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I think we have a great opportunity to create a breakthrough in press coverage of the notorious Downing Street Memo, the “smoking gun” which proves the President purposely misled Americans into believing Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. This story has been largely ignored by the mainstream media, and is an issue that goes right to the core of the legitimacy of the war we seek to end -- and the legitimacy of this Administration.
A Chance to Be Effectively Proactive
For the past several months, I’ve watched progressives responding -- and all too often, merely reacting -- to the offensive onslaught of outrages on the part of an Administration that represents fewer than one third of Americans yet insists it has a “mandate.” (Swami says the only man these guys have a date with is Machiavelli.) The continuing war-without-end, the assault on social security, the draconian judicial appointees, the “nuclear option,” Revoltin’ Bolton, etc., etc. ... the more they play offense, the more progressives seem to be put on defense.
According to George Lakoff, a key to the Republican success has been their willingness to go directly at the Democrats’ strengths. For years, they have been banging away at the most successful social program ever, social security. Gradually and relentlessly, they have eroded the legitimacy of social security. Even though they might not have the votes even now to totally destroy it, they expect to keep moving forward until the day in the near future when they can drown it in the proverbial bathtub.
Now is the time for us to put into place a strategy that goes for the Administration’s apparent strong suit, but in truth their Achilles heel: Their actual legitimacy. Seems to me their legitimacy rests on this three-legged stool:
1. They actually won the Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004.
2. 9/11 went down the way they say it did.
3. The invasion of Iraq grew out of the 9/11 attack, and we found no weapons of mass destruction because of bad intelligence.
Saw off any of these legs and the stool becomes -- to put it crudely -- nothing more than a stool sample. The most difficult of the three to prove is election fraud, although statistical evidence points exactly in that direction. And though there are now reports that a Newsday reporter is on to the story that rogue elements in our government participated in the 9/11 attacks this is still too much of a Rubicon for most Americans to cross. But there is now proof that the Administration’s entire story about the whys and wherefores of Iraq was a lie. And unlike a recent Presidential perjury case, the stains in question this time are bloodstains.
A Weapon of Mass-Deconstruction Discovered!
The biggest weapon of mass-deconstruction we possess right now is the very under-reported “Downing Street Memo” which, in the words of Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), “cast(s) substantial doubt on the honesty of contemporaneous claims made by the Administration to Congress and to the American people about the Iraq war.”
Conyers’ open letter continues (bold print and italics mine):
“First, the memo appears to directly contradict the Administration's assertions to Congress and the American people that it would exhaust all options before going to war. According to the minutes, in July 2002, the Administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq.
“Second, a debate has raged in the United States over the last year and one half about whether the obviously flawed intelligence that falsely stated that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was a mere ‘failure’ or the result of intentional manipulation to reach foreordained conclusions supporting the case for war. The memo appears to close the case on that issue stating that in the United States the intelligence and facts were being "fixed" around the decision to go to war.
“These are not routine questions within a partisan give and take. Under the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8), the Congress has the sole power to declare war. If the Executive Branch deceives the Congress in this duty, it represents an attack of our democracy of the most serious nature. These Constitutional questions are not going away and must be answered forthrightly and completely by this Administration.”
Conyers has asked for 100,000 Americans to sign his petition calling for accountability on the part of the Administration. Conyers’ statement was underlined by the following understatement: “The press has also been negligent in giving this matter the attention it deserves.”
So, here is a simple three-step strategy to “strike while the irony is hot,” press the press to cover this story, and appropriately take the offensive against the offenses of an offensive regime:
Step 1. Create “Air Cover.”
Establish a trans-partisan committee of prominent Americans from all fields of endeavor, from the government, to military and intelligence, from the worlds of business and science, entertainment and the arts, the clergy, and of course the media. This committee will add publicity, clout and momentum to Rep. Conyers’ plan to deliver the petition to the White House. Some of the people who might step to the plate here include: Bill Moyers, Walter Cronkite, William Rivers Pitt, Jeff Cohen, Norman Solomon, Patrick Doherty (tompaine.com) Phil Donohue,Thom Hartmann, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Sen. Barbara Boxer, Rep. Ron Paul, Jimmy Carter, Daniel Ellsberg, Coretta Scott King, Ralph Nader, David Cobb, Tom Hayden, Ed Asner, Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Bill Maher, Whoopi Goldberg, P Diddy, Dennis Weaver, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jim Wallis, Rev. Jim Edgar, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Matthew Fox, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Catherine Austin Fitts, David Ray Griffin, Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Krugman, Kevin Danaher, Paul Hawken, Brian Swimme, Caroline Casey, Ray McGovern, Richard Clarke, David Korten, Arianna Huffington, John Dean, Kevin Phillips, and perhaps most important, other prominent conservatives or Republicans who have spoken out against the “overrule of law” on the part of the current Administration. (I am more than open to suggestions of those to add to the list.)
With a list of 25 or 50 prominent signators -- plus a million, not 100,000, signatures -- Rep. Conyers has both ground support and air cover.
Step 2. Press the Press.
With a committee of prominent leaders, and under the banner “It’s Bigger Than Politics,” the next campaign is to smoke out those in the media or government who have not been “ethically-cleansed” -- those who have a conscience and are now willing to take a stand for truth, justice, transparency and the rule of law. A strategy for getting media coverage:
a. Have prominent members of the committee meet with network execs (particularly those in the news department) and ask for coverage of the issue.
b. Have local groups (the Progressive Democrats of America might be willing to organize this on the ground) do the same with local news and newspaper editors.
c. Initiate a telephone campaign to encourage media execs and news anchors who could possibly defy their networks and take a stand. These people should be called at work and at home. All messages should be calm, polite and yet urgent. They should be from men, women, children, elders ... hey, put the dog on the phone too. These messages are designed to create cognitive dissonance, and encourage misgivings based on conscience to emerge.
If we are fortunate, we will see mainstream media folks beginning to “break through the soundless barrier” and begin to poke holes in the wall of lies. I find it disturbing how many of my progressive colleagues consider the co-optation of the corporate media a fait accompli. Again, go right for their perceived strength. Make people uncomfortable. Invoke the spirit of Edward R. Murrow. Bring back Phil Donohue and make him a spokesperson and poster child. The metaphor that comes to mind is the movie, “The Insider” -- based on a true story -- where a tobacco-industry executive finds the scruples and courage to blow the whistle on suppressed tobacco-company studies.
Step 3. Increase Ground Support.
There is no reason to stop with 100,000 or even a million signatures. What if we had five or ten million Americans willing to put their John Hancock behind Rep. Conyers’ call for a real investigation? While prospects for impeachment would seem nil with the Republican majority, it will become harder and harder to dispute indisputable evidence. That’s why it is very important to have parties from all parties represented. This is a battle that transcends left and right, and goes right to the heart of our greatest spiritual and political values. Our foundational attitude needs to be, the truth will come out sooner or later, so let’s tell the truth now and avoid the rush later on.
Here is another very serious reason to act now. I have seen reports recently -- particularly a February speech by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter -- that the U.S. plans to begin bombing Iran in June. This may be close to truth, or unfounded rumor. In either case, we shouldn’t risk this window of opportunity being closed by an event like that. In a talk two weeks ago, Tom Hayden ascribed many sudden changes in history to seemingly insignificant events or ideas that take on life and momentum. Perhaps we are at such a moment. Perhaps we the people -- or at least the 50 million of us who voted for regime change -- can shift the momentum enough to re-establish the rule of law, and begin a grassroots movement to take back the media.
What is to Be Done, and What's Being Done
Since I initiated this communication last week by sending it to a number of key people, I've been heartened and encouraged by the response. Medea Benjamin of Code Pink is ready to activate her 30,000 member organization, and suggested I write a draft of the statement that people can sign (see below). Others including Thom Hartmann, Richard Heinberg (author of The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies), Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb have expressed their support. Yesterday, I met with William Rivers Pitt of Truthout.org and Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Deputy Director Kevin Spidel to present the idea to them. Meanwhile, PDA has helped create a new website, afterdowningstreet.org.
Here's what you can do:
1. Sign the petition at afterdowningstreet.org, and send it to your friends.
2. If you have access to any of the notables on my list -- or if you have additional suggestions -- please forward this message.
3. Use the magic of "tell-a--person." If there are folks you know who have limited internet access, call 'em up. Get involved with Progressive Democrats of America, which is in reality an organization that goes way beyond the Democratic Party. They are doing the necessary grassroots education and organization work in all 435 congressional districts. They deserve our financial support!
4. Begin now calling local and national news editors asking them to cover this issue. I understand that PDA will have a media list available in the near future.
Here is a draft of the message for signers to sign:
A Call for Truth and Transparency
It is time for we the people to do what our elected leaders have not and the mass media will not.
It is time for us to take the lead in exposing the lies and deceptions that have led to the ongoing misadventures in Iraq. In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Tom Paine it is time for us to affirm our loyalty to the spiritual and political principles that are bigger than any President and any administration.
It is time to stop the slide down the slippery slope of trading our freedom and our values for the false god of “security through domination.” To paraphrase the slogan of a real conservative hero, Barry Goldwater, “In our hearts we know it’s wrong.” That is the true source of disheartenment and malaise in America today -- that we have bought a lie that our brave soldiers are dying for, and we have felt powerless to speak what our hearts know for fear of being disloyal. The truth is, nothing good can come from a venture born of lies. By exposing the lies, restoring the rule of law, and by helping our nation change direction, we will be the living example of democracy and freedom that we are currently trying to sell through force and propaganda.
We, the undersigned, call for an immediate investigation of the selling of the Iraq war, a war that was said to be a response to the 9/11 attacks but for some reason was being planned far in advance of those attacks. We call on the mass media to pull the covers back on the covered up stories, and we call on those in positions of power who have not been “ethically-cleansed” to step forward and speak the truth. We need to show the world that we Americans are not “afraid of our own shadow,” but instead are willing to face the darkness and use it to become stronger.
The issue here is bigger than Democrats and Republicans. It’s not about right and left, but about right and wrong. Seven years ago, a President was caught in a lie and was impeached on charges of perjury. This time it’s not about dress stains, but bloodstains. Nearly seventeen hundred American soldiers have given their lives, and thousands of others have had their lives changed forever by wounds -- physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. An estimated hundred thousand innocent Iraqi civilians have been deprived of their right to life for no crime other than being Iraqis.
Even though we Americans have not been allowed to see photos of the destruction we have wrought ("hostile information," they are called in newspeak), people worldwide have seen them. Iraq has become an ongoing “enemy factory” that is producing new foes 24/7. How will we ever “win” this war? The answer is, we cannot, unless we are willing to resort to genocide and totalitarianism. While a very, very small minority of those in power are willing to take this route, the vast majority of Americans are not.
Now is the time for all honorable and courageous Americans to step out from behind our fears -- of terrorism and of anti-terrorism -- and bring forth the truth and restore the rule of law. It has been said, “The truth shall set you free.” As a nation founded on freedom, it seems that we have no choice here. Freedom is our destiny, and truth is the portal we must pass through. As we take the necessary and inevitable steps to allow the truth to be revealed, we must remember the words of Abraham Lincoln looking ahead to reconciliation after the Civil War -- “with malice towards none, with charity to all.”
Good-hearted and well-meaning Americans were conned by the neocons into buying the Iraq war as necessary for our security. With the media as enablers, debate and even discussion was shut down. Any one of us can be conned by a clever conman. So we must focus on truth and reconciliation, and making healing and moving forward more important than “punishing wrongdoers.”
Two and a quarter centuries ago, a small group of inspired individuals dared to imagine that ordinary human beings were endowed with the same rights as kings. That truly outrageous notion has brought us to where we are today -- on the threshold of becoming the enlightened and responsible sovereign citizens our Founding Fathers could only imagine. Those brave visionaries were creating, in the words of Ben Franklin, “A republic -- if we can keep it.” The choice has always been ours. Now is the time for us to make it.
Steve Bhaerman
June 6, 2005
Here's How You Can Support Notes From the Trail and Related Projects
Here's how one "Trail" reader put it in a recent email: "[Steve Bhaerman] is a unique voice in the wilderness who applies universal spiritual principles and heart-opening humor to help us move beyond divisive political positions to find our common center."
In all undue immodesty, I repeat that testimonial because I do indeed believe I am in the very unusual position of applying spiritual perspective and humor to the very nitty-gritty and often unfunny world of politics. Einstein said it, and it bears repeating: A problem cannot be solved at the level of the problem. Thus the political problems we face can only be solved at the level of consciousness. I have committed myself to use all that I have ever learned in this all-important conversation for transformation.
In addition to Notes From the Trail, I continue to work on The Next Step, originally designed to be an e-book on writing ourselves a new healing story, and now evolving into a work called, Wake Up, America: It's Bigger Than Politics. While I expect to have an outline and exerpts available online this summer, we are now looking at a print book out in the spring. I heard some Supreme wisdom nearly 40 years ago, and I've never forgotten it: "You Can't Hurry Love." Worthy projects, I have learned (often by trying to fight the tide) must evolve at their own pace. So it is with this one.
If you can see the value of this work in helping to bring about the transformation we all know is possible, I am asking you to “invest” some of your tax deductible nonprofit dollars to help get our project launched. After all, as Swami would say: “There’s no such thing as a free launch.”
I have partnered with Telecosm, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, to help formulate these ideas in a project called The Next Step, and we are set up to accept tax deductible donations. Donations of $2,500, $1,000, $250, $100 can be made directly online at https://secure01.epiphanet.com/%7Ewakeupl/epistore/ Click and scroll to items 19-22.Or, you can call toll free (866) 525-0778. (Important note: When you click on the shopping cart, your browser may tell you this may not be a secure site. It is. The message is just a glitch with some Netscape browers).
To make a donation by mail, please send check to Telecosm, P.O. Box 151117, San Rafael, CA 94915. Please make the check to Telecosm but note “The Next Step” on post-it or on check itself.
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Thank you again for being with me on this journey. May we wake up laughing, and leave laughter in our wake.
Steve Bhaerman
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