On May 19,2005 I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper regarding the Downing Street Memo. The letter was published today along with a response from one of the editors of the paper. The editorial response has shocked me; it's also given me hope that I (and all of us) can make a tangible difference in the treatment of news in our country. Thanks to those Kossacks who created
downingstreetmemo.com for the resources I used to make a change in my part of the world.
First, my letter:
To the editor,
The Peninsula Daily News has failed us.
On May 1, 2005, The Times of London published the complete text of what has come to be known as the Downing Street Memo. The Downing Street Memo details a briefing presented to Tony Blair on July 23, 2002, a full eight months prior to the invasion of Iraq. The content of the memo is shocking, plainly stating that the United States government was manufacturing the intelligence it needed to justify the Iraq war to the American people. When the Times of London asked the British government if the memo was accurate, British officials did not dispute the document's authenticity.
Combine the memo's charges with what we have learned about the lack of WMD's in Iraq, which was the Bush government's justification for war, and a case for impeachment of Bush has been made. But the Peninsula Daily News and nearly every other newspaper in the United States has seen fit to either not publish this story or downplay its significance.
The Bush administration has committed a criminal act in its prosecution of the Iraq War, and the only thing the PDN thinks it should say about it is an editorial column by Molly Ivins. I respect Ms. Ivins, but due to her political slant, her views will be immediately discounted by many people.
The PDN and every media source in the country has a responsibility to accurately communicate to Americans the content of the Downing Street Memo.
Lapin
Sequim, WA
I would have written more, but the paper puts a 250 word limit on letters.
Now, the response:
EDITOR'S NOTE-As noted in Molly Ivin's column, the "Downing Street Memo," from a July 2002 meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's top advisers, indicates that the White House had decided to invade Iraq long before it admitted those intentions, and three months before Congress authorized war.
The White House had said that it hadn't decided to invade Iraq until after Secretary of STate Colin Powell's February 2003 United Nations speech accusing Baghdad of having weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism, assertions that have since proven false.
The memo and its implications kicked off a furor in Europe, where the Iraq war is hugely unpopular.
But while it has not prompted much public attention in the United States, 89 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have now signed a letter asking the White House about the memo, and are even considering sending a delegation to London to investigate. Their letter says that the Downing Street Memo "raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war aw well as the integrity of your own administration."
The White House as not yet responded. The PDN will cover further developments as they develop.
Paul Gottlieb
Commentary page editor
The PDN will cover further developments as they develop. Sure, its some small little paper in a remote corner of the country. But my letter brought exposure to the issue and the commentary of the editor brought weight to the assertions of the Memo. Don't ever think that your letters or other actions are futile or fruitless. We can change things for the better.