THE DOWNING STREET MEMOS

My young friend David Swanson is one of those trying to organize  around the Downing Street memos, and has been cheerfully harassing me in a series of e-mails today to write something about this business and give some publicity to his website, afterdowningstreet.org. I've told David that the Downing Street memos don't interest me very much, that I think organizing around them is a strategic mistake, and that I couldn't in good conscience plug a campaign which I didn't really believe could possibly be effective without making my own views quite clear. Well, despite my caveat he renewed his request for the umpteenth time. Consider it honored, out of friendship. Those who choose to visit David's website may certainly do so by clicking on the link above.

But before you do, I would urge you to read my companero Marc Cooper's long post on the Downing Street memos, which articulates as well as I could the naiveté of well-meaning folks like my friend David in believing this is an issue which can sway those in the U.S. public who support the war and the Anglo-American occupation away from it. There are other ways to encourage the growing disenchantment with the war -- which is motivated largely by the feeling that all those body bags of American boys and girls coming home without TV coverage ain't worth what Americans are getting for their blood and their money. I don't think the Downing Street memo kerfuffle has a bloody thing to do with this disenchantment, nor will it. I've written reams of copy in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and its occupation long before they happened, but I don't have either the time or the inclination to expand on the reasons why I think that about a matter that interests me so little, especially since there's an exposition of most of the reasons already on the record with which I wholeheartedly agree as far as it goes: Read Cooper's impeccable rant.