SENATE INTELL CHAIRMAN BLOCKS EFFORTS TO INTERVIEW RICE-TENET-POWELL

[kpete]

RAW STORY - EXCLUSIVE: SENATE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN
BLOCKS EFFORTS TO INTERVIEW RICE, TENET,
POWELL AIDES IN PREWAR IRAQ PROBE

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman rebuffs attempts to interview Administration officials in pre-war Iraq probe

John Byrne
Published: Thursday April 27, 2006

Powell's former chief of staff says he'll 'wait and see'

WASHINGTON – The Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has denied Democratic attempts to interview Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former senior aides to erstwhile Secretary of State Colin Powell, RAW STORY has learned.

Intelligence Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) sought to interview Rice, Tenet and Powell's aides as part of a Senate inquiry into whether public statements by Administration officials about Iraq were corroborated by intelligence information. Recent reports – including one last Sunday from a former CIA chief in Europe – suggest that the Bush Administration was warned that Iraq did not have substantive weapons of mass destruction.

Rockefeller expressed his desire to interview roughly twenty Administration officials in a private letter to Sen. Roberts in January, though the names of the officials cited in the letter were not made public until today. In addition to Rice and Tenet, Rockefeller sought access to Lawrence Wilkerson, formerly Powell's chief of staff, and Richard Armitage, formerly Deputy Secretary of State.

Rockefeller's spokeswoman said the senator wants Committee staff to interview Powell aides about the Secretary's speech to the United Nations, in which he outlined Iraq's alleged threat.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_Chairman_denies_access_0427.html

[blm]

1. WHEN IS FITZGERALD GOING TO SUBPOENA ROBERTS for his role in the coverup

by the White House?

Hell, Roberts ADDED antiWilson talking points for Rove to an OFFICIAL SENATE REPORT. He should be forced to answer under oath.

[stop the bleeding]

2. I am sick of Roberts - he is getting higher and higher on my

AAARRRGGHHHH!!! meter!:argh:

[rodeodance]

3. damn, it is Roberts AGAIN!

[blm]

7. We make a HUGE mistake as a party not targeting Roberts more and

HIGHLIGHTING his maneuvers to cover up for Bush and using the senate to do it.

[rodeodance]

4. Sen. Rockefeller sent this letter in JANUARY!

....Rockefeller expressed his desire to interview roughly twenty Administration officials in a private letter to Sen. Roberts in January, though the names of the officials cited in the letter were not made public until today. In addition to Rice and Tenet, Rockefeller sought access to Lawrence Wilkerson, formerly Powell's chief of staff, and Richard Armitage, formerly Deputy Secretary of State.

[stepnw1f]

5. I Hope This Changes After the Election

These Republicans make me furious... I really can't take it anymore. I hope others feel as enraged as I do! I seriously dream one day, the people drag these bastards out into the street for a tar and feathering, then thrown into jail, guarded by those they helped torture in Guantanamo or Abu Gharaib.

[rodeodance]

6. gee, Powell's aide said his speech was approved by Tenet!!

...."In areas where there is multiple and contradicting underlying intelligence it would be helpful to ask the person what they based their statements on," said Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Sen. Rockefeller. "It would make sense to talk with Powell and his aides to find out what intelligence they used to support their statements."

Senate Intelligence Committee Staff Director Bill Duhnke, top aide to Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), said there was no need to interview Powell's former aides, saying the intelligence behind Powell's speech was already known.

"Secretary Powell's speech was coordinated with and thoroughly reviewed and approved by the Director of Central Intelligence," Duhnke told RAW STORY. "The Committee already knows what intelligence they used to support Secretary Powell's speech. That topic was thoroughly covered in the Committee's first report."

Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell’s former chief of staff, concurred with Duhnke’s assessment of Powell’s speech.

“Every word that Secretary Powell spoke on Feb. 5, 2003 at the UNSC was approved by Tenet, McLaughlin, and the key NIOs and analysts they chose to bring in to the preparations,” Wilkerson told RAW STORY Thursday. “These two men -- Tenet and McLaughlin -- were not simply speaking for the CIA, but for the entire U.S. intelligence community, not to mention the intelligence communities of several other allied and friendly nations.”

[harlinchi]

8. Sen. Roberts: Chairman, Underestimating America's Intelligence Committee!

Displaying more 'politics of prestidigitation', the poster boy for what the GOP has hidden from America rears his blatantly partisan head again!

[rodeodance]

9. we are talking of Phase II--gentle reminder.

The decision not to interview Powell's aides is the latest in a series of setbacks for Senate Democrats surrounding the Iraq probe. The party catapulted the investigation into the spotlight last year when Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) used a parliamentary rule to force the Senate into closed session, asserting that Roberts was stalling the second half of the pre-war Iraq intelligence investigation.

Though Democrats seemingly won the day and brought the issue to prominence in the national media, their efforts to advance the probe in other areas have been thwarted. Roberts has deferred an investigation into the Pentagon's nebulous Office of Special Plans and is expected to release the Phase II report piecemeal, allowing some of the less controversial sections of the report to be published while deferring others.

The report, dubbed "Phase II," is the second part of an oversight probe looking into pre-war Iraq intelligence and how it was used. Roberts has indicated his desire to wrap up the inquiry soon.......

[rodeodance]

10. nominate

[blm]

11. Some people just aren't picking up on the import here.

That's how Roberts gets away with alot of his crap, he seems to be a colorless nonentity which results in his work for the WH is allowed to go - UNDER THE RADAR.