Tuesday, April 20, 2004

They Get Letters

To Romenesko:

From PETER MEYER: Subject: Woodward & Iraq. I was on the Senate elevator (doing a story about a Senator who I prefer not to name) on October 11, 2001, when Sen. Joseph Lieberman walked on, in serious conversation with another Senator. Before he saw me, as he and his colleage stepped on the elevator, Lieberman said, "The Administration is really banging the drums on Iraq."

This was one month after 9/11.

I told several journalist colleagues of the comment, but no one seemed to care. My guess is that plenty of journalists knew -- or
could have easily found out -- that Bush was beating the drums to get Iraq before the dust had settled at the WTC. It simply wasn't
news at the time -- even if, in retrospect, it seems newsworthy now.

But why everyone is so surprised now that Bush had Iraqi war plans drawn up says more about the "structural problems" in the media than about the current administration.....

And here's another question for 9/11 journos: What were two of the hijackers doing spending their last night on earth at the tony Charles Hotel, across the street from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard? [hint: see Nightline, 4/8/04].