Dear Congress, almost all of your hearings have been about
how to continue the war, not how to investigate it or end it. The
exceptions are few and far between. The Senate Intelligence Committee
is listed as having held one (closed) hearing. We don't know what
happened there, but we know that none of the abuses of "intelligence"
prior to the war were exposed in a closed hearing. Do you consider that
a good five-weeks' work? Do you sense any urgency in the air? DO YOU?
Can you prove it?
The House Intelligence Committee, whose chairman's office has indicated
it will simply not bother investigating how this war began, is listed
as having held three hearings, two of them open: one on "worldwide
threats" (hint: the greatest of these is at the other end of
Pennsylvania Avenue) and the other on a new National Intelligence
Estimate on Iraq, not the N.I.E. that was used to help launch this
illegal war but a new one that's considerably more honest.
Now, the House Judiciary Committee has held a hearing on signing
statements, and has talked about investigating Bush's illegal spying
programs, and those worthy efforts are not listed here because they're
not about the war. A couple of moderately useful investigations are
listed here: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
hearings on corruption, and a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the
plight of Iraqi refugees. But by and large, this lengthy list of fluff
and B.S. adds insult to injury for the American people, not to mention
the Iraqi people and the rest of the world.
We were lied into a war. For years, Democrats struggled to start an
investigation of how that was done. Resolutions of Inquiry picked up
bipartisan support and failed by one or two votes in various
committees. Now those Resolutions have not been reintroduced. Now we
are supposed to be grateful for a "hearing on approaches to audit of
reconstruction and support activities." I've got to tell you: I'm not
going to be grateful until investigations address the issues listed
here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations
Of course, if the Democrats were to hold real public hearings, issue
their first subpoena, put their first witness under oath, and expose
this war on television, self-congratulatory Emails wouldn't be needed.
Staffers would be too busy figuring out what to do with all the flowers
and thank you notes. Don't believe me? Try it. Hold one little hearing
on the Bush and Blair meeting at which Bush proposed painting US planes
with UN colors and trying to get them shot at in order to begin the
war. Subpoena the minutes from that meeting, communications that
preceded and followed it, Email exchanges. Subpoena those who were in
the room. Subpoena the reporters who were lied to just after the
meeting, when Bush and Blair told them they were working hard to avoid
war. Give those reporters the opportunity to ask follow-up questions
now, in light of these reports:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/whitehousememo
If that one little hearing doesn't set our nation on a path toward
restoration of democracy, then I'll apologize and be grateful for 104
hearings on how we can most efficiently kill more people.
The following list is a disgrace:
NEW DEMOCRATIC-LED CONGRESS IS EXERCISING OVERSIGHT AND DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY ON THE IRAQ WAR
A List of 52 Hearings Already
Held On Issues Related to Iraq War
JANUARY
Tuesday, January 9th
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – CLOSED full committee briefing on the situation in Iraq
Wednesday, January 10th
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Where We
Are: The Current Situation in Iraq.”
Thursday, January 11th
• House Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on the way forward in Iraq
• House Foreign Affairs Committee – full committee hearing on “Iraq, Part I”
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. The
Administration’s Plan for Iraq”
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Troop
Surge, Partition, Withdrawal or Strengthen the Center?”
• Senate Select Committee on Intelligence – full committee hearing on “Annual Threat Assessment”
Friday, January 12th
• Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on Iraq
Tuesday, January 16th
• House Armed Services Committee - Seapower and Expeditionary Forces
Subcommittee hearing on Marine Corps force protection equipment for
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom
•
Senate Judiciary Committee – full committee hearing on “The Plight of Iraqi Refugees”
Wednesday, January 17th
• House Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on
alternative perspectives on the President’s strategy for Iraq
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Defense Subcommittee holds hearing on Army and Marine Corps Readiness
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Defense Subcommittee holds
closed hearing on Army and Marine Operations and Equipment
Reconstruction
• House Foreign Affairs Committee – full committee hearing on “Iraq, Part II”
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Regional
Diplomatic Strategy”
Thursday, January 18th
• House Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on approaches
to audit of reconstruction and support activities in Iraq
• House Armed Services Committee - Air and Land Forces Subcommittee
hearing on Army force protection equipment for Operation Iraqi Freedom
and Operation Enduring Freedom
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Defense Subcommittee holds closed hearing on Guard and Reserve Readiness
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Defense Subcommittee holds closed hearing on Navy and Air Force Readiness
• House Budget Committee – full committee hearing on “Budgeting for War Costs”
• House Select Intelligence Committee – full committee hearing on Worldwide Threats
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Military
and Security Strategy”
Friday, January 19th
• House Foreign Affairs Committee – full committee hearing on “Iraq: The Baker-Hamilton Commission Report. Part III”
• House Appropriations Committee – Defense Subcommittee holds hearing on Military Medical Readiness
Monday, January 22nd
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Defense Subcommittee holds closed hearing on Intelligence Readiness
Tuesday, January 23rd
• House Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on Iraq’s Effect on Total Force Readiness
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options.
Alternative Plans: Federalism, Side with the Majority, Strategic
Redeployment, or Negotiate?”
• Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on
“Nomination of Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, USA, to be General
and Commander, Multi-National Forces – Iraq”
Wednesday, January 24th
• House Select Intelligence Committee – CLOSED full committee hearing on Iraq Intelligence Support to Policymakers
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee meeting on S.
Con. Res. 2, the Biden-Hagel-Levin-Snowe Bipartisan Iraq War Resolution
Thursday, January 25th
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options.
Reconstruction Strategy”
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Political
Strategy”
• Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on “The
Current Situation in Iraq and the Administration’s Recently Announced
Strategy for Continued United States Assistance tot eh Iraqi Government
and for an Increased United States Military Presence in Iraq”
Friday, January 26th
• House Appropriations Committee – Defense Subcommittee hearing on Military Medical Readiness
Tuesday, January 30th
• Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on the
Nomination of Admiral William J. Fallon, USN, for Reappointment to the
Grade of Admiral and to be Commander, United States Central Command
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options.
Alternative Plans: The Iraq Study Group”
•
Senate Judiciary Committee – full committee hearing on “Exercising Congress’ Constitutional Power to End a War”
Wednesday, January 31st
• House Armed Services Committee – Readiness and Air Subcommittee and
Land Forces Subcommittee hearing on Army Equipment Reset/Maintaining
Military Equipment in Iraq
• Senate Judiciary Committee – full committee hearing on “Examining
Recommendations for Improvements to Iraq’s Justice System”
• Senate Armed Services Committee - CLOSED full committee briefing on the Iraq “surge” plan
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Iraq in
the Strategic Context, Part I”
FEBRUARY
Thursday, February 1st
• Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing “The
Nomination of General George W. Casey, Jr., USA, for Reappointment to
the Grade of General and to be Chief of Staff, United States Army”
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee – full committee hearing on
“Securing America’s Interests in Iraq: The Remaining Options. Iraq in
the Strategic Context, Part II”
Monday, February 5th
• House Select Intelligence Committee – CLOSED full committee briefing on the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq
Tuesday, February 6th
•
House
Oversight & Government Reform Committee – Full committee hearing on
Waste, Fraud & Abuse: Part I – Iraq Reconstruction
•
Senate Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on the 2007
and 2008 war supplemental requests in review of the Defense
Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2008 and the Future Years Defense
Program
• Senate Budget Committee – full committee hearing on “War Costs”
Wednesday, February 7th
• House Armed Services Committee – full committee hearing on the FY 2008 Department of Defense Budget
•
House
Oversight & Government Reform Committee – full committee hearing on
Waste, Fraud & Abuse: Part II – Iraq Private Contractor Oversight
•
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence – holds a CLOSED hearing on Iraq
Thursday, February 8th
• House Appropriations Committee – CLOSED. Select Intelligence
Oversight Panel holds closed hearing on the proposed FY 2007 war
supplemental appropriations bill
• House Appropriations Committee – State, Foreign Operations and
Related Programs Subcommittee holds oversight hearing on assistance
programs in Iraq
Writings 
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