I got as an email. good overview--with longer clickable stories at website.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Progress Report: An Explosive Downing Street Memo
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 07:30:27 -0800
From: American Progress Action Fund <
[email protected]>
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
November 28, 2005
An Explosive Downing Street Memo
Last Tuesday, the British tabloid the Daily Mirror reported President Bush revealed a plan "to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar...at a White House face-to-face with
Blair on April 16 last year." (At the time "the administration was infuriated with the al-Jazeera coverage of battle , and the way the station focused on the deaths of hundreds of people, including civilians, rather than the necessity of ridding the town of dangerous terrorists.") According to the Mirror, Blair talked him out of it. The details of the conversation are allegedly contained in "a 'Top Secret' No 10 memo." One source cited by the Mirror said Bush's threat to bomb al-Jazeera was "humorous, not serious." Another claimed, "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men." Although the report remains largely uncorroborated and unconfirmed, both the Bush administration and the British government have reacted to the news as if they have something to hide.
BRITISH GOVERNMENT THREATENS TO PROSECUTE NEWSPAPERS THAT PUBLISH THE MEMO: The British attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, "threatened newspapers with the Official Secrets Act if they revealed the contents" of the document which allegedly contains Bush's threat to bomb al-Jazeera. Under that Act, it "is an offense to have come into the possession of government information, or a document from a crown servant, if that person discloses it without lawful authority." The Guardian reports that it is "the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way." Previously, the British government had "never prosecuted editors for publishing the contents of leaked documents, including highly sensitive ones about the run-up to the invasion of Iraq." (Goldsmith claims he was "not attempting to gag newspapers but merely pointing out the legal position.") Leo O'Conner, a former researcher for a British MP, and David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, have already been charged under the Official Secrets Act for receiving and passing the document.
TORY MP OFFERS TO GO TO JAIL TO GET THE TRUTH OUT: Boris Johnson, a Tory MP, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that he was "quite prepared to believe that the Daily Mirror is wrong." But Johnson noted "if there is one thing that would seem to confirm the essential accuracy of the story, it is that the Attorney General has announced that he will prosecute anyone printing the exact facts." At the end of his column Johnson makes a generous offer: "If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. The public needs to judge for themselves. Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
NO LOVE LOST BETWEEN AL-JAZEERA AND ADMINISTRATION: Asked about the report in the Daily Mirror, the White House issued a classic non-denial denial: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish with a response." Yet the administration has been sharply critical of al-Jazeera. For example, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "called the network's account of civilian casualties during the American push to retake 'outrageous nonsense' and 'vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.'" During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, "American bombs struck the network's Kabul office."
RIGHT-WING PUNDIT SAYS BOMBING AL-JAZEERA IS 'NOT OUTRAGEOUS': Whether or not Bush suggested bombing al-Jazeera, the concept has gained support within the conservative punditocracy. Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration official who writes for the Washington Times, the National Review, and other right-wing news outlets, said if the allegation that Bush planned on bombing al-Jazeera "has some truth to it, I'm not sure it is outrageous." Gaffney said Al-Jazeera was "enabling the propaganda aspects of this war to be fought by our enemies, and I think that puts it squarely in the target category. Whether the best way to do it is with bombs or through other means is something we could discuss, but I think it's fair game." Gaffney's sentiments were echoed by New York Sun columnist Daniel Johnson.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
