I am cross posting the diary here from DKos because I have tried to start a campaign
The British press has again picked up the story of the legal advice given to Tony Blair on the legality of the war with Iraq has considerable importance on both sides of the Atlantic.
This questioning in the UK will have implications for George Bush and the more so if we can bring pressure on to him at the same time as it is being brought onto Tony Blair
Can co-ordinated requests be made to our two administrations in the US and the UK at the same time to increase its effect?
s it has serious implications in the US, can you write to the appropriate Congressional representative/s asking that this be pursued in the US at the same time as it is being pursued now in the UK?
This is how the story was broached in NEW EUROPEAN TIMES much earlier today:
Not so the Independent on Sunday. It fronts with the continuing story of Blair putting pressure on the Attorney-General to change/amend/alter/”place different emphasis upon”/or-whatever-you-want-to-call-it advice on the legality of going to war with Iraq.
“Goldsmith told Blair ‘war could be illegal
By Francis Elliott, Severin Carrell and Andy McSmith
24 April 2005
Tony Blair was at the centre of a fresh row last night over the legality of the war in Iraq, as a new report claimed the Prime Minister was warned that the conflict breached international law.
As opposition politicians and senior Labour figures intensified pressure on Mr Blair to publish in full the advice given by the Attorney General, the issue of the war in Iraq was propelled to the centre stage of the election campaign after a Sunday newspaper alleged that he was told the military action could be ruled illegal.
Today’s Mail on Sunday claims to list six “caveats” that were stripped from a summary of the advice published 10 days later on the eve of a crucial parliamentary debate on the war.”
Will this affect the election. No, as Campbell quite rightly understands. It may rumble on beyond the vote itself, however, and give added reason for Blair to relinquish the post of Prime Minister to Gordon Brown earlier in the new term than perhaps our grinning Tony currently anticipates.
We can hope.
This diary on DKos is not to seek to repeat the posts about the legality and objections to the Iraq war. It is to make a simple but straight-forward statement to you Kossacks to try and prompt action:
1- There has to be advantage in your writing to your representatives seeking renewed pressure on the White House to release its legal advice at this time when the UK newspapers and MPs are bringing renewed pressure on Blair regarding this issue
2- Will you help?
Or is this a duck that can’t fly and should we all give up and blame the new Pope?
I hope not and that one or two of you will feel able to heed this specific call to action. I give this commitment: What you say on here can be used and sent to leading Members of Parliament in the UK.
Equally, I hope that you will make sure that your Democratic Party representatives are alerted, by you, to what is being said in the British Press right now.
Bush received advice, just as Blair did, on the legality of war with Iraq. Bush has been asked by Democratic congressmen, just as Blair has, to release that advice. Bush has, just as Blair has, claimed that this is a sort of personal advice to their administrations from their own legal counsel and protected as such.
Their response has been hand-in-glove with each other. Neither will reveal the truth of that advice.
Tell me that there is not some co-ordination across the Atlantic on this point and I will tell you that the 12,000 UK troops in Iraq are, similarly, just an illusion.
If they can work together, surely we liberals on either side of the Atlantic can?
I have been asked to suggest how a letter to your representative might be framed.
My suggestion is one that could be sent to both Republican and Democratic Party representatives in your State (there are still some in the GOP who remain jealous of the powers of Congress regardless of who is President). I leave it to you to customise it and strengthen it according to your own views and knowledge of the recipient.
I would suggest something along the lines of:
“There is considerable discussion in the British press at this time and on the Internet regarding the legal advice supplied to the UK government concerning the legitimacy under International Law of the invasion of Iraq.
Similar requests have been made here in the United States for release of the information on this issue provided to our President. My understanding is that this has been refused.
This matter affects the legitimacy with which we are seen to exercise our enormous power as a nation, brings into question the powers of Congress and goes to the heart of our Constitution.
I urgently request that you renew the attempts to seek the release of all relevant documents under the Freedom of Information Act so that we may answer with authority those who question us on this issue.”
The central question is whether the U.S. and U.K could lawfully attack Iraq– either with Security Council approval or, in the absence of such approval, on the basis of previous Council resolutions or under the principle of self-defense?
There is no foundation for self-defense, as Iraq in no stretch of the imagination could prove a reasonable threat. There was no provocation, there was no armed attack and that only leaves “perception of threat” which the UN and the world does not buy as a valid exception to the rules of the UN charter. This leaves Bush and Blair with the humanitarian intervention argument which would never hold up under international law, as this is a moral position.
There was an outcry both in the US and the world prior to the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. Solicited and unsolicited opinions were submitted from legal scholars to Bush and Blair, whether they played into the decision making or not.
That is the beginning of a letter from the Center for Constitutional Rights sent to Bush and Blair, plus the prime ministers of Canada and Australia. It was signed by over 100 professors and ten or so officers of leading human/civil rights NGO’s.
How the Bush and Blair administrations solicited opinions as to the legality of the Iraq war is an interesting question indeed.
The Bush administration changed their story so many times regarding the reasons for going to war that no one in the US Senate would have been in a position to evaluate the backing intelligence, real or fabricated. Ultimately, I believe that regardless of reason, the administration will continue to hang their hat on Resolution 1441 which if given proper scrutiny would never hold up under international law as reasonable justification.
What was seen in the press at the time of the letters issuance
Phil Shiner the lawyer who heads up the legal effort in the UK said that there is every possibility that should the same military tactics be used against Iraq in this war, senior officials in governments involved in hostilities will find themselves the subject of a criminal investigation. International justice has changed since the last war, he added.
In similar terms in its letter to the Canadian government, Michael Mandel, for Lawyers against the War, Canada, warned Prime Minister Chrétien that war against Iraq without a Security Council Resolution would constitute murder and a crime against humanity for which the Canadian government would be criminally responsible under its own domestic laws.
Contemporaneous resources/links to discussion on the legality of Iraq war and source material for letters and legal opinions submitted to the Bush administration can be found here.
The major issue in dealing with the US Senate is their short-sightedness in the importance of international law and their kow-towing to the influence of the sitting President and the Republican party.
In Louisiana, we are represented by Mary Landrieu-D who votes with the Republicans on all matters that do not deal with Louisiana’s agricultural trade-protection interests and David Vitter-R, who is a lock-step Republican. He is new to the senate, so it didn’t happen on his watch. In the house, I am represented by Rodney Alexander, who was elected as a Democrat and then changed parties in exchange for favorable committee seats.
I will submit an impassioned letter to the three, in addition to an LTE to the local rag, but I am saddened by what I am certain will be a non-response.
For those who are interested in a heavy LTE campaign as a companion to letters to their legislators, this is a wonderful resource linking major US and international newspapers.
Santorum and Specter. I anticipate a form letter in return, along the following lines:
But it’s worth a try, especially in Specter’s case.
Is that the signature with the good hand? No wonder he feels so compelled to speak in the turd person.
What an amazing letter. I guess you sent him something interesting to provoke that!
BTW, I find that if I stare cross-eyed at the screen, i can read at least some of the pixilated address.
that I had the honor of receiving that letter from Bob Dole.
But, alas, he sent it to another Kossack (or their mother).
It was diaried a few days ago.
Tried that SUGGESTION and I ended up with the name “William Booman” and a headache. Thanks 🙁
Thank you.
The point is not that we have much hope of seeing these documents. Each refusal, however, is a small victory. It will make someone, somewhere stop and think what it is that is being covered up and erode a small bit of confidence in the leader for whom they voted.
And another Bob Dole letter like that? It doesn’t matter. Bob Dole and George Bush will be told we are watching their every step. They may tough it out, but it will make them more careful, if only a little bit.
You know, I saw the post with that Bob Dole letter described in it. It didn’t sound to me like the response of a confident politician, more like one rattled enough to get hot under the collar about the letter that he had just received. I hope he gets more and is forced to get hotter under the collar – then we know we are having impact.
He’s also my senator (R-TX). I wrote his office several times opposing the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales. Now I knew there was no way in hell Cornyn would vote against the confirmation, and I knew that Gonzales would be confirmed.
But I found it very interesting that his web site, iirc, actually had a choice on the pull down menu for the Gonzales hearings as a topic, and the auto-response had a distinct defensive tone to it.
That’s the point. Make them queasy and a little doubtful that they will continue to get away with this stuff. Most of the worst things they do they count on no one paying attention to to get it by. As Kerry has been repeating lately – hold them accountable. Make them know that there will be a cost.
Make them wonder when the payment will come due. A drop of water has no effect on a stone, but given enough drops . . . .
You know Janet, this post of yours has cheered me up. The amount of negativity on the DKos diary is unbelievable. Many do just not understand the sort of argument that you are making.
If the protest is not a huge smoking gun that will bring Bush down in a roar of thunder or at least force him to be publicly humiliated by his being made to back down, it is dismissed as of no relevance.
The art of how to persuade the 1.8% of voters in the centre that we need to shift their alloegiance seems too subtle to get attention and too long a game to bother to play.
I have been talking about this very thing quite a bit, did the diary Converting the Red to Purple,and others to suggest that we act like we are * concerned citizens* and not of any ‘party’ and then speak our piece respectfully and without malice on any venue we can. Including Rep. sites; speak not as a Dem, but as a concerned citizen, no one has to know what party you are in only that you care about your country.
We do need members of the other party to come to our side in order to win anything at this point, IMHO, The more we can reach out, the more we can compromise, the better it will be for us all. This open war between the parties is not doing any of us any good.
I am for action, not passive acceptance.
We need an outreach program!!!!!
approach is work. Righteous indignation fired up to nuclear levels is more of an emotional high.
I saw the response over at dKos – that’s why I came back over here and posted my comment. Sigh.
I heard Karen Armstrong speak last week here in Austin about her latest book The Battle for God. One of her points was that people are attracted to and cling to fundamentalism because they feel that they are under attack, and the more they are attacked, the more their fears are confirmed and the more intense and violent their response.
However, whenever anyone points out that ranting at and ridiculing fundamentalists might not be such a good strategy, the response is too often “Don’t tell me to STFU! Those people are morons!” and then they run out and stick another insulting bumper sticker on their car.
The question is, do we want to sit around and congratulate each other on our intellectual and moral superiority with periodic cheap thrills of – time out to look at the ads on this page – “Four moron years,” “Sandwiches are smarter than our president.” Sigh. Sigh. While we pat ourselves on the back about how we are so much better than them, “they” are running the world.
It’s late, I’m rambling. I just wanted to say, I agree with your reply. I’m hoping to find a way to do the patient work and it would be nice to find like-minded souls for moral support (but without the “oooh, you are soooo wonderful” feedback, which is also starting to get to me.)
Do you have the means or do others on this site to make this a petition from the people, generated on this site or dK,or whereever for all to sign, and then give to someone in congress, like Boxer or many or all. Just throwing out some ideas, but it seems to me that it might have more power as a petition.
Diane, a petition is an excellent idea. But I have a feeling that Welshman may want to have a uniquely American framing that would appeal to our sensibilities.
The problem lies with fact that our administration does not put much stock in international opinion (or the UN) and hid behind “sexed up” intelligence and legal opinion from the UK. There were domestic voices rallying in opposition, but for the most part the media did not focus on the illegality of moving forward in Iraq.
The average American citizen does not have the basis to understand the underlying issue because of stilted or absent coverage.
Do you think you could help in the development of a compact summary and the framing of the petition for the FOIA’s?
Actually generating the petition online is the easy part.
Yes I would help. I have been thinking of this kind of thing for awhile now, that we need national and international petitions, built from the grassroots up and bipartisan if at all possible, saying something like:
“We the People of the United States of America, represented herein by the signatures attached, herewith are exercising the power of the people, in this government of the people, by the people and for the people to rise up and give voice to our concerns and desires:.
The following is a list of our concerns and solutions we insist be considered:
(Insert here a list of concerns, such as Iraq War, Fillibuster, Lobbyists, whatever we decide to include.)
Ending with,: something like, We have expressed our views above and ask that Congress consider them ……
Demand a date for withdrawal of troops from Iraq,
and etc, etc.
I also would like to do a worldwide one for the UN and one for the president.
I know that this is a big endeavor, but I think we can do it with all our networking connections around the world.
This is just a rough framing above, but I have been working on this a bit, waiting for the time to bring it forth.
I propose a steering committee be formed, to write document and coordinate dispersal, etc. with vetting by legal review, etc.
I think it all has to be done in the plainest and simplest language, direct and to the point, and not just one time, but continuously.
Well I have a lot more ideas, I was planning on doing a diary, but waiting for the right time and maybe that is now. You can email me if you like.