The Pentagon Papers of Our Time?

[RedEarth]

The Pentagon Papers of Our Time?
The so-called Downing Street memos, now seven in number, have been dismissed by some in the press as "old news," but the same could be said of the Pentagon Papers when they were published. As in the previous case, the shock value comes from their official nature, and they bring key questions about deceit and poor judgment in the run-up to the Iraq war back to the forefront for public debate.

By William E. Jackson, Jr.

(June 17, 2005) -- On public radio this week, Walter Pincus, the senior national security reporter for The Washington Post, posed the question: if the statements in the various Downing Street memos are to be dismissed as "old" news--since preparing to go to war in Iraq and questions about intelligence were already "conventional wisdom" and published as such in 2002--then why was so much made of the Pentagon Papers back in the 1970s when reporters knew early on, and were writing, that the Vietnam war was a disaster in which the U.S. had made a string of mistakes?

Ironically, it is the same New York Times which bravely published the Pentagon Papers that, as recently as today, is still treating the Downing Street Papers as merely fodder for “antiwar” types.

Even though their importance has been dismissed, or played down, by both the Bush Administration and several leaders of the mainstream news media in the United States, the British government memos leaked to Michael Smith of the Sunday Times of London do constitute “primary” sources from near the heart of government when composing the first draft of an authoritative history of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Moreover, all the key questions about the deceit and lack of judgment by the Administration when making the case for war are back on the table for public debate.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000963759

[EVDebs]

1. Every war is won or lost BEFORE the shooting starts

In the case of Bush and Iraq-nam we can see that by discarding the Powell Doctrine the first three weeks of the war were 'won' and then an 'occupation' was allowed to become a quagmire. All predictable, deja vu.

Now the only option is to pull back in any way possible and allow the inevitable civil war to take its course.

[autorank]

2. And unlike the "Pentagon Papers," nobody will publish them.

CM (corporate media) is a disgrace. They'll do articles on why they're not covering them (as USA Today did) or have their over paid, blow dried reporters engage in "academic debate" on the meaning of "news" or whatever. They have shown that they are both mediawhores and hostile to the interests of a positive direction for this country. Thank Gawd for the internet.

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