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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (170901)	6/9/2003 7:08:26 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1584304

He sure doesn't act like a man who has something to hide. Does he have a choice? Besides, he thinks the mobile labs are good enough examples. ted

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (170901)	6/11/2003 3:08:51 PM
From: Alighieri	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1584304

GOP Rejects Formal Probe of Iraq Intel 13 minutes ago By KEN GUGGENHEIM, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Majority Republicans in Congress brushed aside Democratic pleas for a formal investigation into the handling of intelligence on Iraq (news - web sites)'s weapons programs, saying Wednesday that routine oversight should suffice. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said some of the Democratic criticism of the handling of the intelligence has "been simply politics and for political gain." "I will not allow the committee to be politicized or to be used as an unwitting tool for any political strategist," the Kansas Republican said. Roberts said criticism was causing divisiveness among intelligence agencies and goes "back to the days of risk aversion, the primary cause of 9/11." A congressional investigation of the attacks found that agencies were weakened by a culture that discouraged employees from taking risks for fear of being criticized. He said closed-door hearings will begin next week and "when the committee deems it appropriate, we will make whatever public statements that are necessary." The Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) has already begun closed-door hearings on the intelligence issue. Democratic Senators Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Carl Levin of Michigan — who also serves as top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee — have called for a more formal, joint review by the two committees. They say hearings should be held publicly and privately, administration and intelligence officials should be interviewed, and a public report issued. "You need a structure for an inquiry — What is it we're looking for? — so it's done in a thorough way," Levin said. Leading Senate Democrats have called for a more thorough investigation in light of doubts raised about some of the intelligence and the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction. They want to know whether intelligence on weapons programs was inaccurate or manipulated to make the case for war. Roberts and Rockefeller have tried unsuccessfully to work out an agreement on an inquiry. No Democrats attended the news conference Wednesday by Roberts, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va. "What they appear to be doing is entirely inadequate and slow paced and potentially kind of sleepwalking through history," Rockefeller said after the news conference. He said he's not sure "whether they really want to get to the facts of what actually happened." The political stakes of any investigation could be high before next year's election if President Bush (news - web sites)'s primary reason for going to war continues to be called into question. Roberts, Goss and Warner all said the White House did not attempt to influence their decisions on an investigation. In fact, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), traveling with Bush for a presidential speech in Chicago, said the administration "welcomes the review." "We always work together with Congress on dealing with the threat of Iraqi possession of WMD," he said. "And we'll continue to work with Congress on the facts that led previous administrations, Democrats and Republicans alike, to know he (Saddam) had WMD." "This is an important part of Congress' oversight and we welcome it," Fleischer said. Roberts said his committee will evaluate prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its connection to terrorist groups. It will examine whether the findings were reasonable and accurate. The CIA (news - web sites) has begun submitting details of the intelligence that supported administration claims on Iraq's weapons programs. Many Republicans and some Democrats have no doubts that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had chemical or biological weapons, based on his government's failure to satisfy U.N. demands for proof that the weapons it once admitted to having had been destroyed. The White House has urged patience in searching for the weapons. Those seeking an investigation say the issue goes beyond the failure to find weapons. Some of the administration's evidence of Iraqi weapons programs has proven false. Documents indicating Iraq imported uranium from Niger were forgeries. Aluminum tubes described as intended for nuclear weapons were likely meant for conventional artillery rockets. What's at issue, Levin said, is whether American intelligence can be trusted in the future as a basis for action against other adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea (news - web sites). "I've got to have confidence in that intelligence, and the American people have to have confidence if we're going to lead the world in a war on terrorism," he said Tuesday. Goss, R-Fla., said his panel will conduct a review similar to that planned by Roberts. The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman of California, said she and her staff will carefully examine the CIA documents before deciding how they want to proceed. "The war was premised on the notion that there was a clear and present danger to American interests and we need to understand whether all of those claims were appropriate," she said in an interview.