In a callous and ruthless display of raw power, notorous Bush apologist, Senate Intelligence Chairment Pat Roberts, slapped down Democratic Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller's reasonable request to interview 20 key Bush Administration official involved in the pre-Iraq war Intelligence manipulations. Giving up even any pretense of conducting an authentic Phase II investigation, the GOP seems intent on writing final reports without conducting any hearings! Astonishing even some the most cynical Washington observers.
John Bryne is exposing Senator Pat Roberts latest efforts to Stonewall and cover up critical evidence in the Iraq pre-war probe. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman rebuffs attempts to interview Administration officials in pre-war Iraq probe
Both, Rice and Tenet, are reported to be extensively involved in the infamous White House Iraq Group which "managed" the public release of pre-Iraq war intelligence.
And some say the WHIGs cherry-picked, and perhaps even misled congress during the filing associated with the Congressional authorization of the Bush Administration's plans for war in Iraq.
Rockefeller's Request To Interview 20 Administration Officials Callously Slapped Down With Bogus Reason
Pat Roberts' flagrant abuse of his power as Senate Chair to squash any attempts at real investigations is becoming so bald, it's embarrassing to witness. Even some of his GOP colleages must be wondering if his excesses have gone to far--perhaps completely undermining the legitimacy of a key report in the Administrations plans to whitewash the extensive, blantant, and perhaps illegal political misuse of America's Intelligence Community.
Washington - The Chairmen of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has denied Democratic attempts to interview Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former CIA Director George Tenet, and two former senior aides to erstwhile Secretary of State Colin Powell, Raw Story has learned.
Rockefeller expressed his desire to interview roughly twenty Administration officials in a private letter to Sen. Roberts in January, though the names of the officials cited in the letter were not made public until today. In addition to Rice and Tenet, Rockefeller sought access to Lawrence Wilkerson, formerly Powell's chief of staff, and Richard Armitage, formerly Deputy Secretary of State.
George Tenent's testimony is critical in establishing the extent of President Bush's knowledge that he was aware of the false nature of his Niger Uranium and aluminum tube claims in the 2003 State of the Union address.
If President Bush can be proved to have knowingly misled Congress he may be guilty of impeachable offenses. So Senator Pat Roberts may be the barricade of last resort in the Administration's stonewalling and cover up.
Representative Maurice Hinchey has been trying to prove that by knowingly and willfully misleading congress during this address and the associated filings with congress President George Bush and his top administration staff including both George Tenet and Stephen Hadley are guilty of violation of USC 18 Sections 1001 and Sections 371. George Tenet has promised to tell all in an upcoming book in October.
Bill Duhnke's Disingenuous, Devious, and Despicable Disassembling
Senate Intelligence Committee Staff Director Bill Duhnke, top aide to Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), said there was no need to interview Powell's former aides, saying the intelligence behind Powell's speech was already known.
"Secretary Powell's speech was coordinated with and thoroughly reviewed and approved by the Director of Central Intelligence," Duhnke told RAW STORY. "The Committee already knows what intelligence they used to support Secretary Powell's speech. That topic was thoroughly covered in the Committee's first report."
But here Duhnke is being disingenuous. The issue is not the intelligence that made it into the speech but the vast amount that did not. This is a question of who knew what when. Powell was reported to be furious and disgusted that he was given a 1000 plus page volume from the OSP that was so bogus Powell is reported to have been ripping pages out, throwing them on the floor and uttering harsh language.
Who were the figures within the administation continuing to push what they already knew were bogus intelligence? And at whose direction? This is the testimony Pat Roberts, and his minion Duhnke does not want you to hear. And does not want to get on the congressional record.
But many, including yours truly, have expressed outraged that Tenet would withhold evidence of this critical nature for the convenience of a book publisher.
GOP Stonewalling and Complicity In Cover Up Should Be Reported By MSM
The decision not to interview Powell's aides is the latest in a series of setbacks for Senate Democrats surrounding the Iraq probe. The party catapulted the investigation into the spotlight last year when Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) used a parliamentary rule to force the Senate into closed session, asserting that Roberts was stalling the second half of the pre-war Iraq intelligence investigation.
Though Democrats seemingly won the day and brought the issue to prominence in the national media, their efforts to advance the probe in other areas have been thwarted. Roberts has deferred an investigation into the Pentagon's nebulous Office of Special Plans and is expected to release the Phase II report piecemeal, allowing some of the less controversial sections of the report to be published while deferring others.
If the Republican are going to make a mockery and undermine the legitimacy of their own investigations the Democrats should launch a seperate one of their own, as Rockefeller hinted at last fall.
Can anyone help me find the strategy memo Rockefeller sent out to the party saying that we should cooperate with the GOP SIC investigation as far a they would go, but as soon as they stopped set up one of our own?
I remember the suggestion that any five Senators with the approval of a CoChair can set up a sub-committee with subpoena power. However, I've been unable to locate this now.
If this is true, Senator Rockefellar, now is the time to stop fooling around with this uncooperative Republicans and set up our own investigation.
Also, we need to examine other possible criminal charges and ways to force these people to testify.
Another Report Of Pat Roberts' StoneWalling?
In additional reports on the same theme, David Swanson, of the Free Press, reports that Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) is blocking all attempts to investigate any aspect of Iraq War Intelligence or even how the war is going. The war looks different from inside Congress, April 27, 2006
Well, Senator Pat Roberts is blocking all attempts at an investigation of prewar lies in the Senate. He had long since split the investigation into two parts, with one part being the White House's misuse of "intelligence." Then, of course, he refused to allow that part of the investigation to happen. Now he's proposing to split that half of the investigation in half, with the half that he'll actually allow to proceed being more "investigating" that avoids investigating anything. How many times, I wonder, can you cut something in half and keep all the vital organs of it in the half that you keep cutting?
In the House, Congressman John Conyers' H Res 635 would create an investigation of Bush Administration crimes and make recommendations on impeachment.
Conyers and Feingold have introduced bills (for different reasons) in the House and Senate to censure Bush (H Res 636, S Res 398), and Conyers has also proposed to censure Cheney (H Res 637).