My Brother's Letter to the Washington Post about Downing Street memo coverage

Dear Sir:

This is a godawful headline that doesn't even begin to capture what's truly crucial about this story. And how could the newspaper of Woodward and Bernstein bury it on Page A-18? Instead of tackling what's undeniably the scandal of our time, the Post waited more than two weeks after this story first broke in Europe to report on it thoroughly, and then seemingly tried to hide it. Why?

Are things in Washington so difficult these days that even the venerable Post cowers in the face of George W. Bush's outright lies? The president of the United States has told our nation that the war in Iraq occurred due to intelligence failures. This, of course, is an egregious lie: It occured due to intelligence manipulation.

The current scorecard: 1,600 Americans dead, thousands more maimed and burned, tens of thousands of innocent people slaughtered, and hundreds of billions spent. Where are you people in all this? With respect, sir, we're not talking about cigars and stained blue dresses here. Please wake up!

It's no wonder America is seeing the incredible proliferation of the blogosphere: the so-called mainstream media has simply stopped doing its job. When will you all start again? And when you do, will it be too late?

Regards,

(name)

•  Tell your brother

  excellent letter! Hope I see it in the WP.

  by Hummingbird on Fri May 13, 2005 at 06:08:00 PM PDT

•  Downing Street Memo

  The San Francisco Chronicle  put Walter Pincus' story on the front page, just below the fold.  The second part was few pages in but it was long and well headlined.  

  by hairspray on Fri May 13, 2005 at 06:14:10 PM PDT

•  Way to call a spade a damn shovel! n/t

  by maggiemae on Fri May 13, 2005 at 06:38:47 PM PDT

•  yes, a quite excellent letter

  I particularly like how he put this below:

  "The president of the United States has told our nation that the war in Iraq occurred due to intelligence failures. This, of course, is an egregious lie: It occured due to intelligence manipulation."

  here's some Post email addresses your brother should send his letter to, too:

  Michael Abramowitz, national editor
  [e-mail]

  Colbert King, Editorial page deputy editor, columnist
  [e-mail]

  Robert Kaiser
  associate editor
  [e-mail]

  Walter Pincus National staff writer/national security affairs
  [e-mail]

  [e-mail]

  [e-mail]

  you can find other addresses here:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interact/longterm/stfbio/wpemail.htm

  by jennifer poole on Fri May 13, 2005 at 06:46:58 PM PDT

•  Fantastic Effort!!

  Keep up the good work!

  Remember what Congressman Conyers said about our effort to break through the media blackout.

  On the media front, my message to you is to pat yourselves on the back and then get back to work. Letters, calls and emails to your local newspapers and national media outlets make a difference. The Washington Post and New York Times have yet to cover this story in any serious fashion. Where is MSNBC? When Fox covers it in any serious way...that's when we take a break. -- "Breaking Through", Congressman John Conyers, May 11, 2005

  I am taking him at his word.  I won't stop until Fox covers it.

  Tonight's target?  The New York Times.

  by Apian on Fri May 13, 2005 at 07:01:18 PM PDT