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Chairman Waxman Reiterates Request for Testimony from Secretary Rice

April 9, 2007
Blog Post
After receiving an insufficient response from the State Department's Legislative Affairs office, Chairman Waxman reiterated his request today for Secretary Rice to testify later this month on President Bush's claims that Iraq attempted to procure uranium from Niger and other subjects:

Dear Madam Secretary:

On March 12, 2007, I wrote to you on behalf of the Committee to request answers to multiple letters that I had sent to you over the past four years. I requested a response by March 23, 2007, but I received no reply by that date. As a result, on March 30, 2007, I sent a letter notifying you that the Committee will be holding a hearing on April 18,2007, and I requested that you make yourself available to provide testimony and respond to questions about the issues raised in the March 12 letter.

On April 3, 2007, I did receive a letter from your assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Jeffrey Bergner. Mr. Bergner's letter does not answer many of the Committee's questions, nor does it provide most of the information and documents the Committee requested. As a result, I continue to request your appearance before the Committee on April 18, 2007.

One of the issues the Committee is examining why the President asserted in his State of the Union address in 2003 that Iraq sought uranium from Niger. In my March 12 letter, I requested information about what you knew about this assertion and how it ended up in the State of the Union address. I asked you to answer specific questions raised in a June 10, 2003, letter and a July 29, 2003, letter, both of which I enclosed. These questions included: (1) whether you had any knowledge that would explain why President Bush cited forged evidence about Iraq's efforts to procure uranium from Niger in the State of the Union address; (2) whether you knew before the State of the Union address of the doubts raised by the CIA and the State Department about the veracity of the Niger claim; (3) whether there was a factual basis for your reference in a January 23, 2003, op-ed to "Iraq's efforts to get uranium from abroad"; and (4) whether you took appropriate steps to investigate how the Niger claim ended up in the State of the Union address after it was revealed to be fraudulent.

Rather than address any of these questions, Mr. Bergner forwarded copies of two old State Department letters that have no bearing whatsoever on your knowledge of, your role in, or your statements about the Niger claim.

Mr. Bergner also failed to respond to the Committee's questions about the seemingly inconsistent way in which the White House has responded to leaks of classified information, such as the disclosure of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Mr. Bergner did provide some information in response to the Committee's inquiries about the appointment of Ambassador Jones and the exclusion of delegates to international conferences based on political affiliation. But his letter failed to provide the investigative reports requested by the Committee in the case of Ambassador Jones. The letter also failed to answer the Committee's request for a listing of the international conferences for which the White House rejected delegates proposed by the State Department.

As I hope you can understand, because of the inadequacies of Mr. Bergner's response, the Committee will not withdraw the invitation for you to testify on April 18, 2007.

...

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman

Chairman