Letter to my Senators re Briitish invasion planning docs (DSM, etc.)

[Barrett808]

United States Senate
173 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4701
DC Fax: [phone]

Dear Senator Murray,

Today's issue of the London Sunday Times reports a new document that unambiguously shows Bush and Blair had decided to invade Iraq in July 2002. Furthermore, it documents how they intended to manipulate the UN to force the invasion policy. Reporter Michael Smith writes:

“It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which Saddam would reject,” the document says. But if he accepted it and did not attack the allies, they would be “most unlikely” to obtain the legal justification they needed.

The suggestions that the allies use the UN to justify war contradicts claims by Blair and Bush, repeated during their Washington summit last week, that they turned to the UN in order to avoid having to go to war. ("Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’," http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html , emphasis mine)

This document corroborates two other British invasion-planning documents that have recently come to light:

• The now-famous minutes of the July 23, 2002 principals meeting, known as the "Downing Street Memo" (http://www.downingstreetmemo.com), in which Sir Richard Dearlove, then head of British intelligence (MI6), states that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the (Bush invasion) policy" ;


• The March 2002 memorandum summarizing a meeting between the UK Ambassador to the US and then Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz (http://cryptome.org/leaks-brief.htm , http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0506/S00116.htm), which details US and UK plans to "wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors and the UN SCRs."

The revelations of these authentic documents are profound. They comprise prima facie evidence that Bush and Blair conspired to violate international law after being advised that the invasion would be illegal.

Senator, please support investigations into the events detailed in these documents. Many thousands of people have died as a result of these apparently criminal decisions.

Sincerely,

Barrett808

Any suggestions before I fax this puppy?

On edit: Added link to Cryptome, per suggestion by lebkuchen.

[bunny planet]

1. Fax it, it's concise and perfect as is.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[Barrett808]

5. Thanks -- I'll give it another hour or so for comments, then fax n/t

[lebkuchen]

2. excellent letter, similar to my own, but with updated info

I'll file yours for my future attempts.

Only suggestion: another source other than Scoop to provide the DSM, to add to credibility.

[oxbow]

3. Good job. I just emailed mine, too!

Hello, Congressman Davis. I am a proud member of your constituency in
Virginia. Several news stories have hit the wires this weekend that I find
very disturbing.

The Sunday Times reported today that

"ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking
part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to
find a way of making it legal.

The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair
had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at
a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months
earlier.

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle
on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was
“necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html




Our own Washington Post also printed this story on page A01 today:

"A staff paper prepared for British Prime Minister Tony Blair eight months
before the invasion of Iraq concluded that U.S. military officials were
not planning adequately for a postwar occupation, The Washington Post
reported.

"A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly
nation-building exercise," authorities of the briefing memo wrote,
according to the Post. "As already made clear, the U.S. military plans are
virtually silent on this point. Washington could look to us to share a
disproportionate share of the burden."

The eight-page memo was written in advance of a July 23, 2002, meeting at
Blair's Downing Street offices, the Post said in Sunday editions."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR200506110
0723.html




In addition, I am also disturbed by the contents of what some are calling
the Downing Street Minutes, another leaked British document. It quotes the
head of Brtish Intelligence as saying that "the case for WMD's was thin"
and "the facts were being fixed around the policy" in the runup to the
Iraq war.

Along with the testimony of former White House officials such as Richard
Clarke and Paul O'Neil, a very grim picture is being painted of our
country's war plans Re: Iraq. When this evidence is taken as a whole, I
have no choice but to admit that The Bush Administration was planning how
to invade Iraq well before they have previously let on to us. Not whether
to invade, mind you, but HOW to do it.

I feel strongly that there is some dirty laundry here in need of airing
out. Whether or not there has been any wrongdoing by the White House, it
is in our interest to hold an investigation and get to the bottom of this.
All of these documents have been authenticated by the British and American
Press. Given this, as well as the increasing problems and American
casualties in Iraq, I feel entitled to some answers. Please get back to me
with your thoughts on this important matter.

Sincerely,

[Barrett808]

4. Nice n/t