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White House and State Department Illegally Ignore FOIA Request
August 11, 2005
Mr. Brett Gerry Ms. Margaret P. Grafeld
Associate Counsel Information and Privacy Coordinator
Office of Counsel to the President Office of Information Programs & Services
The White House A/RPS/IPS/RL
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. U.S. Department of State, SA-2
Washington, D.C. 20502 Washington, D.C. 20522-6001
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
Dear Sir and Madam:
On June 30, 2005, I and 51 other Members of Congress requested access to “all agency records, including but not limited to handwritten notes, formal correspondence, electronic mail messages, intelligence reports and other memoranda,
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Congressman Conyers, if a Canuck may be permitted a brief comment, you can be assured that your principled stance and your efforts are widely noted with great appreciation. The vast majority here has always felt that your colleagues were badly misled and made a grave error in ceding war-making authority to this administration.
Please keep up the brave work.
Even setting aside any international sentiments, this must surely be of some concern ($$$) to the U.S. tourist industry.
From The New York Times - 2005-08-10
Foreign citizens who change planes at airports in the United States can legally be seized, detained without charges, deprived of access to a lawyer or the courts, and even denied basic necessities like food, lawyers for the government said in Brooklyn federal court yesterday.
The assertion came in oral arguments over a federal lawsuit by Maher Arar, a naturalized Canadian citizen who charges that United States officials plucked him from Kennedy International Airport when he was on the way home on Sept. 26, 2002, held him in solitary confinement in a Brooklyn detention center and then shipped him to his native Syria to be interrogated under torture because officials suspected that he was a member of Al Qaeda.
Syrian and Canadian officials have cleared Mr. Arar, 35, of any terrorist connections, but United States officials maintain that "clear and unequivocal" but classified evidence shows that he is a Qaeda member. They are seeking dismissal of his lawsuit, in part through the rare assertion of a "state secrets" privilege.
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FULL STORY
Thank You for doing your job. Now I hope the Office of the Counsel to the President does their job and responds.
Congressman Conyers, "We the People" are truly in your debt for your focus, leadership and tireless energy in following up and through on this administration's acts of abuse of power. Please extend my thanks to those you trust and who are standing with you. I cannot even begin to imagine how tangled this web will become as it continues to unravel. Thank you very much.
Carole
Congressman Conyers,
Thank you for your work. Bringing up the FOIA, in conjunction with Cindy's protest, could put some additional pressure on the White House and State to timely respond to your reasonable and prudent FOIA request. [ More . . . ]
Perhaps some may be interested in understanding the relationship between the Downing Street Memo and Cindy's protest.
Very respectfully,
Constant
If the GOP Congressional and Senators refuse to investigate, IT'S TIME TO CONSIDER THAT THEY ARE ALSO "GUILTY OF OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE" AND ARE ALSO CONSIDERED BY THE U.S. CITIZENS TO BE ACCOMLPLICES TO THE ADMINISTRATION IN THE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE AND WE WILL "IMPEACH, PROSECUTE, AND INCARCERATE THEM, TOO!"
Charlie Cregor
Dallas TX
Congressman Conyers,
I see the FOIA requests are mushrooming in re Ashkroft and Rove. DoJ and DoD are linked: Both agencies have criminal investigators who are both assigned to GITMO and are "reporting" status and findings to senior SES personnel.
As I think we can agree, this many years after 9-11 and the Iraq invasion we shouldn't be in the dark. In that spirit, I believe what's needed is a straight story on what DoD wanted to exclude from the FOIA response.
What they "do not want looked at" is important because we can understand the patterns of focus, and identify other sources to get an understanding of who was involved in the war crimes in re Iraq, GITMO, and unlawful actions under the Patriot Act. Here's a list of how to analyze what DoD wants to exclude and how to apply the information to future discovery. [ More . . . ]
Thank you for your work.
Very respectfully,
Constant
The White House portrayal of Islamic extremists is being balanced by right wing Christian extremists, including the President.
I thought the Crusades ended centuries ago. Apparently not. This administration's pursuit of world domination based on religion is tantamount to the holy roman empire. It failed before, it is failing now.
True Christians do not believe in the principles and actions of Mr. Bush and his ilk. We must stop these madmen (and women) now before they bring on armageddon!
Hi everyone,
The Bush administration couldn't care less about the FOIA (or anything else that stands in their way). Ignoring laws, acts and rulings is their game, and they play it well. Who cares that people are dying, that poverty is growing or that the constitution is tampered with? They have the power and they are using it to the limit. If Michael Moore hasn't been able of stopping Bush, we sure won't be able to. Sorry for the negativism, but I call it realism.
http://www.docfilm.be/