Thursday, June 09, 2005

Judiciary: Hearings on Downing St Memo, June 16!

Raw Story has the news about this great step forward! Here it is:

House Judiciary Democrats to hold hearings on Downing Street minutes
John Byrne

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on the 2002 minutes between senior British and American officials which asserted that intelligence was "being fixed" to support the case for war in Iraq, Raw Story has learned.

The hearings, which will be held next Thursday, will bring renewed attention to what is being called the "Downing Street memo," actually official minutes of a secret 2002 meeting.
Conyers office has revealed that they will introduce new documents that corroborate the Downing Street Memo at the hearings June 16.

“We expect to release new documents that corroborate the Downing Street memo," a Judiciary aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Raw Story Thursday afternoon. "None of the documents are as earth-shattering as the Downing Street minutes but all of them corroborate the accuracy of what it says.”

Among those scheduled to testify are Joe Wilson, former ambassador and weapons of mass destruction expert; Ray McGovern, a 27-year CIA analyst, used to do presidential daily briefings for Ronald Reagan; Cindy Sheehan, a mother who lost her son in Iraq combat; and John Bonifaz, the Boston constitutional lawyer who has called for a resolution of inquiry into what he sees as impeachable offenses in the president's false pretenses for war.

The Democratic Judiciary staffer said the overwhelming online response to Conyers' push on the Downing Minutes has further proven that pressure on issues can be built outside the mainstream press.

“We learned a lesson from the Ohio election investigation that frankly a lot of people on Capitol Hill haven’t learned, is that you can’t rely on mainstream media to be your validation as to whether you’re doing the right thing," the aide quipped. "When you talk straight to the people, if you’re doing the right thing, they’ll let you know."

“So much politics in this town is people putting out press releases, waiting to see if the press covers it, and if the press doesn’t cover it, then they move on,” the aide added.

Others are also expected to speak at the hearings. The aide said that other Democrats have expressed interest, including Reps. Barbara Lee (R-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA) and John Lewis (D-GA).
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Conyers has definitely shown courage and the sense of what the right thing to do is, both in the Ohio election frauds and now in the case of the Downing Street Memo. Perhaps this man is the one we should be supporting for President in 2008....and if he doesn't want to be Pres, then we have an obligation to support him when he runs again for office. A good man is hard to find...especially these days.
Wrap...

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