CONG. PETER ROSKAM'S JANUARY, 2010 REPORT CARD ON IRAQ WAR
February 6, 2010
Congressman Peter Roskam
150 S. Bloomingdale Road, Suite 200
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Dear Congressman Roskam,
I don’t know if you read my monthly letters to you on your Middle East war policies because you never respond. If you did peruse them, you would know that I sincerely and respectfully not only point out the problems I see in your endless support of these senseless wars, but also offer suggestions on how you can be a force for good in an admittedly catastrophic situation for the millions of dead, wounded and dispossessed victims of our needless criminality.
In that spirit of positivism, I urge you to take a good step toward undoing some of the enormous damage you have done by calling for an impartial inquiry of how we were lied and mis-lead into the Iraq war. We have a model to follow in Britain’s Chilcot Inquiry, the public British hearing chaired by seventy year old Sir John Chilcot, a member of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. The Chilcot Inquiry is seeking to unravel the truth of how the British war party under Prime Minister Tony Blair conspired with the Bush administration to launch pre-emptive war on Iraq in March, 2003.
On Friday, January 29th, the Brits were allowed to see former Prime Minister Tony Blair answer questions during a six hour public inquest in which he unconvincedly disagreed with all his top legal advisors such as Sir Michael Wood, Wood’s deputy Elizabeth Wimshurst and Lord Peter Goldsmith, attorney general under Blair, all of whom termed the proposed war “illegal”, a “nightmare scenario” for the Foreign Office, and a “crime of aggression”.
While you must know about the Chilcot Inquiry, few among us common folk do because of a virtual news blackout on it in a country that “doesn’t want to look back” according to the US war party, now headed by President Obama. Unfortunately, for you and the rest of your colleagues in the war party, the directive of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials is that looking back is precisely what is required so that perpetrators of war crimes be identified, punished, and a deterrent sent to future leaders tempted to take their citizenry down the path to criminal war.That is exactly what Nuremburg did for the Nazi and Japanese war party leaders. Many were punished, with some experiencing the ultimate criminal penalty. While you didn’t start this war, you sure are quick to fund it.
Even though you’ve authorized roughly half a trillion dollars to fight these needless wars during your first three years in Congress, you can begin to atone by calling for the American equivalent of the Chilcot Inquiry. If you are the first to do so it may even be tagged “The Roskam Inquiry”.
Hey, that sure has a nice ring to it. Can you answer it, Congressman?
Respectfully yours,
Walt Zlotow
Glen Ellyn, IL
Congressman Peter Roskam
150 S. Bloomingdale Road, Suite 200
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Dear Congressman Roskam,
I don’t know if you read my monthly letters to you on your Middle East war policies because you never respond. If you did peruse them, you would know that I sincerely and respectfully not only point out the problems I see in your endless support of these senseless wars, but also offer suggestions on how you can be a force for good in an admittedly catastrophic situation for the millions of dead, wounded and dispossessed victims of our needless criminality.
In that spirit of positivism, I urge you to take a good step toward undoing some of the enormous damage you have done by calling for an impartial inquiry of how we were lied and mis-lead into the Iraq war. We have a model to follow in Britain’s Chilcot Inquiry, the public British hearing chaired by seventy year old Sir John Chilcot, a member of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. The Chilcot Inquiry is seeking to unravel the truth of how the British war party under Prime Minister Tony Blair conspired with the Bush administration to launch pre-emptive war on Iraq in March, 2003.
On Friday, January 29th, the Brits were allowed to see former Prime Minister Tony Blair answer questions during a six hour public inquest in which he unconvincedly disagreed with all his top legal advisors such as Sir Michael Wood, Wood’s deputy Elizabeth Wimshurst and Lord Peter Goldsmith, attorney general under Blair, all of whom termed the proposed war “illegal”, a “nightmare scenario” for the Foreign Office, and a “crime of aggression”.
While you must know about the Chilcot Inquiry, few among us common folk do because of a virtual news blackout on it in a country that “doesn’t want to look back” according to the US war party, now headed by President Obama. Unfortunately, for you and the rest of your colleagues in the war party, the directive of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials is that looking back is precisely what is required so that perpetrators of war crimes be identified, punished, and a deterrent sent to future leaders tempted to take their citizenry down the path to criminal war.That is exactly what Nuremburg did for the Nazi and Japanese war party leaders. Many were punished, with some experiencing the ultimate criminal penalty. While you didn’t start this war, you sure are quick to fund it.
Even though you’ve authorized roughly half a trillion dollars to fight these needless wars during your first three years in Congress, you can begin to atone by calling for the American equivalent of the Chilcot Inquiry. If you are the first to do so it may even be tagged “The Roskam Inquiry”.
Hey, that sure has a nice ring to it. Can you answer it, Congressman?
Respectfully yours,
Walt Zlotow
Glen Ellyn, IL
posted by Walt Zlotow at 5:22 PM
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