Barbara Lee speaks for me. Today I received the following email from my Congresswoman in response to a letter I'd sent a week or so ago. It is a form letter but it shows what SOME Congress-critters are doing to end this immoral war.
A PUBLIC THANK YOU TO BARBARA LEE OF CALIFORNIA!
:loveya:
Dear Mr. ****:
Thank you for your message regarding the war in Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you and share you concerns.
As you may know, I opposed the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq from the beginning. I voted against the resolution authorizing the war in October 2002 and offered a substitute amendment to let the United States work through peaceful means like continued negotiations and renewed inspections at the UN to ensure that Iraq was not developing weapons of mass destruction.
Unfortunately, my amendment lost by a vote of 355-72 and the majority of my colleagues chose to ignore the glaring shortcomings in the Administration's case for war. Nearly three years later we find our nation still embroiled in an unnecessary war with no end in sight.
It is unacceptable that the Bush administration still has no plan or timeline for ending the U.S. military presence in Iraq. That‚s why, Rep. Pete Stark and I wrote to the President on January 12, 2005, requesting that the Administration present a plan and timeline for withdrawal of our troops from Iraq as soon as possible.
In addition, I am an original cosponsor of H. Con. Res. 35, a resolution urging the President to develop and implement a plan for withdrawing our troops, rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure, and involving the international community in the transfer of security.
I am also a cosponsor of H. J. Res 55, a bipartisan resolution that calls for the President to present Congress with a plan by the end of this year to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by October 2006.
As well, I introduced an amendment in the House International Relations Committee during consideration of the 2006-2007 Foreign Relations Authorization Act. This amendment directed the President to submit a plan to Congress to withdraw our troops from Iraq. Unfortunately, it failed by a vote of 33-12.
Even after our troops come home, I want to be sure that we have no long-term military presence in Iraq. It is for that reason, I introduced H.Con.Res. 197, legislation declaring that it is the policy of the United States not to have permanent military bases in Iraq. This will not only help in the short term to demonstrate to the Iraqi people and the larger international community that the United States has no designs on Iraq, but it will codify a sentiment that even the President and Secretary Rumsfeld have clearly articulated.
I have also been working on two other significant aspects of the war in Iraq. One deals with the President‚s doctrine of preemption and the other pertains to questions of intelligence manipulation by the Administration that got us into this war in the first place.
The President justified going to war based on evidence that Iraq was manufacturing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and Saddam Hussein‚s regime posed a future threat to us.
Earlier this year, the President‚s justification for going to war with Iraq was proven dead wrong when the Iraq Survey Group came up empty handed and ended its search for WMDs. What‚s worse, in rushing to invoke this so-called „doctrine of preemption‰ against Iraq, the President has made our nation less safe.
Furthermore, threats of unilateral preemptive strikes only undermine the rule of law and endanger our own interests in international affairs and diplomacy. That‚s why I introduced H. Res. 82 to disavow this dangerous precedent.
In addition, earlier this summer the London Sunday Times brought to light the so-called "Downing Street Memos.‰ These are a series of secret memos written by top officials in the British government revealing their deliberations with the Bush administration about Iraq during 2002.
The Downing Street Memos raise grave and serious questions like: (1) was there a coordinated effort with the US intelligence community and/or British officials to „fix‰ the intelligence and facts around the policy, as the leaked documents state? (2) At what point in time did President Bush and Prime Minister Blair first agree it was necessary to invade Iraq? (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? and (4) Does the President or anyone in the administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?
On May 5, 2005, I joined dozens of my colleagues in sending a letter to President Bush insisting a response to a number of issues raised by the Downing Street Memos. I participated in a public hearing called by Rep. Conyers (D-MI) on June 16, 2005, to investigate the memos and the July 23, 2005 townhall in Oakland that I held on this issue brought together over 1000 people demanding answers.
We need to know the truth. That is why I have introduced a resolution of inquiry, H. Res. 375 directing the President and the Secretary of State to release all documents, emails, phone logs, faxes, and other communications regarding discussions they may have had during the lead up to congressional authorization to go to war on October 16, 2002. I expect that the House International Relations Committee will consider this bill in September.
Every extra day we remain Iraq is another day that our troops are put in harm‚s way. Rest assured that I am doing all I can to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Barbara Lee
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