Dear Gov. Dean -- The BIG New York Times story yet to be told …

[understandinglife]

21 December 2005 (# 16)

Since Friday, December 16, 2005, we have witnessed a President acknowledge spying on American citizens and proclaim that he intends to continue spying on American citizens irrespective of both Federal statutes and the 4th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting such action.

The New York Times brought the news of the illegal and un-Constitutional spying, authorized by Mr. Bush, and implemented by the National Security Agency to all of us via their print and online distribution of the article written by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau. While what Mr. Risen and Lichtblau reported deserves the extensive attention it has received, an aspect of their story is also big news – the fact that the New York Times suppressed the story for more than 14 months. The New York Times refuses to report on that action and that is both news and reason for extensive legal scrutiny.

Gabriel Sherman has published an article in the New York Observer that I hope you will read if you haven’t already. It is entitled “Why Times Ran Wiretap Story, Defying Bush.” Some segments of that story include:

That Dec. 6 (2005) session with Mr. Bush was the culmination of a 14-month struggle between The Times and the White House — and a parallel struggle behind the scenes at The Times — over the wiretapping story.

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In fact, multiple Times sources said that the story had come up more than a year ago—specifically, before the 2004 election. After The Times decided not to publish it at that time, Mr. Risen went away on book leave, and his piece was shelved and regarded as dead, according to a Times source. “I’m not going to talk about the back story to the story,” Mr. Keller said by phone on Dec. 20.

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Mr. Risen has had difficulties in the past getting traction with Times editors on a disputed topic. In fall 2003, he unsuccessfully pressed for more skeptical coverage of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, to counterbalance the work of Judith Miller.

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But Times sources said that Mr. Risen’s book does include the revelation about the secret N.S.A. surveillance program. That left Mr. Taubman and his superiors in the position of having to resolve The Times’ dispute with the administration before Mr. Risen could moot their legal and ethical concerns — and scoop his own paper.

Link: http://www.observer.com/pageone_offtherec.asp

So, Gov. Dean, Mr. Risen is informed of an ongoing series of crimes being committed by a Federal agency and authorized by the President. He dutifully begins to write the report of what he’s been told and is prevented from publishing his story by his management.

The crimes continue while his report gathers dust and during that time the person ultimately responsible for the crimes gets a four year contract extension from the people whose rights he is violating. All the while, the reporter, his managers and the owners of the company that employs him remain silent.

When the senior management of the New York Times reaches the point where they will most certainly lose yet another major “scoop,” they finally acquiesce to publishing a report of ongoing violations of Federal law and the Constitution. However, they refuse to report on their complicit cover-up of the violations – a very BIG story.

Gov. Dean, the New York Times, during the past five years has done irreparable harm to America and to the citizens of this Nation. Their propaganda, authored frequently by Judith Miller, enabled Bush and his neoconster regime to deceive and launch their illegal war of aggression on Iraq. They are now obviously willing accomplices of Bush’s violations of FISA and the 4th Amendment.

They must be held accountable. I urge you to assign legal staff to study how the DNC, in collaboration with other organizations, might best assist those harmed by Bush’s violation of FISA to bring civil, as well as, criminal charges against the New York Times for their role in suppressing information about an ongoing illegal surveillance enterprise.

The BIG story about the New York Times must be told – their willing cover-up of Bush’s crimes and their decision to report only when they realized they were going to lose a big-buck story because Mr. Risen’s book was going to scoop them. Mr. Risen’s liability, and that of The Free Press, should also be diligently investigated. All of these folk need to be reminded, by the courts, that a witness to a crime is responsible to report it; a witness to ongoing crimes is in even greater jeopardy if they don’t.

Otherwise, Gov. Dean, the rule of law means nothing and the answer to “America, Or Not?” is a resounding NOT.

Thank you for your continued leadership,

Peace.