Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Ninth District, IL

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           Contact: Nadeam Elshami

February 6, 2004                                                                   202/226-6903

 

Schakowsky: Only an Independent Commission would Establish if the President Manipulated Intelligence to Justify War with Iraq 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a chief Deputy Whip, today issued the following statement after President Bush signed an Executive Order to create a commission to examine pre-war intelligence. 

            “President Bush’s handpicked commission with its narrow focus is unacceptable and an insult to the millions of Americans demanding to know the truth,” Schakowsky said.   

“Hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of innocent Iraqis lost their lives because President Bush predetermined our nation’s path to war.  Only an independent commission, not a subsidiary of the White House, would establish whether the President and those around him manipulated intelligence to justify a war with Iraq,” Schakowsky added. 

            Schakowsky is a cosponsor of H.R. 2625, legislation authored by U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, to create an independent commission - modeled after the September 11 Commission.  The Commission would examine the intelligence about Iraq, representations made by executive branch officials about this intelligence, and whether the Bush Administration distorted evidence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.