Posted on 06/20/2005 7:17:40 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul
As has been discussed on Free Republic earlier, Downing Street Memo Originals Destroyed -UGH!, British "reporter" Michael Smith has told Asociated Press that he copied the original on plain paper and then destroyed the originals.
But click here and you see a Reuters Wire Photo Showing a "Seal" on the "copy" offered to the press.
The caption reads, "A copy of the so-called 'Downing Street Memo', produced in July 2002 for Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair on the legality of the invasion of Iraq. Photo by Stephen Hird/Reuters".
Did he really destroy them, type them on plain paper? Don't look like plain paper to me Lucy.....Lucy Rameriz!
Looks like Michael Smith has adopted Dan Rather's mantra, "FORGE ON!"
You'd think having such a unique typewriter Killian would have used a less easily traceable model for his devastating ''CYA'' memo. Also, he might have chosen a font other than Times New Roman, designed for the Times of London in the 1930s and not licensed to Microsoft by Rupert Murdoch (the Times' owner) until the 1980s.
I know you were joking but...
You'd think having such a unique typewriter Killian would have used a less easily traceable model for his devastating ''CYA'' memo. Also, he might have chosen a font other than Times New Roman, designed for the Times of London in the 1930s and not licensed to Microsoft by Rupert Murdoch (the Times' owner) until the 1980s.
Weird coincidence, huh.
In its rush to air its now discredited story about President George W. Bushs National Guard service, CBS bumped another sensitive piece slated for the same 60 Minutes broadcast: a half-hour segment about how the U.S. government was snookered by forged documents purporting to show Iraqi efforts to purchase uranium from Niger.Per the article Rocco Martino is a mysterious Roman businessman with longstanding ties to European intelligence agencies.Burba, the Italian journalist, confirmed to NEWSWEEK this week that Martino is the previously mysterious Mr. X who contacted her with the potentially explosive documents in early October 2002just as Congress was debating whether to authorize President Bush to wage war against Iraq. The documents, consisting of telexes, letters and contracts, purported to show that Iraq had negotiated an agreement to purchase 500 tons of yellowcake uranium from Niger, material that could be used to make a nuclear bomb. (A U.S. intelligence official told NEWSWEEK that Martino is in fact believed to have been the distributor of the documents.)
One striking aspect of the FBIs investigation is that, at least as of this week, Martino has told associates he has never even been interviewed by the bureaudespite the fact that he was publicly identified by the Financial Times of London as the source of the documents more than six weeks ago and was subsequently flown to New York City by CBS to be interviewed for the 60 Minutes report.
And guess who is attending the Downing Street Memo inquiry...none other than...{drum roll)...
Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson said, "We are having this discussion today because we failed to have it three years ago when we went to war.""It used to be said that democracies were difficult to mobilize for war precisely because of the debate required," Wilson said, going on to say the lack of debate in this case allowed the war to happen.
Wilson wrote a 2003 newspaper opinion piece criticizing the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. After the piece appeared, someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, exposing her cover.
I feel like I am playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon...but why do I also feel this bacon is sizzling?
So the guy in UK is also a sports writer for the Boston Bulb .. I don't think so. Must be another Michael Smith.
That was my point. There are more than one Michael Smith.
I think the sarcasm lamp was already lit!
I think the courtesy lamp has always been lit - and a small acknowledgement like = [/s] is preferable.
So .. you were being rude by assuming everybody in the world already knew what you were thinking and of course it was sarcasm .. get real!!
This is a completely different situation. The Rather documents were old and nobody in the Pentagon could be sure whether or not they were real, so the government couldn't deny it because they couldn't be sure.
The DSM is less than three years old and lists specific people supposed to be saying specific things. All the British government would have to do is ask them, "Did you say such and such on such and such day?" If they didn't, then it's a fake and the Brits would have said so. The fact that they haven't denied it means they know those things were said.
Take a little pill tough guy.
Michael Smith is on every sports talk show in the US. Its rather obvious that he is not sending classified British documents to John Kerry.
If you can't figure that out maybe its your own fault.
Well .. thanks for your macho - tough guy approach.
How are you so sure I watch the sports shows - maybe I don't - but of course you are toooooooo macho to know that.
According to Wizbang, here are PDF's of the released memos.
http://www.boozle.net/leak/
None of these memos match the one pictured---that is, the text is not the same. Not sure what to make of it.
Really? I seem to remember that the White House just ignored the 60 Minutes piece until Dan and CBS News were a crispy brown on the outside.
Somewhere there's a quote about not getting in the way when your enemy is committing suicide.
Concur. I wonder in the photographer has an email address?
Ok...from my research I have found that most think that Michael Smith of Rathergate and this Michael Smith are two separate guys. But the coincidences are getting weirder...check this out: You'd think having such a unique typewriter Killian would have used a less easily traceable model for his devastating ''CYA'' memo. Also, he might have chosen a font other than Times New Roman, designed for the Times of London in the 1930s and not licensed to Microsoft by Rupert Murdoch (the Times' owner) until the 1980s.
1) There was a journalist named Michael Smith involved.
2) The memo was copied, retyped and the original burned.
In Killian, the memo was retyped on a computer rather than an old typewriter (that is how they got caught). In DSM, the memo was typed on a old typewriter rather than a computer. The Killian memo was written in a font specifically designed for the London Times. The London Times reported the DSM story.
Not to mention the fact that the Yellowcake memo (also forged) story was bumped by CBS for the Killian memo story (per my post #163). The perp in the Yellowcake memo was revealed by the London Times and CBS flew him to NY to interview him. Joe Wilson was involved in Yellowcake and is now involved in the DSM story.
It's just plain weird.
Except Smith couldn't stick to his story.
He chickened out.
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