I had been frustrated that my Member of Congress, Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara--Ventura) had yet to sign John Conyers letter. She had been reluctant to sign thinking that those questions had been addressed. So, as urged by other Kossacks, I wrote to her thinking we could turn her around, ...and I'm sure others wrote to her and well...
June 13, 2005
MichaelPH & TanyaTH
xxxxxxxxxx
Ventura, California
Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for a letter sent by Rep. John Conyers to President Bush. As your Representative, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns.
You will be pleased to know that I will join Rep. Conyers and several of my colleagues in sending a letter to President Bush seeking clarification of a report that in the summer of 2002 the United States and United Kingdom had secretly agreed to attack Iraq . This letter is a follow-up to the earlier letter sent out by Rep. Conyers, which unfortunately was not brought to my attention in time. I am pleased to have the opportunity to join in signing this second letter, because if the allegations are true, the Downing Street Minutes state that the United States had already made the decision to go to war in Iraq . This, of course, would have been several months before there was any Congressional action taken on the matter. I find this report deeply disturbing and hope that it is investigated thoroughly to determine its validity.
You may be interested to know that I voted against the resolution authorizing the war in Iraq because I believed this administration had overstated its case for pre-emptive war, rushed us unilaterally into the conflict, and had no real plan for the postwar period or to bring our soldiers home. Despite the President's claims, these concerns have been confirmed.
Again, thank you for contacting me. With your views in mind, I will continue to speak out against this Administration's policies in Iraq . Please keep in touch
Sincerely,
LOIS CAPPS
Member of Congress
Note the use of "minutes" rather than "memo"...
That's another one for the good guys!