http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070413-1.html

Office of the Press Secretary
April 13, 2007
Press Gaggle by Dana Perino and Dr. Ali Al-Dabbagh, Spokesman for the Government of Iraq
White House Conference Center Briefing Room
9:40 A.M. EDT
MS. PERINO : . . . there was a conversion sometime between 2002 and 2003 to convert people that were using Lotus Notes when we first arrived to Microsoft Outlook. And I know that the tech people worked to get us all transferred over. We had to save our Word documents and all to make sure that they weren't lost in that transition.

I don't have a specific number for you. Again, I wouldn't rule out that there were a potential 5 million emails lost, but we'll see if we can get to you. If it was 5 million, I think that, again, out of 1,700 people using email every day, again, there was no intent to have lost them.

And in addition to that, I think one of the things that we're talking about here, when you're asking about double-delete and what were the motivations, that is separate and apart from what we're talking about here, which is no one -- no person that was actually doing official government work or talking to any other outside groups or to the media would have known that their files would have -- that some of the emails would have been inadvertently lost in a transition of conversion of a technical sort.

Q : Dana, can I follow up on that real quick. So this allegation about the 5 million missing emails refers only, as you understand it, to this 2002-2003 time period?

MS. PERINO : I don't know the time period. I'm saying 2002-2003 because that's when I worked at CEQ, and that's when I know that I got -- I moved from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook . . .

Microsoft ate my homework.

"Microsoft ate my homework."

Either they've deliberately removed the material to hide something, or they're too incompetent to operate basic e-mail software (not that I'm about to sing Microsoft's praises; as software design goes, there's is among the lowest, in my opinion, but I'm not a software designer, so what do I know?).

Either way, they're making an awfully good case for why they shouldn't have anything to do with steering the ship of state. They probably shouldn't even be standing on the dock swinging the champagne bottle.

No kings,

Robert

Besides the destruction and concealment of documents, the Administration also has been guilty of the destruction and concealment of, and lying about, professional facts, opinions, and advice from within the executive branch, such as with military personnel warning of the true catastrophic ramifications of an American military occupation of Iraq, and environmental officials warning of several different serious environmental conditions (such as suppressed information about the dangerous air quality in the vicinity of Ground Zero).

The suppression and destruction of professional opinions and advice -- to be replaced by political doublespeak propaganda -- is in real ways MORE chilling than the destruction and concealment of documents by political lackeys on the public dole.

Five MILLION? Perino is trying to claim that they lost FIVE MILLION e-mails when they changed e-mail software? That is beyond credulity. Way beyond.

It's seems like we're in a chain of continuous cascading scandals. I hope the Bush administration pops like a pinata under all their corruption.

Missing files circa 1996:

GOP goes appoplectic. Subpoenas are threatened, the NY Times issues editorials (see link), conspiracy theories are floated, further investigation is demanded, great indignation is expressed in the highest circles of the federal government, talking points are faxed back and forth, and the right wing noise machine accelerates to red line.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E2D71339F932A15752C0A960958260

FIVE MILLION missing e-mails, 2007:

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Trust Your Leader.

MS. PERINO : ...And in addition to that, I think one of the things that we're talking about here, when you're asking about double-delete and what were the motivations, that is separate and apart from what we're talking about here, which is no one -- no person that was actually doing official government work or talking to any other outside groups or to the media would have known that their files would have -- that some of the emails would have been inadvertently lost in a transition of conversion of a technical sort.

Q : Dana, can I follow up on that real quick. So this allegation about the 5 million missing emails refers only, as you understand it, to this 2002-2003 time period?

MS. PERINO : I don't know the time period. I'm saying 2002-2003 because that's when I worked at CEQ, and that's when I know that I got -- I moved from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook . . .

Microsoft ate my homework.

-- sysprog

not that nothing has ever been lost in transitions like this, but anyone who believes that this transition

• of White House communications systems, that
• are required to be archived by law

happened without a couple of backups being made and duly archived is a complete fucking moron.

I fully believe this administration capable of the kind of monumental incompetence that this would take. But I do not believe, barring the evidence of a thorough investigation, that it occurred.

to my previous comment -

anyone who believes that someone who deletes those type of data banks "accidentally" ("oops! two years worth of communications between the White House and the Republican National Committee and I forgot to press "Save." Gosh darnit. I'm just no good before my first cup of coffee!") is actually doing so "accidentally," absent a completely astounding body of evidence.

...is way too gullible to be assessing political figures and situations.

Sorry for interrupt.

damn preview button.

That's it...They forgot to preview them. And rather than risk anyone seeing their spelling errors they simplly deleted the whole lot (all 5 million!)

How about this:

Presuming it can be proven Administration staff did in fact deliberately destroy recordings and records they were legally mandated to preserve, doing so at the direction of the Office of the President itself, would this rise to the level of genuine "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" necessary for Impeachment?

Shorter version: is this the legal straw that breaks the camel's back?