88 members of Congress demand "Secret Iraq War Plan" answers from Bush

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

NOTE TO DU MODERATORS: It is my understanding that the letter below is NOT "copyrighted material," so I have posted four paragraphs of the Raw Story article...in accordance with DU rules...and the letter in its entirety.

"Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan"

http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502

Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.

In a letter, Conyers and other members say they are disappointed the mainstream media has not touched the revelations.

"Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States was too busy with wall-to-wall coverage of a "runaway bride" to cover a bombshell report out of the British newspapers," Conyers writes. "The London Times reports that the British government and the United States government had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in 2002, before authorization was sought for such an attack in Congress, and had discussed creating pretextual justifications for doing so."

"The Times reports, based on a newly discovered document, that in 2002 British Prime Minister Tony Blair chaired a meeting in which he expressed his support for "regime change" through the use of force in Iraq and was warned by the nation's top lawyer that such an action would be illegal," he adds. "Blair also discussed the need for America to "create" conditions to justify the war." The members say they are seeking an inquiry. "This should not be allowed to fall down the memory hole during wall-to-wall coverage of the Michael Jackson trial and a runaway bride," he remarks. "To prevent that from occuring, I am circulating the following letter among my House colleagues and asking them to sign on to it."



The letter follows.

May 5, 2005

The Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write because of troubling revelations in the Sunday London Times apparently confirming that the United States and Great Britain had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in the summer of 2002, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action. While various individuals have asserted this to be the case before, including Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Richard Clarke, a former National Security Council official, they have been previously dismissed by your Administration. However, when this story was divulged last weekend, Prime Minister Blair's representative claimed the document contained "nothing new." If the disclosure is accurate, it raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own Administration.

The Sunday Times obtained a leaked document with the minutes of a secret meeting from highly placed sources inside the British Government. Among other things, the document revealed:

* Prime Minister Tony Blair chaired a July 2002 meeting, at which he discussed military options, having already committed himself to supporting President Bush's plans for invading Iraq.

* British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged that the case for war was "thin" as "Saddam was not threatening his neighbours and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, or Iran."

* A separate secret briefing for the meeting said that Britain and America had to "create" conditions to justify a war.

* A British official "reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

As a result of this recent disclosure, we would like to know the following:

1) Do you or anyone in your Administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?

2) Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies, before you sought Congressional authorization go to war? Did you or anyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade prior to this time?

3) Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors in order to help with the justification for the war as the minutes indicate?

4) At what point in time did you and Prime Minister Blair first agree it was necessary to invade Iraq?

5) Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?

We have of course known for some time that subsequent to the invasion there have been a variety of varying reasons proffered to justify the invasion, particularly since the time it became evident that weapons of mass destruction would not be found. This leaked document - essentially acknowledged by the Blair government - is the first confirmation that the rationales were shifting well before the invasion as well.

Given the importance of this matter, we would ask that you respond to this inquiry as promptly as possible. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Members who have already signed letter:
Neil Abercrombie
Brian Baird
Tammy Baldwin
Xavier Becerra
Shelley Berkley
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Sanford Bishop
Earl Blumenauer
Corrine Brown
Sherrod Brown
G.K. Butterfield
Emanuel Cleaver
James Clyburn
John Conyers
Jim Cooper
Elijah Cummings
Danny Davis
Peter DeFazio
Diana DeGette
Bill Delahunt
Rosa DeLauro
Lloyd Doggett
Sam Farr
Bob Filner
Harold Ford, Jr.
Barney Frank
Al Green
Raul Grijalva
Louis Gutierrez
Alcee Hastings
Maurice Hinchey
Rush Holt
Jay Inslee
Sheila Jackson Lee
Jessie Jackson Jr.
Marcy Kaptur
Patrick Kennedy
Dale Kildee
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Dennis Kucinich
William Lacy Clay
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Zoe Lofgren
Donna M. Christensen
Carolyn Maloney
Ed Markey
Carolyn McCarthy
Jim McDermott
James McGovern
Cynthia McKinney
Martin Meehan
Kendrick Meek
Gregory Meeks
Michael Michaud
George Miller
Gwen S. Moore
James Moran
Jerrold Nadler
Grace Napolitano
James Oberstar
John Olver
Major Owens
Frank Pallone
Donald Payne
Charles Rangel
Bobby Rush
Bernie Sanders
Linda Sanchez
Jan Schakowsky
Jose Serrano
Ike Skelton
Louise Slaughter
Hilda Solis
Pete Stark
Ellen Tauscher
Bennie Thompson
Edolphus Towns
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Chris Van Hollen
Nydia Velazquez
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Maxine Waters
Diane Watson
Melvin Watt
Robert Wexler
Lynn Woolsey
David Wu
Albert R. Wynn

THE LETTER, IN PDF FORMAT, WITH SIGNATURES, can be found at THIS URL: http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/letters/bushsecretmemoltr5505.pdf

[wryter2000]

1. Bless Conyers

And Barbara Lee's in there, of course. Barbara Lee speaks for me.

[wildflower]

2. I heard him on Stephanie Miller...

Thinks he will get 100 signatures.

-wildflower

[Clark2008]

3. Yeah! Harold Ford Jr.'s on there!

I wrote him about this the other day!

He's not my respresentative, but mine are all Republicans and wouldn't anyway. Besides, Ford's gonna run to replace Bill :scared: Frist's soon-to-be open seat, so I figure he ought to start representing me on a statewide level, anyway.

[bear425]

4. Wonderful news. Conyers, et.al. are true patriots.

But, then what? This calls for a full fledged investigation!

We must force this into the mainstream.

I'm going to start leafleting this story, because our media is only covering fluff.

edit: nominated

[EVDebs]

5. Resolution for Iraq war mentions compliance with War Powers Act

But the 1973 War Powers Act

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/warpow.html

implicitly requires truthful, "clearly indicate(d)" circumstances and consultation of Congress prior to introducing US troops to hostile actions:

"...the collective judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations. "

Looks like a possible 'end-run' on the War Powers Act and Congress being hoodwinked.

[bear425]

6. I just sent an LTTE to several media outlets calling for coverage

of this letter to *.

Use this link it's easy!

http://www.capwiz.com/lwv/dbq/media/

Here's my little letter:

USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Dr.
McLean, VA 22108-
Dear USA Today:


Representative John Conyers (D-MI) has written a letter calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq.

Please consider covering this very important development regarding the planning of the Iraq invasion. It's imperative that the mainstream media fulfill its promise to the American people by reporting the real news!

Here is a link to The Rawstory article and letter: http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[ginnyinWI]

7. Have any republicans signed?

It needs them to get any traction in the House, I would think.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

8. John Conyers is a True American Hero

Now it's time to hear it outloud from Obama, Hillary, Kerry

[youthere]

9. Need to keep this kicked.

:kick:

[katinmn]

10. Ack! My reps not on there.

Unless she signed on late.

I wrote her about it this week.

I'll be at an event she's at tonight and if I get a chance I'll ask what's going on.

[returnable]

13. Mine, either

But he's a legacy bum (Lipinski).

Can't say as I'm surprised he failed to sign on. What a chump.

[flordehinojos]

11. they'll get redfaced waiting for an answer from bush and get nothing but a

foul smelling can of spray from bush.

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. This is EXCELLENT. Conyers is both a hero and a leader when we need both

so desperately. And he has reached out to all progressives in a big way, including through the internet. And now we support him by spreading this far and wide in spite of the nazi-collaborating corporate media. Or, to be kinder, the RUNAWAY MEDIA.
:thumbsup:

[merbex]

14. First thing I did was check to see if my Congressman signed

Thankfully, he did.

Saved myself 37 cents

[bklyncowgirl]

15. Great! Thank you John Conyers and...

thank you every patriotic member of Congress who signed.

[EVDebs]

16. If Congress doesn't act, an Attny Gen Gonzalez doesn't act

we can ask for the Attny Gen to recuse himself ?

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/21/1535224

since he o.k.ed the methods of prosecuting this war ?

[johnaries]

17. I just emailed Jim Cooper thanking him for signing, and added this:

Please, do not this issue die. All Americans deserve to know the answers and the reasons we sent so many of our brave soldiers to die. Thank you!

[Eloriel]

18. Wish I thought

anything would come of this; I don't.

[understandinglife]

19. Support this PDAmerica effort. Spread the press release far and wide.

http://www.pdamerica.org/field/Press-Release-Bush-Blair.php

In case you want to provide some context when you send the press release to someone requesting they cover it or distribute it, just send them this photo:



What you get from illegitimate president -- an illegal war and countless crimes against humanity


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - STOP THE ATROCITIES; INDICT AND PROSECUTE BU$H AND ALL THE OTHER WAR CRIMINALS