Senate intelligence chief urges end to Iraq probe

[ProSense]

And nobody even noticed:

Senate intelligence chief urges end to Iraq probe

By David Morgan
Tue Mar 14, 7:49 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday urged lawmakers to begin wrapping up the second phase of its investigation into U.S. intelligence on prewar Iraq, despite fresh demands from Democrats for further scrutiny.

Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record), the Kansas Republican, laid out a schedule for completing four of the investigation's five segments by the end of April and pledged to release much of the findings to the public.

The largest segment of the Phase 2 investigation, which has increasingly become a lightning rod for partisan squabbling, promises to examine whether Bush administration officials exaggerated intelligence on Iraq as they made their public case for war in 2002 and 2003.

"Over the next several weeks, the committee's members will work with staff to write the final products," Roberts said in a statement. "This schedule provides a reasonable time frame for member input as we complete the inquiry."

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060315/pl_nm/iraq_usa_senate_dc_1

March 15, 2006
From Journal-World Staff Reports

Sen. Pat Roberts is trying to put at least one of his headaches to rest.

The Kansas Republican — chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee — on Tuesday announced his plans to complete the so-called ”Phase Two” investigation into whether the Bush Administration cooked prewar intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Here is the press release.

Reuters reports: “The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday urged lawmakers to begin wrapping up the second phase of its investigation into U.S. intelligence on prewar Iraq, despite fresh demands from Democrats for further scrutiny. Sen. Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican, laid out a schedule for completing four of the investigation's five segments by the end of April and pledged to release much of the findings to the public.”

The Los Angeles Times adds: Democrats have accused Roberts of whitewashing the inquiry, and orchestrated a shutdown of the Senate in November to protest the lack of progress. Republicans have accused Democrats of grandstanding for partisan gain.

Roberts said Tuesday that the Democrats' complaints were unfounded, adding that progress now was dependent on how fast committee members completed their individual reviews of the three drafts, due in early April.

"If people are serious about finishing Phase II, they don't need to shut down the Senate or hold press conferences decrying the process; they just need to come do the work," Roberts said.

Roberts did not, however, provide a date for public release of the completed sections, saying they would have to be vetted by intelligence agencies.


http://www2.ljworld.com/blogs/kansas_congress/2006/mar/15/roberts

[Mass]

1. This is huge, but this will go unnoticed.

The media are too busy with other things and the Democrats have been relatively silent on the issue, sadly.

Roberts is using the first opportunity to ditch it, not very surprisingly.

[Burried News]

2. Yeah come and do the work ...

[emulatorloo]

3. kick and nominating n/t

[quiet.american]

4. We know what the end result will be.

Either:

"No one could have foreseen/imagined "fill in the blank"

or

"Everyone was responsible, therefore no one was responsible."

or

"It was all due to a failure of imagination or "fill in the blank."

Bottom line: Bush didn't know and can't be held responsible.

Most likely they will blame their ongoing fall guy, Stephen Hadley, for everything.

[pattycake]

5. Need Roberts' Washington Phone Number

I live in KS and have called him many times at the KS number but want to phone his office

[ProSense]

6. This should cause the biggest public outrage.

Bush is in denial (or thumbing up his nose in arrogance) about the lies he told to start an illegal war and the reality of the resulting chaos.

[Supersedeas]

7. Senator Cover-up