Three weeks ago, MoveOn launched a petition asking Congress to create an independent commission to investigate whether the Bush Administration manipulated and distorted evidence to take the country to war in Iraq. Over 190,000 of us joined the effort. Now Congress is literally taking up our call: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has written a bill that would create just such a commission, and it's already co-sponsored by a wide array of moderate Democrats -- including many who voted for the war.

This commission can really happen -- and the truth about the Bush Administration's manipulation of evidence can really come out -- but we'll need your help. We're launching a drive to get every member of Congress to personally pledge to support and vote for the independent commission. Please take a moment to ask Congressman Thompson to pledge today at:

http://moveon.org/wmdpledge

If you sign right now, your comment may be among those read on the House floor by some of the Representatives pushing this resolution. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), George Miller (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and a number of others are looking forward to hearing what you have to say and reading some of the messages into the Congressional Record on the House floor.

It's hardly a secret that members of the Bush Administration used misleading and scanty evidence to bolster their case. As US News and World Report noted in early June, even Colin Powell became alarmed at the level of intelligence distortion. When he read the first draft of his speech to the UN -- prepared for Powell by Vice President Richard Cheney's chief of staff -- he was so upset at the weakness of some of the evidence that he lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit." (US News and World Report, 6/9/03, URL below)

Breaking news over the last few days has shown how untrustworthy the Bush Administration is on this issue:

• The White House has finally admitted that the President's State of the Union statement that Iraq was trying to procure nuclear materials from Niger was wrong, but officials remain adamant that the Administration did not mislead the public.

• Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was sent to Niger in February 2002 to determine whether Iraq was trying to purchase uranium materials there, concluded in a recent New York Times Op-Ed that "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

• An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq -- the trailers that the President referred to when he said, "We found the weapons of mass destruction" -- has concluded that the trailers were definitely not related to weapons production. As one scientist told a British newspaper, "They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons."

The evidence that supported the war is unraveling, and it's time for Congress to hold the President and his administration accountable. As Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said in a recent statement, "What else did the Bush Administration lie about? What other faulty information did Administration officials, including President Bush, tell the American people and the world? Did the Bush Administration knowingly deceive us and manufacture intelligence in order to build public support for the invasion of Iraq? Did Iraq really pose an imminent threat to our nation? These questions must be answered. The American people deserve to know the full truth."

Ask your Member of Congress to pledge to reveal the truth right now by signing the petition at:

http://moveon.org/wmdpledge

We should know if the war in Iraq was a war built on deception.

Sincerely,

--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Wes, and Zack
  The MoveOn Team
  July 10th, 2003

P.S. For more information, check out our recent bulletin on about Iraq intelligence:
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/bulletin21.html

P.P.S. The article in which Colin Powell is quoted as saying "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit." is available online for $2.95 at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/archive/030609/20030609040506.php