I received this in the mail today. There are 126 Congressional Cosponsors of HR 2625 for an independent commision on intelligence about Iraq. Rep. Becerras strong word especially at the end signal there is more of a fight coming up in Congress, especially if people take to the streets en masse. Rosalio Munoz,

Here is a retype of the letter.



September 16, 2003

Dear Mr. Munoz,

Thank you for inquiring about my position on calls for a full investigation into the intelligence information used to support the United States' war against Iraq.

I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 2625 which would establish an independent commission to examine the Administration's assessment and interpretation of the treat Iraq may have posed to United States interests. I opposed the initial resolution authorizing military action in Iraq in part because I did not believe that Congress and the American people had bee sufficiently informed about that threat.

An overwhelming majority of residents of our district opposed unilateral military action. I had hoped that the President would continue to work with our international partners to bring the Iraqi government in compliance with United Nations sanctions. I am cautiously optimistic about recent announcements that the Administration is seeking multilateral support for the effort to rebuild Iraq, for the sake of our own soldiers there as well as the Iraqi people.

I remain concerned, however, that assumptions made prior to the war were reached via a structurally flawed intelligence gathering system. Unless we know how and why the Administration's choices were made this time we risk taking other unjustified military actions in the future. I support a full accounting of why the President and others in the Administration were so sure of their evidence and whether the failure to garner more support from our international partners affect the integrity of our intelligence.

I believe that H.R. 2625 is a good first step at getting to the truth in this matter. We owe the nearly 300 American soldiers who have died in Iraq thus far at least this much.

Again, thanks for contacting me. Please stay in touch.



XAVIER BECERRA



Member of Congress

Becerra has recently signed California Peace Action's Pledge for a New American Foreign Policy.

http://californiapeaceaction.org/campaigns/campaign.htm

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Jim Marshall, a freshman Democratic congressman from Georgia, is just back from Iraq, and he's penned an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blasting the media for its negativism toward Iraq:

On Sept. 14, I flew from Baghdad to Kuwait with Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg from Dearborn, Mich. He was in a body bag. He'd been ambushed and killed that afternoon. Sitting in the cargo bay of a C 130E, I found myself wondering whether the news media were somehow complicit in his death. . . .

In Mosul last Monday, a colonel in the 101st Airborne put it to me quite simply: "Sir, this is worth doing." No one I spoke with said anything different. And I spoke with all ranks.

But there will be more Blumbergs killed in action, many more. So it is worth doing only if we have a reasonable chance of success. And we do, but I'm afraid the news media are hurting our chances. They are dwelling upon the mistakes, the ambushes, the soldiers killed, the wounded, the Blumbergs. Fair enough. But it is not balancing this bad news with "the rest of the story," the progress made daily, the good news. The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy.

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0903/22international.html?urac=n&urvf=10642377116960.8839345774896111

Other Democrats agree, reports The Hill. Rep Ike Skelton (D., Mo.): "The media stresses the wounds, the injuries, and the deaths, as they should, but for instance in Northern Iraq, Gen. [Dave] Petraeus has 3,100 projects--from soccer fields to schools to refineries--all good stuff and that isn't being reported." Rep. Gene Taylor (D., Miss.): "In fairness, the war is neither going as well as the administration says it's going or as badly as the media says it is going."

http://www.thehill.com/news/092303/press.aspx

Don't forget that two thirds of Iraqis are glad that the US got rid of Saddam. But don't let the Iraqis get in the way of your plan to help them. What is that plan again?