Needed: A Congressional Investigation of the Downing Street Memo – 2005-09-07 00:11:19
ACTION ALERT: Support H Res 375
Needed: A Congressional Investigation of the Downing Street Memo
Call and Email Your Congress Member Now!
Ask Your Congress Member to Co-Sponsor H Res 375, which will be acted on in the International Relations Committee between today and Sept. 15. Every member should co-sponsor, whether or not they serve on that committee.
If passed, H Res 375 will require the White House and the State Department to “transmit all information relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq.”
We have the Downing Street Memos from the UK. This Resolution, if passed, will demand similar evidence from the US. It has the support of most, and possibly all, of the Democrats on the IR committee, and of at least one Republican on that committee. We need every Dem and three Republicans to pass it.
E• mail Your Congress Member. http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/50
• Phone and Fax Your Congress Member. http://www.usalone.com/get_instantcongress.htm
• Fill out feedback form.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1887
Here are current co-sponsors.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HE00375:@@@P
More Info. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/902
Preparing the Grounds for Impeachment
The House Progressive Caucus is laying the groundwork for impeachment by
asking for documentation of discussions in the US leading into the Iraq war,looking for evidence that facts and intelligence were “fixed around the policy” (Downing Street Memo- DSM). The Resolution of Inquiry that would bring this issue to the House floor may be coming up today. Bill cosponsors are urgently needed in order to make this happen.
Especially target House members who cosigned Conyer’s May letter to Bush asking for an explanation of the DSM- 131 Congresspeople, but have not yet cosponsored Barbara Lee’s Resolution of Inquiry- only 58 so far. Mike Thompson of Northern California is one of these.
We are all busy with hurricane aid, but please take a moment to call your Representative.
Help Needed – PLEASE Call Your Representative’s Office TUESDAY Re: HRes 375 the Downing Street Minutes
A few months ago, Rep. Barbara Lee introduced a Resolution of Inquiry [H.Res. 375 Re: the Downing Street Minutes] to investigate Bush Administration deceit and wrongdoing leading up to the Iraq War. The After Downing Street Coalition – http://www.afterdowningstreet.org – is working with Rep. Lee’s office and others to gain Congressional cosponsors for this Resolution.
Unfortunately we are running out of time. The showdown vote is drawing near. You can help us win! We need your help. Especially if your Representative is a member of the International Relations Committee (see list of members below). Please send this to all your lists, post on blogs and yahoo groups, etc.
Congress reconvenes September 6th and the International Relations Committee (IR Committee) could vote on the Resolution soon – perhaps even that day. Please call your Congressmember’s D.C. office Tuesday morning, September 6th and urge him or her to cosponsor the Resolution of Inquiry. Please note: “support” isn’t enough. We need them to *cosponsor.* Then, keep calling every day – and get friends and family to call – until there’s a vote on the Resolution.
• Watch for news aboutthis at the committee website:
http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/index.htm
and see below for a list of IR Committee members, cosponsors, the text of the Resolution, the Downing Street documents and more. Use AfterDowningStreet’s Lobby Kit to persuade your Congress Person:
• Get your Member’s DC telephone number here: http://www.house.gov/
Ask for the Legislative Director or the person in charge of Iraq or foreign policy, express your strong support for the Resolution of Inquiry (ROI), and request the Representative join the growing number of cosponsors. If they tell you that the representative will not be cosponsoring H. Res. 375, ask for specific reasons. Ask what it would take for the Representative to co-sponsor.
If your Representative is a Republican, explain that Rep. Jim Leach from Iowa – a top-ranking Republican on the International Relations Committee – is already cosponsoring. If your Representative is a Democrat, explain that Leach and Tom Lantos, the Ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, are now cosponsoring. Ask: How can a Democrat refuse to cosponsor when a top Republican is consponsoring?
We need THREE total Republicans on the International Relations Committee and ALL of the Democrats to cosponsor for H. Res. 375 to pass from the Committee to the House for a floor vote – see below for members of the IR Committee. For every Democrat who refuses to cosponsor, we need an additional Republican.
Even if your Representative is not on the IR Committee, we need them as cosponsors, *not* just as supporters of the Resolution. If the ROI fails in committee, we’ll need massive cosponsorship in the House.
We also need specific information to follow up on these calls. Find out if your Representative seems willing or reluctant to cosponsor and then report back to us at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1887
We can’t assume your Congressperson is aware of these materials. If they need to know more about the Resolution or express uncertainty, ask for a fax number and / or email address to send copies of the Resolution of Inquiry and the actual Downing Street Minutes to the Representative or staffer(s). Fax or email these materials to them. You can get them here:
• One-page PDF of the Resolution of Inquiry:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/roi-onepage.pdf
• Link to the ROI (scroll down):
• One-page PDF of the first Downing St. Minutes also known as the Downing
Street Memo from July 23, 2002:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/dsmemo.pdf
• Link to the Downing St. Minutes:
If your Representative signed Rep. Conyers’ letter of 5/5/05 Calling on the President to Answer Questions Concerning the “secret Downing Street memo” but hasn’t agreed to Cosponsor HRes 375, you should mention that.
• Here’s a PDF list of Members of Congress who signed the letter:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/letters/bushletterlistofsigners.pdf
• Here’s a PDF of the letter itself:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/letters/bushsecretmemoltr5505.pdf
Members of the International Relations Committee
Democrats:
Tom Lantos: http://www.house.gov/lantosCalifornia, 12th District
Howard L. Berman http://www.house.gov/berman: California, 28th District
Gary L. Ackerman: http://www.house.gov/ackermanNew York, 5th District
Eni F. H. Faleomavaega: http://www.house.gov/faleomavaegaAmerican Samoa
Donald M. Payne: http://www.house.gov/payneNew Jersey, 10th District
Robert Menendez: http://menendez.house.govNew Jersey, 13th District
Sherrod Brown: http://www.house.gov/sherrodbrownOhio, 13th District
Brad Sherman: http://www.house.gov/shermanCalifornia, 27th District
Robert Wexler: http://www.house.gov/wexlerFlorida, 19th District
Eliot L. Engel: http://www.house.gov/engelNew York, 17th District
William D. Delahunt: http://www.house.gov/delahuntMassachusetts, 10th District
Gregory W. Meeks: http://www.house.gov/meeksNew York, 6th District
Barbara Lee: http://www.house.gov/leeCalifornia, 9th District
Joseph Crowley: http://www.house.gov/crowleyNew York, 7th District
Earl Blumenauer: http://www.house.gov/blumenauerOregon, 3rd District
Shelley Berkley: http://www.house.gov/berkleyNevada, 1st District
Grace F. Napolitano: http://www.house.gov/napolitanoCalifornia, 38th District
Adam B. Schiff: http://www.house.gov/schiffCalifornia, 29th District
Diane E. Watson http://www.house.gov/watson/: California, 33rd District
Adam Smith http://www.house.gov/adamsmith/: Washington, 9th District
Betty McCollum http://www.house.gov/mccollum/: Minnesota, 4th District
Ben Chandler http://chandler.house.gov/: Kentucky, 6th District
Dennis A. Cardoza http://www.house.gov/cardoza/: California, 18th District
Republicans:
Henry J. Hyde, Chairman: http://www.house.gov/hydeIllinois, 6th District
James A. Leach: http://www.house.gov/leachIowa, 2nd District
Christopher H. Smith http://www.house.gov/chrissmith: New Jersey, 4th District
Dan Burton: http://www.house.gov/burtonIndiana, 5th District
Elton Gallegly http://www.house.gov/gallegly: California, 24th District
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: http://www.house.gov/ros-lehtinenFlorida, 18th District
Dana Rohrabacher: http://www.house.gov/rohrabacherCalifornia, 46th District
Edward R. Royce: http://www.house.gov/royceCalifornia, 40th District
Peter T. King: http://www.house.gov/kingNew York, 3rd District
Steve Chabot: http://www.house.gov/chabotOhio, 1st District
Thomas G. Tancredo http://www.house.gov/tancredo: Colorado, 6th District
Ron Paul http://www.house.gov/paul: Texas, 14th District
Darrell Issa http://www.issa.house.gov/: California, 49th District
Jeff Flake http://www.house.gov/flake: Arizona, 6th District
Jo Ann Davis: http://www.house.gov/joanndavisVirginia, 1st District
Mark Green http://www.house.gov/markgreen/: Wisconsin, 8th District
Jerry Weller http://www.house.gov/weller/: Illinois, 11th District
Mike Pence http://mikepence.house.gov/: Indiana, 6th District
Thaddeus G. McCotter http://www.house.gov/mccotter/: Michigan, 11th District
Katherine Harris http://www.house.gov/harris/: Florida, 13th District
Joe Wilson http://joewilson.house.gov/: South Carolina, 2nd District
John Boozman http://www.boozman.house.gov/: Arkansas, 3rd District
J. Gresham Barrett http://www.house.gov/barrett/: South Carolina, 3rd District
Connie Mack http://www.house.gov/mack/: Florida, 14th District
Jeff Fortenberry http://www.house.gov/fortenberry/: Nebraska, 1st District
Michael McCaul http://www.house.gov/mccaul/: Texas, 10th District
Ted Poe http://www.house.gov/poe/: Texas, 2nd District
We cannot thank you enough for your help. Your efforts really count!
Sophie de Vries
– http://www.ImpeachCentral.com
Mike Hersh /
– Maryland State Coordinator, Progressive Democrats of America
http://www.pdamerica.org
– Organizer, Democracy for America Silver Spring-Wheaton
http://www.democracyforamerica.com
– Chairperson, Montgomery County Progressive Alliance
http://www.mc-progressivealliance.com
– Radio Left Co-host – http://www.radioleft.com
– MikeHersh.com – http://www.mikehersh.com
