Downing Street Memo Campaign

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The Downing Street Memo Campaign is being led by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, who began "circulating a letter calling for a further inquiry into a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq" on May 2, 2005, the day following the exposure of the Downing Street memo by the United Kingdom's The Sunday Times, May 1, 2005. [1]


Signatories in the Campaign

The Raw Story reported June 17, 2005, that to date 123 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Conyers, have "signed onto Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) letter calling on President Bush to answer new questions about the Downing Street documents." [2]

House Resolution (H.Res.) 375

August 24, 2005: "Congressman Jim Leach (R, Iowa) has informed Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D, California) that he will co-sponsor her Resolution of Inquiry [H.Res. 375] 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." [3]

List of Co-Sponsors

As of August 23, 2005, there are 52 co-sponsors for Resolution of Inquiry on Downing Street Memos [H. Res. 375].

Memo "Meeting", June 16, 2005

The initial stage of the campaign came to fruition with the June 16, 2005, meeting on the Memo and pre-Iraq War intelligence chaired by Rep. Conyers. Witnesses who testified included former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, CIA analyst Raymond McGovern, Cindy Sheehan, of Gold Star Mothers for Peace and mother of a fallen American soldier, and constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz.

For video highlights of their testimony, see Video 1: Cindy Sheehan, and Video 2: Ray McGovern, John Bonifaz, and Ambassador Wilson, posted at Crooks and Liars.

Commentary on the "Meeting"

Hoffmania, while watching a replay of the proceedings on C-Span, wrote that the

"Democratic meeting (they weren't allowed to call it a 'hearing') in a basement room (they weren't allowed to hold it in official chambers) with makeshift tables (they didn't earn the right to use real furniture) on the Downing Street revelations (which the White House claims are 'discredited' even though they haven't been discredited).
"It truly looks like the kids' table at Thanksgiving without the frills - a place to plunk these uppity Dems to have their little fun while the Repubs use all the adult rooms. It really is an amazing demonstration of how the GOP leadership is genuinely making the Democrats a true oppressed minority - devoid of the same rights, the same visibility and the same access as the fortunate majority. There's no reason at all why this shouldn't be a full-fledged hearing, other than the fact that the GOP has everything to hide.
"When you consider that Conyers was promised a hearing if he got 100,000 signatures to his petition (he got over half a million), and the Repubs [......] him over by refusing that hearing, this is an insane era in American history. It's our worst nightmare - the total rejection of not just opposing views, but the ad hoc suppression of the TRUTH.
"That said (and I say this with guarded optimism), it's beginning to look like the fallout is beginning to gel."

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