7-14-05,8:40am
Millions of people in the United States still don’t know about the Downing Street Memo, a secret British government document that provides new and compelling evidence that the Bush Administration deceived and misled the U.S. Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, this conduct constitutes a High Crime under the U.S. Constitution and could provide grounds for the impeachment of the president.
We must insist that our Congressional representatives and the U.S. media investigate and report the truth about the Downing Street Memo and hold the Bush administration accountable for its actions.
Saturday, July 23 is the three-year anniversary of the meeting between high-level U.S. and British officials that the Downing Street Memo summarizes. According to the memo, “Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
Several Congress Members have agreed to host events in their home districts on July 23, the third anniversary of the famous meeting on Downing Street. On that day, all over the country, there will be town hall meetings, dramatic readings of the Downing Street Minutes, study circles, and house parties. Congressman John Conyers and others will be on a conference call that people at house parties can call into from their events.
Please join UFPJ, the After Downing Street Coalition (which includes many UFPJ member groups), and others in hosting and attending events on July 23.
We hope you and your organization will work with other organizations to form a coalition and hold one large event in your area. Resources and tips are available for holding an effective town hall meeting. Be sure to invite your Congress Member and Senators, but there's no reason to make the event dependent on their coming. You should certainly hold it, even without them.
Where you cannot organize a large event, organize some friends and hold a house party. Please be sure to list your events on the coalition calendar.
We also encourage you to join the After Downing Street coalition, which is dedicated to pushing for a Congressional resolution of inquiry—the first step in the impeachment process—into the Downing Street Memo and related documents. According to a recent Zogby poll, 42 percent of voters polled said they would support impeaching President Bush if it were established that he lied about his reasons for the Iraq war. Let’s push for the inquiry that would get to the bottom of this issue once and for all.
