WriteRep Responses

March 13, 2006

Dear Scott,

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns about the Bush
Administration's controversial actions and politics toward Iraq.  I
appreciate hearing from you on these critical issues.

Like you, I have serious concerns about the way President
Bush and his administration have waged the war in Iraq. 
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and
someone who represents hundreds of Iraq-deployed troops
and their families, I have been outraged by the Bush
administration's many costly mistakes in Iraq.  From the
single-minded intent to wage war before diplomacy was
exhausted, to the manipulation of pre-war intelligence, to
the failure to adequately plan for the war's aftermath and
the decision to disband Iraq's military, the Bush
administration's failure of leadership in Iraq has made our
mission there much more difficult than it had to be.  I have
been working persistently to hold the Administration
accountable for these serious failures.

It is now clear that the President intended to go to war in Iraq
before he received Congressional Authorization to use force.  I was
outraged by the President's recent comments on Fox News that he
would have gone to war in Iraq even if he knew beforehand they
didn't have WMDs.  The President and his Administration should
be held accountable for overstating the case for war in Iraq, and I
have been working to do that.

I am a cosponsor of several pieces of legislation to investigate the
Bush Administration's actions, including H.Res. 375 introduced by
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA).  This resolution of inquiry
would require the Administration to disclose to Congress all
documents and materials surrounding the Downing Street Memo in
order to bring to light President Bush's and Prime Minister Blair's
plans to wage war in Iraq in 2002.  As a member of the House
International Relations Committee, I voted and argued in favor of
this resolution in Committee.

I also believe that more needs to be done to investigate the Bush
administration's manipulation of pre-war intelligence.  I have been
a strong and early supporter of legislation calling for an
investigation into this issue.  I believe that it is important that we
fully understand the decision-making process that led us to war.

We now know that, at the same time that top Bush administration
officials were warning the public about the threat from Iraq, they
knew or at least should have known, that some of the intelligence
they were citing was questionable and even faulty.  This is a major
concern, because all Americans rely on the credibility of their
government to accurately report threats to our national security.

In an effort to hold the Administration accountable, I am a co-
sponsor of H.Res. 505, a congressional resolution of inquiry
regarding the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) introduced by
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).  This resolution calls for
the Secretary of State to turn over to the U.S. House of
Representatives all information involving the WHIG, a working
group made up of top White House officials including Karl Rove,
I. "Scooter" Libby, and Condoleezza Rice.  This working group
was tasked with marketing the need for war in Iraq to Congress
and the American public.  We now know that this group
misrepresented the facts and used false information to make their
case.  This misuse of information must be investigated to
determine if this group deliberately misled Congress and the
American people.  In my role as a member of the House
International Relations Committee, I worked hard to advocate for
this legislation to investigate the WHIG in committee. 
As you may know, the House International Relations Committee
held a mark-up session on this resolution in November 2005.  I
would like to have advocated for this resolution during this mark-
up; however, debate was cut off by Committee Chairman Henry
Hyde (R-IL) before I had an opportunity to speak in support.  The
Committee voted to report the resolution adversely by a vote of 25-
23, a mostly party-line vote.
I am also a cosponsor of H.Res. 549, a resolution to investigate the
use of false information in President Bush's 2003 State of the
Union speech and his October 2002 speech in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
During these speeches he cited information that the Bush
Administration may have known to be faulty at the time.  This
resolution introduced by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
requests that the House be provided with all documents in
connection with the 2003 State of the Union and October 2002
Cincinnati speech by President Bush.  I fought for this bill during
its December 2005 mark-up in the House International Relations
Committee.  Unfortunately, it too was reported adversely by a vote
of 24-19.

Through my role on the House Armed Service Committee, I have
also been exercising oversight over the issue of torture ever since
the revelations of the abuses at Abu Ghraib in 2004.  Like many
Americans, I was appalled and outraged by the evidence of abuses
of Iraqi detainees at the hands of American personnel.  As a nation
of laws and a people who seek to protect fundamental human
rights, we must demand accountability at all levels for these
horrific acts.  I support and am closely monitoring the various
investigations and court cases involving torture and detainee abuse
to ensure full accountability at all levels.  Most recently, I
supported the passage of Senator John McCain's (R-AZ)
amendment to the FY 2006 Defense Authorization to address this
issue. 

The McCain amendment was included in the final FY 06 Defense
Authorization bill that was signed into law in December 2005.  It
creates uniform standards for interrogation and bans cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of any persons
under the custody or control of the U.S. government.  As a member
of the House-Senate Conference Committee on the FY 2006
Defense Authorization bill, I worked to ensure the McCain
amendment's inclusion in the final bill and oppose attempts to
weaken this provision. 

As you may know, H.Res. 635, 636 and 637, resolutions
introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), would initiate
impeachment investigations and call for censure of the President
and Vice President for their deceptions and serious mistakes in the
run-up to and during the war in Iraq.  H. Res. 635 would require a
select committee to investigate the Administration to find grounds
for impeachment. 

Certainly, impeachment cannot be ruled out as a possibility should
it become clear that the President or other members of the
Administration have committed impeachable offenses. However,
impeachment is a very serious step to take, and I believe it is
something that should only be undertaken in a deliberate and
thoughtful manner.  That is why we must have robust
congressional oversight and investigations as soon as possible.  At
this time, I am not yet ready to prejudge the outcome of any
investigation by suggesting impeachment must be a component in
the proceedings.  
As you may know, impeachment involves the legislative branch of
our government bringing accusations against officials such as
cabinet members, judges, and the President.  The power to
impeach resides solely with the House of Representatives; the
power to try an impeachment case resides solely with the Senate. 
Impeachable acts cited in the Constitution are "Treason, Bribery,
or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
One of the most difficult questions raised by this provision is:
What are high crimes and misdemeanors?  The conclusion reached
by most scholars is that clear criminal law violations represent
impeachable offenses, whereas misconduct that is not necessarily
criminal but that undermines the integrity of the office (such as
disregarding constitutional responsibilities) may rise to the level of
an impeachable offense.  Partly because of this, impeachment has
taken place infrequently.  By making impeachment difficult, the
Constitution guards against the intrusion of the legislature into the
business of the judiciary and executive branches. It also ensures
that impeachment remains primarily a legal, or judicial, procedure
rather than a political process.  At this point, I believe Congress
should focus on fully investigating the Administration's misuse of
pre-war intelligence, rather than taking steps toward impeachment. 
Please be assured that I'll keep working to hold the Administration
accountable through my roles on the House International Relations
and House Armed Services Committees.
H. Res. 636 and 637 would censure the President and Vice
President for deceptions and failure of leadership with regard to
Iraq.  While I share the concerns of Congressman Conyers and will
continue fighting to investigate the actions of the Administration, I
don't think censure will help.  Censure is rarely used and is
essentially a reprimand for misdeeds.  It has no effect of law and
would do nothing to ensure that the Administration would be
answerable for misdeeds.  I do believe the President and Vice
President deserve criticism and scrutiny for their actions and the
best and most productive way to hold them accountable is to
continue to bring their failures to light - through investigations and
through actual legislation, such as the McCain torture ban. 

I hope I have sufficiently addressed your concerns and explained
my thinking on these troubling matters.  Please be assured that I'll
keep working to hold the Administration accountable for their
failed Iraq policy.  Again, I appreciate your taking the time to get
in touch with me.  If you have any further questions or concerns,
please don't hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,

Adam Smith
Member of Congress