In regards to what John Conyers over the weekend reportedly described as "the smoking bullet in the smoking gun", a letter has just been sent to Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, asking questions about the recent reports that the U.S. and U.K. stepped up their air attacks in the Iraqi "No-Fly-Zone" prior to the war in "an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war." A draft version of Conyers' letter was published over the holiday weekend by RAW STORY.

This latest information on the covert way in which the Bush Administration may have pushed the world towards war is based on a new report from Rupert Murdoch's London Times which reported over the weekend that "despite the lack of an Iraqi reaction, the air war began anyway in September [of 2002] with a 100-plane raid."

In fact, the original Downing Street Memo/Minutes mention that "The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun 'spikes of activity' to put pressure on the regime."

Concerning the latest report, Conyers writes in his letter to Rumsfeld today:

...He then goes on to ask Rumsfeld for a response to the following questions, along with a request for "any memorandum, notes, minutes, documents, phone and other records, e-mails, computer files (including back-up records) or other material of any kind or nature concerning or relating thereto which are in the possession of or accessible by the Department of Defense."

Conyers, along with 88 members of Congress recently sent a letter to George W. Bush asking for information concerning the now-infamous Downing Street Memo (actually Minutes, not a Memo) which was also first reported by Murdoch's paper. That document --- written a full eight months prior to the war --- revealed, amongst other things, that "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

It also goes on to say that "Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran."

The members of Congress have yet to receive a response from the White House, though neither the Bush nor Blair Administrations have disputed the authenticity of the information contained within the minutes.

An alliance of citizens groups has recently been formed at AfterDowningStreet.org to petition congress to launch a "Resolution of Inquiry" into the matter. A congressional "Resolution of Inquiry" is considered the first step towards Presidential Impeachment. (Both The BRAD BLOG and Velvet Revolution, which we helped to co-found, are members of that alliance.)

Conyers also has asked citizens to sign the same letter they sent to Bush, and has promised to hand-deliver it to the White House once he receives at least 100,000 signature.

The complete text of Conyers' finalized letter to Rumsfeld is below...

Never mind the allegations that he abused his wife by forcing her to participate in group sex. Never mind the allegations that he abused his position to spy on other government officials who opposed him at various times. One might also feel inclined to ignore the 43 former U.S. ambassadors who have added their names to a letter signed earlier by 59 ex-ambassadors opposing Bolton's nomination (most of whom served in Republican administrations, according to AP.)

Never mind all of that (since the Corporate Media has been largely doing so anyway, as per their custom). If you go back to the initial criticisms of John Bolton --- that his past statements about the U.N. make him amongst the least appropriate human beings on this planet to be our U.N. Ambassador at a time when the U.S. so desperately needs cooperation from that world body --- you will likely understand immediately what a boondoggle this man's nomination is. And why it's taken so long to get him through what should have been a very friendly Congress.

As much as the actual words by which Bolton condemns the U.N. itself, it's the way in which he did so that has set off our personal alarm bells about this guy. (Though we admit that, on its own, the statement that losing ten stories today from the U.N. Building "wouldn't make a bit of difference" is troubling, to say the least, for a guy who would be our lead "diplomat" in that body!)

Give his actual statements a look in this very short Quicktime video.

Let us know if you agree that this revealing video --- all by itself --- would seem to indicate that John Bolton is, indeed, a crazy man.

More info, a TV ad, and phone numbers by which you can call your Senators are available via StopBolton.org.

American Troops Killed (as of 5/29/05)
In Afghanistan: 184
In Iraq: 1,657

Funerals Attended by George W. Bush
0

C-SPAN will be airing Conyers' Media Bias forum from earlier this week, at 8pm ET this evening (Saturday). Hopefully it'll later be online for download as well.

(And a reminder that last week's BRAD SHOW repeats tonight from 7p - 11p ET this week if you want to get your Media Reform hammer in both ears

Featuring actual reporting (as opposed to just rewritten press releases), the Texas Observer actually writes about what happened at Tom DeLay's recent "Conservative Movement Salute" held in D.C. recently to shore up the failing GOP House Leader.

They accomplished this feat by actually attending the event, talking to people who were there, and reporting on what they saw and what they didn't see. Imagine that.

What they didn't see, was the bulk of DeLay's Republican colleagues, nor the many K Street lobbyists with whom DeLay has infamously raised millions...

Look what happens when people actually pay attention to their democracy. As reported in today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel...

We previously linked to a Miami Herald news article describing the report referred to above.

The report from earlier this month demonstrated, amongst other things, that "there were 5,917 cases where there were more votes than signatures" and that "In another 2,208 cases, there were more signatures than votes."

The voting machines in question, which failed the voters and costs millions of wasted tax dollars, were made by Electronic Systems & Software (ES&S), one of two companies (along with Diebold) which record and count 80% of the votes in the United States of America.

UPDATE: From Miami-Herald's article today on the same issue...

ATTENTION BROWARD COUNTY (and all other counties and Secretary's of State now using or considering purchasing from ES&S and other private and unaccountable voting machine companies): Save your tax payers' money NOW! Don't buy these pieces of junk from irresponsible companies like ES&S and Diebold!

FURTHER UPDATE: ES&S seems to be gaming the system further in what appears to be a specific bid by the company to supress sales of technology by AutoMARK which creates both a paper trail and assists disabled voters. ES&S entered an agreement with AutoMARK to help sell their machines, but appears to be in the business of doing precisely the opposite! Thanks to John Gideon of VotersUnite.org for his excellent work on this report exposing the chicanery that ES&S is up to!

We'll be re-broadcasting a previous show (probably last week's) since it's a Holiday Weekend. Be sure to catch it (7p - 11p ET on Saturday) via www.BradShow.com if you didn't last week! It was a great show and includes interviews with Jim Lampley, Sen. Dick Durbin, and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" vet USMC 1st Lt. Andrew Borene amongst others!

Beyond that, enjoy the weekend and take a break from saving democracy if you wish! I'm guessing that you, like I, can use the break! Though I have a feeling I'll still be on duty throughout the next few days...at least somewhat.

While we take the time to remember those who fought and died for what's left of our freedoms and those who are doing so on behalf of this country even as I write...allow me to thank all of you who have fought so hard and so tirelessly over the last several months and years attempting to preserve those same freedoms. I know that it's been easy for none of us and --- though nothing like those who have given their lives for the cause --- has taken a toll on all of us. A toll, however, that I firmly believe will prove before long to have been well worth it.

So thank you endlessly to all of the BRAD BLOG Freedom Fighters! Now go enjoy the weekend!

John Conyers has just posted a request for 100,000 signatures by citizens on the same letter that he and 88 other Congressmen sent to George W. Bush concerning the Downing Street Memo/Minutes. The same letter from Congress that Bush has arrogantly seen fit to ignore completely for more than three weeks!

He has been there for us, it's our turn to be there for him!

If Conyers is able to collect 100,000 signatures, he has promised to hand deliver them to the White House. Let's ensure that he gets that many and more!

Please sign Conyers' letter here, asap! (and be sure to answer the "Validation Email" that will come to you afterward!)

And, as well, if you haven't already, be sure to sign the petion to Congress for a "Resolution of Inquiry" into the matter created by the citizens coalition as discussed yesterday. That petition can be found here.

Yes, these signatures matter. Please sign them both and spread the word! While we are privileged to enjoy Memorial Day Weekend BBQ'ing and frolicking in rememberance of those who gave their lives for this country, the least we can do is a click a couple of links and fill out a petition or two! Please do so now! And that means all "6 or 7" of you and your friends and family!

(Feel free to use the "Email it to someone" link at the bottom of this item to make it easier!)

When they even begin to lose Novak, that should tell you something.

This from his column yesterday --- headlined "Army's recruitment crisis deepens" --- in which he quoted from an Email exchange with a friend of his, Retired Army Lt. Col. Charles Krohn:

A trial balloon being floated there concerning a Draft? Perhaps. Novak floats many balloons for his friends in the White House (just ask Valerie Plame).

And then, of course, Krohn's admission about what he fears most --- a loss of "energy sources in the Mideast" --- is rather revealing. Not that it's a war about Oil or anything.

But the bottom line is that even Novak seems to be seeing the light of day: George W. Bush's colossal failure in Iraq is the real problem...

Oh, do ya think, Bob? Not to go all Rush on ya to say "see, we told ya so", but we will say, where the fuck were you two years, 1600 dead troops and 100,000 dead Iraqis ago, Bob?

Anyway, we'll attempt to be generous as is our proclivity even in these dark days, and simply hope that is a signal that even Novak is joining the club of those many Republicans now taking baby-steps towards joining the rest of us back here in the Reality-Based Community.

UPDATE: Last weekend on CNN's Capitol Gang Novak said that his Pentagon sources feel that "it is imperative to get the hell out of there". He also goes on to say "I really believe that we've done all we can and it's time we go and hope things work out for the better."

Video clip in two flavors courtesy of David Edwards: Streaming Real Player, Windows Media

Finally. The United States Congress was allowed 30 minutes by the Republican Majority to debate the War in Iraq!

Yesterday, an amendment by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) to the Pentagon's $491 Billion Appropriation Bill was debated on the floor of congress. Woolsey's amendment called on Bush to begin planning an Exit Strategy for Iraq.

Imagine that! An actual dialogue --- out loud, and on the floor of the U.S. Congress! --- about one of the most botched, illegitimate, ill-conceived and ill-waged foreign policies in the history of the United States of America. One that has taken hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, has made the world more dangerous (by the Pentagon's own admission!) and has no end in sight.

The amendment didn't pass, of course, but the topic is finally being discussed. Albeit all too briefly.

Nonetheless, even five Republicans, one of them Walter Jones (R-NC) of Freedom Fries fame (see yesterday's story on his change of heart and regret over both the fries and the war) voted in favor of the amendment!

Read the tea-leaves. Listen to the thunder.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna is set to report shortly that a movement seeking a "Resolution of Inquiry" by members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee into details surrounding the Downing Street Memo is now under way.

A number of grassroots citizens organizations, including The BRAD BLOG and Velvet Revolution have issued our support for such a Resolution, which could potentially be the first move towards a criminal investigation and/or Impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

In the now-infamous July 2002 memo (issued a full 8 months prior to the War on Iraq), it is said that "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Neither the Bush or Tony Blair administrations have disputed the authenticity of the memo or the information contained within it.

89 Members of Congress recently sent a letter to George W. Bush inquiring about the memo. As of today, no response has been received by Congress.

UPDATE: Alexandrovna's story is now up at RAW STORY. It begins...

FURTHER UPDATE: A website has now been established for the newly emerging citizen's coaltion at AfterDowningStreet.org

FURTHER FURTHER UPDATE: Velvet Revolution's official statement is now online here. Please sign this petition to your lawmakers now!

In a follow-up posted yesterday by Jim Lampley at HuffingtonPost.com, Lampley discusses his original blog item which set off a firestorm when he claimed that Election 2004 was "the biggest crime in the history of the nation".

His latest item suggests what we have been saying here for months: "a mountain of evidence suggests the 2004 Presidential election was decisively tampered with and general media are doing nothing about it."

He also answers back directly to his critics and once again compares the gaming of Election 2004 to Watergate and even links to a BRAD BLOG story in the bargain...

Jim Lampley appeared for an exclusive interview on our radio program, The BRAD SHOW, recently. You may listen to an .MP3 archive of our interview with him, in which he goes into great detail on this matter, at that page.

UPDATE: HuffPost has now added COMMENTS for each blog item! Go put in a good word for Lampley over there! Looks like the Freepers are trying to (surprise, surprise) avoid, distract and deflect over there. Go get 'em! Tell 'em the truth!