Brits and Yanks Unite to Demand Answers to Downing Street Minutes

For Immediate Release: June 11, 2005

Military Families Against the War, in Britain, and AfterDowningStreet.org, in the United States, are working together to demand answers to the questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence suggesting that the rulers of both nations conspired to deceive the public, Congress, and Parliament with regard to justification for the Iraq War.
Military Families Against the War is an organization of people directly affected by the war in Iraq. Our relatives and loved ones are members of the British Armed Services. We are opposed to the continuing involvement of UK soldiers in a war that is based on lies.

AfterDowningStreet.org is a coalition of organizations, including Gold Star Families for Peace and Veterans for Peace, and many other individual veterans and military families, including members of Military Families Speak Out.

Court Case Being Prepared Against Blair

Military Families Against the War (MFAW) is preparing to take Prime Minister Tony Blair to court to force through the demand for an independent and effective public inquiry into the background and decision to go to war in Iraq. This legal action is being taken in the names of 18 of the families whose sons and husbands have been killed in Iraq.

Memogate Hearings Scheduled for June 16 in Washington

On Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Democratic Members will hold a Democratic hearing to hear testimony concerning the Downing Street Minutes and the efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a classified memo, also known as the Downing Street Minutes, recounting the minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair that describes an American President already committed to going to war in the summer of 2002, despite contrary assertions to the public and the Congress. The minutes also describe apparent efforts by the Administration to manipulate intelligence data to justify the war. The June 16th hearing will attempt to answer the serious constitutional questions raised by these revelations and will further investigate the Administration's actions in the lead up to war with new documents that further corroborate the Downing Street memo.

Rally Scheduled for June 16 in Washington

Directly following the hearing, Rep. Conyers, Members of Congress, and concerned citizens plan to hand deliver to the White House the petition and signatures of over a half million Americans that have joined Rep. Conyers in demanding that President Bush answer questions about his secret plan for the Iraq war. For details on time and place and for downloadable flyers promoting the rally, please watch the top of this website: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

WHAT: Democratic hearing on Downing Street Minutes and Pre-war intelligence

WHEN: Thursday, June 16, 2005, TIME TBD

WHERE: LOCATION TBD

WITNESSES: Joe Wilson, Former Ambassador and WMD Expert; Ray McGovern, 27-year CIA analyst who prepared regular Presidential briefings during the Reagan administration; Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen American soldier; John Bonifaz, renowned constitutional lawyer and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org.

AfterDowningStreet.org is a rapidly growing coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups, which launched on May 26, 2005, a campaign to urge the U.S. Congress to begin a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war.

�Veterans For Peace is proud to be part of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition and glad to see that Congressman Conyers is convening this important hearing. Once the American people see how the Bush administration lied to them in order to invade Iraq, we believe they will demand Bush be held accountable for waging an illegal war and that our troops be brought home immediately.� -- Mike Ferner, Member of Veterans for Peace, Navy Corpsman during Viet Nam War.

Contacts:
MFAW
Andrew Burgin and contact@mfaw.org.uk 07939 242229 in England
AfterDowningStreet.org
David Swanson david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847 in United States