IVAW to "testify" before Congressional Progressive Caucus

Jonn Lilyea at This Ain't Hell has a link to an important petition to the  Congressional Progressive Caucus.  The Iraq Veterans Against the War are going to testify before the caucus, preaching to the choir as Thus Spake Ortner points out, to "present eyewitness accounts of the Iraq occupation to Congress":

OK, first off, this is ridiculous. Just so you realize, they aren't testifying before the House Armed Services Commitee. They aren't testifying before the Foreign Relations or Veterans' Affairs Committees. They are testifying before the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which means they will literally be preaching to the choir.

Lilyea has a list of caucus members:

If you have the misfortune to live in one of those districts, please contact their offices and express your displeasure and what you expect from your elected representatives. If you don’t have your representative’s contact information you can find it on Congress.org. It’s been my experience that faxes and phone calls get a better response than email (which usually ends up in trash folder before anyone reads it).

I, thankfully, do not have the misfortune to live in one of those districts, but I will be signing the petition and if you're reading this, I hope you will too.  The petition attempts to force caucus members to ask for actual proof from IVAW before accepting any of their claims:

* Make request of the Iraq Veterans Against the War that member(s) of the Caucus be provided video of the entire Winter Soldier Investigation “testimony” proceedings and be provided access to all those who testified,

*That the Caucus require any testimony given by IVAW be presented in the following format:
D: Date(s) - When did the incident occur?
U: Unit(s) - What military units were involved?
P: Personnel - What are the names of the participants and witnesses?
E: Event(s) - What exactly happened exactly where?
S: Signature(s) - Was this reported at the time or later and were reports, affidavits or depositions signed, or will they now be signed?

* That in the event that staff determines that there has been testimony given that touches on areas where, in the words of Senator Warner, the members of the SASC “have a responsibility to establish where in the military chain of command rests the ‘accountability,’ depending of course, on the accuracy of the facts…”, the Caucus forward the information to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC),

* That the Caucus request and all documents and records, signed statements and recordings, audio, video or digital, that bear on the claims made and being investigated,

* That the Caucus demand that those making such claims or professing publicly to verify those claims be requested or subpoened to appear before the HASC under oath, to answer questions.

Although this "testimony" is only taking place before a lame caucus, it is still a slap in the face to our troops serving in Iraq.  We've been down this road before.  If the caucus is going to let members of IVAW speak, they should demand proof.  And we need to stand up for our men and women in the military every chance we get:

I guess the point of all this is that the battle for the minds of the people against this insidious campaign to pervert the truth and turn Americans against our returning soldiers, is not over and it may have just begun. We’ve scored some significant victories in the last 14 months, but the battle continues.

The circus will take place on May 15.