Once-A-Week Campaign - Updated!

Dear Friends,

It is obvious that until We the People start making our voices heard, nothing will be done about investigating the doctored evidence for war against Iraq. If any of you have ever watched the movie Shawshank Redemption, then you will understand the purpose of this campaign: annoying our Congress members until they finally start paying attention.

My proposal is simple. Sit down and write a letter to your Senators and House representative demanding for a full investigation. Once a week, send that letter via email, fax or postal mail (or all three!). Do this every single week until they take notice. If enough of us do this, our voices will be heard and hopefully, just as the character in Shawshank Redemption got his library funding, we will get our investigation! You can use this link as a resource for writing to your Congressional Members: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

I hope you will all take the time to join me in this campaign. And please, pass this information to any mailing groups you are on.

Here is a letter that I used to Senator Warner that you can use as a model for your own if you do not know what to write. Please feel free to use it [change the name to fit your own Senator(s)] or modify it [Note: I received an excelent suggestion from Jessica Lovejoy: You should remind everyone (esp those sending email) to be sure and vary the letters. So-called form letters are getting ignored more & more these days, since it's hard to tell if they're just mass mailings from groups. Even just changing the first few lines and subject title of a letter makes a difference, since it shows that a "real person" sent it. And snail mail and phone calls are far more effective, since they take so much more effort.]:

Dear Senator Warner,

As one of your constituents, I am impelled to write to you about a grave issue that affects all Americans and our relationship with the entire world. Mr. Warner, when President Bush asked the American people, Congress and the UN to allow our military to invade Iraq, it was for one purpose: the imminent danger of Iraq's WMD to our country and Iraq's neighbors. The following are examples of statements by President Bush during that time:

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."

United Nations Address

September 12, 2002

"Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons."

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."

Radio Address

October 5, 2002

"The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons."

"We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas."

"We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States."

"The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" - his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons."

Cincinnati, Ohio Speech

October 7, 2002

"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent."

State of the Union Address

January 28, 2003

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

Address to the Nation

March 17, 2003

Mr. Warner, some of that intelligence has already been proven to be false, as in the claim that Saddam was trying to purchase Uranium from Niger and the report that was cited not only by Tony Blair, but also by Colin Powell, which proved to be taken from a college paper published in the 90's. These are but a couple of examples of distorted information fed to the American public, Congress and the UN.

But now I ask you, Mr. Warner, where are the WMD? It has been two months since President Bush officially declared an end to the main fighting in Iraq and we have been searching all that time for these alleged WMD to no avail. The American people deserve better than to constantly be told "we will find them." When will we find them? Are they even there? Or, as many inspectors have reported, did we really destroy the majority of them in the 90s? Mr. Warner, we deserve answers, not more rhetoric. If this Administration used misleading information to murder thousands of innocent Iraqis, hundreds of our own men and women, and hundreds of other foreign soldiers for an IF or MAYBE situation, then this Administration must be held accountable!

Mr. Warner, I urge you to put politics aside and do the right thing for this country. Hold a complete, open and honest investigation into what the Administration really knew, when they knew it, where they got their sources from and any other pertinent information deemable to get to the bottom of this. I do not like being lied to, Mr. Warner and I sincerely hope that you will do everything to insure that we will not be lied to again.