[Mb-civic] Downing Street Memo Anniversary ­ 150 Events Planned

[Jef Bek]

Online at: http://politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/1499/1/32/
Downing Street Memo Anniversary ­ 150 Events Planned

By Political Affairs


7-17-05, 8:46 am 

To highlight several leaked British government documents that indicate the
Bush administration was "fixing" intelligence to support the drive to war
with Iraq, activists around the country are planning over 150 events on July
23, 2005. July 23 will mark the three-year anniversary of the meeting at #10
Downing Street in London, England, the official residence of the British
Prime Minister, which was recorded in the now infamous minutes known as the
"Downing Street Memo."

Several of the events will be hosted by or participated in by Members of
Congress, including John Conyers in Detroit, Jim McDermott in Seattle,
Barbara Lee in Oakland, Maxine Waters in Los Angeles, and Maurice Hinchey in
New York. Congressman Charles Rangel will host an electronic town-hall
meeting, answering questions from his New York constituents on the Internet,
from noon to 1 p.m., July 22. Congressman Xavier Becerra will host an event
in Los Angeles on July 30, and Congressman Barney Frank in Boston on July
31. 

Co-founder of the After Downing Street Coalition, a growing coalition of
veterans¹, peace, and political activist groups that are calling for an
investigation to determine whether the President committed impeachable
offenses related to the drive for war with Iraq launched the anniversary
events. Constitutional attorney and author of "Warrior-king: the Case for
Impeaching George W. Bush," John Bonifaz will speak at a town hall meeting
on July 23rd in Northampton, Massachusetts.
 
In addition to these high profile events, on July 23rd, in over 150 towns
and cities, prominent speakers and ordinary citizens will hold public
forums, perform dramatic recreations of the Downing Street meeting, and host
house parties and study circles. Sixty-six events and counting are listed
online at AfterDowningStreet.org. Additional events are scheduled for
surrounding days. 

The agenda at various of these events will include speeches, panel
discussions, viewing of DVDs, dramatic recreations of the Downing Street
Minutes, debates, writing postcards and letters to congress members and
senators not present, writing letters to the editor, training participants
in effective lobbying, honoring local fallen soldiers, and planning local
marches and flyering campaigns ­ with such actions in some cases immediately
following the event. Resources for these events have been made available by
the After Downing Street Coalition at AfterDowningStreet.org.

Participants around the country will be encouraged to:

*    promote coverage of the Downing Street Minutes by their local media,
*    gather signatures on Congressman Conyers¹ letter to the President
asking for explanations of the Downing Street Minutes (there are now 131
signatures by congress members and over 576,984 by U.S. citizens),
*    promote support for a Resolution of Inquiry expected to be introduced
in the House of Representatives,
*    promote support for a Resolution expected to be introduced in the House
of Representatives, which would create a select committee to investigate
reports of a pre-war deal between the United Kingdom and the United States
and evidence that pre-war intelligence was intentionally manipulated.
*    lobby the Senate Intelligence Committee to conduct the investigation of
pre-war intelligence that it has failed to follow through on.


In addition, Congressman Conyers¹ office has organized 105 house parties
through its website. Conyers initiated an electronic petition to be sent to
President bush calling for an honest explanation. The letter was co-signed
by 90 other members of Congress and almost 600,000 people. So many people
flooded Conyers¹ website with support that he had to close it down for
several days in order to upgrade it to handle the volume.

Conyers is also scheduled to hold a national conference call with Ambassador
Joe Wilson, a target of the White House after Wilson published information
that discredited the Bush administration¹s claim that Iraq tried to buy
nuclear material from Niger.

The "blog-o-sphere" will be alive with the thoughts and reports of attendees
of the events and conference calls throughout the day.

In London, a group of actors and activists will perform a dramatic
recreation of the Downing Street Memo as a Mad Hatter¹s Tea Party just
outside the gates to Downing Street in London, England. The event is being
organized by members of Bedford Stop the War, a member of UK¹s Stop the War
Coalition and of the After Downing Street coalition.

Find more specific information about local events at AfterDowningStreet.org.