Julia Carson's response on Downing Street Memos

[IndianaGreen]

I posted Bayh's response earlier, here is Julia's:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the war in Iraq.

As you know, I did not support the measure that conveyed congressional
authority to the President to invade and occupy Iraq. I maintain my belief
that Congress has the sole constitutional authority to declare war. In
opposing the Iraq War resolution I asked on the House floor, "... the
aggressive war the President wants to start against Iraq would cost our
taxpayers between $6 and $9 billion a month. With most people's retirement
accounts in the tank, the Federal accounts drenched in red ink and so many
people out of work, don't we have better and less violently fatal ways to
spend money?" The cost in dollars, but more importantly the lives of
American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians, has far surpassed the
administration's rosy predictions. I deeply regret that the President and
his majority in Congress still refuse to confront their failures in Iraq.

The President's pretext for this war was dubious at best. The 9/11
Commission clearly stated there was no collaborative relationship between
Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. The Administration assured our country that
they knew exactly where Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction were.
After almost two years the Administration's own Iraq Survey Group ended its
search for weapons of mass destruction without finding anything.

I have joined Congressman John Conyers and 88 of our House colleagues in
asking the President to explain the "Downing Street Memo". The memo, which
the British government admits is an accurate account of a meeting between
high ranking British and American officials, reports that the President
wanted to go to war as early as the summer of 2002, and that "intelligence
and facts were being fixed around the policy" of regime change.

What is even more appalling is the mistreatment of the brave men and women
who have dedicated their lives to protecting our country. Our government is
failing in its duty to support our troops, veterans and their families. The
President declared "mission accomplished" and that "we've turned the
corner", yet the violent insurgency continues to kill our soldiers and
innocent Iraqis with no end in sight.

It is unconscionable that after more than two years of fighting, this war
will soon have cost more that $300 billion and our troops still do not have
the equipment they need to protect themselves from the constant barrage of
attacks. Our troops need more body armor, more armored humvees and more
international and Iraqi support.

This Administration must be held accountable for the $8.8 billion in
unaccounted for spending by the Coalition Provisional Authority, and the
more than $100 million in cash that has simply disappeared. Some private
companies working in Iraq appear to be engaged in war profiteering, and yet
the Republicans in Congress have fought against investigations of how
Halliburton is spending our tax dollars.

Our troops and their families are weary after long deployments and financial
and emotional uncertainty. The Administration has fought against members of
Congress trying to alleviate the burdens placed on these young men and
women. Democrats in Congress tried to protect military families when
deployments result in bankruptcy; tried to give our veterans access to the
healthcare we promised them, and tried to expand child tax credits for
active duty personnel, but to no avail.

Our country has an obligation to give our armed forces our complete support.
I am working to advance the House Democrats' new GI Bill of Rights for the
21st Century. Our new plan will repeal unfair tax burdens on military
families, provide veterans with the benefits they deserve such as affordable
health care, education and job training, and improve benefits for our
National Guard/Reservists. With soldiers going to war, veterans coming home
and new recruits becoming harder to find, proper support for our military is
more important than ever before.

Over 1,600 of our men and women serving this nation have died, and thousands
more have been seriously wounded. We in Congress must ask hard questions
about the President's Iraq policy, investigate the numerous failures and
demand accountability. I will work in Congress to keep our faith with the
American people and our armed forces.

Thank you for your interest.

Best regards.

Sincerely,

Julia Carson
Member of Congress

JC:zm

[John Q. Citizen]

1. Well said. There is a member of congress who

accepts her responsibilitys.

[Fritz67]

2. I wish I was in her District...

I was in Andy Jacob's district for one election, but got gerrymandered into Dan "Scumbag" Burton's in 1992 and now I think I'm in Steve Buyer's...

Sic'em, Julia.