Friday, May 27, 2005
Is this a lie...?
"I have no knowledge of the Downing memo."
Is that a lie? That's what the host of this mornings episode of CSPAN's Washington Journal told a caller when asked to briefly explain the Downing Street memo. (Friday, May 27, 2005).
So noted informed tv-journalist host, after informing the caller that he had no knowledge of such things, then suggested the caller might try searching about on the internet to find what they were looking for.
That's our liberal media!
*
UPDATE Here's Google hit #1, the original story, from the Times of London. And hit #2? Why, the memo actually has its own, very informative, website. The money:
I'd call that a smoking gun, wouldn't you?
Oh, and as the text of the story makes clear—though not the headline, those darn editors—the word memo is really a misnomer. The right word is really minutes, a record of a meeting taken at the time by a participant ("C reported..."). The distinction may seem trival, but not (say) to a criminal lawyer drawing up an indictment; a memo could be hearsay, but minutes are evidence. —Lambert
Is that a lie? That's what the host of this mornings episode of CSPAN's Washington Journal told a caller when asked to briefly explain the Downing Street memo. (Friday, May 27, 2005).
So noted informed tv-journalist host, after informing the caller that he had no knowledge of such things, then suggested the caller might try searching about on the internet to find what they were looking for.
That's our liberal media!
*
UPDATE Here's Google hit #1, the original story, from the Times of London. And hit #2? Why, the memo actually has its own, very informative, website. The money:
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.
I'd call that a smoking gun, wouldn't you?
Oh, and as the text of the story makes clear—though not the headline, those darn editors—the word memo is really a misnomer. The right word is really minutes, a record of a meeting taken at the time by a participant ("C reported..."). The distinction may seem trival, but not (say) to a criminal lawyer drawing up an indictment; a memo could be hearsay, but minutes are evidence. —Lambert
