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MARTINEZ – Two prominent East Bay lawmakers say they support a “regime change” in Iraq, but they emphasize that Congress should be consulted in advance. 

U.S. Reps. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, were among at least eight Bay Area lawmakers who signed a letter on July 26 cautioning President George W. Bush to obtain congressional authorization before any such effort. 

A replacement for the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whom the Iraqi legislature declared “president for life” in 1990, would be “good for all the parties concerned,” Miller said. 

“The question of how you achieve that change, however, remains an open question,” Miller cautioned. “It is clear to me that whatever action the United States takes must be within the rule of law.” 

Tauscher spokesperson April Boyd says Tauscher agrees that members of Congress should be consulted before military action. 

Tauscher herself has no knowledge of military plans being made by the Bush administration. 

But Bush has made no secret of his desire to remove Hussein. In June he was reported to have ordered the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to begin a comprehensive secret effort to overthrow the Iraqi government. In a June 1 commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Bush said the United States should be ready to take “preemptive action” against regimes considered to be a threat.  

“If we wait for the threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long,” Bush told the cadets. 

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, emphasized the need for evidence before military action. She also considered whether instigating an armed conflict might cause the very thing that it was intended to prevent. 

“The president has made his support clear for a regime change, but has yet to give the American people or Congress evidence that our country is immediately threatened by Iraq,” said Eshoo. “There must be a full and clear debate regarding any proposed regime change including the question, would military action precipitate the use of biological weapons, and how would an attack affect regional stability.” 

U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, said that because Iraq has not complied with its pledge to permit full access to its facilities by United Nations inspectors, U.S. officials are now in the precarious situation of not knowing exactly what kind of weapons Iraq has. 

“I believe it would be in the best interest of the U.S., our allies and the world if an Iraqi regime complied fully with the U.N. inspectors and proved that programs to build weapons of mass destruction are non-existent,” Honda said. “Saddam Hussein has not shown an interest in accomplishing this mission.” 

Honda added that officials within the Bush Administration disagree as to what kind of weapons the Iraqis have. 

Honda said another important consideration in deciding whether to conduct a military action against Iraq would be support from the international community, a concern also cited by U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma. 

“The U.S. must not engage Iraq militarily unless there is direct evidence of Iraq's involvement in terrorist activities,” she said. “Anything less could destroy the international coalition to fight terrorism and could significantly damage U.S. relations with countries in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia,” Woolsey continued. “Any action we take militarily should be done with the support of the international community.”