CNN leads MSN is telling the truth- Reports on Congress’ call for answers on secret Iraq Plan

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

RAW STORY

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