by CKR
WhirledView, so far, has been aligned with the MSM in ignoring the Downing Street memos. Let me now add a few words to the fray.
The memos indeed show us nothing new. Simply from President Bush’s body language and obvious impatience in the summer of 2002, not to mention Vice-President Cheney’s dissing of Hans Blix and the UN weapons inspectors, I figured that they all had made up their minds for war. So it’s not surprising to see a meeting of the British government at that time trying to come to terms with what their large Atlantic brother was preparing to do.
The memos themselves give few specifics in terms of the exact words of one player or another, but taken together they show a clear pattern of fixing the intelligence (yes, as in fixing an election), developing ploys to justify attacking Iraq, and a lack of planning for what the war might yield.
The memos are the equivalent of the Pentagon Papers: not so voluminous, but definitive. Some brave (or fed-up) soul in the higher reaches of the British government is taking a tremendous risk to tell us the truth, not unlike Mark Felt, who played it differently than Daniel Ellsberg.
It’s the job of the press to flesh out the details: find knowledgeable Americans who might nod their heads, Felt-style, when asked about specifics, dates of meetings, who attended; dig through the government records and file freedom of information requests. Perhaps some Woodsteins-to-be are doing this even now; we wouldn’t hear about it until they had a story.
Meanwhile, indignation and frustration are providing a lot of words. Some of them are good, but the story line risks being lost in those words.
The Rovian political machine knows one big thing that has taken them far: Keep it simple, stupid.
The Downing Street memos provide a simple message. The US government, with President Bush at its head, was determined to make war on Iraq and to do whatever was necessary to justify war, including lying to US citizens and the country’s allies. The British government went through contortions to accommodate that determination, although expressing some misgivings along the way.
That simple message must be coupled with recommendation for action. This is more difficult. The US is now stuck in Iraq. Impeachment of President Bush is unlikely with a Republican Congress. Perhaps some leverage is being gained with Republican senators through the painful process of the John Bolton nomination, but impeachment proceedings must be brought by the House, so some focus on convincing Republican representatives will be necessary.
But keep the Downing Street message simple.