CNN interviews McClellan and Conyers about UK Memo - (VIDEO)

[dzika]

May 16, 2005

Video - CNN interviews McClellan and Conyers about UK Memo

Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

[oxbow]

1. Damn that was quick!

Good job. I am glad that this is being talked about, even if the facts were distorted by Wolf et al.

[dzika]

2. I despise Wolf Blitzer

Normally, I refuse to watch his show at all. Sadly, this is the most TV News coverage this story has had in the US.

Maybe Olbermann will have a better piece tonight.

[BamaBecky]

13. Me too! What a canard?.......n/t

[ohio_liberal]

3. Mr C is looking very dapper

I think he's kinda pissed. He hardly ever talks that fast.

[lyonn]

8. Conyers faster pace

Saw that too. Very disappointed that he wasn't shown to say more as I am sure he had plenty to say. I did write Wolf and let him know that I appreciated the coverage and would like to have heard more from Conyers. hell, at least Wolf put it on regular news. More than you can say for others.

How about Wolf's story on the awol/deserters story? That was a moving piece showing soldiers in Canada telling their story. What a wretched war. Maybe CNN is getting enough flack from ex viewers that it might make a difference.

[understandinglife]

4. Understand your disgust with the interviewer, but thank you for posting!

And, yes, let us hope KO provides excellent coverage on the story later today.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Zorra]

5. McCain is a really poor liar. A blind dog could tell that he was lying

his ass off.

That was really pathetic.

[oxbow]

6. Several factual inaccuracies in that report:

You can contact Blitzer's producers here: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?8

Talking points:

Fails to mention that the Presidential Commision McCain was on was not authorized to determine whether intelligence was manipulated by the administration in the run-up to Iraq (This newscast says they were IIRC).

Paul O'Neil and other former White House insiders (help me out with names guys!) confirm the contents of the minutes. Namely, the war with Iraq was a foregone conclusion, and the facts indeed were being fixed around a preplanned policy.

50% of the American public believe that we were misled in the runup to war by the * Admin, according to a recent gallup poll. This memo only confirms what half of us already know!

Anything else I'm forgetting?

[ooglymoogly]

11. blasted off a flaming letter to the idiot

thanks for making it easy

[Jack Rabbit]

7. The report was slanted, but it contained facts

All good propaganda contains facts, but not all of them.

We've been getting an awful lot of this kind of garbage since September 2001. A piece of hard evidence contradicts the regime's line and what the media report is people like McClellan and McCain repeating the regime's line, leaving the viewer with the idea that nobody is really contradicting the regime's line. Mr. Conyers is merely asking a question; now McClellan and McCain "answer" him. Then there's the response from Number 10 Downing Street to the effect that the British government pursued diplomatic channels, as if they have nothing to hide. The issue is settled, right?

It doesn't work that way. McClellan is simply repeating what he is told and McCain is being a loyal Republican, something that is only tenable because the US corporate media is acting like a privatized Pravda. The fact is that the memo clearly states that the evidence was thin and the intelligence and facts were being made to fit the policy. There is no other way to read that except the decision to invade Iraq was made without regard to the facts at hand. If the facts did not support the policy, they would be manipulated to do so. That was the mission of Mr. Feith's OSP and the purpose of Mr. Cheney's and Mr. Libby's frequent visits to Langley. If anybody wanted to present the truth, Ms. Plame's fate would serve as a warning.

As for the excuse from Downing Street, it is complete bunk. The memo also states that "regime change" was not a valid reason to go to war against Iraq. Therefore, the British government needed to convince the international community (i.e., the UN Security Council) that Iraq posed an real and immediate threat. The majority of the Security Council knew better and the resolution was withdrawn before it could be defeated, leaving the Bush and Blair without a legal basis for war.

There is nothing in the memo that should surprise anyone. Shame on Senator McCain for continuing to whitewash the regime's line; and shame on Wolf Blitzer and all others in the US corporate media who continue to feign surprise and skepticism where none is warranted.

[seabeyond]

9. whistleblower karen something from military working with cheney

already told us all this stuff. we know this. and still, it is like a new thing coming up only to be dismissed again. we have known for the longest of time prior to war cheney had his own group of people making this stuff work. if it didnt fit into agenda, was sent back to cia and they were told to make it work for their agenda

not new stuff

the abuse story not new stuff

bush's rathergate military history, not new stuff

[Jack Rabbit]

10. LTC Karen Kwiatkowski

And you're right. I've been saying that since before the first missiles were fired, people who were paying attention and who got their information from the foreign press and the alternative media knew what was happening. We're the ones who marched against the war in February 2003.

[thecrow]

12. On CNN notice that they GLOSSED OVER the part where

they said "intelligence was thin", but they READ the other part of the memo (also shown).

Hmmm... tell us about the intelligence being THIN, CNN!!!!!
I couldn't read it when you flashed it on the screen momentarily.