"[...]They [i.e., we, the American people] also deserve a searching and comprehensive investigation about how the Bush Administration brought this country to war. Key questions that need to be answered include:

• How did the Bush Administration assemble its case for war against Iraq?
• Who did Bush Administration officials listen to and who did they ignore?
• How did senior Administration officials manipulate or manufacture intelligence presented to the Congress and the American people?
• What was the role of the White House Iraq Group or WHIG, a group of senior White House officials tasked with marketing the war and taking down its critics?
• How did the Administration coordinate its efforts to attack individuals who dared to challenge the Administration's assertions?
• Why has the Administration failed to provide Congress with the documents that will shed light on their misconduct and misstatements.

"Unfortunately the Senate committee that should be taking the lead in providing these answers is not. Despite the fact that the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly committed to examine many of these questions more than 1 and ½ years ago, he has chosen not to keep this commitment. Despite the fact that he restated that commitment earlier this year on national television, he has still done nothing.
"At this point, we can only conclude he will continue to put politics ahead of our national security. If he does anything at this point, I suspect he will play political games by producing an analysis that fails to answer any of these important questions. Instead, if history is any guide, this analysis will attempt to disperse and deflect blame away from the Administration.
"We demand that the Intelligence Committee and other committees in this body with jurisdiction over these matters carry out a full and complete investigation immediately as called for by Democrats in the committee's annual intelligence authorization report. Our troops and the American people have sacrificed too much. It is time this Republican-controlled Congress put the interests of the American people ahead of their own political interests."[emphasis added]

¶ 11/01/2005 03:46:00 PM