Constant's pations

If it's more than 30 minutes old, it's not news. It's a blog.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Draft Letter from DNC To SecDef In Re Fabricated Iran Data

DNC Demonstrates Incompetence

This letter is a waste of time: The letter should be focused on the known problems with the US intelligence -- or lack thereof -- on the alleged but unproven Iranian connection to Iraq IEDs.

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Congress should stop a war that hasn't started, and stop wasting time attempting collecting information the White House and DoD have planned to not timely provide.

Do not let the mess in Iraq, and Member of Congress focus on Iraq, distract attention from the mess which is spreading into Iran.

Even if Members of Congress were to get the answers about the Iraqi-related deceptions, what does Congress propose to do with that information -- hold a hearing on impeachment? Ha! [/snark]

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Rather than spend time getting non-answers from the White House, why not have a parallel effort that poses the same questions, but apply those to the Iran problems.

It's all well and good to be "concerned" about bad intel on Iraq. DNC needs to put that "concern" to what's preventable: The illegal war in Iraq spreading into Iraq.

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Rewriting the Letter [ Original ]

Let's tailor the letter to what is going on with the White House deception over Iran:

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Dear Secretary Gates, Director Negroponte and DoD IG,

We are writing to express our deep concern about the unsubstantiated claims that Iran has provided IEDs to Iraqi insurgents. All available information, as with the Iraq WMD issues, does not support the Administration's concerns about Iran.

We would hope the DoD IG review the Pre-Iran Activities of the DoD. In our view, the Administrations policies on Iran are indefensible, as are accusations that Iran has provided weapons to Iranian insurgents.

We have every reason to believe you are interested in national defense, but not when it is done at the risk of repeating the errors of Iraq. Our concern is heightened because your offices have not timely acted to review evidence of illegal activity as required under Title 28 and Title 50 of the US Code.

DoD IG should review the Office of Secretary of Defense for Policy to review who, as was the case with Iraq WMD, is developing, producing, and disseminating bogus information about Iran to the open media. As with Iraq WMD, we view the dissemination of this false and misleading information as inappropriate, especially since it illegally supports an expansion of an unlawful war.

IT is irrelevant what role and mission DoD personnel have. The way forward is to find who is providing this incorrect information, and understand how they are able to justify their conclusions despite no independent confirmation of these claims against Iran.

As with Iraq WMD, the White House should not be in the business to creating policy on the back of non-existent threats; nor launching military operations where there is no imminent threat. As with Iraq, pre-emptive war against non-existent threats may precipitate the very violence the US hopes to prevent.

Responsibility for enforcing the laws of war falls on all US government officials, especially the Congress which has the legal obligation to ensure the US government complies with all rules Congress enacts. The President has no power to ignore the acts of Congress, especially during wartime and as his conduct relates to the US Constitution and Geneva Conventions.

We would like to know what procedures your offices have in place to learn the lessons of the defective Iraq WMD data; and ensure all public statements related to Iran are factual, not linked with fabricated evidence. At best these dubious claims about Iran, on top of the dubious assertions about Iraq, inspire world opposition to the US policy; at worst, they inspire foreign fighters to target members of Congress for war crimes before The Hague.

Unless we get an expeditions reply in four days, we will be forces to issues subpoenas for purposes of collecting evidence related to this Administrations alleged complicity with war crimes planning in Iran.

Signed,

[ Members of Congress ]

Note: The above text is not from a real letter, but has been repurposed from the [ original letter letter -- about concerns over Iraq and the DoD IG investigation into the fabricated Iraq WMD data -- and tailored to the unsubstantantiated claims related to the Iranian IEDs.