I wrote at length last week about how Democrats are
haunted by the ghost of accountability, how they still believe that genuine investigations somehow still thrive in this toxic Republican congress. Since then, Senator Durbin and other Democrats have said they aren't ruling out censure, but want to wait for the investigation to be completed. To that, I ask, what investigation? There's an
investigation being conducted into the President's illegal spying program? News to me. I thought the Senate
Intelligence Cover-Up Committee voted to
not conduct an inquiry. Oh! Oh! I know. I think they are referring to what the "subcommittee" that was set up in lieu of a real investigation. Are Democrats waiting for an "investigation" from the subcommittee Chairman Roberts called
"an accommodation with the White House"? And how long, pray tell, will this "investigation" take? Oh! Oh! Let me guess again. It will report
after midterm elections, probably early 2007? Late enough to be too late, and early enough not to affect 2008? And what report will this Republican-majority subcommittee issue?
Democrats, Republicans have not given you any reason to trust that they (a) will complete the investigation, and (b) produce neutral, factual results. I direct you to Exhibit A, Phase II of the pre-war intelligence investigation. Phase II of the investigation was to begin on February 12, 2004. It was supposed to answer that crucial question of whether the Executive Branch misled the American public (and Congress) into an unnecessary war. It has been over two years since Phase II was to begin, and Chairman Roberts has still blocked the report. On November 1, 2005, after what was at that time over a year and half of Republican stonewalling, Minority Leader Harry Reid made this statement (QT movie) on the floor of the Senate:
Mr. President, enough time has gone by. I demand, on behalf of the American people, that we understand why these investigations are not being conducted. And in accordance with rule XXI, I now move that the Senate go into closed session.
I'd like to quote from Senator Rockefeller's statement in which he explained why the Senate needed to be shut down:
"At its core, this is about accountability -- Congressional accountability and White House accountability.
"Congress has a fundamental, constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight -- that's what checks and balances are all about - and we have utterly failed.
"My colleagues and I have tried for two years to do our oversight work, and for two years we have been undermined, avoided, put off, and vilified by the other side. Any line of questioning that has brought us too close to the White House has been thwarted.
"At some point the majority needs to understand that we are willing to bring the Senate to a halt until they will join us in conducting the kind of investigation this situation demands. [...]
"Whether these actions amount to crimes is not the litmus test for congressional oversight. [...]
"But the American people deserve to know not just whether this Administration committed crimes, but whether this Administration told the truth -- the full truth, the straight story.
How I wish they would act and speak those words today. After Reid invoked Rule 21, Roberts agreed to release a progress report that week. It never happened. He promised by November 15, 2005. It never happened. He now claims it's almost done, well, everything except for the most controversial parts. You want a real investigation? It never happened. You want trust? It doesn't exist.
Are we to wait another two years for this "investigation" to take place? We can't. We can't wait two years because every day Democrats wait is another day of possible illegal, massive intrusion into the privacy of Americans. Unlike with Phase II, we don't have the "luxury" of time to wait, and wait, and wait, then stand up, then wait and wait and wait again.
Those who fail to call for censure evidently believe Republicans, and Roberts especially, can be trusted, despite so much evidence to the contrary. Republicans trust--they trust that Democrats will continue to have a blind "faith in the process." They trust that Democrats will never get off the hamster wheel, that they will never even recognize they're on it, constantly moving and going nowhere.
No, Republicans--and especially Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee--don't deserve the trust they have so viciously abused in the past. The time for "accommodation" is over. Dramatic action is needed. Whether it's Rule 21 or shutting down the Senate or censure, the only question that remains is this: can we trust Democrats in this time of urgent crisis to uphold the rule of law? If they listen to their conscience, I think we can.