from
MSNBC
Some things that happen in Britain we hear about, some things we don't.
When British Prime Minister Tony Blair won re-election a few weeks ago, it was big news here in the states.
No so for something called the "Downing Street Memo." It contains notes leaked from a high-level British government meeting before the Iraq war.
The memo raises questions about Blair and President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
Professor Steve Weber, the Director of the Institute for International Studies at UC Berkeley told NBC11, "I think it is another case where we have new information piling on to a great deal of existing information that the Bush administration was not straightforward in its justification and rationale for going to war in Iraq."
You can find the memo on a Web site, Downing Street Memo.Com.
Who publishes the site isn't clear. After a little digging we found Bob Fesmire. The South Bay resident is one of four people behind the Web site.
Fesmire, a communications manager for a South Bay technology company and his wife Gina, a local graphic designer often join discussions on DailyKos.com, a political Web site. Online chats with Georgia, a law student from Chicago, and Mike, a Canadian who works for his government in Ottawa led to the creation of DowningStreetMemo.com.
The group had the site up within two days.
Fesmire wants the Bush administration held accountable for its decision to invade Iraq.
"There's been a great cost in human life and suffering that is the product of this decision. So we need to know if that decision was fair and well founded or not," Fesmire said.
Fesmire hopes the Web campaign will raise awareness and outrage viewers enough to take action.
Weber said, "Every piece of evidence that comes forward suggesting that the president at a minimum misled the public about the rationale for going to war in Iraq they'll seize on and hope it will push people over the edge. I don't think it's going to change anyone's mind. I think everyone already knows this."
The Web site encourages people to demand coverage of the "Downing Street Memo."
We've been on the receiving end of that campaign.
In one e-mail a writer said "Any journalist worth his/her salt would have been all over this story, but instead we have a press corp that makes news out of some dumb "run away bride."
Another said, "Why can't our news organizations cover this story with the same ferocity with which they covered Clinton?"
"Journalism is becoming much more interactive, in large part because of computers and citizens are sort of understanding that they have influence," Tom Goldstein, Director of Mass Communications at UC Berkeley told NBC11.
Goldstein is a longtime media observer. He points out the election campaigns in the past few years have made users more savvy about using the Web to influence news coverage.
Citizens can and should have a voice in coverage," he said.
"I think that's important. Being informed is one thing. For the democracy to really thrive you have to participate so I guess that's our ultimate hope, that this site would not only facilitate people becoming better informed but also empowering them if you will to take action," Fesmire told NBC11.
Others argue taking action on the Downing Street Memo is a waste of time. Weber says at this point, the memo is simply irrelevant.
"I think the issue of why the United States went to war in Iraq is now moot, we're there, we've been there. I think the question that matters now is how do we get out," he said.
Read the Downing Street Memo (From the London Times Site)