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| Democrats invoke close-door session on SSIC report |
| 2005-11-02 |
| Democrats in the US Senate forced a rare closed-door session on Tuesday to demand the completion of a promised inquiry into what they said was the misuse of intelligence by the White House to make the case for the war in Iraq. The move by Democrats marked an attempt to use the indictment last week of Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak case to rekindle a public debate about the tactics used by the Bush administration to build support for the war. Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader, said, "The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really about: the administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions." Republicans called the parliamentary manoeuvre a "stunt" and insisted they had been making progress on the inquiry. But Democrats said they had little choice, after waiting for more than a year for a promised investigation into pre-war intelligence. The dramatic showdown, which took Republicans by surprise, marked a bitter partisan moment for members of the Senate intelligence committee, which has a tradition of strong bipartisan work. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the panel, said the White House had "sent down an edict" to Republicans to block the inquiry, and accused Republicans of being "willing to take orders" from the Bush administration. Pat Roberts, the Republican vice-chairman of the panel, said his staff had been proceeding with the investigation. As the Senate returned to open session, he announced that the committee would begin hearings next Tuesday on the inquiry. The Democrats' move diverted the Senate from its scheduled business for nearly three hours, as security officials cleared the Senate chamber. When it was over, a bipartisan team was charged with reporting back by November 14 on progress on the investigation. The Senate intelligence committee completed an initial report in mid-2004 about intelligence failures in the lead-up to the war, and Mr Roberts promised a second phase of the investigation, about the political uses of that intelligence. But Democrats complained that there had been virtually no progress on the second phase, which was to include an assessment of whether public statements and testimony by US government officials before the war were backed up by intelligence. "There's a lot of evidence the administration went way beyond the intelligence...particularly as it relates to any relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," said Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Harry Reed invoking? He sounded awfully whiney on the radio... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-11-02 13:48 |
| #3 If the Dems go that way, they can kiss the election good bye. They are much better with the bogged down in Iraq and not chasing Al-Q line. Not that it's any more legitimate, but it is more hawkish. They need to show that Bush is not doing enough to defend the country, notthat they would do less. |
| Posted by: Omese Gretle5059 2005-11-02 13:44 |
| #2 interesting. I think you nailed it. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-11-02 09:44 |
| #1 Democrats invoke close-door session on SSIC report SET UP for 2006 and 2008. Hillary will soon disavow her vote for the Iraq war because she was duped by President Bush, Dick Cheney, Rummy, Scooter Libby and the evil Karl Rove with faulty intel. Of course she will lie and insists that she cares so much about our Armed Forces that she will bring them home if she is elected Prez. |
| Posted by: Master of the Transparent 2005-11-02 04:06 |