Suskind releases all
February 5, 2004 5:31 PM Subscribe
Ron Suskind, previously discussed when his Paul O'Neill co-authored tell-all book came out last month, caused quite a stir due to some of the sensitive documents he used in the book and displayed on TV. Well now he's gone a bit farther, releasing all source documents online and in the public domain. He's also asking other government officials to help add to the document database and claims new documents will continue to be added. My favorite so far is the one to O'Neill from a admin official telling him to be "monotonously on message!"
This is great - it's not really comparable to the Pentagon Papers, but it's still very, very nice.
The Jan 31, 2001 Rumsfeld cover memo to the "secret" plans for dealing with Iraq are striking - If they were planning for a "Post Saddam Iraq Crisis" so early on in the Bush Administration.......
Why the hell did they bungle it so badly ?
Amateurs.
posted by troutfishing at 6:28 PM on February 5, 2004
The Jan 31, 2001 Rumsfeld cover memo to the "secret" plans for dealing with Iraq are striking - If they were planning for a "Post Saddam Iraq Crisis" so early on in the Bush Administration.......
Why the hell did they bungle it so badly ?
Amateurs.
posted by troutfishing at 6:28 PM on February 5, 2004
Key background information: The public prefers spending on things like health care and education over cutting taxes. It's crucial that your remarks make clear that there is no trade off here -- that we will boost education spending and set aside Social Security and Medicare surpluses to address the future of those programs, and still we will have an enormous surplus.
thanks, Matt. always good to see how the government "works."
let the sun shine, let the sun shine!
posted by mrgrimm at 7:11 PM on February 5, 2004
thanks, Matt. always good to see how the government "works."
let the sun shine, let the sun shine!
posted by mrgrimm at 7:11 PM on February 5, 2004
He's not really "releasing them . . . in the public domain." Works produced by the government are never copyrighted in the first place, so they're already in the public domain. If there's anything in these documents that survives that huge exception, the copyright almost certainy belongs to someone other than Suskind. Having said that much, even if any of these things are copyrighted, the intense public value in seeing them almost certainly makes Suskind's -- and any subsequent journalistic -- use of them fair.
The point is just that Suskind isn't in a position to add to the "public domain"-ness of them.
posted by grimmelm at 7:17 PM on February 5, 2004
The point is just that Suskind isn't in a position to add to the "public domain"-ness of them.
posted by grimmelm at 7:17 PM on February 5, 2004
The point is just that Suskind isn't in a position to add to the "public domain"-ness of them.
Yeah, sorry I made it sound that way. They're PD stuff direct from the gov't. I think he's highlighting that so everyone knows they can't be taken offline and can be mirrored, sold, made into musicals, etc...
hmmm, Buildup to Iraq the Musical sounds pretty good.
posted by mathowie at 7:26 PM on February 5, 2004
Yeah, sorry I made it sound that way. They're PD stuff direct from the gov't. I think he's highlighting that so everyone knows they can't be taken offline and can be mirrored, sold, made into musicals, etc...
hmmm, Buildup to Iraq the Musical sounds pretty good.
posted by mathowie at 7:26 PM on February 5, 2004
hmm. dude is lookin' really mischievous in that picture in the slate article. what is he up to?
posted by mcsweetie at 10:37 PM on February 5, 2004
posted by mcsweetie at 10:37 PM on February 5, 2004
"Attaq Iraq - The Opera !" - Or in classic Gilbert and Sullivan style, as a musical. I like it too. I love it, in fact. I think it has to be somehow conjured into reality. It must be !
The sheer absurdity of - say - Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz singing a yearningly, touchingly bellicose number about their grand plan for bringing about the transformation of the Mideast by invading Iraq.....
George W. Bush would play, almost, more of a chorus - with his "Don't clutter up the story with details. Get to the point. What's the bottom line ? What do you recommend ? Gee, do you really think so ? I don't know much about it, but I'll trust you on this one - OK, Invade Iraq. What's next on the agenda ?......."
_____________________________________________
If the project were set up as a wikki, I bet it would take shape really fast.
posted by troutfishing at 6:12 AM on February 6, 2004
The sheer absurdity of - say - Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz singing a yearningly, touchingly bellicose number about their grand plan for bringing about the transformation of the Mideast by invading Iraq.....
George W. Bush would play, almost, more of a chorus - with his "Don't clutter up the story with details. Get to the point. What's the bottom line ? What do you recommend ? Gee, do you really think so ? I don't know much about it, but I'll trust you on this one - OK, Invade Iraq. What's next on the agenda ?......."
_____________________________________________
If the project were set up as a wikki, I bet it would take shape really fast.
posted by troutfishing at 6:12 AM on February 6, 2004
"4 more years of the big parade, 4 more years the show, four more years to scratch your head and to be
POWEEERRRRRererLESSSSSSSSSSS."
posted by clavdivs at 7:31 AM on February 6, 2004
POWEEERRRRRererLESSSSSSSSSSS."
posted by clavdivs at 7:31 AM on February 6, 2004
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i didn't realize the goods were online. though, i suspect this book will make the next president even more secretive ...
posted by specialk420 at 6:12 PM on February 5, 2004