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Democrats issue demands for Iraq intelligence probe

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 19:13 CST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Monday demanded that the Senate interview key government officials and exercise subpoena power while examining how the Bush administration used prewar Iraq intelligence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.

As a bipartisan task force prepared for a week-long series of meetings on the intelligence question, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the administration should be prepared to turn over important documents to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Now that the Republicans have agreed to conduct an investigation, the next step is making sure the right questions are answered," said the Nevada Democrat.

But Republicans accuse their Democratic adversaries of using the Iraq war for political gain by suggesting that President George W. Bush and other administration officials may have misused intelligence to make their case for war.

"The Democrat leaders' latest accusation that the administration has manipulated intelligence and exaggerated the threat is nothing more than an effort to use the war in Iraq for political gain, and that is shameful," Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said in a floor speech.

The Senate intelligence committee completed the first phase of its review of Iraq intelligence in July 2004 when it issued a scathing report about the quality of information that claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons have ever been found.

At the time, lawmakers promised a second phase to examine other issues including whether Bush administration officials misused intelligence to make its case for war. But that segment of the review has not been completed.

Last week, Democrats accused Republicans of stalling tactics and imposed a rare closed session to force the majority to complete the review.

The Senate set up a bipartisan task force of six senators to look into the second phase of the investigation in meetings that begin on Tuesday. The panel must report on the progress of the investigation by November 14.

Republicans say the second phase of the investigation was already proceeding before last week's political confrontation. But Democrats accuse their Republican colleagues of trying to prevent a full investigation of the issues, saying that as recently as two weeks ago, an intelligence committee agenda for the remainder of 2005 showed no meetings on the probe.

Task force members including Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the intelligence panel's Republican chairman, will to try to find common ground between the parties on how the remaining probe should be conducted.

Source: REUTERS

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