URGENT: House Investigation of Downing Street Minutes Nears Vote Deadline :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - ch

URGENT: House Investigation of Downing Street Minutes Nears Vote Deadline :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - ch:

"Reported on Wednesday, August 24, by a meager number of media outlets (a search on Google News produced all of ONE result, this, from Political Affairs Magazine) Congressman Jim Leach (R) of Iowa has become the first Republican to publicly announce that he would cosponsor the bill (H. Res. 375) by representative Barbara Lee (D) of California.

The bill, a resolution of inquiry, introduced by Lee in the House of Representatives on July 20, 2005 and referred to the Committee on International Relations on the same day, requests (quoting directly from the bill), 'the President and directing the Secretary of State to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution all information in the possession of the President and the Secretary of State relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq.'

The bill was originally co-sponsored by 25 other House members, all Democrats. Since that time, another 28 have signed on as co-sponsors, including Leach, who has previously been critical of the Bush administration's policies on the War in Iraq.

The U. S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations is comprised of 50 members - 23 Democrats and 27 Republicans. As of this writing, 10 Democrat members of the committee have publicly signed on as co-sponsors. A majority of 26 committee members is needed for passage.

A vote on the resolution must take place on or before September 16.

Including Leach with all 23 Democrats on the committee (assuming that the vote will proceed along party lines), the total now seemingly in favor of passage is 24. Representative Ron Paul (R), the libertarian firebrand from Texas, is widely assumed to "