By By Nicole DiGrazia

The projected image of an authoritative-looking memo greeted students and community members last week during common hour in the Student Center Theater.

The Downing Street Memo, according to professors David Green, Cindy Bogard and Carolyn Eisenberg, was another form of proof that the Bush administration knowingly deceived the country while promoting the war in Iraq.

Green, a professor of political science at the University, referred to the Downing Street Memo as the “smoking gun” of the Bush administration.

“These were not mistakes,” Green said. “They were lies.”

Green went on to discuss how neither President George Bush nor British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied the authenticity of the contents of the memo.

The memo, dated July 2002, stated, “Military action [with Iraq] was now seen as inevitable,” and “The intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

Green asked why there was no anger or impetus for impeachment by the public and questioned why the media did not more widely report what was contained in the memo when it surfaced.

Bogard spoke next, focusing her message on her time spent at Camp Casey in Texas, outside the President’s ranch, this summer.

Bogard, a sociology professor, asked, “What was the noble cause?” referring to Cindy Sheehan and her son’s death.

Bogard ended by urging audience members to help by writing letters, voting and “putting your bodies where your politics are.”

Eisenberg was the series co-director and spoke briefly at the end of the event, reiterating the main points of her predecessors.

The event was part of the International Scene Lecture Series-“Foreign Policy Issues in the second Bush Administration” and will continue to have events throughout the fall semester.