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Dear Mark,
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In 2003 when I spoke out against the lies in George Bush's State of the Union address justifying his disastrous and irresponsible war in Iraq, I never imagined the White House would take revenge against me by compromising the national security of the country, not to mention the safety of my family by outing my wife's identity as a covert CIA officer.
Dear Joe-- Thank you so much for writing to me. Ever since the White House committed treason by outing your wife, I have been following your case closely and I hope that you and your wife are well.
Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove knew they could get away with their traitorous acts because the Republicans in Congress refused to do any oversight or hold anyone accountable. With Democrats in power that all changed.
I'm terribly sorry, but I haven't noticed any change, Joe. Would you be so kind as to tell me what has changed?
But, that will only continue if Democrats remain in the majority. The Republicans are determined to regain their power to guarantee that they will never be held accountable for their misrule and abuse of power over that past decade. We cannot permit that to happen.
Joe, are you unaware that Democrats as well as Republicans voted for the Military Commissions Act that grants blanket pardons to everyone in the Bush administration for war crimes, torture, crimes against humanity, and other high crimes and misdemeanors? How do you see that as holding them accountable?
To finally turn the page on these dark times, and to make lasting change, it will take both a Democrat in the White House as well as a strong Democratic Congress. The single best action you can take today is to contribute to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) before their critical September 30th deadline.
Joe, the last time we had a Democrat in the White House, the first thing he did was pardon everyone in the previous (Poppy) Bush administration for Iran-Contra crimes which included lying to Congress, funding an illegal war, running death squads, importing drugs to the U.S., and selling arms to terrorists. He said he did it to "maintain the precedent." Since the Democrats have a precedent of pardoning Republicans for high crimes and misdemeanors, and in this case have ALREADY voted to grant them blanket pardons, you are very mistaken if you think that a Democratic president will hold them accountable.
I never imagined that the Republican Congress would condone the Bush Administration's reckless disregard of our national security. But that is just what the Republicans in Congress did -- and they reveled in it.
Well, the Democrats didn't openly revel in it (we don't know what they did at their private country clubs and when celebrating their huge war-profiteering gains), but they condoned AND PARDONED the Bush administration with the same enthusiasm that the Republicans did.
Oversight is one of the most important functions Congress performs -- it protects the lives of those serving our nation, saves millions of taxpayer dollars, and ensures that the Executive branch plays by the rules. We must continue to demand accountability in government.
This may be classified information, Joe, so perhaps your wife wasn't allowed to tell you this, but oversight is legally impossible. Only those Congress members on oversight committees who have high level security clearances can even look at (and sometimes even they cannot) the lies that the CIA prepares for them, and when they find any treasonous acts they are forbidden to disclose them even to their colleagues without clearances, no less to the American public. There is no possible oversight.
Finally, after years of Republican dithering and inaction, Democrat Henry Waxman invited Valerie to testify before Congress to deliver a simple message:
"We in the CIA always know we might be exposed and threatened by foreign enemies. It was a terrible irony that Administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover.
So when are they starting impeachment proceedings? Or or they just going to continue to dither around with hearings?
Heroes like Henry Waxman and John Conyers have been holding hearings, issuing subpoenas and shining light on the most deceptive and secretive Administration in our nation's history.
And they have uncovered solid documented proof of what Bush and Cheney have already admitted to and what everyone in the world already knows, that the Bush administration led us into an illegal war of aggression based on lies, violated international treaties, condoned torture, eliminated checks and balances from government, eliminated habeus corpus (which has been around since the Magna Carta--even King George allowed it), violated their oaths of office by publicly trashing the Constitution, engaged in illegal wiretapping, outed your wife, and committed countless other high crimes and misdemeanors. So when are they starting impeachment proceedings?
The future of our nation depends on having a Congress that will do its job, making sure that no White House ever again will get away with acting as if it is above the law.
I agree, Joe. But apart from Dennis Kucinich, I don't see any Democrats doing their job. We elected them to oppose Bush, not to vote for everything he wants and to protect him by taking impeachment off the table.
As the third quarter filing deadline approaches, it is vital you give the DCCC the resources they need to keep fighting Republicans. Contribute to help strengthen our Democratic Majority and House Democrats will match you 2-to-1 Thank you,
Ambassador Joe Wilson
Joe, I'd like to help you out here. And as soon as the Democrats start impeachment proceedings, I'll send you some money. And not before.
P.S. Oversight makes a difference! If the U.S. Attorney scandal had occurred two years ago, Republicans would have done nothing; the media would have swept it under the rug and Alberto Gonzales would still be the Attorney General. We can't turn back -- we need a strong Democratic Majority.
Thanks for the laugh, Joe. "Strong Democratic" is the best oxymoron I've heard in a long time.
Respectfully,
Mark E. Smith
