Thursday, July 28, 2005
You can lead a horse to water, but...
I recently wrote to Senator Wayne Allard to ask him to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee and 29 co-sponsors, who are backing a Resolution of Inquiry which, if passed, 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."
For anyone who may have been living in Antarctica for the past couple of months, the Downing Street Memos are secret British government documents that provide a "smoking gun" that strongly demonstrates that Bush had decided to go to war long before the March 2003 invasion, and that he was willing to contort existing evidence in any way necessary to support his policy. If you'd like to read the Downing Street documents, you can find all of them online at www.afterdowningstreet.org
I don't launch such endeavors with any expectation that I will sway the senator; it's rare that we agree, and I hardly expect him to support an investigation of his beloved Supreme Leader based on something I've said. Nevertheless, I try. I think it's every citizen's sacred duty to speak up, and let your representatives know how you feel about matters of public policy that concern you.
The Senator's reply to my entreaty is contained in my subsequent letter to him, below:
Dear Senator Allard:
I recently contacted you to encourage your support for further investigation into the Downing Street Memos, the official British briefing documents that contain strong evidence, stated by senior British government officials, that President Bush and his administration had a pre-determined objective to attack Iraq, and that the president, at the very least, grossly misrepresented the facts in order to persuade the American People to support the Iraq war.
In your reply to my message, you said:
"I do believe that President Bush has truthfully stated the reasons to go to war in Iraq. In doing so we have maintained a coalition with many other countries throughout the world, including Britain. I do feel that the President has done a good job at trying to rebuild Iraq. It will not be an easy or quickly resolved task, but we will do our best to help Iraq to become a stable and productive country."
I wonder which of the president's reasons you believe? These are four of the justifications for war that the president has offered the American People at different times:
Did we attack Iraq to disarm its WMDs?
Did we attack Iraq to halt its "WMD Programs?"
Did we attack Iraq to liberate its people from an evil, despotic dictator?
Did we attack Iraq to establish a democracy there?
Each of the previous justifications was proven to be unfounded. The Downing Street Memos are among the latest in a series of revelations that support a thesis that the president was indeed not truthful about his reasons for going to war. As his deceptions have become more and more obvious, the administration has several times changed its rationale for going to war.
Blaming the CIA for generating these false justifications simply shunts responsibility off of the president, who is ultimately responsible for his decisions.
We have made a horrible mess of Iraq. I don't know how hard the president is working to rebuild that country, but I do know that its people are lucky to have electricity a few hours each day, that they don't have enough fresh water, that there is sewage running through the streets of Baghdad, and that a bloody insurgency kills many innocent people, nearly every day.
We have lost nearly 1,800 American GIs in this war, and maimed more than 35,000 others. I have read several estimates stating that between 35,000 and 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed. We have already spent nearly $300 billion on this war, and there is no end in sight. I feel heartbroken and ashamed when I consider all of the ways this blood might have been spared, and how all of this money might have been spent on things to better the lives of the American People.
Senator Allard, I know that you believe that the president has been truthful, and I don't begrudge you the right to hold that belief. But how can you be sure if you refuse to look at any evidence to the contrary? It's time to put politics aside, and to be an American first. Once again, I urge you to support further investigation into the evidence in the Downing Street Memos. In light of growing criticism of the war policy, not to mention the many pre-war assertions by the Administration that have subsequently been discredited, this is your greatest opportunity to prove once and all that my doubts, along with the doubts of many other Americans, are unfounded.
Sincerely,
(Yours truly)
I think that the senator and many others will eventually have to capitulate to the overwhelmingly obvious. In the meantime, I am deeply troubled by how transparently his hypocricy, in the cause of political expedience, shines through. This is the same senator who, several years ago, so adamantly assured me that Bill Clinton's lies about his sex life were indeed an impeachable offense
To which I say,
"Never, ever trust a man who says he has never lied about sex."
JJ
