Democrats may extend Iraq war memo probe to London

U.S. congressmen are investigating the British government’s role in helping to prepare for the war in Iraq.

Senior Democrats in Congress are considering sending a delegation to London to investigate Britain’s role in the preparations for the war, which was launched in March 2003. They have seized on a leaked Downing Street memo, first published three weeks ago by The Sunday Times, as evidence American lawmakers were misled about Bush’s intentions in Iraq.

A group of 89 Democrats from the House of Representatives has written to President George W. Bush to ask whether the memo is accurate. It recounts a discussion between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his military and intelligence advisers about the Bush administration’s views in July 2002, three months before Congress authorized the White House to go to war with Iraq.

The Democrats’ letter, drafted by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, said the memo raised troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own administration, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

’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.’

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Iran’s continued defiance to calls by the United States to stop its nuclear energy program is hardening America’s case for UN Security Council sanctions. Any move though, in light of the events that led to military action in Iraq, is likely to meet stiff opposition, but not in all quarters