http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060905E.shtml


Informant: Charles Bremer

06/09/05

At Tuesday's joint White House press briefing, Bush and Blair were finally asked about the memo in public, an event that the press dutifully chronicled. But the two leaders, not accepting follow-up questions, simply denied the accuracy of the memo's contents, while circumventing the central question of why Blair's most senior intelligence officer believed the White House had already decided on war in the summer of 2002. (Bush finished his response to the memo question with his well-worn catchphrase, 'The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.') The fact that it took five weeks for more than a handful of Washington reporters to focus on the memo highlights a striking disconnect between some news consumers and mainstream news producers. The memo story epitomizes a mainstream press corps that is genuinely afraid to ask tough questions and write tough stories about the Bush administration... [subscription or ad view required]

http://tinyurl.com/9hfl6

from Salon, by Eric Boehlert


Thomas L. Knapp