Gold9472
01-26-2007, 09:34 AM
Cheney held up probe, senator says
An investigation into the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq was delayed under pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney, a Democratic senator said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/elections/16548649.htm
BY JONATHAN S. LANDAY
1/26/2007
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney exerted "constant" pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration's use of flawed intelligence on Iraq, the panel's Democratic chairman charged Thursday.
In an interview with McClatchy Newspapers, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia also accused President Bush of running an illegal program by ordering eavesdropping on Americans' international e-mails and telephone communications without court-issued warrants.
In the 45-minute interview, Rockefeller said that it was "not hearsay" that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the probe of the administration's use of prewar intelligence.
"It was just constant," Rockefeller said of Cheney's alleged interference.
He added he knew that the vice president attended regular policy meetings in which he conveyed White House directions to Republican staff members.
Republicans "just had to go along with the administration," he said.
In an e-mail response to Rockefeller's comments, Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea McBride, said: ``The vice president believes Senator Roberts was a good chairman of [the] intelligence committee."
BLAMES DEMOCRATS
Roberts' chief of staff, Jackie Cottrell, blamed the Democrats for the probe remaining incomplete more than two years after it began.
"Senator Rockefeller's allegations are patently untrue," she said in an e-mail. 'The delays came from the Democrats' insistence that they expand the scope of the inquiry to make it a more political document going into the 2006 elections. Chairman Roberts did everything he could to accommodate their requests for further information without allowing them to distort the facts."
"I'm not aware of any effort by the vice president, his staff or anyone in the administration to influence the speed at which the committee did its work," said Bill Duhnke, who was Roberts' staff director.
Rockefeller's comments were among the most forceful he has made about why the committee failed to complete the inquiry under Roberts. Roberts was chairman of the committee from January 2003 until the Democrats took over Congress this month.
CRITICAL REPORT
The panel released a report in July 2004 that lambasted the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies for erroneously concluding that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was concealing biological, chemical and nuclear warfare programs.
It then began examining how senior Bush administration officials used faulty intelligence to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Roberts promised to quickly complete what became known as the Phase II investigation. After more than two years, however, the panel published only two of five Phase II reports amid serious rifts between Republican and Democratic members.
The most potentially controversial of the three Phase II reports being worked on will compare what Bush and his top lieutenants said publicly about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorists with what was contained in top-secret intelligence reports.
"The looking backward creates tension, but it's necessary tension because the administration needs to be held accountable," Rockefeller said.
Rockefeller said that he and the senior Republican member of the committee, Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., have put the friction behind them.
An investigation into the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq was delayed under pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney, a Democratic senator said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/elections/16548649.htm
BY JONATHAN S. LANDAY
1/26/2007
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney exerted "constant" pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration's use of flawed intelligence on Iraq, the panel's Democratic chairman charged Thursday.
In an interview with McClatchy Newspapers, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia also accused President Bush of running an illegal program by ordering eavesdropping on Americans' international e-mails and telephone communications without court-issued warrants.
In the 45-minute interview, Rockefeller said that it was "not hearsay" that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the probe of the administration's use of prewar intelligence.
"It was just constant," Rockefeller said of Cheney's alleged interference.
He added he knew that the vice president attended regular policy meetings in which he conveyed White House directions to Republican staff members.
Republicans "just had to go along with the administration," he said.
In an e-mail response to Rockefeller's comments, Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea McBride, said: ``The vice president believes Senator Roberts was a good chairman of [the] intelligence committee."
BLAMES DEMOCRATS
Roberts' chief of staff, Jackie Cottrell, blamed the Democrats for the probe remaining incomplete more than two years after it began.
"Senator Rockefeller's allegations are patently untrue," she said in an e-mail. 'The delays came from the Democrats' insistence that they expand the scope of the inquiry to make it a more political document going into the 2006 elections. Chairman Roberts did everything he could to accommodate their requests for further information without allowing them to distort the facts."
"I'm not aware of any effort by the vice president, his staff or anyone in the administration to influence the speed at which the committee did its work," said Bill Duhnke, who was Roberts' staff director.
Rockefeller's comments were among the most forceful he has made about why the committee failed to complete the inquiry under Roberts. Roberts was chairman of the committee from January 2003 until the Democrats took over Congress this month.
CRITICAL REPORT
The panel released a report in July 2004 that lambasted the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies for erroneously concluding that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was concealing biological, chemical and nuclear warfare programs.
It then began examining how senior Bush administration officials used faulty intelligence to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Roberts promised to quickly complete what became known as the Phase II investigation. After more than two years, however, the panel published only two of five Phase II reports amid serious rifts between Republican and Democratic members.
The most potentially controversial of the three Phase II reports being worked on will compare what Bush and his top lieutenants said publicly about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorists with what was contained in top-secret intelligence reports.
"The looking backward creates tension, but it's necessary tension because the administration needs to be held accountable," Rockefeller said.
Rockefeller said that he and the senior Republican member of the committee, Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., have put the friction behind them.