Dear Representative:

We are of the belief that the release of captured Iraqi tapes and documents now in the possession of our government should be expedited with all haste. We believe that information contained in those documents would substantiate our government's stated reasons for going to war with Saddam's regime. For too long, too many Americans have been led to believe that their government lied to them and subsequently are lukewarm on support of the war and by extension of our troops.

If there is intelligence in that huge cache of documents and tapes that would help to dispel the doubts of these many citizens and unite this nation behind our armed forces and their mission, then it is absolutely unthinkable to allow these materials to remain restricted from public view. 

It has long been our belief that our government was reluctant to release this trove of information for fear of embarrassing our allies such as the Russians, the French and others, by exposing their nefarious support of Saddam's reign of terror. Today, for the first time, we have seen our suspicions confirmed with the revelation on the very reliable Power Line Blog, that President Bush wants this information released to the public for precisely the reasons we ascribed above. However, Mr. John Negroponte, our Director of National Intelligence, is rumored to be holding up such a release for precisely the reason we suspected.

This is completely unacceptable. Mr. Negroponte may be our intelligence czar, but he is misguided if he believes not embarrassing our underhanded, so—called allies is more consequential to America's future than the benefit to be derived if the released information does indeed serve to unite America's citizens behind our armed forces and their mission to defeat worldwide islamofascist terrorism.

It is time for the Congress to take a hand in this matter. There is no other issue before you that could have more import than helping to end the divisiveness and dissension in this country arising out of the belief held by so many that our government deliberately misled us into an unnecessary war. We will be watching to see what position you take and what role you play. 

We will weigh your performance at re—election time.

Sincerely,

Russ & Linda Vaughn