Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) is continuing his negotation, on behalf of more than 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, for the release of documents related to the Bush Administration’s plans for War in Iraq long prior to the beginning of hostilities, according to new letters written by the ranking member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and obtained exclusively by The BRAD BLOG.
After the revelations in Spring of 2005 from the so-called Downing Street Memo and other related documents — a series of secret memos created by British officials documenting Bush Administration efforts to “fix” the “intelligence and facts…around the policy” of going to war with Iraq no matter what — Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were filed by 52 House Members [PDF], including Conyers, for the release of documentation of Administration Iraq policies going as far back as the day after the 2000 Election.
The original FOIA requests were filed [PDF] with both the Departments of Defense and State, in June of 2005 after the disclosure in May, by Sunday Times of London, of the initial memo. Both federal agencies have largely stonewalled in response to the request. Correspondence from the agencies have claimed that the House Members must first agree to pay large fees for the requested material on the grounds that they do not meet FOIA standards which allow such fees to be waved.
The Dept. of Defense has estimated [PDF] the fees chargeable for answering the FOIA request would be approximately $110,000. The State Department has not yet given a similar estimate, but has also informed the members that they would have to agree in advance to such payment.
FOIA, however, allows such processing and copy fees to be waived in cases where the information provided will be widely circulated to the public and will “contribute significantly to the public understanding of activities or operations of the government.”
Several communications from both DoD and State have suggested that since the requests for information did not come formally from a U.S. House Committee, the members’ request does not meet the standard required for waiving fees or expediting the release of the information.
Conyers’ disagrees…
In letters sent Wednesday to both agencies, Conyers points out that, of the 52 members who originally made the request, “seven…are members of the House Judiciary Committee and four are members of the House International Relations Committee.” Both committees are the appropriate bodies, the letter charges, for conducting oversight into these particular matters.
As well, Conyers points out in his letters that the House Judiciary Committee minority members have so far released two major investigative reports, both widely circulated at no cost to the public. The first was their landmark report on the 2004 Election, and the next, released earlier this year, was a report on the War on Iraq and the Constitutional Crisis presented in light of allegations of manipulated intelligence, torture and other charges against the Administration. The letters indicate the members intend to use the information received from the FOIA requests as part of their continuing investigation into the matters which will be released via another major report.
A spokesperson for the Judiciary Committee Democrats has told The BRAD BLOG in an email communication, that the various refusals to produce documentation in a timely manner from Administration agencies has been a continuing problem for those charged with Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch.
“Unfortunately, this is a pattern of behavior for the Bush White House,” the spokesman wrote. “[They have] ignored all of our requests for information which they are statutorily required to respond to within a twenty day period.”
The latest letters, responding to the agencies — linked in full exclusively below — further attempt to both narrow the request for documents related to the period in question, and explain how the information should clearly meet the FOIA provisions for the waiving of associated processing fees.
“We believe that we have satisfactorily met the concerns expressed by the agencies for qualifying for the fee waiver and are waiting for what should be an easy decision in our favor,” the spokesman wrote in reply to our question of what the members expected to do next, should the agencies still fail to comply with their request.
Neither the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, nor the International Relations Committee has held a single official hearing or heard from even one witness on any of these matters since the Downing Street documents were first revealed almost a year ago.
The Judiciary Committee Democrats held their own hearing to investigate the Downing Street documents in June of last year in a small room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol Building after Republicans denied them the use of an official hearing room. All Republican members of the Committee, though they were invited, refused to attend. As well, the House Leadership scheduled an historically unprecedented 11 roll-call votes in a row that day in apparent hopes of disrupting the hearings.
Another confidential memo, written by British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s top foreign policy advisor just after a two-hour long January 31, 2003 White House meeting between Bush and Blair, confirmed much of what was contained in the original Downing Street Memo. That later memo, as first revealed by British author Phillipe Sands, and reported just last month by The New York Times, outlined Bush’s plan to invade Iraq even without a resolution from the United Nation’s Security Council — as the Administration had originally promised to receive before taking military action — and “even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons.”
The first page of Conyers’ letter to Will Kammer, Chief of the Department of Defense Office of Freedom of Information is below. The full letter to Kammer, as well as to Charlene Wright Thomas, Chief of the Requestor/Liaison Division of the State Dept. Office of Information Programs & Services are available via PDF here:
— Conyers’ 4/19/06 Letter to Will Kammer, DoD
— Conyers’ 4/19/06 Letter to Charlene Wright Thomas, Dept. of State
Is Conyers the only man in Congress pursuing this??? WTF???
These documents will provide the grounds for impeachment pf Bush and Cheney. That’s why they’re going to be almost impossible to get. It’s also why we must get them. President-"elect" Dennis Hastert must be nervous at the moment.
Godspeed your efforts, John Conyers.
Who do we know that has $110,000?
Movie stars do.
That’s chump change to them.
Alec Baldwin?
Susan Sarandon?
Barbra Striesand?
We gotta get the money & throw it in their faces so the dirt all comes out BEFORE the elections!
Or we could sue the government for withholding evidence. No that takes too long.
If the decide to take contributions to pay for this, let us know, I would gladly contribute, and count it money well spent.
Anyone know how to get a letter to a movie star?
Send it to their agent Charlene. Call the Screen Actors Guild to find out who that agent is.
Charlene
Here’s a link – cost $1.00 for 7 day trial!
Contact any celebrity
Thanks Brad & BlueBear.
interesting. But you want to get the dirt out before the elections why? Surley you don’t believe than there is any politican there, any political party that is different or that cares.
Problem with American political parties and politicans is that they are all the same. All have the same agenda, just dress it up to look different.
The Yanks are already carrying out raids in Iran, about time for America to fake another terroist attack against them.
The threat to the world as never been Bush, Clinton, etc, it has always been America, it’s political system, it’s ignorant and arrogant people.
Don’t waste your money trying to get help this congressman, it is a distraction, and a game to make you think he cares, he doesn’t.
Dreamer #9
Troll stroke for you
How come those 52 House members can’t afford $2,100 out of their own pockets to obtain information that would likely induce impeachment and possibly indictments to get those liars out of the White House?
I understand they shouldn’t have to pay anything but to get this thing expedited why isn’t it worth $2,100 a piece to them?
Short of that, how about a call to George Soros? He’s probably got $110,000 in his change pocket.
If the delay is all about the principle of having to pay, take that up in court the morning after the worldwide celebration party for the lifetime incarceration of the former neo-con cabal.
Congressman Conyers ..Thank you for your Tireless Attempts ..at getting Any Information out of that Cabal in the Bush Band… Yu and your Group of Brave Men deserve most of the credit, Once that Band has been Brought Down … ( And Brought down they will Be ! ) Our Constitutional form of Government depends on this happening. Restore our Faith and Pride Back to "Before Bush !! " Thank you and the Other 50+ who are standing with you ! God Bless You in all you Do. VGF
Congressman Conyers ..Thank you for your Tireless Attempts ..at getting Any Information out of that Cabal in the Bush Band… Yu and your Group of Brave Men deserve most of the credit, Once that Band has been Brought Down … ( And Brought down they will Be ! ) Our Constitutional form of Government depends on this happening. Restore our Faith and Pride Back to "Before Bush !! " Thank you and the Other 50+ who are standing with you ! God Bless You in all you Do. VGF
Congressman Conyers ..Thank you for your Tireless Attempts ..at getting Any Information out of that Cabal in the Bush Band.. You and your Group of Brave Men deserves most of the credit, Once that Band has been Brought Down … ( And Brought down they will Be ! ) Our Constitutional form of Government depends on this happening. Restore our Faith and Pride Back to "Before Bush !! " Thank you and the Other 50+ who are standing with you ! God Bless You in all you Do. VGF
#9 Dreamer
What country are you from?
Congressman Conyers ..Thank you for your Tireless Attempts ..at getting Any Information out of that Cabal in the Bush Band.. You and your Group of Brave Men deserves most of the credit, Once that Band has been Brought Down … ( And Brought down they will Be ! ) Our Constitutional form of Government depends on this happening. Restore our Faith and Pride Back to "Before Bush !! " Thank you and the Other 50+ who are standing with you ! God Bless You in all you Do. VGF
Why hasn`t my comments been accepted ? Pease reply. VGF
"Dreamer" is scared we’re going to get the money.
Bush will land in jail before he can get out of office!
Conyers is doing so much of the heavylifting while so few of his Dem colleagues are willing to step forward and be counted. maybe it’s because he is, as the saying goes, "too old for this sh*t."
i wonder if a concerted email and phone campaign to the departments responsible for stonewalling his FOIA request efforts might knock some sense into their heads — a sense of patriotism, that is, the call to honor their duty in protecting and serving the People of the United States…. NOT the neocons or the Whitehouse criminals.
of course, Dreamer is an idiot if he truly believes that all congresspeople are the same. they are not, and it is only complacency and stupidity that allows wrongdoing to go unpunished in this government.
squeaky wheels get the grease, and Conyers & Co. deserve all the help we can give — make noise, and raise hell to the high heavens. there is no place for nay-sayers or complacency in this fight for the facts.
as Shakespeare said: "The truth will out."
Vera Flick
Cease click.
🙂 sorry folks but you are all TOO close to see the trees. I agree with Dreamer. I guess you have to live outside of America to see that this did not start with Bush. Come on you guys, a lone gunman kills a president? If you believe that I guess you believe anything. Just get out into the world away from your completely controlled media bubble and see what America looks like.
🙂 sorry to disillusioin you but democracy has never existed. ‘western democracy’ began before and after the english civil war. two elites were struggling for ultimate control – parliment (parliment consisting of the ‘new’ buisness class) verses the king, church of england and landed aristocracy, as you are aware, i’m sure, the buisness class won the civil war and hung the king. during this struggle, since the king and parliment would not actually do the hand to hand fighting, they devised various methods of enlisting the ‘masses’ to ‘their side’ to fight FOR THEM. this is the beginning of ‘two’ party ‘western democracy’ whigs/liberals of the buisness elite and the tory/conservatives of the king/church/landed aristocracy elite. this has not changed. the masses are dupped into fighting for the conflicting elites of the world. ‘civil war’ means struggle between elites within a country and just plain war means struggle between ‘international’ elites. the current international struggle between the elites has to do with our present monopolist monetary system, which is based on gold, which has no, or very little, intrinsic value , but has been with us since – surprise surprise the creation of the bible – and oil, which has intrinsic value – it provides energy, and is therefore a much better ‘store of value’ than gold which is only valuble because we ‘say it is valuble’. the elites contolling gold and therefore our world monopolistic economic system are trying to gain monoply control of oil to maintain their position of monolply control of the world economic system. there are sub plots of weaning the world from oil to lessen the power of oil etc. but you get my drift.
# 21
Hi Observer……….sorry, but MOST of these folks here are NOT too close to the trees….they know fully what they are up against and are actively fighting to change their situation.
Like you, I don’t live in the U.S…..I’m north of their border, but am addicted to this site and in full support of what is being accomplished here by all the dedicated regulars who tirelessly devote their time and effort to effect change for their nation.
I crusade for them when possible……in fact, just this evening I was on Third Age, an American site that I have been with for numerous years, and posted a message to refer folks who are concerned about honest elections to visit BB. I also ‘mouthed off’ I guess, about your corrupt voting machines, and for some reason, my posts kept disappearing. However, as fast as they disappeared, I reposted them by ‘copying’ and then ‘posting’. I learned the hard way a while ago, that when posting to some American sites, it is always best to copy ANY post and save it to ‘draft’ just in case it disappears. Sorry folks…….you are wonderful, it’s just the censorship that bothers me.
Hopefully, my next trip south of the border, will be to the public hanging of El Chimpo and his minions.
Call it soppy if you will, but let’s all sing together…."God bless America….." so whatever time it is in your part of your great country, when you read this……sing your anthem…..it will keep you trucking on down the road to honest democracy once again.
Observer # 23
Thanks…..yes, I get your drift. Don’t you agree it’s too bad that today’s leaders can’t be executed for treason which, as you know, was the fate of Charles I in 1649…:-)
There IS a finite amount of oil left in the world, but the current high price of oil is NOT because of a dwindling amount of oil left.
The price is high because the oil cartel controls the amount of oil that is allowed to come to market–so that they can keep the price high.
Plus, Bush & his oil company partners have kept us from developing alternative fuels in significant amounts so that the oil companies can still "hold us over a barrel" (pun intended) until they are done fleecing us.
Those Arab countries will have NOTHING of value once their oil is gone, so they produce it piecemeal, to get as much as they can for it while demand isd high.
Bush said we’d pay for Iraq’s rebuilding with Iraq oil but instead, he’s hunkered down over their oil, keeping his cronies’ stock & prices high.
🙂 charlene, the oil of the middle east is controlled by england and america through their puppet governments in saudia arabia, kuwait and iran – opec is controlled by oil companies not arab governments. by the way charlene what do you think the arabs are doing with the us dollars they receive in exchange for their oil? surely they don’t spend it all on their harems – could they be investing those dollars in america like buying ports and stuff? or treasury bills like the chinese – how do you think america’s huge trade imbalances are financed?
🙂 mar, i’m sure you are aware that charles 1 lost his life for treason because he went to scotland and tried to raise an army to defeat parliment’s army – he was going to invade his own country! the ‘squabble’ between the king and parliment was over who should rule the country. the king claimed the ‘divine right of kings’ that is, that kings receive their mandate to govern from god. parliment, as mentioned, was composed of the new buisness class and believed that ‘the people who own the country ought to govern the country’ -and that is the bases of ‘western democracy’ ‘the people who own the country ought to govern the country’ all ‘western democracys’ are owned by large corporations – banks.
The idea that the DOD is basically charging for documents (FOIA) concerning the events proceeding a WAR and then claiming (essentially) that not enough of people will be interested is crazy!
There is nothing in the requirements even implying a need for a committee for fees to be waived.
Allowing them to distract and pull in other issues is the same thing as agreeing with them or has the same effect.
I think everyone here would be hard pressed to pick out any significant differences between Hillary and McCain, or not fail to realize that every member in Congress is part of the financial ‘elite’ benefitting off of this war and Bush policies … there’s nothing new.
But the only ones who can stop them from distracting, sidelinning issues of general importance, and the general pattern of obstruction is going to be people who aren’t going to allow them to get away with pushing ‘off target’ is US.
No one can let them get away with those kind of tactics anymore.
They are basically claiming the PUBLIC needs to PAY for PUBLIC information. These are OUR elected representatives, acting in the PUBLICs behalf.
We’d be fools to fall for it.
> FOIA, however, allows such processing and copy fees to be waived in cases where the information provided will be widely circulated to the public and will "contribute significantly to the public understanding of activities or operations of the government."
> Several communications from both DoD and State have suggested that since the requests for information did not come formally from a U.S. House Committee, the members’ request does not meet the standard required for waiving fees or expediting the release of the information.
:)how about this: watch this documentry
http://www.loosechange911.com/ then decide where your energy is best spent – banging your head against brick walls errected by corrupt officials to slow your progress -allowing the masses to catch up to you? mass support is being created for a military ‘coupe’. could the planners of 911 really be that stupid? THEY left all the ‘clues’ for you to ‘discover’. notice how even ‘mainstream’ media is now dropping a few ‘hints’? what is THEIR intention? to replace your ‘democracy’ with military rule – which you will ask for to end the corrupt civilian government. the military is blaming the civil command for iraq, afghanistan, vietnam, corrupt military contracts/war profiteering, political bribes etc. etc. -all the product of a corrupt political system – somehow the military has created an image of, well, good guys …force to follow civilian orders. bush and his boys and girls are part of the ‘grand plan’ so they will be ‘shuffled’ off the stage once the coup is announced. impeachment is one more stalling tactic to occupy sincere patriots who ‘want their country back’. now is not the time to react what is needed is action.