Downing Street Minutes Letter Writing Frenzy!
Mon May 16, 2005 at 08:39:03 PM PDT
I'm in the middle of a letter writing frenzy that I'd like to suggest/share to others, if you have a little time and determination to help correct the egregious wrongs that Bush has perpetrated in our name.
I'm knuckle-deep in envelopes, stamps, copies of the Downing Street Minutes, and my personal letter to my 1 Representative and 2 Senators. I want copies of the Downing minutes everywhere. And not just any ol' copies. Highlighted copies. Underlined Copies. Annotated Copies. To each and every office of my 1 Rep and 2 Senators (21 offices total).
It will send a clear message.
You can't spin these minutes
We know exactly what they mean
We want answers and actions now
We are outraged
Anyone protecting Bush will be scared shitless. They know their system of control depends on us being uninformed (therefore, not outraged).
Please see below
So I found out my Rep has 5 offices, and my 2 Senators each have 8. So be it. 21 letters.
I wrote a letter, stating the strength of the evidence and quoting some key passages from the memo. The ones that I focused on are below:
"It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, and Iran"
"Military action was now seen as inevitable"
"But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy"
"The NSC had no patience with the UN route"
"the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections"
Then, I express my outrage that our soldiers have been sent to their deaths for a war based on lies. I point out that 100% of his/her constituents were lied to, because we were all lied to. You get the idea.
I got my wife to also sign my letter, which was a major victory for me because she is never political.
As for the memo, I've printed out stacks and stacks of those. I first made the prototype: the key sections highlighted, important words underlined, and then annotations in the wide margins that are in the Times printout from the webpage. Once the highlighted, underlined, and annotated prototype was created, I went through the rest of the stack to replicate them.
I highlighted the whole 2nd big paragraph that begins "C reported on his..." I've annotated in big letters in the wide margin:
C = head of British intelligence
War was the plan from the beginning
Manipulate the intelligence to fit the policy of War
No occupation plan.
Then on the second page: "The Defense Secretary said that the US..." is annotated with:
Time the War to maximize political benefit to Bush
Then the following paragraph that includes "But the case was thin" I've annotated with
2nd time: War was the plan from the beginning
But the case was thin!!!
Saddam was not a threat
This is taking several hours altogether, but I feel it is worth it. I know others are calling, emailing and writing. What I'd like to emphasize with this approach is that whoever reads my letter knows I know my shit. I am immune to spin. McCain disagreeing with the "memo" isn't going to cut it. And these copies of the Downing Street Minutes will be everywhere. Anyone who picks it up will be instantly drawn to the sections I've highlighted, and grasp what it means instantly. Perhaps we can turn some staffers to the light side (OK Star Wars is only a couple days away, I had to slip that in).
Once I'm done with this, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to keep hounding my Rep and 2 Senators in one way or another.
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