Letter to Pres Bush Concerning the "Downing Street Minutes"
I have just read the letter that John Conyers has written to PresidentBush, asking very cogent questions about the Downing St. Memo.The Downing St. Memo is the British internal document recently leaked tothe press that reports that the Bush administration had already decided to invade Iraq in the spring of 2002 and was in the process of "fixing the intelligence."It is respectful and pointed. I believe it deserves our support, so I am asking you to go to this website, follow the links and sign it.
http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com
Encouragingly, he is getting a lot of email on this, so please don't be discouraged if you run into problems reaching the website. I have the right address--I tried it to make sure. I have also copied the text of the letter below so you can read it before you go to the website to sign it. Please pass this on to your networks too.
Thanks for all your help.
Letter to Pres Bush Concerning the "Downing Street Minutes"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
Dear Mr. President:
We the undersigned write because of our concern regarding recent disclosures of a Downing Street Memo in the London Times, comprising the minutes of a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers.These minutes indicate that the United States and Great Britain agreed, by the summer of 2002, to attack Iraq, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action, and thatU.S. officials were deliberately manipulating intelligence to justify the war.
Among other things, the British government document quotes a high-ranking British official as stating that by July, 2002, Bush had made up his mind to take military action. Yet, a month later, you stated you were still willing to "look at all options" and that there was "no timetable" for war. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, flatly stated that "[t]he president has made no such determination that we should go to war with Iraq." In addition, the origins of the false contention that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction remain a serious and lingering question about the lead up to the war. There is an ongoing debate about whether this was the result ofa "massive intelligence failure," in other words a mistake, or the result of intentional and deliberate manipulation of intelligence to justify the case for war. The memo appears to resolve that debate as well, quoting the head of British intelligence as indicating that in the United States "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
As a result of these concerns, we would ask that you respond to the following questions:
1)Do you or anyone in your administration dispute the accuracy of theleaked document?
2) Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies,before you sought Congressional authorization to go to war? Did you oranyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade priorto this time?
3) Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors inorder 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 itwas necessary to invade Iraq?
5) Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence communityand/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around thepolicy as the leaked document states?
These are the same questions 89 Members of Congress, led by Rep. JohnConyers, Jr., submitted to you on May 5, 2005. As citizens and taxpayers,we believe it is imperative that our people be able to trust our government and our commander in chief when you make representations and statements regarding our nation engaging in war. As a result, we would ask that you publicly respond to these questions as promptly as possible.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely
http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com
Encouragingly, he is getting a lot of email on this, so please don't be discouraged if you run into problems reaching the website. I have the right address--I tried it to make sure. I have also copied the text of the letter below so you can read it before you go to the website to sign it. Please pass this on to your networks too.
Thanks for all your help.
Letter to Pres Bush Concerning the "Downing Street Minutes"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
Dear Mr. President:
We the undersigned write because of our concern regarding recent disclosures of a Downing Street Memo in the London Times, comprising the minutes of a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers.These minutes indicate that the United States and Great Britain agreed, by the summer of 2002, to attack Iraq, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action, and thatU.S. officials were deliberately manipulating intelligence to justify the war.
Among other things, the British government document quotes a high-ranking British official as stating that by July, 2002, Bush had made up his mind to take military action. Yet, a month later, you stated you were still willing to "look at all options" and that there was "no timetable" for war. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, flatly stated that "[t]he president has made no such determination that we should go to war with Iraq." In addition, the origins of the false contention that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction remain a serious and lingering question about the lead up to the war. There is an ongoing debate about whether this was the result ofa "massive intelligence failure," in other words a mistake, or the result of intentional and deliberate manipulation of intelligence to justify the case for war. The memo appears to resolve that debate as well, quoting the head of British intelligence as indicating that in the United States "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
As a result of these concerns, we would ask that you respond to the following questions:
1)Do you or anyone in your administration dispute the accuracy of theleaked document?
2) Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies,before you sought Congressional authorization to go to war? Did you oranyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade priorto this time?
3) Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors inorder 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 itwas necessary to invade Iraq?
5) Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence communityand/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around thepolicy as the leaked document states?
These are the same questions 89 Members of Congress, led by Rep. JohnConyers, Jr., submitted to you on May 5, 2005. As citizens and taxpayers,we believe it is imperative that our people be able to trust our government and our commander in chief when you make representations and statements regarding our nation engaging in war. As a result, we would ask that you publicly respond to these questions as promptly as possible.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 5:31 AM
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