| Congressman
John Conyers (D-MI) seeks to amass 100,000 signatures
from U.S. citizens calling on President Bush for more
answers about a 2002 meeting during which a senior British
official said intelligence was "being fixed"
to present a case for the Iraq war, RAW
STORY has learned.
The congressman's office says Conyers
hopes to present the letter to the President in person,
in what may be a media event; they believe the letter
could have a "viral effect" and spark new
interest in the steps taken by the Bush Administration
in the run-up to the Iraq war and the so-called "Downing
Street Memo."
The memo,
official minutes of a 2002 meeting between British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, members of British intelligence
MI-6 and various members of the Bush administration,
noted that MI-6 director Richard Dearlove said, “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.”
The following was posted on the Congressman's
website; the petition
is viewable
here.
Conyers and eighty-eight other members
of Congress issued a
letter to the White House on May 5 requesting an
explanation and answers to questions about whether the
President misled Congress into voting for the Iraq war.
The White House has ignored the letter.
White House press secretary Scott said
he had “no need to respond,” according to
the New
York Times.
Conyers has indicated that he may send
a delegation to London to further investigate the memo.
###
First, the memo appears to directly contradict
the Administration's assertions to Congress and the
American people that it would exhaust all options before
going to war. According to the minutes, in July 2002,
the Administration had already decided to go to war
against Iraq.
Second, a debate has raged in the United States over
the last year and one half about whether the obviously
flawed intelligence that falsely stated that Iraq possessed
weapons of mass destruction was a mere "failure"
or the result of intentional manipulation to reach foreordained
conclusions supporting the case for war. The memo appears
to close the case on that issue stating that in the
United States the intelligence and facts were being
"fixed" around the decision to go to war.
These are not routine questions within a partisan give
and take. Under the United States Constitution (Article
I, Section 8), the Congress has the sole power to declare
war. If the Executive Branch deceives the Congress in
this duty, it represents an attack of our democracy
of the most serious nature. These Constitutional questions
are not going away and must be answered forthrightly
and completely by this Administration.
I and 88 of my colleagues (that number is growing -
more on that soon) asked the Administration to come
clean about these troubling allegations. Our inquiries
have been met with silence.
The press has also been negligent is giving this matter
the attention it deserves.
I am committed to seeing this through until we get
the answers we deserve. But I need your help.
The conventional wisdom, which unfortunately governs
Washington's political discourse, hold that the American
people have long ago made peace with the mistakes or
deceptions which led us into war. Help me prove them
all wrong. I want to show the White House, the Press
and my congressional colleagues that nothing could be
further from the truth.
That is why today I am giving you the opportunity to
sign on to a letter asking the same questions of the
President that now nearly 100 Members of Congress have
asked. If I get at least 100,000 signatures on this,
I will personally deliver the letter to the White House.
If you want to sign on to this letter, go to my website
(www.johnconyers.com).
I also want you to know that I am exploring many, many
avenues to get to the truth about this matter.
Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.
Article originally published May 27, 2005. |
