June 7, 2005 |
Dear CODEPINK Activist, You've read the Downing Street memo? If not, please read it. It will make your blood boil to see how the Bush administration was determined to invade Iraq and “fix” the facts and intelligence to justify the invasion. (click here to read the memo). This memo proves what we in the peace movement have been saying all along – the war was based on lies. Please sign Congressman John Conyers' petition asking George Bush for answers about critical questions raised by the Downing Street memo. We will be doing more work on this memo in the weeks to come, so stay tuned….One person intimately involved in the manipulation of facts and intelligence to support the attack on Iraq is John Bolton, the Bush administration's pick for US ambassador to the United Nations. In 2002, Bolton orchestrated the firing of Jose Bustani, then Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), precisely because Bustani was getting Saddam Hussein to sign on to the international chemical weapons convention—a move that would have significantly undermined the US pretext for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq (see Common Dreams for the full article). What is also tragic about Bustani's firing is that he had been credited with overseeing the destruction of 2 million chemical weapons and two-thirds of the world's chemical weapons facilities; and the number of countries to sign on to the chemical weapons ban treaty under Bustani's tenure had risen from 87 to 145. The Democrat's have made a valiant effort to delay the Senate vote on John Bolton as UN Ambassador in order to buy more time to expose how inappropriate Bolton is for this post. There is a strong possibility, however, that the Senate will vote on his confirmation sometime this week, perhaps as early as Thursday. So let's make one last push to stop Bolton and keep him from manipulating us into another invasion! Let's make Bolton the defeat that spells the beginning of the end for the Bush White House's radical-right policies. Your Senators need one more prompt from you to do the right thing and vote against John Bolton, the anti-diplomat. Please call or send them an email TODAY! Thank you for your help in defeating Bolton and exposing the lies of the Bush Administration. In peace, Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae, and Tiffany |
