Account for Iraq Billions (Stop Bush Corruption) or Pull Out!

2003 September 24, Wednesday evening

Congress most ensure that money being spent is in fact rebuilding Iraq more than benefiting Bush, Cheney, and friends or stop funding the war and force troops to be brought home.

PETITION LETTER

TO: (Your Representative and Senators)
FROM: (Your Name and Email)
SUBJECT: Keep Bush Accountable
__________

Dear (Senator or Representative's name),

My message:

The American people have a right to know how much of their present (and mostly future) tax money asked for to fight foreign wars is going to the Bush and Cheney families and close supporters in the form of salaries and dividends.  This should form the centerpiece of an investigation of how it is happening that huge and increasing portions of the U.S. military budget are unaccounted for.  On what is the money being spent, or misspent, or simply squandered; to whom is it going, and for what?

The Bush administration has a habit of not spending money it has asked for and gotten from Congress, such as the already too-small sums for AIDS and reconstruction in Afghanistan, while it spends billions it did not ask for and is not authorized to spend.  The minimum that Congress must do is ensure that the accounted-for money isn’t spent uselessly.  To that end, no funding should be granted for Iraq unless the present policy of oil at any cost is abandoned in favor of true nation-building.  If that isn’t possible, as bad as it is for Iraq to become a complete disaster, it is better for all concerned if our soldiers are not there as it happens.

Their form letter:

You and your colleagues in Congress are responsible for ensuring that our tax dollars are used well.  But President Bush is demanding another enormous blank check.

Congress must withhold the $87 billion requested by President Bush until he dismisses the team responsible for the quagmire in Iraq -- starting with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld -- and ends the U.S. occupation of Iraq by transferring authority for rebuilding to the United Nations.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Melançon
33 Fisher Street