This is good news, and surprising. A House Republican has announced that he will co-sponsor the House Dems' resolution of inquiry demanding that the White House disclose all documents relating to communications with the UK at the time of the DSM:
Congressman Jim Leach (R, Iowa) has informed Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D, California) that he will co-sponsor her Resolution of Inquiry into Bush Administration communications with the U.K. about Iraq at the time of the Downing Street Memos. Leach is the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support a demand for an inquiry into the Bush Administration's pre-war claims. The 131 congress members who have signed Congressman John Conyers' letter to the President about the Downing Street Memo are all Democrats. The 11 Senators who have asked the Senate Intelligence Committee to do the investigation it committed to in February 2004 but never did are all Democrats.
The Resolution, H. Res. 375, is a privileged resolution which must be brought to a vote in the House International Relations Committee by September 16th, or Lee is permitted to demand a vote of the full House. Fifty-two Democrats, including Lee, have co-sponsored the Resolution. Leach is the first Republican to join them, and he is a member of the International Relations Committee.
Leach has always been somewhat anti-Iraq war, although he never has been able to garner the attention of other anti-Iraq war Republicans, like Chuck Hagel. Hopefully Leach's sponsorship will get other Republicans to join, and while a House majority seems a long way off, the fact that this issue is now bipartisan should bring added focus.
Perhaps we'll find that more and more Republicans are not afraid to buck a President with a 36% approval rating.