All Roads “Reid” to Iraq
By Denise Best | Related entries in In The News, The Plame Game, WarMarathon running at its best … Senator Harry Reid, has requested a Senate closed session to discuss the issue of intelligence used by the administration in presenting the case for the war in Iraq …
In a speech on the Senate floor, Reid demanded the Senate go into closed session. The public was ordered out of the chamber, the lights were dimmed, and the doors were closed. No vote is required in such circumstances.
Reid’s move shone a spotlight on the continuing controversy over intelligence that President Bush cited in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Despite prewar claims, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and some Democrats have accused the administration of manipulating the information that was in their possession.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted last Friday in an investigation that touched on the war, the leak of the identity of a CIA official married to a critic of the administration’s Iraq policy.
“The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions,” Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session.
Geez — what took so long for such a tactic to be pursued?
Given that the special prosecutor’s office didn’t deliver what the Dems were obviously hoping to receive – the administration’s head on a platter – this type of move should have been expected.
So much for getting back to the job of running the government …
Between this and the Alito debate, our public servants should be sufficiently mired in partisian slinging that’s sure to move from a food fight to assault missile launches.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 and is filed under In The News, The Plame Game, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 1st, 2005 at 6:10 pm
They’re all gathered behind closed doors and everyone else is out? Quick! Penny them in!
November 1st, 2005 at 6:42 pm
Excellent suggestion : )
November 1st, 2005 at 7:13 pm
Well, Reid is showing that he’s a real leader, as opposed to Frist who only appears to be a crybaby. Invoking Rule 21 at this moment was a master stroke, though also dirty politics. This is the kind of thing you’d see in the House. It seems that first with fillibustering judicial nominations and now blindsiding the opposition, the Senate is becoming wilder and woolier.