MemoGate?-Michael Smith cannot authenticate the Downin memo

Politics International Politics
1

They are copies. And originals are not available.
From Captains Quarter - a much updated story on the “Downing Street Memos”. Assited by LGF and others.

[quote]June 19, 2005
Did Lucy Ramirez Find The Downing Street Memos?
The media and the Leftists have had a field day with the Downing Street memos that they claim imply that the Bush administration lied about the intelligence on WMD in order to justify the attack on Iraq. Despite the fact that none of the memos actually say that, none of them quote any officials or any documents, and that the text of the memos show that the British government worried about the deployment of WMD by Saddam against Coalition troops, Kuwait and/or Israel, the meme continues to survive.

Until tonight, however, no one questioned the authenticity of the documents provided by the Times of London. That has now changed, as Times reporter Michael Smith admitted that the memos he used are not originals, but retyped copies.b A VERY HOT BREAKING STORY UNFOLDING[/b]
captainsquartersblog.com/mt/ … 004746.php[/quote]

Interesting legs on the fake, but maybe accurate memos.
Creating a document to fit a theory?

2

Surely if the memos didn’t exist, Blair would have picked up on that?

3

Any coments from someone whos read this material?

Looks like some interesting developments.

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[hysterical hyperbole]You mean someone who reads right-wing blogs?[/hysterical hyperbole][/quote]

5

This isn’t exaclty a breaking story as you called it, it was made clear when these docs were originally posted on the web. Anyway no one from the British administration has denied their authenticity. Plus they’ve been confirmed by a third party as authentic. You guys are gonna need a little better evidence in this case. The British press, with a lower level of protection against libel from sloppy reporting, is generally pretty good at not posting bogus stuff, unlike say, CBS.

rawstory.com/news/2005/Backstory … _0614.html

[quote]Six additional UK Iraq documents, acquired by RAW STORY, reveal the depth and breadth of the plan to go to war and the extent of the deceit on the part of the President and his cabinet, in conjunction with the Blair government.

The documents are transcribed photocopies in PDF format and were acquired from a British source and corroborated by Michael Smith, the journalist who first received the original leaked memos. This site validated them through an independent source and with Smith.

 was given them last September while still on the [Daily] Telegraph,?Smith, who now works for the London Sunday Times, told RAW STORY.  was given very strict orders from the lawyers as to how to handle them.?/p>

 first photocopied them to ensure they were on our paper and returned the originals, which were on government paper and therefore government property, to the source,?he added.

The Butler Committee, a UK commission looking into WMD, has quoted the documents and accepted their authenticity, along with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Smith said all originals were destroyed in order to both protect the source and the journalist alike.

t was these photocopies that I worked on, destroying them shortly before we went to press on Sept 17, 2004,?he added. efore we destroyed them the legal desk secretary typed the text up on an old fashioned typewriter.?/p>

The copying and re-typing were necessary because markings on the originals might have identified his source, Smith said.

[/quote]

6

It’s just the standard tactic of casting a little doubt and then milking it for all it’s worth.