have a good one....

no, i haven't forgotten...have you forgotten that april glaspie, ambassador to Iraq, got up in front of congress and said that we wouldn't interfere with saddam if he were to invade kuwait...he could go ahead and do it, and we wouldn't stop him because it wasn't our business...saddam was the good guy! remember that...bin laden was the good guy, right? fighting the evil soviet occupiers! remember that?

do you really believe our government has installed brutal dictatorships around the world, and continues to support them, because they are stupid and are naive and don't know what theyr'e doing?

don't worry, you're going to get your wish of never ending war and killing...an entire generation of muslims need to die, right? then you can take the microchip in your hand and become a third world slave as the republic is systematically dismantled by those fascists profiting from the war.

well guess what? the military industrial complex is turning America into a third world dictatorship with our uncontitutional global government treaties as we kiss our sovereignty goodbye. do you care about that? they're the ones who pull off the big terrorist attacks so they can turn us into a dictatorship...9/11 wasn't done by 19 freedom hating terrorists.

i'm sorry, i don't care what's happening in iraq or iran or isreal, if they all want to blow themselves up...good, let them...why don't you care what's happening to your country here at home? freedom isn't free, right? killing hundreds of thousands of people halfway around the world doesn't keep you free at home...

Howdy pisshead,

You declare:"i'm sorry, i don't care what's happening in iraq or iran or isreal, if they all want to blow themselves up...good, let them...why don't you care what's happening to your country here at home? freedom isn't free, right? killing hundreds of thousands of people halfway around the world doesn't keep you free at home..."

I do care about American sovereignity and our freedoms here,but I also care for the freedom of others,as well. Fighting the terrorists over-seas,means that we ain't fightin them here..would rather that the front-lines be here ? If iran or Israel,blow themselves up-it will impact your life,so you best care,especially if iran's attack against Israel,prompts the rest of the arab countries to join in,Israel will use all their weapons in self-defense..the start of Armageddon..will begin.

Have a good one....

the point is, we don't have terrorists here at home doing terrorist like things...other than those who year after year are elected into the white house and systematically dismantle the constitution.

the IMF and world bank and UN and world court and world trade organization and world health organization and the fasciat/socialist national id card, biometric scanning, cameras everywhere watching everyone while tracking and taxing and monitoring system being set up in America are the threats...

our country is being destroyed, not by terrorists, by politicians working with corporations, many of whom are going to brought down in the process, but don't care and are greedy.

the country's been socialized, now the programs will be phased out, the wealth transferred to corporations who rule over us, outside of the constitution...the coup is happening before your very eyes and you don't care.

you ignored much of what i said...you obviously don't care what happens to your country because you're too set on wanting to kill hundreds of thousands of people, and you can't understand why they hate you.

don't worry, the military industrial complex is going to nuke a city or two, they're going to release biological weapons and blame it on the muslims or whatever enemy they want to invade...then you'll support an all out killing all over the world, while America is totally broken up and under martial law, as we've been told will happen after another catastrophic attack, which we've been assured will happen...you'll worship the dictatorship here at home, totally believe it's for your own good...

you should read a biography on josef goebbels, you'd probably like it.