Blair May Face US Probe Over Memogate

From the Sunday Times:

American congressmen are considering sending a delegation to London to investigate Britain’s role in preparations for the war in Iraq.

Democratic opponents of President George W Bush have seized on the "smoking gun" of the leaked Downing Street Memo, first published three weeks ago by The Sunday Times, as evidence that American lawmakers were misled about Bush’s intentions in Iraq. In a letter demanding an independent investigation, written by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan to President Bush and signed by 88 of his colleagues, House Democrats have said that the memo raised "troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own administration". It has now been 17 days since that request for a congressional investigation.

US administration officials tried to shrug off the letter last week. Scott McClellan, Bush’s spokesman, said the White House saw “no need” to respond to an affair that one newspaper dubbed "memogate". Yet Democratic opponents of the war appear determined not to let the matter drop. "They (the Republicans) are trying desperately to wait it out and hope that nobody will bring this up," Conyers said. "But this thing will not be snuffed out. "

Conyers said the memo raised "very serious questions about an abuse of power , . . it is a very serious constitutional matter". Under the US constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war, and it was not until mid-October 2002 that Bush obtained the necessary authorisation to begin military preparations.

"There are members saying that if they knew then what they know now they wouldn’t have given him those powers (to wage war)," Conyers said.

By sending investigators to London to interview Prime Minister Blair and others, House Democrats intend stirring the till-now sluggish US media into action on the story. Congressman Conyers is already comparing Memogate to Watergate in very real terms, saying that both started as mostly ignored small articles in newspapers. He feels that, like Watergate, US citizens are slowly beginning to think about and become more vocal on the brewing disgrace the Downing Street Memo represents.

As for the, supposedly liberal, media? Conyers had this to say:

"I deplore the fact that our media have been so reticent on the question of whether there was a secret planning of a war for which neither the Congress nor the American people had given permission."

Yup.

P.S. I hate to trumpet the blogosphere over the MSM - so many who have ended up looking foolish - but the bloggers' pressure on the MSM to talk about this issue at all may end up being seen by history as their finest hour.