All Hell Is About To Break Loose

Kucinich Uses Resolution Of Inquiry To Demand Documents From White House Group That Developed Strategy To "Sell" War

Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2005-10-20 23:26. Congress
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich Press Release
Link Here

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) today introduced a Resolution of Inquiry to demand the White House turn over all white papers, minutes, notes, emails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG).

"This group, comprised of the President and Vice President's top aides, was critical in selling the Administration's case for war," stated Kucinich. "We now know that the Administration hyped intelligence and misled the American public and Congress in their effort to 'sell' the war. After over 1,900 American troops have been killed in Iraq, it is long past time for this Congress to ask serious questions about WHIG and its role in the lead up to the war."

A Resolution of Inquiry is a rare House procedure used to obtain documents from the Executive Branch. Under House rules, Kucinich's resolution is referred to committee, and action must be taken in committee within 14 legislative days.

"For two-and-a-half years Congress has sat on the sidelines neglecting its oversight responsibility when it has come to Iraq," continued Kucinich. "We owe it to the American people to hold this Administration accountable and to find out the truth."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 20, 2005
11:40 AM
CONTACT: Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
Doug Gordon (202) 225-5871(o); (202) 494-5141(c)

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______________

MEMORANDUM

From: Samantha Spinney, Legislative Assistant, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich
Date: October 21, 2005
Re: H. Res. 505

On Thursday, October 20, Rep. Kucinich introduced a H. Res. 505, a resolution of inquiry that would require the President and Secretary of State to transfer documents relating to the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG, to the House of Representatives. Andrew Card formed this taskforce in August 2002 - seven months before the invasion of Iraq - with the mission of marketing a war in Iraq. The group consisted of high-level Administration officials and strategists including: Karl Rove, I. Lewis Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin, Stephen Hadley, Nicholas E. Calio and James R. Wilkinson.

The WHIG produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later proved to be false. This supposed intelligence included the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger as well as the claim that the high strength aluminum tubes Iraq purchased from China were to be used for the sole purpose of building centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Unlike the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002, the WHIG's white papers provided "gripping images and stories" and used "literary license" with intelligence. The WHIG's white papers were written at the same time and by the same people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and some of his top officials.

The WHIG also organized a media blitz in which, between September 7-8, 2002, Bush and his top advisers appeared on numerous interviews and all provided similarly gripping images about the possibility of nuclear attack by Iraq. The timing was no coincidence, as Andrew Card explained in an interview regarding waiting until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action against Iraq, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."

September 7-8, 2002:

· NBC's "Meet the Press: Vice President Cheney accused Saddam of moving aggressively to develop nuclear weapons over the past 14th months to add to his stockpile of chemical and biological arms.

· CNN: Then-National Security Adviser Rice said, regarding the likelihood of Iraq obtaining a nuclear weapon, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

· CBS: President Bush declared that Saddam was "six months away from developing a weapon," and cited satellite photos of construction in Iraq where weapons inspectors once visited as evidence that Saddam was trying to develop nuclear arms.

Congress and the American people deserve to know exactly how the WHIG marketed a war using fabricated intelligence. The white papers produced by this group cut right to the heart of the lies and deceptions spouted by Administration officials in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.

For more information or to cosponsor H. Res. 505, please contact me at 5-5871.

Samantha Spinney
Legislative Assistant
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich
202-225-5871 (p)
202-225-5745 (f)

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