LET US NOW PRAISE UNFAMOUS MEN
SAY GOODBYE TO FLEET STREET
THE WAR OVER PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Today, June 17th is a day that also lived in infamy and aroused a sense of national urgency. Let’s remember Frank Wills today. Frank who? Frank, the security officer, a man of color, a minimum wage guard who noticed that a door kept open with tape and that he had untaped had been retaped at the Watergate office complex in Washington 33 years ago tonight. He realized something was up, and called the cops. With that act, he had gone from securing a building to being the lead actor in an effort to secure our Constitution.

Americans should be proud that he was along the watchtower, ringing a fire bell in the June night.

Most people who write about Watergate and the burglary at Democratic Party HQ on this day in l972 praise the investigative reporters and the Senators who stood up to nix Nixon, But, I will always think of what Frank Wills did just by doing his duty.

Without him….

I also remember the newspaper article that first told us what happened—notice Frank’s name does not appear. He was then—and still is, for many—praise, Ralph Ellison, the “invisible man.” Remember too that news of the break-in did not change the outcome of the l972 elections. It was at the time spun and minimized, denied and downplayed. It took years before the President resigned.

“BREAKING NEWS”

”WASHINGTON — Five men were arrested Saturday as they attempted to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, police reported.

“Police described the men as “a professional ring” and said nothing was stolen. The police said they were at a loss of why the men would pick such a target unless they were searching for documents.

“Seized with them were an assortment of lock picks and other burglary tools.

“The five being held for a U.S. magistrate’s hearing later in the day were identified tentatively as residents of Miami, Fla. Police listed them as Raul Godoy, Gene Valdez, Edward Martin, Edward Hamilton and Frank Carter.”

“Police said a security guard heard noises near the locked Democratic headquarters at 1:30 a.m. and called police to a swank apartment complex next to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

“Police arrested the five and a complaint was filed by Stanley L. Greigg, 40, a former Iowa congressman who is now assistant chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“A security guard at the building said the burglary evidently was preplanned. He said a tape had been placed over a lock to keep a door accessible to the stairwell that leads directly to the headquarters.”

The first AP story on the Watergate break-in, transmitted on June 17, 1972.”

Those names of the men arrested at what Nixon called “a third rate burglary” all gave false names. They were all literally’ creeps—tied to CREEP, The Committee to Re-elect The President. The Security guard that is quoted, of course, we now know was Frank Wills.

WE ALSO REMEMBER

There are two other names to remember when we think about those days, two then young fiery Congressmen, John Conyers of Detroit and Harlem’s Charlie Rangel who back in that day were outspoken in the fight for truth.

Now they are speaking out again for truth about the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Yesterday, in the basement on Capitol Hill, in a small room in an area that one member of Congress compared to Dante’s Seventh Circle of Hell, members of Congress, led by Conyers with the support of Charlie Rangel and many others, gathered in defiance of the Bush Administration to discuss the Downing St memo and the continuing cover-up of the war. See the BradBlog for notes if you missed it:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001471.ht

Later, after the DSM (everything needs its own acronym) Forum, Conyers led a delegation to deliver a petition with hundreds of thousands of signature to the White House. For photos and a report:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001474.htm

The Daily Kos also carried a report too:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/205527/157

WATERGATE INVOKED

Significantly, civil rights attorney John Bonifaz, of AfterDowningStreet.org, the group that helped Conyers organize the event compared the Downing Street Memo to that secret recording system in the Nixon White House…

The more things change, the more…..

While this Forum (not really a hearing because Conyers did not have subpoena power) was being held, the GOP rulers on the hill scheduled an unprecedented eleven votes in two hours to force those in attendance to rush to the House chamber to cast their votes. They also secheduled important appropriations hearings at the same time.

BOLTON CONNECTION

Reuters reports that the Downing Street memo was also invoked in the debate over John Bolton’s nomination as US Ambassador to the UN

“U.S. Senate Democrats rejected a Republican compromise over John Bolton’s nomination as U.N. ambassador on Thursday and cited a British report backing their view that the Bush administration hyped intelligence on Iraq before the 2003 invasion.

“Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, scheduled a procedural vote on Monday to try to break the deadlock. Democrats said they had enough votes to stall the
nomination until the White House turns over information they demanded on Bolton, but Republicans hoped they would be viewed as obstructionists.

“Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demanded a full accounting of whether Bolton exaggerated assessments of several countries’ weapons programs, a key issue in the long-stalled nomination.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601117.html

IS ONLY BUSH TO BLAME? WHAT ABOUT THE ROLE OF CONGRESS?

More Damning than Downing Street

Paul Rogat Loeb asks: “Why aren’t we talking about this?”

“As the Downing Street memo confirms, they had so little evidence of real threats that they knew from the start that they were going to have manufacture excuses to go to war. What’s more damning still is that they effectively began this war even before the congressional vote.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9156.htm

MEDIA COVERAGE

I listened in to the Conyers meet-up on Pacifica Radio while others watched on CSPAN 3 (the lesser of the CSPAN outlets) and heard what was in effect an anti-war rally, a sign of growing anti-war sentiment in the Congress. It was an underground hearing in a movement that is rapidly going overground. 122 members of Congress have signed on to the demand for the truth about the issues raised by the Downing St Memo. But, as Larry Bensky of KPFA pointed out, this is not a critical mass or enough for an impeachment inquiry.

C-Span 2 will rerun the Conyers Downing Street Memo Forum at 8pm EST, on Friday, 6/17/05.) It will be on C Span or C Span 2 Friday night, 8 Eastern, 7 Central.

It’s not enough but probably better than nothing .Conyers writes in his blog that he expects more press coverage:

” “For those commentators who were concerned (or hoping) that there would be a media blackout of the forum, that will not be the case. I have every majo network, other than Fox, bringing cameras to the hearing. Nightline is taping the event, which I think represents a welcome development from a well respected investigative program. In addition, C-Span 3 and Radio Pacifica are carrying it live.”

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000139.htm

And so they promised, but what happened? Mediawatcher J Newberry reports: “Really incredible. The major networks, except for Fox, supposedly sent cameras to the hearing. But not one of the nightly network news reported on it. CNN Lou Dobbs and MSNBC Tucker Carlson seemed to blow it, and the Downing Street Memo off.”

Editor & Publisher: “A survey on Wednesday of editorial pages of American newspapers produced a mixed picture of their treatment of the so-called Downing Street Memo.”

http://www.freepress.net/news/8590

The Independent in London reports today: “American officials lied to British ministers over the use of “internationally reviled” napalm-type firebombs in Iraq. Yesterday’s disclosure led to calls by MPs for a full statement to the Commons and opened ministers to allegations that they held back the facts until after the general election.”

And this flashback to Vietnam: “fragging” was on the BBC this morning:

“A US soldier serving in Iraq has been charged with murdering two of his own officers whose deaths in an explosion were initially blamed on rebels. Capt Phillip T Esposito and 1st Lt Louis E Allen were said to have been killed in a mortar attack near the town of Tikrit on 7 June.”

MORE CONGRESSMEMBERS SAY: “OUT OF IRAQ”

Progressive Democrats of America report:

“ Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) has informed Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) that she and Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. John Conyers, and Rep. John Lewis are leading a newly formed Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus, with 41 members as of today.

“Rep. Waters said: “The Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus is a newly formed effort whose sole purpose is to be the main agitators in the movement to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Our efforts will include the coordination of activities and legislation designed to achieve our goal of returning our troops home. Through floor statements, press conferences, TV and radio appearances and other actions, we will provide leadership for the American public who has been waiting too long for our collective voices against the war.”

IS NEWS COVERAGE OF THE WAR IMPROVING?

The Santa Maria Times carried this editorial:

“News organizations are in an awkward position when it comes to telling and showing the real costs of war. Every newspaper, news magazine and TV news operation’s mission is to tell the truth and not pull any punches.

“But when it comes to the war in Iraq, that goal is difficult to reach.

“The fact is, more than 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq just since the first of this month. In all, more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have lost their lives in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, and close to 13,000 have been wounded.

“Do the numbers surprise you? They shouldn’t. The combat toll has been widely reported in every U.S. newspaper - including this one - since the war began.

“What readers and TV viewers aren’t seeing a lot of is the actual loss of life. There are a host of reasons why you don’t see the photos and video of combat fatalities and injuries, mostly because the Bush administration and Pentagon officials would rather you not see them.

“And when news outlets make the effort to put a real, horrifying face on the war, the outcome isn’t always universally accepted. Editors at the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., learned that lesson the hard way last month when they ran a photo of a fatally wounded Army private. After the photo appeared, the Star-Ledger’s editors took a thorough tongue-lashing from readers, who accused the newspaper of being crass, insensitive and even unpatriotic.

“Editors at the Los Angeles Times recently completed a survey of several major newspapers and two of the nation’s largest news magazines to see how other editors were handling the reporting of the war. They found that although the death toll was being dutifully reported, there was scant photographic evidence that American men and women are being killed in a war that seems to have no end. Whatever purpose Americans found in the conflict at first has now all but disappeared….

“With or without the photos and video, public sentiment is turning against the war in Iraq. America needs a strategy and a timetable for getting out.

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2005/06/15/sections/opinion/61505.txt

BUSH DENOUNCES TODAY’S ELECTION IN IRAN

The Washington Post reports:

“On the eve of Iran’s presidential election, President Bush yesterday denounced Tehran’s theocracy for manipulating the vote by eliminating candidates and ignoring the “basic requirements” of democracy. Whatever the election’s outcome, power will continue to be held by “an unelected few” who are out of step with political changes sweeping the rest of the region, Bush said in a statement released by the White House.

Critics of America’s theocracy made a similar sounding critique of our own election last year. Remember?

RACE AND MEDIA: MISING PERSONS COVERAGE ATTACKED AS BIASED

AP reports: “Some are taking the industry to task for a disproportionate emphasis on the disappearances of white girls and women.”
-
http://www.freepress.net/news/8597

For Another View on that Senate apology for not legislating against lynching, read: “The Meaningless Apology on Lynching” on Black Commentator.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/142/142_cover_lynching.html

RALLYING FOR AFRICA

Live8 Update: “London’s Hyde Park, Circus Maximus in Rome and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are among the venues for Live 8, a series of concerts being organized by Bob Geldof, the driving force behind the 1985 Band Aid and Live Aid campaigns for African famine relief.

“The July 2 concerts, which will be free, also will be held near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and in Paris. Performers will include Madonna, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran and Brian Wilson.

“We don’twant people’s money. We want them,” Geldof said

MORE THAN DEBT AT STAKE

Some Africans are challenging this campaign. It’s about guns, not debt writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

“Africa isn’t poor, it’s rich. What it needs isn’t debt relief and aid, but to get rid of the “genocide states” blighting its development - and if G8 leaders really want to help they could Nstart by banning the arms sales that prop up these states

WOLFING AT WOLFOWITZ

Meanwhile in South Africa, activists are opposing the Wolfowitz appointment to the World Bank. They say:

“The World Bank is now clearly and unambiguously an international bank of war. Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s Minister of Finance, great friend of the World Bank and Chair of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund disagrees. According to him, Wolfowitz is a ‘wonderful individual, perfectly capable’. Join us in opposing Wolfowitz’ visit to South Africa by picketing outside Manuel’s provincial office.

When: 2.30 pm, Friday 17 June

Where: Gauteng Provincial Department of Finance and Economic Affairs, 94 Main Street, Johannesburg”