88 member of Congress... :Bush for answers on Iraq plan"

SECRET PLANS
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on
secret Iraq plan
RAW STORY< http://rawstory.com/

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,
RAWSTORY<http://rawstory.com/> has learned.
http://www.burstnet.com/ads/ad10674a-map.cgi/ns/v=2.0S/sz=300x250A/>
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

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-1592904-523,00.html
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
report<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-1592904-523,00.html
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 legaljustifications 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

_____________________________________________________________

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