The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, United States House of Representatives:
I recently watched Dr. Strangelove for the first time in 40+ years. I'd hoped to find it quaintly anachronistic. I found it shockingly relevant.
According to a U.S. national security expert, reported by Sarah Baxter, Sunday, 9/2/07, in The Sunday Times UK., the Pentagon has developed plans for 3 days of massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran. The plan is reportedly designed to annihilate the Iranians¹ military capability in three days of massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran.
A plan is not an action and stories about America attacking Iran have been floating around for years. However, given:
• the deteriorating condition of Iraq,
• setbacks in Afghanistan,
• overextended and depleted U.S. military,
• astonishing cost of the Iraq adventure and related actions (threatening the economic viability of the nation and demonstrably diminishing the quality of life),
• ongoing intelligence failures (c.f., Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, by Tim Weiner),
• the demonstrated inability of this Administration to plan for what-happens-next (e.g., Amb (ret) Peter Galbraith's The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End),
• the potentially catastrophic consequences of attacking Iran,
• the inattentiveness of mainstream media,
• the Administration's arrogant disregard of the Constitution, the laws of the land and the people's will expressed through Congress,
• the messianic paranoia laced throughout this Administration, and
• the feeble response of Congress to all the above,
I therefore humbly beseech you, as the Leader of the House of Representatives, to assure the President that any military action against Iran without the explicit, written consent of Congress under the War Powers Act of 1973 and the United States Constitution, will be closely followed by a Bill of Impeachment and that you will do all within your official and personal power to assure that the President is impeached and convicted. Such a statement of intent in no way constrains the legitimate authority of the President and only assures that Congress, as the representative of the American people, will exercise its Constitutional authority and responsibility.
I further encourage you and your colleagues to consider other forms of deterrence, including the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council, as this Administration's term in office expires and the consequences of impeachment to Mr. Bush and his allies appear to diminish.
Thank you for your consideration.
The first victim of war is the truth -- Rudyard Kipling
Though boys throw rocks at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest -- Bion from Plutarch
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell -- William Tecumseh Sherman
... (G)overnment of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth -- Abraham Lincoln.
cc: The Honorable Harry Reid, United States Senate
[a discussion with Amb. Peter Galbraith about his book can be found at