If you have been wondering why MSM has not covered the Downing Street Memo, I may have some insight!!
First a little background. Somewhere in the late 90's I became a Newt Gingrich democrat. Translated, I was so disgusted with the hypocrisy of the Republican Party, and the ridiculous attacks on Bill Clinton, I re-registered as a Democrat. A funny thing happened, I found out I was liberal all along!
A short time later, I discovered I just couldn't tolerate living in the absurdity of the United States any longer. As the rightwingers often suggest, since I could no longer "love it", I decided to "leave it"! In 1999, my wife and I sold everything we owned, hopped on our sailboat and vowed never to return.
On 9/11, we were anchored off Panama City, Panama where we watched the second plane slam into the World Trade Center live on CNN. 9/11 peaked our interest, once again, in news. News onboard came via shortwave AM broadcasts from all over the world. We began regularly listening to the BBC, Radio New Zealand, Radio Australia, Voice of America, even the Voice of Islamic Iran.
One night in October about a month after 9/11, now in Costa Rica, we were listening to a story from the BBC about a videotape that had reportedly just been obtained by CNN. The tape was made by Osama Bin Laden and claimed that 9/11 was just the beginning. The story went on discussing that OBL was planning attacks on 25 more U.S. cities that included San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and others. It was reported that Tony Blair had discussed the video in a session with Parliament. The story ended with the words I will never forget, "This information is being withheld from the American public".
In what must have looked like a double exposure of a scene from the Exorcist, our heads spun as we simultaneously looked at each other and said, "Did you just hear what I just heard?" We were shocked!! How do you "withhold" information from the American public? We immediately turned the dial to Voice of America to see what coverage they had on the videotape. Not a word!! We were also picking up CNN news reports via the Armed Services network and even CNN did not report on the tape they supposedly had in their possession and we listened for weeks. We were stunned!! It really was being "withheld" from the American Public!! I remembered feeling just like I did when, at the age of 5, I was told that Santa Claus didn't exist!!! From that day forward I have referred to CNN as GNN, The Government News Network.
The only thing we were able to pickup that might be related to the story, were reports that the media was being "irresponsible" by airing information before the US government had an opportunity to "review and approve" it for release. This was during the time that the government was reporting that the media should not report anything because there might be "hidden messages to sleeper cells in the US". I assume that was their justification to take over editing the media.
The next day I started e-mailing friends and family members (we can send and receive text e-mail through the radio) asking if they had heard anything about this videotape and explaining what we had heard on the BBC broadcast. One of the responses I received was so typical of uninformed Americans.
From a family member,
"Where do you come up with this nonsense? If there were a story like that, we would be the first to know! Our press is the freest in the world. Why do you hate the United States?" "
I also emailed BBC, hoping to obtain a transcript of the story, they never responded!
I was eventually vindicated! In late January of 2002, before leaving Panama for our trip across the South Pacific, we returned home to visit family. I was sitting in my mother's house, the TV was turned to CNN Headline News, and we were discussing the BBC story and the censorship of US news. She didn't believe me either! Then it happened! CNN interrupted regular programming to bring us breaking news. "CNN has just obtained a videotape reportedly made by Osama Bin Laden claiming the attacks of 9/11 are just the beginning..." The report was almost word for word what I had been telling my family and there it was, in living color, on CNN. Only one problem, it wasn't breaking news it was at least 3 months old! CNN was telling the American people a bold faced lie! They never reported they had actually been in possession of the tape for months.
So, if your waiting to wake up one morning and see Downing Street Memo splashed all over your television screen, don't hold your breath! As much as I'd also like to see it, I have good reason to believe the media blackout is the result of a government directive, but we can hope!!
Gene