March 02, 2004
“We strongly believe,” according to the letter, “that this commission should have been appointed through a bipartisan process, with the full and equal participation of the leadership of both parties, rather than through the sole authority of the Administration itself. We regard this appointing authority and the concomitant power to set the agenda of the commission as particularly important since questions about the use of intelligence prior to the war in Iraq rise to the very highest levels of the Administration itself.”
The letter also questioned the Bush Administration’s broad mandate for its commission, diverting the appointees from focusing on Iraq. The letter asserted, “our nation went to war with Iraq in the spring of 2003 after this President and other members of his Administration repeatedly told Congress and the American people in absolutely no uncertain terms that our country faced a grave and imminent threat from Iraq and its vast stores of weapons of mass destruction.”
The letter then suggested bifurcating the commission’s task so it could complete an interim report on Iraq within 6 months and a final report by the end of the calendar year.
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Sends Letter to Bush WMD Commission Asking for Swift, Thorough Answers
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and 34 others today sent a letter to the Bush-appointed WMD Commission, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States, expressing concern that the commission was not truly independent and chosen by congressional representatives from both parties. The letter also demanded that a final report on the WMD commission be made long before next March, as Bush ordered, so that, for this year’s elections, the American people would have the opportunity to reach their own conclusions on whether the Bush Administration misused or manipulated information.“We strongly believe,” according to the letter, “that this commission should have been appointed through a bipartisan process, with the full and equal participation of the leadership of both parties, rather than through the sole authority of the Administration itself. We regard this appointing authority and the concomitant power to set the agenda of the commission as particularly important since questions about the use of intelligence prior to the war in Iraq rise to the very highest levels of the Administration itself.”
The letter also questioned the Bush Administration’s broad mandate for its commission, diverting the appointees from focusing on Iraq. The letter asserted, “our nation went to war with Iraq in the spring of 2003 after this President and other members of his Administration repeatedly told Congress and the American people in absolutely no uncertain terms that our country faced a grave and imminent threat from Iraq and its vast stores of weapons of mass destruction.”
The letter then suggested bifurcating the commission’s task so it could complete an interim report on Iraq within 6 months and a final report by the end of the calendar year.
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