(Thumbnail image: Whitehouse Archives)

“Two nonprofit groups say computer technicians found 22 million emails from the Bush administration. The two groups say the emails were previously mislabeled and effectively lost. The announcement is the latest development in a controversy surrounding the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.” (Fox 23 Tulsa)

The missing emails cover a period of about 95 days during a period of controversial decisions by the Bush White House.

 The discovery has many talking about what could be in the emails and when we’ll see them. Newsy takes a look at perspectives from “Five Minutes Alone," MSNBC, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette and FOX News.

The Youtube Channel “Five Minutes Alone” provides some background on the missing emails.

“What triggered the whole thing was an investigation by Congress in 2006 about the firing of nine federal prosecutors, which people suspected might have been politically motivated. So they asked that the White House turn over relevant documents, and that’s when the White House said they had lost all of these emails.”

On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow discusses the timing of the missing emails.

“I will save you the back of the envelope math right now. March 2003 to October 2005. That covers U.S. invasion of Iraq, Valerie Plame CIA leak cover-up, water boarding prisoners, the photographs at Abu Ghraib, the federal response to hurricane Katrina and much, much, much, much more.”

Some speculate whether the missing data was an intentional cover-up. A guest on MSNBC's Countdown Keith Olberman raises the question of when the administration knew about the problem.

“It becomes a question of willful blindness, it's sort of the political version of the dog ate my homework. You just let the problem stand.”

Others say it was simply an IT mistake. FOX News quotes a former Bush spokesman who talks about the group behind the lawsuit.

"The liberal group CREW litigates for sport, distorts the facts and has consistently tried to create a spooky conspiracy out of standard IT issues. Their misleading statements about our work demonstrates their continued anti-Bush agenda, nearly a year after a new president was sworn in.”

Talking Points Memo predicts a long wait before the public sees the emails.

“Many of the roughly 22 million emails secured through the deal likely won't be made public until 2022. And even the ones that can be released sooner won't see the light of day for around three years.”

Finally, Washington D.C. gossip blog Wonkette said that even after release, the emails will not shed any new light. 

“Once cleansed by technicians at the National Archives, all references to plotting and perpetuating 9/11, Iraq, Katrina and the assassination of Dumbledore will be removed.”

So what do you think will be revealed in the emails?

 Writer: Melissa Ulbricht